Chapter 78
Girls’ Night! Unable to accompany Howie and Nick to the Grammys, Sarah and Becca were spending the time together. It had been forever since they’d been able to just sit and gossip with no troubles hanging over either one of them and no guys lurking about.
After picking Jesse up from school, Becca headed to Cocoa Beach arriving around four. As she, Jesse, and Garrett entered, they found Sarah on the phone.
“I miss you too, ‘D’,” said Sarah wiping a lone tear as she heard the door closing. Looking up, she saw Becca. “Sweetie, Becca’s here with Jess. I need to go.”
Hearing her mother talking to her daddy, Jesse dropped her stuff and rushed to where Sarah was sitting. “Mami! Mami! I wanna talk to Papi….puleeeze!” begged the little girl.
Sarah placed a finger on Jesse’s lips to quiet her. “I’m FINE, Howie, and Becca is here to spend the night….Yes, Ilse will be back before Becca leaves…Kryss spent the night last night but you know, I AM perfectly capable of taking care of myself...Jesse wants to talk to you.”
Jesse took the phone from her mother and proceeded to tell Howie all about her day at school while Sarah greeted Becca.
“Hey, Bec! Did you have to wait long for Jesse?”
“Nah…not long at all. How many times has Howie called?”
“This is the third time….first time when he got to LA, then this morning around 4, and now.”
“He’s not handling this very well, is he?”
“Not really but he’ll be fine once he gets going with what he needs to do. I’m a little worried about him though.”
“Why?”
“He sounds like he’s getting sick…a cold or something…and if he doesn’t get enough sleep, he’s gonna definitely gonna get sick.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll talk to him…later. Let me go stick dinner in the oven while Jess is talking to Howie.”
Becca set Garrett down in the playpen Sarah had set up for the twins and followed her into the kitchen.
“I know you couldn’t go to the Grammys since you’re nursing but why didn’t you go to LA with Howie?”
“Come on, Bec. Caro and DJ are only two weeks old and they were sick too. I couldn’t take them on a flight with all those people.”
“Why couldn’t you have taken the foundation’s jet?”
Sarah stopped in the middle of what she was doing and looked at Becca as if she had three heads.
“What?” asked Becca innocently. Then she realized that Sarah had never even considered this. “You mean, you two didn’t think about that?”
“No, neither one of us did.”
“Well, he’s on the phone now. Why don’t you go talk to him about it? I know how hard it is for both of you. You two haven’t been apart for this long since before you were married.”
“I can’t go to LA. What would I do with Jesse?”
“I’ll keep her for you. Go talk to Howie and see what he says.”
Sarah stood like a statue not knowing exactly what to do. Becca was right about it being hard to be separated but it was a part of their life that she had accepted.
“Sarah…GO!” insisted Becca but before she could move, Jesse came bounding into the kitchen.
“Mami, Garrett won’t leave Caroline alone! He keeps hitting her and trying to take her pacifier!”
“Jess, did your father hang up?”
“Yes ma’am. Uncle Kevin was hollering for him to get off the damned phone. He said to tell you he’d call after the show tonight.”
Becca had to stifle the giggle hearing what Kevin had said but saw the desperation in Sarah’s eyes. Calmly, she said, “You can talk to him tonight about it and you could have the arrangements made so it won’t be as long a wait if Howie wants you to come out.”
Jesse was now tugging at Sarah’s hand, oblivious to her mother’s frustration. “MAMI! Make Garrett leave Caroline alone!”
“Jess! STOP IT!” scolded Sarah. “I’m sure Garrett isn’t harming her.”
Sarah headed out to check on the children and as she stood at the playpen looking down, she smiled. “Bec, you’d better do something about your son.”
Peeking over Sarah’s shoulder, Becca saw that Garrett had his hand on Caroline’s stomach as the two slept peacefully. “That’s so sweet! You need a picture of that.”
Going to grab her digital, Sarah asked, “Did you notice the pacifiers are switched?”
“Ahhhh,” sighed Becca. “You know, this could be the start of something?”
“Bite your tongue,” smirked Sarah as she snapped the picture. “MY child is NOT getting involved with a Carter boy!!”
Laughing, Becca said, “I think it’s a little late for that.”
“Did Nick take his laptop?”
“I think so. Why?”
“I’m gonna send it to him before we start looking at the groups to see what they’re saying about our husbands. I want him to show Howie too.” As she headed to her computer, Sarah said, “Jess, I want you to get your homework done so you can get a bath before dinner. That way you can watch the Grammys with Aunt Becca and me to see Daddy.”
“Yes, ma’am,” and off she scurried to her room to do her homework.
The two ladies settled at Sarah’s computer to email the picture with a message to the guys and then it was to the groups. It had been forever since they’d done this together and they always got a kick out of what was being said. This was where the girls spent their time before dinner laughing and enjoying being together.