Part 413
With his hand on Sarah’s lower back, Raoul led her through the crowd of people. She was mumbling to herself the whole way and he just snickered.
Passing the first set of bathrooms, Sarah stopped cold in her tracks.
"What’s wrong?" asked Raoul looking back at her.
Turning green, Sarah bolted for the bathroom. Raoul stood vigilantly at the door waiting. Minutes later, she emerged.
"Ready now?" he asked.
"NO! God, Raoul! What the hell am I doing?"
Chuckling, he said, "You’re going through a busy airport to pick up your sister-in-law and friends."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "You know, everyone likes a piece of ass but no one likes a smart ass."
Raoul laughed, "Come on, ‘Shorty’! We’re already late meeting them."
The two started through the crowd again and upon reaching the security checkpoints, they stopped to wait. It was here that people, especially young girls, began to recognize Sarah and before they realized, there was a small crowd of girls surrounding Sarah shooting a hundred questions a minute. They all wanted to know where Howie was, when she was due, when her CD was going to be released, what it was like being married to a Backstreet Boy, standard questions she was use to answering and she politely answered them all. The whole time they were asking questions, they were shoving slips of paper or pictures in her face for her to sign. Sarah did her best to sign everything while Raoul tried to keep them from crushing her. Airport security stepped in to give Raoul a hand dispersing the crowd and Sarah was grateful.
As soon as the crowd of girls was gone, Sarah heard a familiar voice behind her, "I would have sworn it was my brother in the middle of that crowd of girls, NOT my sister-in-law."
Sarah turned to see Pollyanna standing next to her laughing as the two hugged. "God, it’s good to see you, Polly!" gushed Sarah.
"What’s up with YOU being swamped?" asked Sonja.
"It’s become normal ever since I started opening for the guys," greeted Sarah as she hugged Sonja. "It’s good to see you."
"Where’s Becca? I sorta figured you’d come together," said Sonja looking around.
"She went to meet Lynne on the opposite side of this damn airport," answered Sarah. "Ali! God, it’s good to see you."
The two old friends embraced and as Ali held onto Sarah, she whispered, "It’s SOOOO good to finally see you too!"
A lifetime had paced in the month since they’d seen each other. They’d spoken on the phone and exchanged emails but it was different finally seeing each other face to face.
Letting each other go, they had to wipe the tears as Pollyanna asked, "Who’s Lynne?"
"Lynne was the nurse that took care of Becca after Garrett was born and she couldn’t travel yet," explained Sarah as they started through the airport back to meet Becca, Lynne, and Billy.
"So she’s coming to see Becca and Garrett?" asked Sonja.
Not thinking, Sarah said, "No, not really. Kevin invited her to join him for his birthday."
Sarah missed the frown on Alison’s face but Raoul didn’t and he nudged Sarah. Whispering, "Do you really think you should have told them that?"
Looking up at her bodyguard, she shook her head. "Why not?" she whispered back. Raoul nodded his head at Alison and Sarah realized her mistake. "Shit," she mumbled. "I’ve been hanging around Nick too damn long."
Raoul just smiled agreement and thankfully, Pollyanna changed the subject. She wanted to know how the babies were doing so they spent the time getting caught up.
Approaching the designated meeting point, Sarah spotted Billy pacing as Lynne and Becca chatted oblivious to Billy. Looking at her watch, she realized they’d taken way too long but there wasn’t much she could do about it now.
Billy spotted them and as the group joined them, he ranted, "Where the hell have you been? Sarah, you have a show to do and you haven’t even eaten yet!"
"Yes, Daddy," said Sarah rolling her eyes at Billy’s tone with her. "I couldn’t help having to throw up and then a crowd of girls wanted autographs. Hey, Lynne! It’s awesome to see you again. How was your flight?"
"It was good," greeted Lynne as Sarah gave her a hug. "I can’t believe I’m here."
Sarah laughed, "The fun is just beginning. Lynne, this is Pollyanna, Howie’s sister, Sonja, Brian’s girlfriend, and Alison, AJ’s girlfriend."
They all shook hands welcoming each other but Sarah noticed that Ali was cool towards Lynne. Oh well, Alison and Vanessa were roommates and friends. It was to be expected. Hopefully things would mellow with time. If not, it was going to be a LONG week.
The men herded the group of women out to the van but Becca grabbed Sarah’s arm to stop her. "What’s with Alison?"
"I told her that Kevin had invited Lynne to join him for his birthday," mumbled Sarah.
"Oh great!!" replied Becca rolling her eyes.
"Don’t worry. I don’t think Alison will let it cause problems," reassured Sarah somewhat skeptically. Then more to herself, "At least, I hope not."