Chapter 28

Evie headed home that night, tears gushing down her cheeks until it seemed there was no more left. She hung her head lower, tears falling as she went up the drive to Richie's house. Evie sniffled, turned off the engine and gotten out of the car, making sure to lock it and walked up towards the main door at the front of the house. She grabbed a bunch of keys out of her pocket, her hand shook as she inserted the key into the lock, and Evie turned it, opening the door to a now-empty house. The pictures hung high on the walls; the coffee pot was still full of water. Only a month. That wasn't long, she could survive, and she would have to make sacrifices for Richie.

"Richie" she mumbled, staring into the long distance of the surrounding beach, wiping a tear with her sleeve. She looked down at her growing baby and thought of the times that they could share together. Birthdays, parties, first days at school, first words. A sacrifice, everyone will have to make them.

She walked into the kitchen, her stomach grumbled. She made herself a dinner, quickly and sat on the sofa to eat it. Without her fiancé to comfort her. She switched on the television; she watched some interviews on MTV, complete with a share of hair metal music videos. After a while, Evie grew tired of this, she turned it off and lay down on her back. She sighed. Had all of this been her fault?

She slept that night a troubled soul, full with worry and confusion on what she did wrong to deserve her treatment off Jon.

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Richie's plane was due to land in a couple of hours, Jon joked around with David, a pint of beer in his hand and he was laughing at a joke David has told him. Richie wasn't interested. All he could think about was his fiancé, how she wouldn't have anyone to protect her from harm, or a warm heater to cuddle against.

He could create a new riff on the old Ovation or scribble down some lyrics for a new song. He was disinterested, disconnected from the world and his eyes shown the pain of his heart being broken from their separation at the airport. He walked to the back, grabbed his guitar and started to silently cry where no one could hear. Alone and afraid, a distressed young man.

Tico got up. "Is that Richie I can hear?" he asked, standing up in the walkway, he turned to Jon; Jon shrugged and continued chatting and joking to David. "Ignorant fuckers" he mumbled to himself, listening carefully to Richie's cries of torment and loss. When he found him, Richie was huddled, his head on his knees. Richie looked at Tico, eyes red and puffy and his cheeks were strewn with tears.

"Richie? What's wrong?" he asked, kneeling down to the band's guitarist.

"It's Evie. I'm worried if she's gonna be alright, whether she can fend for herself or not. I'm scared T"

"It's alright. Evie's a young woman, she's gonna be just fine, yeah, she's gonna stumble but you don't need all of this stress put on top of your shoulders"

"Yeah, I suppose" he murmured, wiping away his tears with his arm. He stood up- with the help of Tico, he walked back to his seat. Tico grabbed him a ice-cold bottle of beer and sat on the opposite chair to him. Richie sighed and fell back into the seat, he yawned and curled up, sleep coming over him.