Part 229
Lunch was at the venue where several contest winners were to join them. As Sarah stood watching several young girls talking to Howie, Brian, and Kevin, AJ snuck up behind her and put his arms around her.
Kissing her on the ear, he whispered, "I take it from the moans, groans, and screams last night that everything is fine."
Sarah laughed, "It always was. Are you gonna be okay?"
"I’ll be fine. I’ll call you if I need you."
"Go socialize. That girl talking to Howie is dying to see you."
AJ kissed her again on the cheek and headed over to meet the fans as Becca joined Sarah.
Watching the guys signing autographs, Becca said, "Howie looks like he’s in a better mood."
Sarah sighed, "He is. He and AJ talked last night."
"Yuh huh…That’s ALL it took," teased Becca.
"Nope, it wasn’t," smiled Sarah as Howie looked her way and winked. "But you already knew that. Come on…let’s get our lunch before the guys get a chance to pick through all the good stuff."
Walking through the buffet line, Sarah noticed that Becca seemed somewhat upset. So she asked, "How’s your blood pressure?"
"It’s fine."
"Okay…so what’s the matter?"
Becca grinned, "What, you playing ‘Dear Abby’ today, solving everyone’s problems?"
"No…just the ones I care about," said Sarah as she took the glass of water handed her and headed to the table. "What’s wrong, Bec?"
Setting her plate down, Becca said, "Nothing’s really wrong. I’m just getting a little nervous."
"About the baby?"
"You are gonna be back in time?"
"I’ll catch up in Ottawa. Bec, your due date isn’t until the 18th….and I’ve told you a million times, first babies are notoriously late. God, Jesse was almost three weeks past my due date."
"What if something happens? I can’t do this without you."
"Yes, you can but nothing is gonna happen. I’m going to fly to LA, record my FIRST CD, and rejoin you guys in Ottawa. Nothing to it."
"Sure, that’s easy for YOU to say."
"True…I’m not married to the ‘Blonde Wonder’! Tell you what…IF something happens while I’m gone and my niece decides to make her grand entrance…although, I can’t imagine a Carter being on time for ANYTHING….I’ll loan you Howie. He knows all the Lamaze stuff and he’s NOT squeamish."
"Who’s not squeamish?" asked Nick as he joined the girls giving Becca a kiss.
"Howie…I was just telling Bec she could borrow him IF and ONLY IF my niece decides to come early."
Nick panicked, "What do you mean ‘comes early’? YOU said first babies are always late. You can’t go ANYWHERE if this baby is gonna come early!!!"
"Oh good god!" said Sarah as she rolled her eyes. "You two are hopeless. NOTHING is going to happen and I’ll be back BEFORE the baby arrives."
The others joined Sarah and Becca and the conversation took off on Sarah’s upcoming CD. All of them were excited for her and they babbled endlessly about it. All the material that was going on the CD had been written by Howie, Kevin, and AJ so it was just as important to them as it was to Sarah.
After lunch as Howie and Sarah sat together in the arena seats talking quietly, Nick came bounding in calling for Sarah.
Aggravated by the interruption, Howie growled, "What do you want, Nick?"
"We need another player for a basketball game. Sarah…come on!"
"Who’s playing?" asked Sarah, her interest peaked. She loved playing basketball with Nick because it was so much fun when he lost.
"Me, Rok, and Eddie against you, Kevin, and AJ."
Howie saw the excitement in her eyes and said, "Go on, Angel. I’ll come watch."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he answered with a kiss.
"Cool! Oh…and by the way, Kevin and AJ agreed to be skins," grinned Nick.
Not missing a beat, Sarah said, "Cool!" and she stripped off her top shirt to reveal her white tank top. "Let’s go, Blonde Boy! I feel the need to kick your butt!"
Howie laughed watching the two take off to the basketball court set up in the bus parking lot. He joined Becca and the few fans that were still there as the six got ready to play ball.
"Guys…One reminder," called Howie.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…WE KNOW! Sarah’s pregnant! Take it easy on her," groaned Nick. "You need to remind your wife that SHE’S pregnant and to take it easy on US!"
Sarah laughed maniacally, "NEVER BLONDIE! Let’s go!"
AJ laughed, "Oh, I’m liking this already! Sarah’s in her kick-ass frame of mind."
"Whoa!! What are the stakes?" asked Brian.
They all looked at each other stumped. They always had a bet of some kind on the games but no one had come up with something this time.
Becca spoke up, "How about losers buy dinner tonight?"
"Better yet, losers COOK dinner," suggested Sarah.
"No WAY!" said Nick. "I’m NOT cooking for Sarah."
"Why not, Nicky?" asked Sarah innocently.
"You aren’t as easy to please as Becca with your cravings and all. You get expensive."
AJ defended Sarah. "I don’t know about that. The other night, all she wanted was ice cream and last night, it was Howie…both of them are cheap."
"Hey! I’m easy…NOT cheap!" pouted Howie.
"Come on, Kaos," urged Brian. "You’re acting like we’re gonna lose."
"Fine…losers cook dinner. Howie, hope you’ve got your kitchen stocked," said Nick as he passed the ball to Sarah. "You jumping?"
Kevin grabbed the ball. "YOU DORK! Sarah’s too short to jump against you. I’m doing it."
With that, the game began and it was, as usual, intense. All six were extremely competitive and today was no different. They played as hard as they performed, especially Sarah. She always went at it full steam, not wanting to lose to Nick. In the end, it was Sarah, Kevin, and AJ who won infuriating Nick to no end.
"Hey, Nicky! NO CORNFLAKES!" taunted Sarah as she headed with Howie to the bus to get a shower.
*****************
The Fleet Center was rocking already and no one had set foot on stage yet. Backstage, everyone was pumped for the final show in Boston. Standing together, ready to go onstage, Sarah leaned against Howie, his arms wrapped around her waist.
"You ready, Angel?"
"Yep…but where’s Kevin? I thought he was introducing me."
"I AM! I AM! Just hold your horses, woman," said Kevin as he took Sarah’s hand and pulled her from Howie’s arms to dance with him.
"What are you doing?" laughed Sarah as Kevin spun her around.
"Dancin’ baby!" said Kevin as he pulled her to him and they continued to dance.
Becca sighed watching the two. Sarah and Kevin looked so good dancing together and the interaction of EVERYONE from the band to the dancers to the five men who made the girls swoon was simply irresistible.
Becca sighed contentedly and Nick hugged her close. "Happy?"
"Yeah…very. This is how it’s suppose to be, Nick…all the time."
Howie heard Becca and smiled, "It is a fantastic ride. But you know something…after all is said and done…the tour is over, the fans are gone, the glitz and glamour has faded away…the friendships are what will still be there…FOREVER, Becca."
All of them had heard Howie and led by Sarah, broke out singing, "We go together like rama lama lama, ka dingity ding de dong…remembered forever like shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yippity boom de boom…."
***************
Sadly, Sarah answered, "I’ll be fine, ‘Boo’. I’m not good at saying good-bye."
Kevin laughed softly taking Sarah’s hand in his. "If it makes you feel any better, neither is he."
Smiling, "I know. It doesn’t get any easier. Why aren’t you gone?"
"Came to say see ya later and to tell you that everything at the studio is set. A car will meet you at the airport and take you to my house," said Kevin as he pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. "You’re staying at my place and you’re welcome to use my car."
"Thanks, ‘Boo’."
Kevin gave her a kiss. "No problem. You’re doing me a favor staying at the house. We’ll call you tomorrow night."
Kevin leaned over to give her a kiss and she watched as he headed backstage passing AJ on his way out. Sarah shook her head knowing he was coming to check on her just like Kevin had.
AJ stopped too to sign autographs before joining Sarah. "Hey, ‘Tigger’! Waiting for ‘D’?"
Sarcastically, she said, "No, actually, I’m waiting for Brian. He and I got this thing going."
AJ laughed, "Rok can’t handle you, ‘Tig’," as he put his arm around her.
Sarah rested her head on his shoulder. "Why doesn’t it get easier?"
"Because you two are in love," said AJ kissing her on top of the head. "The time will fly by, Sarah. You’re going to be so busy recording that you won’t have time to miss Howie."
"Yeah, just when I’m at Kevin’s at night….ALONE!"
AJ laughed, "You mean last night wasn’t enough to get you through?"
Sarah pouted, "NO!"
The small crowd of fans started buzzing again and AJ and Sarah looked up to see Howie talking to them. He looked over as he talked, winking at Sarah causing the teenage girls to sigh.
"Why don’t you go over there with him?"
"What? And make the girls miserable because his wife is with him?"
AJ smiled, "Yeah…because his wife is miserable because he’s with them.
"I think I will. Alex, thank you."
"Anything for my ‘Tigger’," and he kissed her again.
Sarah joined Howie and he put his arm around her waist holding her beside him.
One of the fans said, "Your show was really good, Sarah. Are you going to do your own CD?"
"As a matter of fact, I’m headed to LA tomorrow to record."
"So you aren’t going to Toronto with Howie?"
"Not this time," answered Howie. "The CD should be out here in the States in December, a great Christmas present."
"Sarah, are you going to do a tour to promote it?"
"Not sure yet. I am going to Japan with the guys to open for them there in November but from there, I’m not sure what I’m doing."
Pulling her closer so that he had both arms around her now, Howie smiled as he said, "Look for a major announcement from us in the near future."
The fans let out a collective sigh seeing Howie holding her close and the couple laughed.
Sarah asked, "What was that for?"
One of the older fans spoke up, "You two are so in love. It’s just so wonderful to see Howie and the way he is with you. Every girl dreams of a guy in their life like that."
"And you’re soooo lucky," chorused another. "Howie is the sweetest guy around."
Howie blushed at the compliment and said, "Thank you. I’m pretty lucky to have Sarah. I hate to cut this short but I need to get Sarah back to the hotel and I’m headed out to Canada. It’s a long trip."
"Thanks for talking to us."
"Any time," said Howie.
Walking out holding hands, the crew waved good-bye to the couple.
At the back door, Howie stopped Sarah, pulling her to him. "I want you to leave before me."
"Why?"
"Because every time we’ve ever had to say good-bye, you’ve been the one to have to stay behind and watch me pull away. I know how hard it is on you."
Sarah leaned her head against his chest and put her hands on his waist. She said softly, "It’s NOT gonna make it any easier."
Howie caressed her arms. "I know," he whispered. "Go on back to the hotel and get some sleep." Howie put his hands under Sarah’s chin and with his thumbs, wiped her tears away. Leaning in to her, he kissed her gently on the lips letting his tongue trace her lips. Pulling back, he whispered, "I love you, Sarah. You’ll be in my heart, my thoughts, and dreams, until we’re together again."
Sarah’s tears began to fall steadily as she asked, "Why do you do this to me? Why can’t you just say ‘get out of my face’?"
Howie laughed, "Because I could never be that cruel to you. The car is waiting, Angel."
The two walked out to the car where Raoul was waiting for them. He opened the door for Sarah and watched as the couple embraced."
Sarah whispered, "I love you, Howie."
"I love you, too," he responded. Then looking at Raoul as he continued to hold Sarah, he said, "Take care of her for me."
"Plan on it," smiled Raoul.
Howie looked at his wife putting his finger on her nose. "And YOU….no giving him a hard time."
Sarah laughed, "Yes sir…I promise. See you in Ottawa."
Howie kissed her again then stepped back to watch her get in first, then Raoul. As the car pulled away, he waved as Sarah looked back one final time.
When the car had disappeared into the night, Howie made his way to his bus tiredly. Climbing on, a chill passed through him. He looked back one final time to see that the other buses were ready to go. No sense in prolonging the inevitable.
"Let’s go," Howie told his driver as the doors closed behind him and the bus pulled out into the night not knowing what lay ahead of them in the days to come.