A New Life (Roger Daltrey)

Chapter 10

May 1976

I have grown a lot since that day in 1969, when I left Roger and spent that lovely day with Luca, who ended up leaving the Who to come with me to Arizona. We bought a home that was in a secluded area; we didn't have neighbors but we weren't too far from anybody. On the day I left England, I met someone on the plane to America who was very well-known across the globe. That person was Tom Jones, an absolutely amazing and handsome singer from Wales who now, mainly performs in Vegas. We bonded for a while and became good friends. One night we were in Vegas, at some karaoke bar. There wasn't much of a crowd. Tom encouraged me to go up there and sing and he was, as he says, "blown away" by my vocals and so was the tiny audience. He insisted that I get signed to the label that he was signed onto, rushed me to his label the next day, I performed for the execs, they were pleased and signed me. Now, with my fourth album on the way, I'm one of the top women in music these days–er, or so they say. I've got a TV show where I perform various songs with a plethora of other amazing singers.

Living largely has been nothing but smooth sailing so far. Luca stuck by me, and has stuck by me ever since I became famous and I'm grateful for him, but he's taken up the nasty habit of smoking and I'm currently trying to get him to quit it. I rarely think of Roger these days, but when I do, I remember the good times. How we were so in love with each other. I miss him dearly, of course, and have tried calling him but he doesn't pick his phone up. I hear about the Who's constant touring from the news here and there, and hope that they're all having fun.

•

"I love you all! See you next week!" "Alright, we're clear! Great show, Lena!" I hurried offstage to my dressing room. When I got there, I was greeted by Luca, who reeked of cigarette smoke. "Hey baby, how come you weren't backstage to watch me?" I asked him. Normally he would be right there, watching me and the occasional special guest perform. But tonight, he wasn't there, so I was a little worried. "I don't know, but I heard you from here. You sounded great, honey." He seemed offish and detached, so I went and sat on his lap and asked him if anything was bugging him.  He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "My mom called and said that my dad's real sick. He's in the hospital, back in Italy." I instantly felt terrible for Luca. He and his father are so close, if he lost him...he himself would be lost. "I'm so sorry, Luca." "I'm gonna have to be with him right now, Lena. It may be the last time I'll ever see him alive."

Luca wanted me to accompany him on his trip to Italy, and since my show's season had ended, I went with him. Boy, it was a blue affair. Luca's dad ended up dying peacefully in his sleep two weeks after we'd been there. Then, Luca's sister had gotten into a bad car accident, so we decided to prolong our stay there for an extra two weeks. We'd been staying at the de Francesco family home the entire time. Some of Luca's relatives knew me from TV and their spirits were lifted a little when we first arrived. After his father died Luca had become a total recluse. Locking himself away in his room for days. Avoiding everyone, including me. It wasn't until one day he popped out and seemed to have finished his grieving, but I knew he was still down about the whole situation.

•

August 1976

I had assumed that it would've been nearly impossible for me to run into Roger at some kind of Hollywood party, being that we have different friends and perform different genres of music, but tonight, it happened. After not seeing each other for seven years, we literally bumped into each other at Barbra Streisand's housewarming party.

I was walking back to this woman I was talking to, after getting a drink, and Rog and I just sort of collided into each other. He asked if I was okay, I said I was, and then we had the longest conversation about how we were doing and what we were doing. His hair had gotten curlier and longer. I've always loved his hair. He told me that he was single, and I think he expected me to say that I was too, but I'm not, and when I told him he was crushed–or at least he appeared to be crushed.

Other than that, catching up with him was so lovely. As I was preparing to leave, he asked, "Where's Luca?" I told him that Luca decided to stay home, but insisted that I go without him, so I did. We went outside and took a stroll through the neighborhood. It was dusk. The sun was just beginning to set, and the sky was of a light pinkish orange. We stop for a moment to watch the sunset.

"Lena, I wanna apologize for all that shit I did to you back then. I didn't realize how much losing you would make me feel so awful. I s'pose there's nothing I can do about that now, being that Luca and you are together now. How's he doin' these days?"

"He's doing okay. He just lost his father a couple months ago and took it terribly. He stayed inside all day and all night, not speaking to anyone, then all of a sudden, he was back to being...Luca, I guess. I'm still a little skeptical of him though. Despite his constant reassurances that he is, "indeed alright", as he says."

It became quiet after a while, then I spoke once more.

"I've missed you tons, Rog." I say under my breath. "I've missed you too. Much more than you could ever imagine. When I ran into you back there, I couldn't believe it was you. I didn't think you could get any more graceful, yet here you are." I blushed. He's still the same sweetheart. "And what about you, Goldilocks? I bet the girls are on you more than ever." He laughed! God how I missed hearing his laugh. There was something contagious about it, that caused me to laugh as well.

Roger took my hand in his, raised it to his face and kissed it. "Wanna know something, Lee?" We had resumed our walk now. This time we walked hand in hand. "What?" I ask curiously. "One day, you and I are gonna be together again." He states with certainty embedded in his voice. "You think so?" I say playfully. "I am most sure of it, Lee. I cannot wait for the day where I can hold you and be able to call you 'mine' once more." And then, he kissed me. Over and over again. I can't tell you how refreshing it was to kiss someone who didn't taste of cigarettes.

A nearby taxi drove down the road. Roger flagged it down and got inside. He rolled his window down. "Until then..." He said, then rode away in the yellow car. "Until then..." I repeated. Blowing out some air, I continued my walk alone. I fly back to Arizona tomorrow morning and I don't know how to get to my hotel, but that is all okay right now. Everything at the moment is okay.

• • •

hello hello readers, sorry this one took me a while. I spent many days writing and rewriting it. I hope you all enjoyed this, can't say when the next chapter will be up. If I give myself a set date, that'd be very, uh, detrimental to the story, I guess since it takes me a while to get things in order and have things make some sense and seem appealing. And plus I want to make these chapters as lengthy as possible so taking lots of time is vital when it comes to that. why I'm saying all this, I don't know, I don't even know why I'm still typing words here...see ya xx