Chapter Thirty-Four

(Later the same morning)

Chris was still sound asleep when Michelle woke a few hours later, so she dressed and headed to the common room for breakfast. JC and Laurie were already seated and talking quietly. Lance was in a corner of the room working on his laptop and gave a little wave when she walked in. Joey was helping himself to breakfast and she figured Justin was still asleep. She grabbed some fruit and a few pieces of toast and sat down beside Laurie.

“So…” JC tried to hide a smile. “The other wandering warrior has finally awakened.”

Before Michelle could say what she wanted to, Laurie leaned over and said, “I didn’t get into any trouble at all… what about you?” Then she looked at JC and smiled.

“A little,” she sighed. “I got the whole speech. ‘You should be more careful, blah, blah, blah.’” She looked at Laurie. “And umm… I’m kind of grounded from you.”

JC and Laurie started to laugh and Lance snickered from his corner, causing Michelle to pout. “Oh shut up.”

Laurie managed to stop laughing long enough to say, “You’re what?”

“I’m grounded from you.” She reiterated. “As in, not allowed to go anywhere with you anymore. Apparently Chris thinks you’re a bad influence on me, because as he so eloquently put it ‘You weren’t like this before you met her.’”

JC developed a sudden interest in his breakfast and Laurie turned away and took a sip of her iced tea.

“What?” Michelle asked just as she felt a pair of hands touch her shoulders and a gentle kiss was placed on her head. She froze.

“Good morning sweetheart,” Chris said and sat down beside her.

“Good morning,” she replied nervously. “How long… umm… were you standing there?”

“Long enough,” he smiled at her.

“How’s your wrist feeling?” Joey asked with a mouthful of bacon.

“It’s sore… and not getting a lot of sleep last night didn’t help much.” He cast a meaningful glance in Laurie and Michelle’s direction. They lowered their heads guiltily.

“I can’t believe you grounded Michelle from Laurie… they work together, man.” JC shook his head.

“That’s not cool,” Joey agreed.

“Chris… you seem to have forgotten that Michelle and I are adults.” Laurie reminded him.

“Well… in age, anyway.” Chris muttered.

“Oh look who’s talking.” Lance piped up.

“Shut up Poofu.” Chris growled.

“He does have a point,” Michelle laughed. “The Jack in the Box drive-thru? ‘Nuff said.”

“That was YOUR fault.” Laurie said. “You didn’t grab the soda.”

“I didn’t have a chance to grab it before you started driving away!”

“There were people behind me!”

“So? It’s not like we hadn’t already waited twenty minutes to even PLACE our order.”

Laurie turned to Chris. “It was her fault.”

Chris looked from Laurie to JC and then back to Laurie with a bewildered look on his face. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Laurie, you can tell Chris it was my fault until you’re blue in the face, but he’s going to believe me because I’m the one he gets sex from.”

“Hey,” Joey interrupted. “Some of us are trying to eat.”

“If we hadn’t run into Holley, we would have been home at a decent hour. Holley is your friend, so therefore last night was your fault.”

“We weren’t talking about last night, we were talking about the spilled drink!”

“Anyway,” Michelle changed the subject. “Since it was Laurie’s fault, you can’t ground me from her.”

Lance was in the corner laughing so hard; he had tears rolling down his face.

Chris just rolled his eyes. “I was thinking that Laurie could stay on tour with JC, at least until after the FuMan signing in San Diego next Sunday. That should be a long enough separation.”

“Actually Chris,” Laurie looked away from JC. “I won’t be attending that signing. I was planning on going home that weekend.”

JC quickly looked at Laurie. “You’re what?”

“Come on Chris,” Michelle gently tugged on his arm. “Let’s finish our breakfast in our room.”

“Umm yeah, I think I was supposed to call Denise this morning.” Joey added.

Lance snapped his laptop closed. “I need to wake up Justin.”

The room cleared out quickly, leaving JC and Laurie alone.

“So…” JC began quietly and picked up one of her hands in his. “When did you decide this?”

“Last night shortly before Michelle and I went out. Craig called me and told me he was going to be home this weekend. And he told me that he wanted me there. I can’t avoid him forever.”

“I know, it’s just… I’ve gotten so used to having you around that it’s going to be weird without you here.”

“I’m sure Chris will be rather pleased that I won’t be around.” She smiled.

“Who cares about how Chris feels,” JC suddenly snapped. “I’m the one who is in love with you and I’m the one who wants you around.”

Laurie leaned back in her chair and was quiet. JC bit his bottom lip and rested his hands on her lower arms.

“Are you going to come back?” He asked softly.

“I don’t know. It depends what happens this weekend.”

“What do you mean?”

“I meant exactly what I said. Craig and I haven’t seen each other in a long time, so I have no idea what this weekend is going to bring.”

“You told me this morning before we went to sleep that you were planning on asking him for a divorce next time you spoke to him. Or did you just tell me that to stay on my good side?”

“I meant what I said… but I also meant it when I said that I can’t avoid Craig forever.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“I have to. Josh… can we please not fight about this? I’m still here now.”

“But you don’t know if you’re coming back on Monday.”

“I don’t.” She affirmed.

“When are you leaving.” JC asked in a flat tone.

“My flight is booked for Friday morning.”

“Well… then I guess we should just enjoy the rest of our time together.”

**********

They all checked out of the hotel later that evening because they had a show in Kansas City the following day and they needed to catch their flight.

It was well after midnight when the entourage checked into their hotel. Laurie grabbed Michelle’s arm just as she was about to follow Chris into their suite.

“Shelle… can I… can I talk to you for a minute?” Laurie asked.

“Sure,” she replied and then looked at Chris who had his eyebrows raised. “We won’t leave the hotel Chris… This I Promise You.”

“Oh you did not just say that.”

Michelle grinned. “I did.”

Chris just rolled his eyes, as did Justin who was in ear shot while Michelle grinned and headed back in the direction of the elevators with Laurie.

“Let’s go to the pool,” Michelle suggested. “There shouldn’t be anyone there at this time of night.”

“Ok.” Laurie agreed.

The night air was warm and slightly humid as they stepped outside. It was a while before Laurie said anything and Michelle didn’t want to push it.

“There’s a reason I’m going home this weekend,” she began. “And it’s not because Craig asked me to.”

“Oh?”

“I know that Craig has no commitments this weekend… and I’m going home to see if there’s anything left of my marriage that can be saved. Or if work really is his number one priority.”

“You’re not going to break things off with JC, are you?” Michelle asked in shock.

Laurie shook her head. “I don’t want to. But my conscious has been nagging me lately and I’ve started to feel really guilty. Craig is such a wonderful man…” She took a deep breath. “And I trust him implicitly. And what hurts is that he trusts me too… he doesn’t have the slightest suspicion that I’m being unfaithful to him.”

“Laur… you can’t do this to JC. Losing you would kill him… he really loves you. Even Chris was saying that you’ve done a lot for JC’s disposition.”

“I don’t want to hurt JC… that’s the furthest thing from my mind. It’s just… I have to know if Craig and I are better suited as friends or as husband and wife. He can’t be happy either… we never see each other. I love Josh with all my heart, I really do. I just can’t devote myself to him entirely while I’m still married. So I need to make sure that Josh is really what I want, because once I end my marriage to Craig – there’s no turning back. I need to feel free… it’s all or nothing.”

“Who is your heart telling you to stay with?”

“Josh.”

“And who does your mind want you to stay with?”

“Josh.”

“Then I think you know what you need to do this weekend when you’re home. But I’ll stand behind you, no matter what you decide. Who else would I get in trouble with?”

Laurie laughed. “True. Speaking of which, we’ve been out here for almost an hour. We should go up to our rooms before they send a search party for us.”

Michelle stopped her as they reached the side entrance. “I hope everything turns out the way you want it to.”

“Me too,” Laurie said. “Me too.”

Chapter 35