"T" with Tessa

It was a beautiful early Spring day in Arkansas, which meant it was a great day to be riding a motorcycle. I was sitting at my favorite corner booth at the best little Mexican restaurant in all of Arkansas, watching the breeze play with the dogwood tree on the far side of the parking lot when the roar of his bike made me look toward the parking lot entrance. His sensually graceful movements as he threw one leg over the bike and stood up had me reaching for my glass of ice tea hoping to quench my suddenly Sahara dry throat. Then I saw the beautiful woman he hugged up close to him for a brief kiss, before they walked toward the entrance of the restaurant.

I couldn’t believe my eyes!

It was Tessa Bongiovi! Oh yeah, and her husband, Jon.

I couldn’t help myself. I knew how Jon hated to be approached by fans when he was with his family, but it wasn’t him I wanted to talk to. I watched as the hostess showed them to the booth behind me. I turned in my seat so that I could talk to Tessa over the back of the booth.

“Oh my God, you’re Tessa Bongiovi,” I gushed. Yeah, I knew I was gushing, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

She smiled as she slid into the booth. “You have me at a disadvantage.”

“Oh,” I chuckled softly, “you can call me T. All my friends do.”

Jon flashed us both a pained grin as he slid into his seat across the table from his beautiful wife. It was obvious that he figured his nice, quiet, romantic lunch with his wife just got shot all to hell for a little bit of girl talk.

“Nice to meet you, T,” she answered, flashing me a warm smile.

“What brings ya’ll to Arkansas?” I had to ask.

“Jon had a show in Tulsa last night, and has one in Atlanta tomorrow night. He sent the circus on to Georgia so that we could take our time and travel by bike.”

I dropped my voice to a conspiratorial tone. “I gotta ask, is that the hardest part about being a part of the Jovi family? The travel?”

She shook her head. “Naaa. The hardest part is the way they take over your life.”

“And the best part?”

“The way they take over your life.” She laughed then, a warm friendly sound. “They are a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure. You almost feel left out because they know each other so well, but then all of a sudden you just KNOW you're in the family when you can share in a joke.”

The waiter came to take their drink order, and Jon was asking him about the punch.

I leaned farther over the back of the booth. “You’ve got to try the sweet tea,” I told Tessa. “It’s the best. Oh, and the white cheese dip is to die for!”

She smiled and nodded slightly at Jon. He ordered tea for both of them and a bowl of the cheese dip.

In a loud whisper, I told her, “Girlfriend we’ve just gotta talk! Let’s dish. I wanna know some things about Mr. Rock Star over there.” I raised my chin in said rock star’s direction.

Tessa laughed softly. “Like what?”

“Does he snore?”

“Nope, he only snores when his allergies act up. Then, I have to stop myself from smothering him in his sleep.” Her grin told me that she’d never really smother the gorgeous man that sat across the table from her looking for all the world like he’d rather be any where but there being talked about.

“I’ll bet he leaves the seat up too.” I replied, glancing over at Jon who suddenly found the salt shaker quite fascinating.

“Damn skippy he leaves the stupid seat up. I don't even want to talk about my dips into the cold.” She groaned softly at the memory.

The waiter brought their drinks, the bowl of cheese dip and a big basket of tortilla chips. Once he’d left the table again, I encouraged Tessa to try the cheese dip and then waited patiently for the praise that I knew was coming.

“Oh my God, that’s good,” she moaned with pleasure. “What’s good on the menu?”

“There’s not a thing on the menu that I’ve tried that wasn’t good. But, the fajitas are excellent, so is that grilled chicken thing on rice. Oh, and the enchiladas are GREAT!”

Tessa leaned across the table to tell Jon what to order, and he groaned. “You’re gonna just steal stuff off my plate again, right?”

She winked at him, and asked me, “Isn’t he adorable?”

“Oh yeah,” I agreed. “I just love his little mole there on the right side of his nose.” I pointed at the mole in question and Jon rolled his eyes, then looked at his wife, clearly asking, ‘Do I really have to sit through this?’. I ignored him. “What’s your favorite feature?”

“Oh, I'm a sucker for his eyes. They tell me everything I need to know from mood to his tired level.” She nodded as she spoke, gesturing toward the man himself. “And he really thinks he’s Superman. He’s convinced that he can do EVERYTHING and that sleep is optional.” She sighed softly. “He drives me nuts sometimes because he just doesn't know how to relax.”

The waiter returned to the table to take their order, and Jon spoke softly to him, telling him what they wanted while Tessa and I continued to chat.

“Then what’s his kryptonite?” I wondered aloud.

“If anything happened to his kids I just don't know what he'd do.”

“Babe, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you either,” Jon interjected.

I grinned at the two of them; they were so very cute. “What’s his most irritating habit?”

Jon frowned, but Tessa laughed. “That he doesn't let things go. He's a damn bulldog when he wants something--even if I'm not in the mood to give in to him.”

I laughed at that. “Okay, fair’s fair. What’s his most endearing quality?”

She didn’t even think about that one. “Loyalty. There's nothing he wouldn't do for me or those kids.”

“What’s your secret guilty pleasure?” I asked her softly. “What do you like to do in your down time?”

She let out a wicked little chuckle.

“I meant BESIDES Jon,” I added quickly, laughing too.

A big smile spread across her face. “Well, I do like to do Jon just about any time.” She paused thoughtfully. “But my favorite guilty pleasure is a bath in our HUGE jet tub and a smutty romance novel with a really big glass of wine.” She chuckled again. “But, down time? What's that?”

She seemed genuinely puzzled by that question, but I could tell from the smile that flirted with the corners of her lips that she was just joking.

I couldn’t resist asking her, “If you hadn’t ended up with Jon, what other member of Bon Jovi could you have fallen for?”

She glanced over at Jon before answering. “I'm already half in love with Richie.” She laughed softly. “I can't help it. The big dork just has this grin a mile wide and the way he cares about everyone is utterly over the top adorable.”

Richie had always seemed like such a sweet and lovable guy to me; I had to agree with her. After asking her if she read any of the other fan fiction stories out there, and she admitted sheepishly that she had, I just had to know, “What other characters do you think you could be friends with?”

Her brow wrinkled in a thoughtful frown. “ Wow..that's a tough question. I think I'd end up really good friends with Mac from Tresca's story--Dangerous Territory. She's kick ass with a side of vulnerability. And we're both business women, so that's something we would have in common. Running a business is hard!”

“I guess you’ve pretty much gotten it that I’m a fan of the band,” at her nod, I went on, “I gotta ask, what’s your favorite song and which ones were written for or about you?”

Again, she carefully considered her answer. “Gosh, I'm such an uber fan that it's hard to pinpoint just one. But if I had to name one it would have to be the B-side that Jon sang to me in Nashville--We Can Dance. It felt like it was written for me, even if it was written over ten years ago.

“Lost Highway's Any Other Day and Strangers were written about our time together and our time apart. That whole album is just pure hurt and I hate that I was part of the reason, but as usual Jon's hope came through in AOD--and it touched me greatly.”

“About that,” I began. “Would you change any of the bad things, if ya could?”

She shook her head. “I'm afraid to change anything that happened in our story. Would we end up in the same spot if we didn't live through the loss of our baby? Would we ever have the courage to really open up to each other if we didn't go through something like that?” She shrugged delicately. “I think it made us stronger.” She paused for just a second, then her eyes widened slightly. “The only thing I might have changed was the running. I hate that I was such a coward, even if he did ultimately put up with my slice of stupid. Good thing that man,” she motioned toward Jon by raising her chin in his direction, “loves me.”

Knowing that I would love to be friends with this woman, I couldn’t resist asking, “Of all the fan fic authors out there, which one do you think you could be friends with?” I crossed my fingers in my lap where she couldn’t see, just hoping that she’d say me.

It took her a minute to answer, after she’d looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. “Gosh, all these writers are so amazing. How can I even just pick one? Would it be the kick ass stories like you wrote, T? All those strong women have to come from a strong source. Would it be Catte? She's new to our world, but man alive her iPod and mine could get married and have one helluva metal chick. Would it be Hath and her limitless stories? She sure knows how to have a lot of fun with her characters. Or would I make fun of Tresca and her kiwi-isms that crack me up? Such a difficult one to answer.”

Because she was so gracious, I couldn’t bring myself to put her on the spot and make her pick just one. And, why should she have to? I mean, shit. All of us have been willing to share her with each other for so long, what’s a little longer, right?

The waiter brought their food then, and I gave her my phone number, encouraging her to use it the next time she was in town. I picked my check up off the corner of my table, and slipped out of the booth. “It was great to finally meet you,” I smiled at her. “Enjoy your meal.”

“It was great to meet you too,” she assured me.

I gave her a little wave then went up to the counter to pay my check. Wow. What an eventful day!


(***Get to know Tessa in HOME***)