Part 594
Becca was sitting on the front porch of the Taylor house when Howie and Sarah strolled up the front path some time in the late afternoon. They looked deliriously happy and well rested, and Becca was torn between feeling genuinely happy for them and wanting to claw her best friend’s eyes out. Deciding that the latter wouldn’t solve anything, she attempted to put on a bright smile. Unfortunately, what came out of her mouth was a dead giveaway to how she was feeling.
“Nice of you to come home,” she said. Her voice was flat and had an unmistakably bitter ring. Crap. She winced at herself, then started to say something to cover it up, but Sarah simply smiled. She was either ignoring her mood or was totally oblivious to it.
“Well, we thought we’d better get back here before y’all sent the sheriff’s department out looking for us,” Sarah laughed.
“Yep. I considered having them drag the lake when you didn’t show up for dinner last night.” Becca rolled her eyes as the sarcasm went right over Sarah’s head.
“We had a lovely, private dinner of our own, didn’t we D.?” Sarah gushed, pulling Howie down for a long, intimate kiss. Right there in the front yard.
The screen door slammed shut behind Becca and as she watched Sarah and Howie kiss, she felt Nick’s hands on her shoulders, attempting to rub away some of the tension. She’d been wound tighter than a drum since dinner the night before. That was when she’d discovered that Howie and Sarah had slipped away for the night, leaving them behind to make small talk with the family and rehash (yet again) the details of how they’d met, been separated, got back together, had Garrett … the whole nine yards. Around nine at night, Becca disappeared upstairs to settle the baby down for the night and simply never returned. Nick had been left to deal with the Taylor family, and he’d done an admirable job of entertaining them, all the while fielding conspiratorial glances from Sarah’s father.
By eleven o’clock, most everyone had wandered off to bed, and Nick was about to do the same when Mr. Taylor stopped him.
“Nick, you know everything’s going to be fine.”
“I hope so. Damn, this is such a mess.” He sighed and ran his weary hands through his hair.
“Your plane tickets will be here in the morning, so be sure you take them up to the cabin. Now go get some sleep, you’re going to need your energy for tomorrow night.” Mr. Taylor patted him on the back and chuckled as Nick grinned.
“God, I hope so. ‘Nite, dad.”
“G’nite, son.”
Nick had crept silently up the stairs, and when he pushed open the door to their bedroom, he found Becca and the baby sound asleep, right in the middle of the bed. He tried to move them over, but Garrett began to stir and Becca’s hand patted him lightly on the back, even in her sleep.
“Scoot over buddy, daddy needs some room, too.” Nick finally managed to squeeze in enough to get under the covers, and after draping his arm protectively over both his wife and son, drifted off into a deep sleep.
The morning had dawned cold, gray and drizzly, and Becca's mood was just about the same. Now here they were, confronting Sarah and her bubbly mood, and Nick knew she was going to snap any second. “How’d the doctor visit go?” he asked, desperate to get on to a better subject.
“Awesome! The babies are right on schedule and Sarah is as healthy as could be.” Howie hugged Sarah closer as he beamed.
“That’s great, Howie,” Becca said, trying her best to be gracious, but in the blink of an eye it all went to hell.
“So, Nicky, what’d you do last night?” Sarah grinned.
“Not much Sarah, besides keeping your family entertained all evening.” Nick snickered, not knowing where Sarah was going with all of this, but knowing somehow that she was up to something.
Sarah winked at him and squeezed Howie’s hand before playing her trump card, one that was sure to set Becca off for good and in turn set their plan into motion. “It gets pretty quiet up here at night, that’s for sure. I thought maybe you’d …” She paused, letting the silence grab everyone’s attention. “No, never mind,” she continued, carefully and craftily backing down from whatever she’d started to say.
“What? You thought what?” Nick asked, falling right into her plan.
“Well,” Sarah giggled, trying her best to look embarrassed, “I read once that when you guys were first on tour that Kevin once caught you …”
Nick had a bad feeling about this one. “Caught me ‘what’?”
“You said you were bored, so you and AJ were in the back of the bus with a tape measure-”
“Sarah, for god’s sake!” Nick exploded.
“Do I even want to hear this?” Becca asked, already knowing that she’d hear the answer whether she wanted to or not. “No, never mind. I know I don’t.” She turned to go into the house when Sarah began to cackle.
Tears were streaming down Sarah’s face when she gasped out the rest of her sentence. “Oh god,” she laughed, “it said you two were bored so you were measuring ‘Little Nicky’ and ‘Little Alex’!”
“Jesus, Sarah,” Nick sighed. Becca was already pissed and this was the final straw.
Becca pushed her way out of Nick’s embrace. “That’s crude. I have had it,” she said, “up to HERE with the jokes, and the innuendos, and frat boy crap. I’m supposed to sit back and enjoy all of this? I can’t even begin to tell you how absolutely sick to death I am with all of this and with all of YOU.”
“Becca-” Nick started, but was immediately shut down.
“No. You’re as bad as they are, because you put UP with it. You’ve been doing it for so long that you can’t even see beyond it all, Nick. Screwing around and making everything one big joke is second nature to you.” She stepped off the porch and onto the dirt walkway. “I’m out of here.”
“Bec, it’s starting to rain.” Sarah tried to be the voice of reason, even though she’d been the one to set all of this into motion. “Where are you going?” she called out, watching Becca set off down the path that led behind the house.
“I don’t know, and besides, why do you even care?” Becca spun around, glaring at them. “You dragged me here against my will, knowing my heart wasn’t in this, and then you disappear over night. Well, it’s my turn to get away.” Slamming her hands in her pockets, she walked away, kicking the stones on the path and sending them rolling through the undergrowth.
Nick watched his wife disappear into the woods and angrily kicked the banister on the porch. “Damn it all to hell.”
“You’d best get a move on if you want to get to the cabin before she does,” Sarah said calmly.
“Sarah, I swear to you, if this doesn’t work I’m going to fucking throttle you.” Nick groaned as Garrett’s cries were heard from within the house and he turned to go back inside.
Sarah put a hand out to stop him. “Nick, go on, I’ll take care of him. I said I would, now just go.” He stood there looking completely undecided when he spotted Mr. Taylor at the door.
“Sarah’s right son, get on up there. Kryss is back, which means everything is all set up. I can’t say I approve of your methods,” he said, shooting a stern glance at his daughter, “but I have a feeling you’ll more than make up for it. The tickets are behind the clock on the mantle.”
“Tickets?” Howie asked. “What tickets?”
“I’ll explain it later. Now Nick,” he stepped out of the house and up to the young man, “everything is going to be perfect, son, just how you wanted it. So relax and get out of here. You love Becca and she knows that, she just needs a reminder or two. All right?”
“Yes sir. Thanks, you guys,” he mumbled.
“You got your cell phone?” Sarah asked.
“In my pocket.”
“Then call me when she gets there, please?”
“Garrett-”
“Will be fine, let me go take care of him. Call me later.”
With one glance backward, Nick sprinted to the Taylor’s car and set off to the cabin via the service road. He hoped like hell he got there before Becca did. No, he hoped like hell she got there at all.