Storm is the closest thing I’ve got to Jonny. I’m not letting that go for anything.
Jonny would have wanted me to be there for Storm, to do what he himself couldn’t, to help Storm.
But the father in me knew that demanding to stay, forcing Storm to talk to me, wouldn’t have worked.
So, I swallowed my pride and left with Bob, promising that we’d return at seven thirty to have dinner with Storm and Tiffany.
The drive back to Bob’s house is quiet.
I know Bob must be feeling as disappointed as I am about not getting any time with Storm.
But it’s not just that.
It was seeing the kid himself for the first time—how much he is like Jonny and not just in looks but also personality, the spit and fire in him. That is Jonny.
I know Storm isn’t Jonny. But in that moment…it was like Jonny was back here, standing in that living room with us.
I hear Bob exhale, pulling my eyes to him. He’s staring out the car window.
“Standing in that living room with Storm…I felt like I’d been thrown back twenty years, and Jonny was right there in front of me.” Bob’s voice is uneven.
Thinking about how hard this is for me, I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for Bob. If I’d lost JJ, Billy, or Belle…I can’t even consider it. It would destroy me. I’d never recover.
“He’s Jonny,” I softly say the words.
Bob’s eyes come to mine. He looks tired, weary. It makes me worry.
“Yeah,” he exhales. “But that’s just it, Jake. He’s not Jonny. No matter how much he looks like Jonny, sounds like him…how much we might miss Jonny and want him back, Storm isn’t him. He’s his own person…a kid who’s about to lose his mother. And he’s just found out that his father is also dead. We need to push our own feelings aside in this. We need to think about him and what’s best for him.”
“And what do you think is best for him? Because I think being with his family is what will be best for him.”
Regret fills his eyes, and he looks away from me, his hands gripping his knees. “You know, I always felt like I’d missed the mark with Jonny.”
I reach over and put my hand on Bob’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze, before letting go. “You were a great dad, Bob. Trust me, I know bad ones, and you most definitely weren’t a bad dad.”
“Yeah, I did everything right. I went to all his school plays, watched his gigs, supported him. But there was always something missing, something inside of him that I could never reach, something angry and unfulfilled. I should have done more to stop the drugs…with all of you.”
His eyes come back to me.
“There was nothing you could have done. We all had to find our own way. Jonny’s death was not your fault,” I tell him.
His eyes glaze with tears, and it hurts me to see him in pain.
“It was my fault because I’m his dad. And it was my job to protect him…protect him from the world and himself. I failed at that. I don’t want to fail again with Storm. He needs me now. He’ll need me more when Tiffany dies. He’s going to need me. I’m his family.”
“We are his family.”
Gratitude fills his eyes. “I’m man enough to admit that taking care of him, without Lyn here, terrifies me, Jake. I don’t want to fail that boy. I can’t fail him.”
I shift in my seat, turning to him. “You won’t fail him because you’re not doing this alone. I wanted to wait and see exactly what it is that Tiffany wants from us for Storm before speaking to you about this. I don’t know if she has a plan in her mind for his care when she’s gone. But as far as I’m concerned, whatever she does have in mind, if it doesn’t involve us, then we’ll change that.
“I spoke to Tru before I left to come here, and she agrees with me. I’m hoping that you will, too. We want you and Storm to come to LA and live with us. You could either move into the house with us, or Stuart’s old place on our property is empty. But we want you close by. We want Storm with us. And it’d ease the burden of you raising him alone.”
I prepare myself for Bob to reject my offer. I know I’m asking for a lot. I’m asking for him to leave his home, his city. And Bob is a proud man. I’m just hoping that, with age, he’s gotten realistic.
He glances away. For a few long seconds, he looks out the window at New York moving past us. Then, his eyes come back to me. “A change of scenery might be just what Storm and I both need.”
A smile pushes up my lips, and I sit back in my seat. “We’ve just got to convince Tiffany now.”
Bob huffs out a short laugh. “I don’t think Tiffany is going to be the one we’ll have to convince.”
That, I have to agree on.
Storm might not be Jonny, but from what I saw earlier, he has his father’s stubbornness. And one thing with Jonny was, once he’d set his mind on something, there was no changing it.
I just hope I can get Storm to my way of thinking.
If I’ve learned anything from my kids, it’s that, if I want to get them to do something, I have to make them think it was their idea in the first place.
I just need to figure out how to do that with Storm.
When we get to Bob’s house, I head straight upstairs to call Tru. Dave and I are staying at Bob’s tonight, at his insistence, rather than checking in at a hotel.
Lyn and Bob never moved, so this is the house Jonny grew up in. I remember Jonny offering to buy them a bigger place after the money started rolling in when our band hit the big time, but they turned him down.