Part 9
Nick whined, "Howie's doing it again! He's not going to show."
AJ threw a pillow at him as he said, "He's not coming because he's sick of you whining so much."
Nick deflected the pillow, "That's NOT true."
Kevin came into the room as Nick threw the pillow back at AJ. "Cut it out. Howie just called and he's running late. He'll be here shortly."
Brian said, "It must be this 'mystery' lady that's keeping him."
"She must be DAMN good in bed if he's avoiding us so much."
"There's more to life than sex, AJ," said Brian.
"Yeah, music and more sex!"
"I'm sure Howie has his reasons for keeping her a secret," said Kevin. "Don't give him a hard time about her tonight. Let him tell us about her if he wants."
Nick said, "I wonder if she's like the girl he was dreaming about."
*******************
Sarah came down followed by Becca wearing the bathing suit she knew Howie liked and a pair of denim shorts. Her hair was in a loose French braid and she was wearing sandals. Howie's heart was in his throat when he saw her even though he'd seen her a dozen times wearing this exact same thing.
"You are gorgeous," he whispered as he took her in his arms.
Sarah smiled, "Thank you."
Becca handed Sarah a beach towel and a bag as she said, "You two have fun."
"Thanks," said Howie as he took the bag for Sarah. "Are you ready?"
"I need to get the stuff you asked me to get out of the kitchen."
***********************
In the car, Howie took Sarah's hand in his and kissed it. "I saw the pictures of you and Jesse. She was a beautiful baby....like her mother."
Sarah wiped a tear, "She was the light of my life. She loved to play on the beach."
Howie reached over and wiped the tear for her. "That's why you had to come home early, isn't it? You aren't nervous about meeting the guys or my family."
"No, I'm not nervous," confessed Sarah.
"You'd have told me, right?"
"After the party. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Just concentrate on the party and have fun. We'll face tomorrow when it gets here."
Sarah leaned over to Howie as they sat at a traffic light and gave him a kiss. "Thank you."
*************************
Nick started jumping around the room, "Howie just pulled up."
Irritated by Nick's behavior, Kevin said, "Calm down, Nicky."
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" whined Nick.
AJ looked out the window, "HOLY SHIT!"
They all crowded to the window to see what AJ was looking at and Nick said, "WOW! He's been keeping *HER* a secret? Man, he needs his head examined. I'd be showing her off."
Kevin said, "He's been keeping her a secret because he doesn't want to overwhelm her with our world."
The other three turned to Kevin and AJ said, "You knew all along?"
"Howie told me about a month ago that he'd met her. I set tonight up so WE could meet her, away from our normal setting."
The doorbell rang and Kevin went to answer it as the other three scrambled away so it wouldn't look so obvious they'd been watching.
*************************
Outside, Howie had seen the guys in the window and laughed, "You're being watched."
"What do you mean?"
"The guys were in the window looking out."
Sarah smiled, "Did they know I was coming?"
"Kevin knew. He's the one who set it up. It's time you got a closer look at my world, Sarah. I'll protect you from the spotlight the best I can but sometimes it'll be hard. Our lives are like fish bowls."
"I don't mind...as long as I have you."