Part 272
As the van pulled up to the restaurant, Nick groaned, "God! You and your damn cravings."
Sarah growled back, "Bite me, Blondie!"
"From the reaction to your dream, you’d enjoy it," taunted Nick.
"Go to….’
"Stop it, you two," interceded Kevin. "Nick, leave Sarah alone."
"How did they find out where we were going?" asked Brian as he looked out at the crowd of fans gathered around the restaurant.
"If Tammy hadn’t already left, I’d say she probably dropped a bug to the press," grumbled Howie.
"Tammy’s gone?" questioned Sarah. "Who’s gonna take her place?"
"Uh…Howie?" asked Kevin looking at him curiously. "You haven’t told her?"
"I was kinda distracted when she woke up," grinned Howie as he kissed the back of Sarah’s hand. The couple had made love after Sarah had calmed down from her dream.
"Tell me what, D?"
"I’ll tell you inside, Angel. Jess, you hold on to your mother’s hand and don’t let go."
"Yes sir," said Jesse meekly.
"What’s wrong, ‘Little One’?" asked AJ seeing the fear in her eyes.
Jesse was sitting between AJ and Brian but had seen the crowd of fans and press. "Why are they HERE?"
AJ looked around the van at the others then said, "Well, Jess…somehow they found out we were gonna be here and they wanted to see us. There’s NOTHING to be scared of. You’ve seen crowds like this before."
"Do they want to see Mommy too?"
AJ smiled, "Of course they do…and you too. Who wouldn’t love you and your mommy?"
"Mommy’s the greatest!" said Jesse proudly.
"She sure is, Princess," agreed Howie as he squeezed Sarah’s hand.
Security was at the van now and helped the group out. Holding the crowd back, the group was escorted inside stopping to answer one question.
At the door, a reporter cut Kevin, Howie, and Sarah off from the rest of the group. "When are we going to get the answers you promised? You said the other night before you left Toronto, you’d answer any and all questions. Well, you’re leaving tonight for Ottawa and so far, nothing."
Kevin looked at Howie and Sarah and Howie whispered, "Are you up for it?"
Sarah nodded her head ‘yes’ and Kevin said, "We’re going in for dinner right now. If you’ll meet us back at the Air Canada Centre, we’ll answer your questions. Sarah’s doing an interview with one of the networks from the States. You’re welcome to join them."
Inside, things went from bad to worse. Normally the group was given a private dining room but tonight, they were escorted to the main dining area and seated at a large round table in the middle of the dining room. The room had three walls of nothing but glass allowing the fans a clear view of the guys and the rest of the diners were gawking at the group as well.
As they sat down, AJ mumbled, "What the fuck…are we on display or what?"
"I’m saying," agreed Nick.
Kevin grumbled, "This is NOT what I asked for."
Sarah looked around and whispered, "Guys, I’m REALLY sorry…we can leave
if you want."
"No, we’re here now," said Howie. "Besides, this is NOT your fault, Sarah."
"Yeah, it is," grumbled Nick. "If she didn’t have a craving for seafood, we could have just ordered pizza and had it delivered to the venue."
Sarah glared back at Nick, "Look, Nickolas, the ONLY reason I don’t chew you up and spit you out is because you’re my best friend’s husband, my nephew’s father, and I’ve grown rather fond of you lately because I THOUGHT you’d grown up. I was obviously WRONG…so BACK OFF!"
"I think that just about takes care of it," said Brian.
They all took up their menus, a tense silence falling over the group as they tried to focus on having a relaxing meal despite the hordes of fans staring at them through the windows and beating on the glass to get the guys’ attention. Even Jesse was on edge. She was quiet, sniffling occasionally and scooting as close to Sarah as possible.
"What ‘cha havin’, Angel?" asked Howie trying to distract Sarah.
"Ummm….the Seafood Combo looks soooo good. What about you?"
"Not sure…a steamed lobster sounds good."
AJ offered, "D, they’ve got oysters on the half shell…maybe you and Sarah should have them?"
Sarah and Howie were both amused by AJ’s crack until Nick mumbled, "Sarah doesn’t need anything to get her in the mood."
Under the table, Sarah kicked him…HARD.
"Owww!" said Nick reaching to rub his leg where she’d kicked him. "Was that REALLY necessary?"
"Yes!" glowered Sarah.
The waitress appeared at the table to take their orders and when she was gone, the guys talked amongst themselves.
"D, who’s taking Tammy’s place tonight?"
"You are," he grinned. "Lisa’s actually gonna take Tammy’s place and you’re gonna take Lisa’s…to be with me."
Jesse tugged at Sarah’s arm. "Mommy, what are they doing?"
Sarah looked to see what Jesse was talking about. There was a group of girls at the window with their shirts pulled up and on each of their stomachs, they had a letter of Howie’s name painted. She shook her head and said, "They’re just trying to attract your daddy’s attention, Jess. Ignore them."
"Mommy…this is scary."
"I know, baby."
"Don’t worry, Princess. We’ve got Raoul and Tommy with us and they’ll take good care of us."
"Hey, Peanut…come on. Let’s go look at the lobsters," suggested
Nick in an attempt to distract her.
"Lobsters?"
"Yeah, they’ve got a fish tank like your daddy’s where they keep the lobsters that the customers order," explained AJ.
"Are they still alive?"
"Yeah."
"Come on," said Nick picking her up. "We can go pick out the one your daddy’s gonna get."
"Thanks, Nick," said Sarah gratefully.
"The least I can do after being such a jerk," smirked Nick.
Nick and Jesse disappeared into the other part of the restaurant and the others tried to talk. Howie and Sarah talked more about her dancing and she was a little nervous about it. He reassured her that she’d be fine. He also told her more about what had happened with Tammy.
Looking at Howie’s watch, Sarah said, "Nick’s been gone an awfully long time. I hope there isn’t a problem."
AJ looked out the windows and spotted Nick signing autographs. "He’s not having any problems. He’s out there doing what he normally does…causing a riot."
They all looked out to see Nick but no Jesse.
"Howard…where’s our daughter?" panicked Sarah.
Calmly, Howie said, "I’ll go find her."
As Howie started to get up, Raoul appeared with Jesse in his arms. Sarah rushed to him taking Jesse who was in tears now.
Howie asked, "What happened?"
"A group of girls swarmed Nick and Jesse got separated from him in the rush. Nick went out to sign autographs to get them away from Jesse and give me a chance to find her."
Angrily, Sarah said, "Howie, let’s go. It’s scaring Jesse and none of us can relax."
Slamming his fist on the table, Kevin said, "No! I’m going to talk to the manager. This is ridiculous. When I called, I asked for a private, secluded area…NOT to be put on display. Carlos…find the manager."
"On it, Boss."
Minutes later, the manager appeared. "I want to apologize for this. I have NO idea how all this could have happened."
"When I called, I was assured that we’d have privacy."
"I know and that room wasn’t available when you arrived. If you still want it, it’s ready."
"Yes, we still want it," answered Sarah quickly.
The rest of dinner was silent despite having been moved to the private dining area. Sarah was blaming herself for the fiasco of earlier. She was also getting nervous about the interview she’d agreed to do. No amount of reassurance helped. Even Jesse’s comments about Howie eating her cute ‘friend’ didn’t help.