Part 2

Dorothea woke up to a cup of tea. She contemplated the steam rising up into the air, thinking this is probably the one constant in their marriage. 

"Thank you," she said softly as she sat up on the edge of the bed.

"You're welcome," Jon replied quietly. 

And there it was.  The 'we're going on tour' tone.  Dot sighed internally, mentally spinning the wheel of misfortune. Where?  And for how long?  Oh, who was she kidding. After thirty years she resigned herself to the inevitable. Just remember, she could eat what she wanted, do what she wanted, and watch what she wanted on TV. It had taken her a long time to get to this place of resignation.

Dorothea picked up her cup of tea and sipped. It was hot. As she sipped her tea she stared off out the window thinking back to an earlier time in their relationship.

~~~

Dorothea's phone rang, elevating her anxiety. Jon was on tour. When he called you never knew how the call would go.

"Hello?" Dot answered, trying to sound cheerful despite her trepidation.

"Dot! Guess what?!" Jon blurted out.

"What Jon?" she asked cautiously, her heart beating like Tico was playing it.

"I bought a house!" Jon blurted out, thinking only of himself and not Dorothea. As a guy it didn't even occur to him to ask Dot first. Being newly married they still hadn't gotten to the 'becoming one', knowing what the other is thinking.

So Jon didn't hear the upset in her voice. "What?!" she replied, stunned that she wasn't consulted.

"Yeah. It's in Malibu, California. Sun. Surf. No snow. I'm having the keys delivered to you." Jon's excitement had his mouth running a mile a minute. Dorothea couldn't get a word in edge wise.

"Why," she asked, her voice deceptively soft. Her anger mounting.

"So you can go decorate it," he said.  "Isn't that what wives do?"

Her first reaction was wives divorce after that kind of comment. She was a black belt in karate for Christ's sake. That's what wives do she pshawed. 

"Honey, I gotta go,"  Jon said, "I have to get to soundcheck."

"Jon," Dorothea started.

"I love you Dot.  I'll talk to you later."  And with that, Jon was gone.

Dot just stared at the receiver. She carefully put down the receiver before she threw it against the wall. She stood up and gathered her silky brown hair into a ponytail and grabbed her emergency bag - her karate gear - and headed for the dojo.

As Dorothea opened the door, there was a delivery driver. Damn that was fast.

"Oh, Hi.  I have a delivery for Dorothy Bonjoni," he stated, completely butchering her name. Just what she needed to complete her stupid ass day. "Oh my freaking hell," she thought, "that had to be the worst pronunciation of her name ever."

"Yes, I am she,"  Dot growled through clenched teeth.

"Thank you.  Here you go. If you could sign here."

Dot took the small package, signed, then slammed the door in anger. Ripping the package open, she dumped the contents into her hand.  There were a set of keys and a card with an address on it. Her anger was complete, as she crumpled the card and threw the keys against the far wall.

~~~

Dorothea, having finished her tea, turned to her husband. She set down her cup on a small table by the window and slowly walked over to Jon, enjoying the look of love in his eyes.

Jon took his wife into his arms and just held her.  She was his rock.  He had a nagging feeling she had something on her mind earlier.

"Baby, I love you. Had you wanted to talk about something earlier?"  he asked.

Dot pulled him down for a kiss, enjoying his embrace and replied softly, "No.  I just wanted to be with you.  So, tell me about the new tour."