Chapter 19

On waking up on the last day they had left in Australia, Leah bounced out of bed, waking up Richie in the process. She wasn’t going to spend the final day moping about thinking of going back to work tomorrow. Although the original plan was just for the guys to take a holiday, Leah and Dot had also abandoned any attempts of work while they had been there. She was actually looking forward to getting started on the project again and as far as she could tell Dot was too. She noticed over the time they had spent together that the guys loved their job too, it was more of a hate they had towards the travelling, Jon in particular hated living out of a suitcase. Turning her thoughts back to the plans for today, Leah went for a quick shower and was dressed in record time. On her return to the room she attempted to pull Richie out of bed to a chorus of moans and groans about it being to early to get up and accusing Leah of being too cheerful in the mornings. Eventually he forced himself out of bed and got dressed while Leah went to make them breakfast. On his arrival downstairs he found his breakfast sitting at the table ready for him but no-one else there. After he finished he went a walk around the garden and found Leah in the pool. Kneeling down to talk to her, Richie was shocked when he realised he was falling into the water. Ava had pushed him, giving him no way to save himself from going in. As he resurfaced the shock on his face disappeared as he heard Leah and Ava laughing and giving each other a high five and realised he had been set up. Laughing, he jumped up and picked up Ava, holding her high in the air then dunking her into the pool. The plan seemed to have backfired on Richie because she loved it and kept telling him to do it again.


After spending the morning in the pool, they couldn’t decide on where to spend the day so they left the decision up to Ava who wanted to go surfing again. Richie didn’t seem so keen on the idea but not wanting to disappoint his daughter he agreed to go along. The three of them were having a great time together just messing about on the surf boards and having a laugh. Eventually Richie got tired of the sea and made his way back up to the house to deal with some things he had to do. Ava refused to go with him and stayed behind with Leah. They continued to play in the sea for a further hour, with Leah teaching Ava all she knew about surfing and Ava adamant she would one day be a championship surfer like Leah. Returning to the house they found Richie sitting outside with a pile of papers in front of him as he was choosing a house to buy. He had arranged for all the documents to be sent to him so he could narrow down the houses he wanted to view when he was back in America. Leah left him in peace while she went to get washed up. As she came back down the stairs she was met with Ava running at her telling her to pick what house she liked best. “So what’s all this for?” Leah asked Richie. “I’m looking for a new home, somewhere different this time though. I’ve got my place in LA but I want a quieter place where I can just kick back and write some songs,” Richie told her. Leah took a look at the choices he had been given, they were all nice houses but he seemed to have narrowed the choice down to two in Sedona, Arizona which surprised Leah. It wasn’t a place she expected he would like which he obviously noticed in her face as he told her, “you clearly haven’t seen the sunrise in Sedona. It’s breathtaking. The perfect place to write music.”
“I’ve heard it’s a nice place but there’s a severe lack of ocean for my liking, the places I like are all near the sea,” Leah said. “Well I better change your mind then,” Richie smiled at her then added as an afterthought, “Where is your permanent home anyway?” Leah laughed before answering, “You’ll think I’m nuts, but I’ve never really had a “home” as such. I’ve got a place in New York for work and a place in London but I wouldn’t call them a home. I think a home is a place that you love and want to stay, it’s like a place you have to find throughout your life, I just don’t have mine yet.” Richie looked a little confused then laughed softly, “Well that was a deeper answer than I expected,” as he leaned over to kiss her. Richie then made some phone calls to the estate agent but wasn’t getting anywhere with Ava dancing and singing around the room so Leah took her to the shop to get her out of his way while he made his phone calls.


After he had finished, Richie got a visit from Jon who had spotted Ava and Leah leave the house. “So how’s things going with Leah?” Jon asked, straight to the point. “There great. She’s great. I know it’s only been a little while but I really, really like her, Jon,” Richie told him, choosing his words carefully since he thought Jon would think he was a little mad if he had said what he had been thinking over the past few days, that his feelings for Leah were stronger than just “really liked” her. She had made him feel different from any other women he had had a relationship with in the past. He was slightly worried at the pace in which these feelings had developed since he hadn’t known her a long time but they also made him feel optimistic, he had taken the view that they must have a good thing going if he felt so strongly about her in such a short period of time. He expected Jon to look happy for him but he looked rather worried. “What’s up?” Richie asked him. “Richie, I don’t know how to say this but here goes. Dot think’s Leah’s hiding something from us. She’s been watching her over the past few days and at first I thought it was just her overactive imagination but the more I think about it, I think she might be right. I mean how much do we really know about her?” Jon said solemnly. Richie looked as though he had been hit with a shovel, he looked torn between anger and worry. The anger from the fact Jon could suggest something like that and the worry incase he was right. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt again, Richie. I thought it would be best to say something now before it’s too late,” Jon said putting a hand on Richie’s shoulder. Richie seemed to be finding it hard to take in what Jon was saying, he turned round and said, “It could just be Dot’s imagination, Jon. She just seems like a private person to me.” Jon looked at him for a minute, he looked so sad and so determined to believe that she wasn’t hiding anything. Jon got out his phone, “If she’s hiding something we can find out. There’s always people you can call.” Richie was unsure but after thinking about it he decided he would rather know what it was now than find out later. He told Jon to make some calls and see what he could find out.


As Leah and Ava made their way back to the house they met Jon and Dot at the front door. “Ava, you’re dad wants you to stay here just now. Come on in,” Jon shouted from the doorway. As Ava made her way to go into the house she still had Leah’s hand so took her along too. Smiling and skipping along they made their way to the door where Ava ran inside. Jon held his hand out to stop Leah from entering after her. “Richie wants a word with you,” Jon said with an icy tone that she had never heard before. Unsure of what it was about and aware that Jon wouldn’t answer her if she asked she turned at headed to the other house. Entering the house she found Richie at the kitchen table with his back to her. “Hey, you wanted me for something?” Leah asked. “Don’t give me that crap! I know about you,” Richie almost growled. “Know what, Richie?” Leah asked unsure of why he was so mad. “Your fucking married!” he yelled at her as he turned to face her. His face red with rage. “Am I just some idiot you fancied a fling with? I bet he’s that Josh bastard! What, you and him got some kinky cheating game going on? Was that Emily in on it too or is she just another idiot?” Richie kept yelling at her. Leah just stood string at him, the rage building up inside her. “How could you go behind my back and find out about me. I told you I would tell you my story when I was ready. If you didn’t want to wait you should have just told me and I would have finished things between us then,” she had began to yell back at him. “So you were going to tell me some time down the line that you were nothing but a cheating bitch who picked me as your idiot?” Richie asked incredulously. “Richie, you don’t understand! Who did you find out from? Why didn’t you ask me?” she asked, her voice calming down as tears began to spill from her eyes. “Because I think I’m in love with you! That’s why! I didn’t want to end up the same as the last time!” he shouted as he leaned his arms on the side of the table, fighting back the tears that were welling up. Leah stood silently, taking in what he had said. She reached out to touch his arm, “Richie, you don’t understand. He’s dead. My husband’s dead.” Richie continued to stand there unsure where to look as he took in the information. “He was killed many years ago now. It was the anniversary of his death the other day when Josh was here and I forgot about it, that was what upset me. I didn’t mean to hurt you Richie. I’ll get out of your way now, I’ll be gone in the morning,” Leah told him and walked away. Richie pulled on her arm, “If you could forgive me for going behind your back, I would love for you to stay on this tour with us.” Leah looked him straight in the eye, he was being serious and she realised that it was her fault that it had happened in the first place, if she had just told him. She hadn’t realised that he had been hurt so much in the past too. What she did realise was that they needed to get to know each other more but when they were both ready. She touched his face with her hand and nodded while smiling through the tears. Richie smiled back at her as he pulled her close to him.