Chapter 13

Richie and Jon sat at his kitchen table finishing their coffee. Dave and Tico had left to go back home and Jon wasn’t leaving til later. Jon looked at Richie, “you should go talk to her.” Richie nodded “I know, but I have no idea what to say to her.” Jon got up and took his cup to the sink, “you started off right last night by apologizing, go with that.” Richie’s eyes widened “how did you know that?” Jon smiled at his friend, “she told me this morning. We used to talk all the time. She was like the sister I never had. Did you forget that too?” Richie shook his head, “yeah, I guess I did. I forgot how tight we all used to be. Those were some good times weren’t they?” “Yeah, they were. But now you need to go fix things with her. You were happy with her man. She was good for you.” Richie got up and grabbed his keys and turned to Jon. “If I’m not back by the time you leave, lock up, huh?” Jon grinned at him, “you got it.” Richie shook Jon’s hand and gave him a brotherly hug, “thanks man.”

As he walked up the beach Richie tried to figure out what to say to Leana. It had been a confusing two days. He walked up onto her deck and could hear the music coming from the stereo.

I want to get back to the place in your heart
When we knew with a kiss
How we felt from the start
Can we still make it real

He peered in the door and saw Leana sitting on the floor, a mess of stuff spread out in front of her and some papers and what looked like magazines in a pile off to the side. He was just about to knock when she glanced up. “Oh” she had a startled look on her face. “I didn’t realize anyone was there.” He smiled at her, “I just walked up and was about to knock. Can I come in?” She nodded “sure.”

He walked in and sat down on the sofa. “What’s all this?” “Just some stuff I saved over the years.” Leana had brought the box down and was trying to figure out what to do with all the stuff. Richie picked up one of the scrapbooks and starting going through it. He smiled at the pictures. “I can’t believe you saved all this.” “That’s what girls do, they save stupid stuff.” She got to her knees to see which page he had stopped at. She chuckled when she saw the picture. It was the one of him with the big pink rabbit. She looked up at him, “do you remember that?”

Richie smiled and nodded his head, “I do. Pt. Pleasant Beach, I must have shot 100 baskets to win you that dumb thing.” Leana smiled at the memory. “If I remember right, I told you to stop. I didn’t need that huge thing.” “Yeah, but it was fun, and it made you laugh. Do you still have it?” Leana shook her head, “no, I donated it to the children’s hospital after…” Richie nodded his head, “oh.” He flipped a few more pages and stopped at a picture of him, Leana, Jon and Dorothea. His best friends in the world, then. This was going to be harder than he thought.