Part 107

Early Thursday morning, the phone rang waking Sarah. Groggily, she reached to answer it. "Taylor residence."

In a panic, Becca gushed, "Sarah, our flight was cancelled and there aren’t any flights to Virginia until Friday morning but they’re all too late and…"

"Slow down, Bec!" said Sarah. Looking at the clock, she realized it was only six in the morning. She wondered how anyone could be in such a panic this early in the morning. Trying to move so she could sit up, she realized that Howie had his arm and leg draped across her effectively pinning her to the bed. She gave up and said, "Bec, take a deep breath and tell me again."

Sighing, Becca said, "Our flight was cancelled due to mechanical difficulties and when we tried to get another flight out, there wasn’t one until Friday morning at ten. We’ll never make the funeral with that flight."

Struggling to get free from Howie’s hold, Sarah said, "Hang on, Bec."

"Okay."

Sarah shook Howie, "Wake up, D."

"Who can sleep with you moving around so much and the phone ringing?" grumbled Howie.

"Nick and Becca are stranded in Orlando…no flights until tomorrow."

"Ummmm…wait until tomorrow then."

"Howie, come on. Wake up."

"I told you I’m awake."

"Then think of something."

"What do you want me to do? I’m not a pilot."

"God, you’re grouchy! What about the Foundation’s jet?"

"It’s suppose to be for Foundation purposes only."

"Yeah, and what was our trip back from Miami and the flight to the Keys?"

"Fine…make the call."

"Bec, are you on Nick’s cell?"

"Yes."

"Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you back."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Wake up for one and then I’ll get the Foundation’s jet. Just hang on."

"Thank you, Sarah."

Sarah hung up and Howie pulled her closer. He began to nuzzle her neck, nibbling at her skin gently.

"D, I need to make a phone call."

"Make it later."

"Nick and Becca are waiting."

Against her skin, Howie mumbled, "Let them wait. I need you NOW."

Sarah laughed, "You can wait. Let me make this call and then I’ll take care of you."

"Angel," begged Howie. "I REALLY need you."

Sarah ran her hand down his arm. "I know, D. Be patient."

Howie buried his face in Sarah’s hair and groaned in frustration. "I’m gonna kill that boy! Can’t he do ANYTHING without interrupting me?"

Sarah laughed and then got up to make the necessary arrangements. She had to dig through Howie’s wallet to find the number for the pilot for the Foundation. Then she made the necessary arrangements. It didn’t take long and Howie told her to tell the pilot to stick around until they were ready to head back to Orlando. No sense in it being here and them taking advantage of it to get home.

When the phone calls were done, Howie grabbed Sarah and pulled her back into bed with him. They made love and fell asleep again.

**************

The jet touched down at noon and the four friends watched it taxi to a stop. The couple exited the plane and made their way to the private waiting area. Sarah watched as they walked and realized that Becca was upset.

"D, you guys need to distract Nick so I can talk to Bec."

"No problem, Angel."

As the couple entered the lobby, Kevin, Brian, and Howie assaulted Nick giving him a hard time about having to fly. While they did that, Sarah took Becca’s hand and pulled her away from them.

She could tell that Becca had been crying as she embraced her best friend. "Hey you!"

"Hey yourself."

Sarah felt Becca’s tears on her shoulder as she rubbed her back. "It’s gonna be okay, Bec."

Becca pulled back and looked at Sarah. "How do you do it? You just lost your mother…the one person other than Howie that you were closest to."

Sarah smiled softly, "Bec…."

But before Sarah could finish, Nick had grabbed her from behind "Hey, beautiful."

"Hey, Nicky," laughed Sarah.

Kevin noticed that a small crowd was gathering outside so he said, "Come on, guys. We need to get out of here. We don’t have any security with us."

The group made their way out of the airport stopping to sign some autographs. Sarah listened to the guys bantering back and forth and occasionally glanced at Becca as they headed back to her dad’s house. In all of her turmoil of the past few days, she hadn't really realized how deeply her mother's death might affect Becca. She knew that Becca had felt extremely close to her mother but … she needed to spend some girl time with her, and maybe they could work through this together.

Walking up the drive to the house, she slipped her arm around Becca. "I'm so glad you're here, Bec."

"Me too, sis. I’m really sorry, Sarah."

"I know you are, but …" She paused, stopping to look at Becca. "Look, let's get your stuff settled into a room and then we'll go talk, ok?"

Sarah's dad met them at the door, pulling Becca into a warm embrace before reaching to shake Nick's hand. "Congratulations, son, " he said. "Looks like married life agrees with you?" He smiled at Nick as Nick grinned back.

"Yes sir," he said, "so far."

"Becca, you look great, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, most of the time," she answered.

"I don't believe that for a minute, young lady. I remember what it's like to have a pregnant wife, and I think your young man and I need to have a talk. You girls go on and visit, we'll take care of your things."

Becca laughed, glancing at Nick before heading out the back door with Sarah.

"You up for a walk?" Sarah asked.

"Sure, I guess so, where to?"

"Up there." Sarah pointed to the hilltop behind the house, the same place she and Howie had gone to escape from the world for a while.

"Wow, well, sure. I'm game. Let's go!"

Part 108        The Dance Index