Part 342
Arriving back at Kevin’s, Howie and Sarah walked to the door arm in arm, kissing as they went. As Howie fumbled with the keys, Sarah placed feathery kisses along his neck until she reached the pulse point and began to suck as her hands roamed over his body.
Frustrated, Howie struggled to say, "Angel, I can’t get the door open with you doing this."
Taking the keys in her hands, Sarah purred, "Let me, ‘D’."
Turning around, Sarah put the keys in the lock as Howie’s arms wrapped around her waist. It was his turn to distract Sarah and distract her he did. He slipped his hands under her top caressing her skin ever so tenderly as he kissed her neck running his tongue from the base of her neck to just behind her ear.
As the door swung open, Sarah whispered, "Let’s take it inside so we don’t give Kevin’s neighbors a show."
Without letting go of her, Howie guided Sarah into the house using his foot to close the door behind him. Sarah leaned her head back against his shoulder and turned to kiss him. Parting her lips slightly, his met hers. His tongue caressed hers as his hand slipped under the fabric of her bra. With his thumb and forefinger, he twirled her nipple causing it to harden and eliciting a whimper from Sarah.
"Ahem…Sarah, Howie," came a voice that startled the couple.
Quickly removing his hand, Howie pulled out of the kiss to see Vanessa
standing in the living room. "Vanessa! When did you get here?"
"About an hour ago. Where is everyone?"
Excited to see Vanessa, Sarah pulled away from Howie and rushed to hug her friend. "Vanessa! It’s so good to see you! I had NO idea you were coming out here."
"Neither did I but I had a couple extra days off and I remembered you saying you were going to be here working on your CD. I decided to surprise Kevin."
Howie mumbled, "Oh, you’re definitely gonna surprise him."
Sarah looked at him, "’D’, what did you say?"
"Nothing, Angel. It’s good to see you, Vanessa."
"Why didn’t Kevin take his cell phone with him?" asked Vanessa.
"I guess he forgot it," offered Howie. "We were in kind of a hurry this morning. Did you try to call him?"
"I tried to call from the airport but couldn’t get him. Who’s
Lynne?"
Sarah missed Howie tense at the question as she explained, "Lynne is one of the friends we made in Toronto and who helped take care of Becca. She’s a nurse and was the ONLY reason the doctor didn’t make Bec stay in the hospital the entire week she had to stay back."
"Why would she be calling Kevin though?"
Sarah shrugged her shoulders not knowing about the phone call Kevin had made to her in Minneapolis. She offered the only explanation she could come up with. "Well, we all gave her our numbers in case of an emergency. I assume she was trying to catch up with us to see how Becca was doing."
"Why not call Nick if she was doing that?" quizzed Vanessa. "And why would she call HERE, not his cell."
"I expect Nick has his off. He and Becca are with Jane and Bob. I have no idea how she would get this number though. Did the call come here?"
"Yeah, it did." Vanessa seemed to accept the fact that Becca and
Nick had their cells off, but Howie saw that she wasn’t too sure about Lynne
calling the house. "Where is Kevin?"
"Brian, AJ, and Kevin went out clubbing to give Sarah and me some time alone."
It suddenly dawned on Vanessa that Howie and Sarah were alone. "Where’s Jesse?"
"Nick and Becca have her since I was working on the CD and video."
Blushing, Vanessa apologized, "I’m so sorry, guys. I’ve messed up your evening."
"It’s okay," said Sarah. "Why don’t we call the guys and let them know you’re here?"
"Kevin’s cell is here," Vanessa reminded her.
"I expect Alex or Brian have theirs," said Sarah.
Howie quickly offered, "I’ll try them while you two get caught up."
"Thanks, Howie."
Sarah settled onto the couch while Vanessa took a chair across from her and they began chattering away. Sarah told Vanessa all about what had happened in Boston and about trying to get to Toronto along with everything else that had been going on in the last two weeks.
From the kitchen, Howie watched as the two talked and he dialed AJ’s number. He waited for the call to go through wondering what was about to happen. Sarah was so excited to see Vanessa but his conversation with Kevin was vivid in his mind.
"Hello?"
"Age…is Kevin with you?"
"Yeah…he’s right here. What’s up? Why aren’t you making the most of your time alone with ‘Tigger’?"
"Something’s come up. Let me talk to Kevin."
"Is Sarah okay?" asked AJ anxiously.
"She’s fine. Come on, AJ….give the phone to Kevin. It’s important."
"Okay. Here," said AJ as he handed the phone to Kevin. "It’s Howie."
Kevin took the phone. "’D’, what’s up?"
"Vanessa’s here." There was silence on the other end. "Kevin, did you hear me?"
Quietly, Kevin said, "Yeah, I heard. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes."
"You need to know one more thing. Evidently, you left your cell here…"
"I left it to charge."
"Well, Lynne called here and Vanessa answered."
"Shit!"
"Yeah. Did you give Lynne THIS number?"
"No. Why?"
"Well, the call came to the house."
"I had my calls forwarded to the house rather than coming to the cell."
"Vanessa tried calling. Why wouldn’t she realize that?"
"I have the same message on my voice mail for both numbers. No one would know the difference."
"Oh…okay."
"I’ll be there in twenty minutes."
Rejoining the girls, Howie sat beside Sarah and put his arm around her. "Kevin’s on his way now. What have you been up to, Vanessa?"
"Work has been keeping me extremely busy. I’ve been working late every day and when I get home, I’ve been going straight to bed. The night I was talking to you, Sarah, on the instant messenger, I was still at work."
"Ness, it was almost midnight," said Sarah.
"I know. That’s how I got the extra time off."
"So when do you have to be back?" asked Howie.
"October 7th. If Kevin still wants me to join him, I thought I’d go with you guys."
Sarah bubbled, "That’s gonna make Kevin so happy!"
Vanessa saw that Howie wasn’t exactly thrilled with her plan to join Kevin
on tour. "Howie, is there a problem?"
Sarah looked up at him and saw the same thing Vanessa saw. She knew he was holding something in. "’D’, why the frown?"
"No reason, Angel," answered Howie forcing a smile.
Vanessa smiled, "You’re disappointed about tonight, aren’t you? God, I should have disappeared when I saw you two coming in."
Sarah ran her hand along Howie’s arms knowing he was holding back. "He’ll get over it. It’s just so good to see you again. Why didn’t Ali come too?"
"She’s working until the first and then she’s gonna catch up with AJ."
Hearing the front door open, Howie said, "Angel, come on. Let’s give Kevin and Vanessa some time alone."
Howie stood and helped Sarah up. "We’ll see you in the morning," grinned Sarah. Going by Kevin who was now standing in the entrance, Sarah put her hand on his side and gave him a kiss. Seeing the look in his eyes, Sarah whispered, "’Boo’, smile! She came to be with you."
Kevin hugged her and answered, "I know but Howie will explain it to you later."
Howie put his hand on Sarah’s back and guided her out of the room. He motioned to AJ and Brian to follow them and they headed to the music room down the hall.
"What’s going on, ‘D’?" asked Sarah. "Why wasn’t Kevin happy to see Vanessa?"
"He’s having second thoughts about his relationship with her."
"Ali’s mentioned that Vanessa was having second thoughts. She’s been seeing some guy she met the last time she was here in LA but I don’t know who it is," said AJ.
Resting her head on Howie’s shoulder, Sarah sighed, "Oh well, I tried. ‘D’, let’s go to our room."
AJ and Brian smiled as Howie hugged her close playing with her hair.
"We’ll see you two in the morning," said Brian. "I’m gonna go give Sonja a call."
"I’m gonna go call Ali," said AJ.
"At least you two are still okay with your girls," said Sarah giving AJ and Brian a tired smile. "I’m gonna have to talk to Kevin and Vanessa in the morning."
"Come on, ‘Angel’! I don’t need you trying to play ‘Cupid’," teased Howie as he scooped her up in his arms. "I’m taking you to bed where I can keep an eye on you."
"Yeah, I bet your eyes are all you’re gonna have on her," cracked AJ as he opened the door for Howie.
The four went up the back way to the bedrooms to avoid any possible fall out from the living room.