Chapter* 59 - I Don't Need No Preacher

Walking through the mall was one thing that Jon really hated to do.  He wasn’t one for shopping.  But when they woke up today, that’s what Monica wanted to do after they went to the bank and paid the guys.  




She wants to lay the building blocks for the foundation of their family, and if that meant dragging Jon, then Jon was being dragged.  Both are dressed very casual, as to not draw attention to themselves.  Jon has a following starting back home and the friends are coming out of the woodwork, but he doesn’t have time for the ones that have been MIA.  He’ll barely has time for the ones that he has now.  As they walked through JC Penny’s looking at baby furniture, Monica needed to remind him that his opinion mattered and she needed his input. 

A bedroom set caught her eye, light wood with pastel yellow and green bedding.  It was very plain, yet very versatile and she liked that one, so she asked Jon, “What do you think babe?”  She walks up to him and pinches his ass.  Resting her chin on his shoulder, “That’s really the only on that could be used for either a boy or a girl.”

He looks at it and at first he likes it, but he gives it a little thought and says, “I like the light wood, but not the bedding.  I want whatever we have to have the right room, not one that’s generic for either sex.” 

Monica scans the rest of the displays and then walks through the baby bedding aisle, Jon not far behind.  Over her shoulder she looks back at him, “I like the set, let’s get that light wood set and we can shop elsewhere for bedding.”

Pleased by what he’s just heard, he agrees.  “I don’t like any of the bedding here, either.  Maybe we can find a specialty store?”

“I was thinking that, or maybe Sears and Macy’s. No hurry, I just wanted the big stuff while we had the extra cash.”  She walks up to him, kisses his cheek and finishes with, “Thanks for being so agreeable.”

“I didn’t do it for you; I don’t want my baby in ugly bedding.”  He laughs and that makes her laugh.  They are standing there looking through the baby clothes that could be used for either a boy or a girl when Jon is approached by a young woman.

“Excuse me?”

Jon looks at her, “Sorry.”  And he steps out of the way.

“I was talking to you, I don’t need in to look at baby clothes.”

Giving her a weird look, cause he has no idea who she is he asks, “What can I do for you?”

“Are you the lead singer in that band Bon Jovi?” she says really fast, unable to contain her excitement.

“Yeeees.” He says slowly, and a little scared.

“Oh my God, oh my God I love you.” She squeals.  “I seen you here in the states and I was at the Cape Town show.  Oh my God, oh my God.” 

Monica is behind the girl, nonexistent in the girls’ eyes, smiling she starts to walk backwards making faces at Jon, using her index finger to make circles around her ear; as if to say that the young lady was crazy.  Jon gives Monica a look back.  “That’s cool.” Was all he wanted to say.  He was shopping with his girl and he didn’t want these interruptions.

“Can I have your autograph?” she squeaks.

“Sure.”

She reaches in her purse and digs out a pen.  Handing it to Jon, she pulls down the front of her shirt, “Right there.” She points to the area right over her heart.  Jon was hesitant, but he did it with the hopes that she would walk away, and she did.  Just a few feet. 

He looks around for Monica and she has taken a seat in a rocking chair that was set up in a mock nursery.  Jon sees her and walks to her quickly, “Did you see that level of crazy?”  he’s laughing, “Why did you leave me there?”  he runs his fingers through her hair, “I could have been killed.”

“I was protecting my young.” She laughs at him, “You looked a little scared.”

“Um, she wanted me to sign her chest, who does that?” he sits in a glider next to her, loving the motion that it makes.  “We need to get this.”

“Why?” she knows why he wants it, but will he tell her?

“This right here could serve a couple of purposes.” As he glides back and forth, giving her the raised eyebrow routine.

“You’re terrible.” She laughs at the guy with the long dirty blonde hair and the heavenly blue eyes, gliding back and forth in the chair.  She really loves him.  She can picture him sitting in that chair gliding back and forth with their baby; with a big smile on his face.  “What should we shop for now?”

“Whatever you want.” He’s quick to reply, “This is your day to do whatever you want.”

“It’s our day.”

“I’m with you, that’s all I care about.  We go where ever you want to go and do whatever you want to do.”

She stands up, “Okay, I gave you the out and you didn’t take it. Let’s go.” She starts to walk away.

“Are we buying the furniture?” he asks, trailing behind. 

“Later.” And she continues to walk.  He catches up to her when she gets into the main hallway of the mall.  He didn’t get in the mall often and a few things caught his attention along the way. 

“Where are we going?” he asks, putting his arm around her.

“Camera shopping.” She replies; with a little bit of nah nah nah boo boo in her voice. 

That deflates him in a hurry, “Really?” 

“Yep, I gave you the out and you didn’t take it.”

“Babe…”

She stops them dead in their tracks, “If you wanted to go guitar shopping, I’d go and pretend to like it.” She tells him as a matter of fact, and he knows she’s right.  “I just need something a little smaller to keep at home.  With my growing belly and our changing life, I want it all documented.”

“I’m sorry.  But you know I get bored with this stuff.”

“One day you’ll thank me for taking all of the pictures that I do.”

The day at the mall was long, and before they left they stopped and purchased the furniture set for the baby.  They both were pleased with their decision, Jon saying, “That really made it real.  Buying furniture for it.”

“It?”

“Yeah, it.  My little it.” He takes the bags that she has in her hands, so he can hold one of them.  They left JC Penny’s with new clothes, a new camera and the purchase of baby furniture.  The day was good, but it wasn’t over………..

As they left the mall, Monica asks Jon, “Can we stop at my parents for a minute?”

“Yep.  What for?” the butterflies take flight.  He dreaded ‘this’ day, but he knows that it’s better to get it out of the way so they can go forward with no worries.

“It’s my moms birthday.”

“And you’re telling me this now?” he barks, kind of.  “We didn’t get her anything.”

Laughing at the look on his face and the seriousness in his voice, she tells him, “Yes we did.”

“What did we get her?” he needs to know.  “And when did we get it?”

Monica reaches behind the seat and grabs her bag, her trade bag and pulls out an autographed Bruce album and voodoo statue that she snagged in Cape Town, in the airport.  “She will love this.”  Monica refers to the voodoo statue, “She’s been fascinated with voodoo and black magic for as long as I can remember.”

“Is she a witch?” he snorts, “I’m kidding, I like the dark side too.  Which reminds me, I got you and baby something in Cape Town.”

“A voodoo statue?” she jests, poking him with the one she got for her mother.

“Protection statues that we blessed by the high priestess, they’re really cool.”

“I’m sure I’ll love it.” She winks at him, as he pulls into the convenient store. 

He needed something to drink.

“Want anything?” he asks as he gets out.

“Juice.” She tells him and he runs into get it.  

As he’s in the store, a car pulls in next to them, on the passenger side.  Monica looks over and sees that it’s a friend from high school that she hasn’t seen in forever.  

Monica cranks the window down and says, “Jessica!”  The driver of the car looks over at Monica. 

Jessica gets out of her car and says, “Hi, how are you doing?”

“I’m good, how are you?”  Monica replies, having heard that Jessica was recently a widow, losing her husband in a car accident.

“I’m alright.  I hear you were at the Playboy Mansion, did you pose?” Jessica leans over, resting her forearm on the hood of the car.

“Me? Oh no.  I did a calendar shoot of them.  I just took their pictures.”  Monica tries to downplay what she does for a living, knowing that not many make it out of Sayreville onto exciting and lucrative careers.  “What are you up to?”

“I finally finished accounting school, now I’m trying to find a job in the field.” She tells Monica, feeling a little like a failure that she JUST finished school.

Monica smiles and says, “Congrats!  I’m sure you will find something soon.  This close to the city, you should be able to land something soon.”

“I’m hoping!”

Jon walks out and sees the strange person leanng on his car.  She looks up at him, they smile at one another.  Jon says, “Hi.”

Jessica smiles and says, “HI.” back.  

He gets in the car and mumbles to Monica, “who is that?”

“Jon this is Jessica, Jessica this is Jon.”  Jessica knows who he is, hell – everyone in Sayreville does now.  His family made it a point to tell anyone that would listen that he was on tour, singing to sell out crowds overseas. 

“Hi Jessica.”

“Hi Jon.” She says; with a new look on her face.  Monica wondered what that was all about.  She lowered an eyebrow, Jon seen it as he handed her the bottle of juice. 

“How do you guys know each other?” he asks.  Jessica was hanging on every word and didn’t even give Monica the chance to answer.

“I used to catch her when she would fly through the air.” Jessica tells him.

“Mon, I didn’t know you were in the circus.”  He starts to laugh so hard, he was tearing up.  He was funny and he knows it.

“Did you know that she was a cheerleader AND homecoming queen?”

Again, being the funny guy that he is. He says, “I knocked up the cheerleading homecoming queen?”

Jessica needed to process that, it took her a minute.  “You’re pregnant?”

Monica just nods her head. 

“OMG, that is so cool?  When are you due?” 

That’s where Monica was drawing the line.  They have friends and family that don’t know that they are expecting, so giving her any more information could be an insult to those friends and family.  “We don’t know yet.”

“Oh, when is your doctor’s appointment?”she asks, but he question will go unanswered.

Jon cracks open his can of Jolt Cola and then starts the car.  Jessica stands up and Jon says loudly, “It was nice to meet you, we gotta get going.”

“Nice meeting you too, Monica, I’ll stop by” she says as they pull away. 

Monica gives her a fleeting wave and waits for them to be out of sight.

“I’m so sorry about that.”  Jon says, rubbing her left thigh, “I didn’t even think before I opened my mouth.”

“Don’t worry about it, the whole town will know we’re pregnant before nightfall.”

Jon feels like an ass, and what’s worse is that he’s just seconds away from seeing Monica’s parents sine they found out they were pregnant.  His Jolt gave him energy, coupled with his nervous energy he looks like he might be on something – fidgety.

They get to Monica’s parents and Jon grabs the things from the car that Monica deemed her birthday present.  

Together they walk into the house and as soon as Jon sees her dad, he can feel that he has nothing to worry about. 

They had a great time sitting there talking, getting to know one another.  The only thing that her dad said directly to Jon was, “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”   And Jon knew he meant it.