Imagine

Chapter 37

(I find this sad😭😭)

That day was starting the winter break for Julian so he was spending the next three weeks with John. The next morning, John met Paul and his band at the hotel.

"Ey John!" Paul said, approaching him.

"Ey. I should expect the same thing right?"

"Just rehearsing for tomorrow. You ready?"

"Well, considering I joined in at last minute, I guess so."

"I hope this isn't too much for you."

"No. But I'll let you know if it is."

Paul handed him a guitar. 

"You can play this since you clearly forgot yers."

"No. I didn't forget it."

"Yer not backing out on me now, are ye?"

"What? No! I wouldn't do that to ye."

"Good. Now, why did you forget it?"

"I realized I didn't have it when I got here."

"Ah. The perfect excuse."

"You finally realized I've been making excuses for everything!" 

"Yeh. I believe that. Anyways, its tuned to the classic tuning. We need to start ASAP."

John nodded and got in place. "But, do I really want to get back on stage?"

"Of course you do. Its only one night."

"Alright. I can do it just for tonight because I got the kid, ye know."

"I know. You keep reminding me."

********

The next day, Paul and his band went to the stadium, where they were to play that night. Paul walked to John and sat next to him.

"Ready for tonight?"

"Nope. Not ready. Can't wait for it all to be over."

"It'll go by quickly. Trust me."

"Okay. I guess."

Paul smiled and nudged him. "It'll be great."

John started smiling too. "Okay. But since this is stressing me out, yer buying dinner tonight."

"That's a deal."

"That's what you get for getting me into this. And you can't get me out of it either."

"I don't want to get you out of it. It'll be the first time we're on stage in over 10 years. It should be fun."

"If ye say so."

"Ey, cheer up. Put a smile on that face. Tell me, did you tell Yoko about this?"

"She doesn't need to know where I go."

"Well, did you tell anyone?"

"I told Julian because he's my son."

"Did you tell Sean?"

"Why would I tell him? He's five. He won't understand. Plus, all I'm doing is filling in for one of yer band mates."

"True. How long is Jules staying with you?"

"Three weeks. Then he's back home and back to school."

"Ye'll miss him right?"

"I see him almost every day. I don't think I'll miss him."

"What's yer plans when he's completely out of school?"

John started to think. "Hmm. I don't know. Probably teach him how to drive."

"What are you talking about? Yer a bad driver."

"He figured that out yesterday."

"You drove him somewhere?"

"Yeh. Home. I drove him home. I didn't get pulled over either. Shocking, innit?"

"Yeh. I'm more surprised that you drove a car. You usually have a driver to drive you around."

"I know. Well, when I went down to the studio in New York, I would have a driver take me. But, other than that, if I didn't have errands to do, I would walk. I always walked to Central Park. I miss it, ye know. I walked it all the time."

"I know.............I've seen the pictures. You looked happier then."

"I was happier. I had the love of my life with me every second of the day."

"So, what happened?"

"You know what happened. After that, we've been fighting nonstop. She wanted to stay in New York. I wanted to move here away from New York. She hates Julian. I love him. We can't agree on anything anymore."

"Yeh. You need to work things out with her."

"Got any pointers I could use?"

"I got one. Start acting like an adult. Work things out the best way you can."

"That's kind of hard to. I've tried but it always ends up with us yelling at each other."

"Just like us. Remember when the Beatles broke up?"

"Yeh. How could I forget?"

"We fought nonstop. In the early 70s, we worked things out. It may not be easy, but its also not impossible. It can be done."

"I know it can. But its hard when someone doesn't want to listen to me. When she hates one of my kids. How can I love someone who hates what I have?"

"You can. Just live through it. Just because she hates him doesn't mean you should. In the 60s, I've always known you loved him but you also couldn't commit to being a father at the time. You can now. Julian needs you now."

"I know. And I'm there for him. But with Yoko around, it makes it hard to be there for my kid."

"Nothing can separate the love between a father and a son."

"I wouldn't know about that."

"You know. You don't have to be like yer dad."

"My dad left when I was three. I left Julian when he was 5."

"You can't change the past. But you can change the future for yerself and yer son. No one should come between a father and son."

"So I've heard."

Paul looked at his watch. "We need to do sound check."

"Oh. Okay. I guess."

John stood up and walked out, on stage with his guitar. Then, they started sound check.