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When Jason said he had a very special surprise for Howard in Salt Lake City, it really shouldn’t have caught him unawares. After all, they had been arranging these special treats for each other throughout the roadtrip, beginning with their day out together in Chapel Hill only a couple of weeks ago. It had been wonderful to see so many interesting things together, just as it had been through the decades as they traveled from country to country.
But somehow Howard knew that this expedition was just a little more special than most, and more significant. So he didn’t question Jason on their destination as he managed to wind their way towards a slightly secluded area in Sandy, UT, tucked into the Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Suddenly they arrived at their destination, and Howard couldn’t help but gaze at the winter wonderland before them.
“Beautiful, innt?” Jason grinned from ear to ear.
“What exactly is this?” Howard breathed. “This doesn’t even look remotely American. It looks like something I would see in Europe.
“This is a restaurant and ranch called La Caille,” Jason said. “It’s modeled on an 18th century French chateau.”
“Wow,” Howard said. Jason was pleased that his normally unplussed friend was dumbstruck by his surroundings. And that only continued when they went inside and found a beautiful rustic hearth with two chairs beside of it, with a table and two chairs set up and beautifully decorated nearby.
“Mondays are normally the day they’re closed,” Jason explained. “It’s amazing what having the judge of the US X Factor calling for a special request will do. It’s all for us tonight.”
Howard was flooded with emotions, mainly love. He reached over and hugged Jason.
“You are going to have to tell me how I rated this,” he said. “But first we eat.”
——————————
After an incredible five-course dinner with food that would normally be far too fancy for Howard’s liking but tonight just seemed right, Howard and Jason sat beside the hearth, with a fire roaring before them, two mugs of hot chocolate spiked with rum next to them.
“Okay, first things first,” Howard said. “How is it that we’re the ones hanging out here and Gary’s back at the hotel?”
Jason chuckled.
“He wants to take Dawn on a special trip when they get back,” he said. “A cruise around the Mediterranean. I agreed to stay at their house for a week with the kids. And maybe also gave him the keys to the Mercedes for a month also. Gary would never admit it but he misses having a flash car without child seats in it.”
Howard grinned.
“That’s a hard bargain there,” he said. “Daniel’s getting old enough to ask you for advice with the ladies.”
“It might be better for him to come to me than his dad,” Jason replied. “Gary’s main moves involved telling girls how many No. 1 records he had.”
Shrugging, Howard conceded.
“Okay, then, why exactly are you doing this?” he asked.
Jason looked at him fondly.
“Do you remember on the Progress promo tour when you couldn’t fly to Denmark because you got snowed in in Germany?”
Howard nodded.
“Well, they interviewed us after our performance and Gary talked about how much he wanted to bring his kids back there, because it was all snowy and twinkly and magical. And all I could think about then was how much I wanted to bring you back there, because it was so beautiful but I couldn’t enjoy it without seeing what you thought of it too.”
Howard looked just as dumbstruck as he did when he first saw La Caille bedecked in snow.
“We’ve been a lot of places over the past 22 years,” Jason continued. “Some of them with four, some with five, but you’ve been by my side through them all. On the weird occasions where something happened and you weren’t there, it just wasn’t the same. It was like I wasn’t really there either. So since I really didn’t get to enjoy the prettiness of Denmark, I wanted to capture it here in Utah with you. And kinda make up for a bunch of times we haven’t been there for each other.”
Howard finally found his voice.
“Mate, we’ve always been there for each other,” he said. “Just because you didn’t always have me and my electronics and my cloud of hairspray there didn’t mean I wasn’t there in spirit.”
Jason shook his head.
“Just wasn’t the same,” he replied.
They lapsed into silence, looking into the fire for a few minutes.
“Do you remember the first time we came to the US?” Howard said. “On that whirlwind promo tour, with Nigel?”
“Do I ever,” Jason groaned. “With Nigel off his head when we were doing Live and Kicking that morning and catching a plane that afternoon.”
“Should’ve been a sign to us right there,” Howard said. “I’m surprised we’re even allowed to be in New York again after the way Nigel acted when we were there.”
“Thank God we don’t have to put up with that shit anymore,” Jason said. “Not just from Nigel, but anyone. We finally have control and people around us who just treat each other right. It makes life so much more pleasant.”
Howard agreed.
“But at least we did get to see some sights,” he said. “I’ll never forget seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. And the Twin Towers. Man.”
“And riding on that ferry around the Hudson River,” Jason said. “We sure did end up on boats a lot in those days. New York, Sydney, Amsterdam…”
“We still do,” Howard grinned. “Remember taking the yacht up the Thames to the O2 for the Beautiful World dates?”
Jason laughed.
“I talked the ear off of the guy with the Sun about ethical investing,” he said. “For some reason he ended up finding that charming.”
“When does someone not find you charming?” Howard asked. “If they don’t I’ve missed it.”
Jason flushed.
“Princess Diana didn’t,” he said. “All I wanted was the chance to properly chat her up and all that happened was that she thought I looked naff.”
Funny how the little things still rankled after almost 20 years, apparently. Jason still looked upset over the debacle with the shirt worn twice in two days. Howard patted his hand.
“It was a nice shirt,” he said. “How were you to know she noticed enough to comment on it? That’s proof alone that you made an impression, mate. And Rob still maintains she fancied you the most of us all.”
Jason looked immensely cheered at the thought.
“I hope so,” he said. “Got to keep up my record with the older women.”
Howard laughed.
“Your record with ALL women,” he said.
“You’ve been pretty spoilt for choice yourself,” Jason rejoined. “It was pretty much a foregone conclusion you’d end up with all daughters. It’s the universe’s way to balance all the women you’ve, um, gotten to know in this lifetime.
Howard grinned wolfishly.
“Maybe that’s how four of us have had kids now and only two boys in the bunch,” he said. “I hope the convent schools are ready for the influx. Grace is ready to go now.”
“If she’s anything like you, she’ll be climbing out the windows and swinging from trees to sneak out,” Jason said. “And if karma works, it’ll be some kid like Justin Bieber waiting in the shadows.”
Howard looked very stressed at the thought.
——————————
The two of them sat there for hours, just remembering various moments in their shared years of experience together.
“Remember going to the club in Amsterdam and necking E’s?” Howard said.
“That was my first time taking an E,” Jason said. “Wow. I’ll never forget it. Completely different from anything else I’ve tried. And I’m still trying to reach that state of bliss in meditation. Never quite found it.”
“The thing that I remember is how blitzed Gary was,” Howard laughed. “If there was a girl at that club that he didn’t kiss that night, I don’t know how they hid from him.”
“Guys too,” Jason said. “He kissed me.”
“He did NOT,” Howard said, more shocked than he possibly should have been. Everyone wanted to kiss Jason, after all.
“Not a major kiss,” Jason replied. “I think he was more interested in feeling my hair than doing anything like making out. Which was probably exactly how it should be.”
“And Mark basically becoming a cuddle toy for half the girls in the club,” Howard continued. “Not that he was complaining.”
“I think Rob was jealous,” Jason said. “Whether it was because he was pulling the girls or that the girls weren’t pulling him, I’ll never know.”
“It’s not like Rob didn’t have Markie to terrorize every other city in Europe with him in,” Howard said. “Those two managed to get us into so much trouble in the years. Breaking beds, trashing conference rooms…”
“But when you look back, some of those catastrophies were some of the best memories of the first go around,” Jason said. “Especially when we were trying to hide them from Nigel. If we had kept that kinda teamwork going for everything, we might never have broken up.”
“Indeed,” Howard looked a bit sad.
“But we finally got it going properly for Progress,” Jason continued. “Remember hearing the first two songs for the first time?”
“Jumping around together to SOS and then you jumping up and mocking Rob’s ‘Rich beyond my wildest dreams’ speech,” Howard said. “I’ve never loved you more than at that moment.”
Jason giggled.
“Had to get it out of my system,” he said. “Luckily we’re past all that. And I ended up writing songs with Rob. Who would’ve ever thought that 20 years ago. The baby of the group became the rock star, and the dancer writing with him. It’s too weird for fiction.”
“Our whole story is too weird for fiction,” Howard said. “That’s what makes it work.”
Jason looked at his friend, a light shining in his eyes.
“You know, I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything,” he said. “All the fights, everything with Nigel, the crazy fans, the lack of privacy, any of it. Because if we hadn’t shared the bad, we wouldn’t have the good now. And there’s a hell of a lot of good here.”
Howard actually had a tear streaming down his cheek at that. Jason knew he was always the band member who had said the least, but he was also the first one to cry when the situation warrented it. Like now. But at least it was with happiness.
“People say this shit about you all the time, but it’s completely true,” Howard said. “You really are a special snowflake.”
“A flake, maybe, not a snowflake,” Jason demurred. “And it takes one to know one.”
The two of them smiled at each other.
“Let’s not miss another moment together,” Jason said. “Even if we never make another record or do another tour, we are still us and we need each other. We’ve got to keep making these memories.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Howard said. “You’re the one who disappears to Thailand.”
Jason shrugged.
“That’s just geography between us,” he said. “What I’m concerned with is keeping our souls close together. No more making distance where it’s not needed.”
Howard couldn’t say he exactly understood what Jason meant by that, but all he knew was that the ever-independent Jason Orange was telling him that he needed him with him, for always. And all he could do was agree.