Finding Jaime

Chapter 81

Jaime woke up about an hour before we were due to go onstage.

"Want to come watch?" I asked him. "You can sit side stage."

"You know what? Yeah. I would," he smiled at me.

I pulled him up off the couch and we joined the rest of the guys in one room.

"Jaime!" Patrick said, coming over to my son. He stuck out his hand and Jaime shook it, but Patrick pulled him into a hug. Andy followed suit.

Jaime was all smiles. Patrick and Andy asked him how he was feeling, and Jaime chatted with them a bit.

I was enjoying watching my son with my friends. Without that hard edge he'd had in place when we first met he was a sweet kid. But he'd grown up with friends who were clearly 'tougher' and I guess to fit in, he affected a similar personality. But since his suicide attempt, when he finished the school year at home, and away from the influences of those so-called friends, Jaime was a sweet, smart and often hilarious person. And I knew he would be someone I would be proud of when he was out in the world. He had taken everything since then in stride. He had his moments, especially now, but for the most part, he was navigating his new life well.

"Hey, Jaime," I said to him as we were getting ready to go onstage. "I want to introduce you to the fans. Can I bring you out to say hi?"

Jaime looked at me with a little skepticism.

"The fans know what you've been through. It sort of comes with the territory when there are people whose job it is to find out what is happening with celebrities. Our management has handled a lot, but as you also know, you're on my instagram anyway."

"Okay," Jaime said slowly. "I, yeah. I guess so."

I smiled at Jaime. I was hoping he'd say yes.

The four of us stood waiting to go out on stage. The opening started and we walked out to the cheers of our fans. Patrick started singing, Andy was pounding the drums and Joe and I made our guitars sing.

Patrick moved flawlessly into the next song, at the end of the song, which I'd discussed with Pat, before asking Jaime, so if he said yes, Patrick would be ready and if he said no, we'd just continue.

"Good evening, Austin!" Patrick said. The fans screamed back. "It's great to be back here! How the hell are ya all?"

More screaming. We could only see about the first two, maybe three rows. I could see a few signs with Jaime's name on them. It made me smile.

"Pete," Patrick said. "You wanted to say something, didn't you?"

I nodded and walked over to my mic.

"Howdy, Austin! How the hell are you?!"

Screaming.

"We're pumped to be back in Texas and I'm particularly glad to be here. I know a lot of you, if not all of you know what the past year almost has been like in my family. You've all heard about my son, Jaime."

Screaming. I had to laugh. I looked over at my son, who was sort of trying to peek around the side of the stage to see the crowd but not be seen. He looked back at me with a quizzical look on his face.

"Well, I'm guessing you've probably heard that my son is battling cancer right now," I said. More screaming and now they were chanting Jaime's name. "Since he wasn't able to go back to school in September, he was too sick, I decided to have him come along and see what it is his dad does every day. Any teachers in the crowd, he's working on a couple credits for this semester anyway, so don't worry. We're not neglecting his education."

Laughter.

"So, since I dragged him out here, anyone want to meet my son?"

Screaming. I motioned to Jaime to come out and over to me. I moved closer to his side of the stage and met him part way.

"Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, and everything and everyone in between. I'd like you to meet my son Jaime," I beamed. Jaime smiled and waved. He was wearing ear plugs I'd given him that would filter out sound but still let him hear.

People were chanting his name and some even started tossing stuffed animals up onto the stage. I saw some of them had notes attached. One got thrown so hard, Jaime actually caught it. It was a teddy bear wearing hospital scrubs. It was pretty cute. Jaime pulled the note off of it and read it. He smiled and looked up and held the note to his heart.

I looked at the note and it was very sweet.

'Dear Pete:

I heard your son Jaime was sick with cancer. Please take this bear and give it to him? I know he's not a little kid, but everyone deserves stuffies when they're sick.

Please tell Jaime I hope he gets better and beats cancer.

Love,

Alyssa (age 12)'

"Thank you, Alyssa," I said, holding up the note. Jaime nodded.

Security and some stage hands were helping gather up some of the stuffed toys that had been thrown onto the stage. Patrick and Joe had picked up a few, too. All in all, there were about a dozen. I handed a bunch to Jaime, which looked hysterical as he tried to manage an armload of different sized and shaped stuffed animals. But he was smiling and that made me smile.

"Okay, I'm gonna go make Jaime rest for a bit. Thank you all for your kind words and wishes. And gifts." I walked Jaime off the stage. With the help of some security and staff, I saw them carry everything backstage. I didn't know if Jaime was going to come back out but I'd seen Thomas with him and he'd given me a thumbs up, which to me meant he would keep an eye on him.

We continued the concert, engaged in our usual banter and tore up the stage.

We got off the stage at the end of the encore, tired, sweaty, spent. But exhilarated.

Jaime hadn't come back to the stage after the first couple of songs.