Chapter Sixty-Two
Michelle frowned as she tugged her favorite pair of
jeans off her legs and threw them across the room. They were already too small.
Dressed in only a FuMan shirt, bra and underwear, she walked across the
room and took a pair of windpants out of the drawer that she had yet to
wear. She was waiting for Chris to get
home from the meeting and her frown became deeper when she heard the doorbell
ring.
She gave one last glance at the jeans that now lay
on the floor and wondered how soon she could wear them after she gave
birth. With a muttered curse, she went
downstairs to answer the door. Laurie
was standing on the other side with an armful of magazines.
“I suppose you’ve come to gloat, because I’m sure everything still fits you.” Michelle
snapped.
“Wha -?” Laurie was taken aback by Michelle’s
attitude. “What’s that about?”
Michelle sighed.
“My favorite jeans are too small.”
“Oh.” Laurie tried to bite back a smile. All of her clothes still fit and she was
further along than Michelle was. “I
thought I’d come over since Lance is at the meeting… you mentioned that you
wanted to start thinking about decorating a room for the nursery.”
“Oh yeah…” She thought for a moment. “There’s probably more room in the living
room, we can spread out.”
They were halfway through the fourth magazine when
Michelle started staring intently at Laurie.
After a few minutes of this, Laurie finally turned to her.
“What?”
“Have you heard from JC since he left?”
“That was random.”
“Well have you?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Just because you haven’t mentioned him since
you’ve been here… I would have thought he would call you to see how you were
doing.”
Silence.
“So he hasn’t called?”
Laurie looked immediately uncomfortable. “No.”
“And you haven’t called him?”
There was a pause.
“I keep getting his voicemail.”
“Oh.”
There were a few minutes of silence before Laurie
changed the subject and said, “How does Chris want the nursery decorated?”
Michelle rolled her eyes. “He wants a football motif.
He’s positive that we’re going to have a son.”
Laurie laughed.
“Why?”
“Because he said God gave him four sisters, he
wouldn’t be so cruel as to give him a daughter as well. I just laughed and told him that God might
just give him a daughter to spite him.”
“Nasty,” Laurie grinned. “But I’m sure he really doesn’t care what you have as long as he
or she is healthy?”
“Exactly.” The front door opened. “Speak of the devil…”
“Honey?”
Chris called out. “Is that
Laurie’s car in the…” He walked into the living room and saw the mess. “Driveway.
What’s all this?”
“We’re picking out stuff for the nurseries,” Laurie
told him. “Wanna help?”
Chris shook his head adamantly. “I’ll pass.” He looked at Michelle. “Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a
minute?”
“Umm… all right.”
Michelle pulled herself up from her position on the floor and followed
him into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”
Chris leaned against the counter and folded his
arms across his chest. One of his hands
came up to play with his beard horns. “We found out where JC is… or rather, a
reporter found out and called Johnny.”
“Chris?”
He sighed.
“He’s on ‘vacation’ with Alexandria.
But the reporter didn’t think anything of it, just because she’s still
his wife.”
“That’s not even remotely amusing Christopher.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. The reporter just wanted to give Johnny a heads up before the
pictures are published in this week’s edition of the Enquirer. Has Laurie even heard from JC?”
“No.” Michelle pressed a hand to her forehead and
squeezed her eyes shut. “What are we
supposed to do with this information?”
“Lance wants to tell Laurie, but I think it’s
something JC should do.”
“Y’think?” Michelle made a face. “God, what a mess… why is he with her
Chris?”
“Alexandria or Laurie?”
She
glared at him.
“I’m kidding… I have no idea. C’mere.”
Michelle walked up to him. “What?”
Chris pulled her into his arms and stroked her
hair. “Are you feeling any better?”
“A
bit… but I always seem to feel nauseous when you’re around.” She giggled and
then sighed. “You know if we don’t tell
Laurie, Lance is going to.”
“Listen,
you know as well I do how much JC loves Laurie. You are not going to jump to any conclusions and we’re going to
stay out of it.” He told her.
“What if he doesn’t tell her, Chris? I hate knowing something that she
doesn’t. Especially…”
“It’s not our call.” He shrugged. “I know I sound callous, but…”
“Umm guys?” Laurie knocked on the frame of the door
to the kitchen. “I’m going to head out
now and give you some time to yourselves… Hannah is back at home now, so maybe
the four of us can go out and do something tonight?”
“Sure,” Chris nodded. “Just check with Lance when you get home and give us a call.”
Michelle walked over and hugged Laurie. “Thanks for coming over.”
Chris reached for the phone as soon as Laurie
left. “Lance?”
**********
Lance squeezed the bridge of his nose when he hung
up the phone after talking to Chris.
After a lengthy argument, they had agreed that they would wait and see
if JC told Laurie about his vacation with Alexandria. If he didn’t, then either Lance or Michelle would tell her. Either way, it wasn’t the best situation to
be in.
If JC didn’t tell Laurie and she read about it in
the Enquirer, she would be devastated that no one had told her, especially if
she were to find out that they all knew
where JC was when he was away. No,
Lance and Michelle were closest to her and they would be the ones to tell her
if JC kept his indiscretions to himself.
Just as he started to climb the stairs to take a
shower, he heard the front door open and using the railing to keep his balance,
he leaned back to see who it was.
“Hey,” Laurie looked up. “How was the meeting?”
“Umm… it was fine… the usual… talked about the
pregnancies, JC is coming home tomorrow and everything is all set up for the
‘Girlfriend’ shoot in LA at the beginning of next month.” He said quickly and
hoped she didn’t catch what he said about JC.
“Wait… JC… is c-coming home tomorrow?” She
stuttered. “Where is he?”
“Do you want something to eat?” Lance asked as he
started to walk into the kitchen. “I
was just going to have a shower, but if you’re hungry…”
Laurie followed Lance into the kitchen and grabbed
his arm. “There’s something you’re not
telling me.”
“That’s right, I’m not.” Lance sighed. “It’s already been discussed and we think
it’s best if JC tells you when he gets home.”
“Lance, you can’t tell me something like that and
not elaborate. Who’s we?”
“We. The
group. Michelle.” He sighed again. “I’m sorry Laurie, it’s just… we don’t feel it’s our call to tell
you.”
“So everyone knows but me and I’m the one it’s
going to ultimately affect.”
“Laurie…”
“Will you at least tell me if it’s good or bad?”
Lance shrugged.
“I don’t know if I can answer that.”
“You need to tell me Lance or else I’m going to
worry all night… and in my condition, that’s probably not a good idea.”
Lance groaned and rubbed his hand over his
face. “You had to go there, didn’t
you? All right, I’ll tell you. You’d better sit down.”
Laurie sat down at the kitchen table and folded her
hands neatly on the surface of it. “I’m
listening.”
“Well… here’s the thing. Before the meeting started today, Johnny told us that a reporter
from Enquirer contacted him about pictures that are going to be published later
this week.” He watched as Laurie paled and almost changed his mind about
telling her.
“Go on.” She swallowed and closed her eyes as she
continued to listen to him.
“Laurie,” Lance stood up and walked over to
her. He knelt beside her and looked
up. “JC is down in the Dominican
Republic. With Alexandria.”
“I see.” Laurie felt numb.
“But listen, we don’t know why he’s down there with
her, it could be for any number of reasons.” He said encouragingly and took one
of her hands into his. “Laurie. JC loves
you. I don’t think he would do
anything to deliberately hurt you.
There’s no point in worrying about it until we find out the truth… we
just wanted to tell you… so that you didn’t have to read about it… in case…
y’know… JC didn’t tell you.”
“That’s the thing Lance,” Laurie told him
sadly. “He didn’t tell me. He didn’t
tell me where he was going and he certainly didn’t tell me with whom he was
going. I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have
had to wait until he returns to find out.”
“Laurie…”
“I’m going up to bed Lance. You can still go out with Chris and Michelle
for dinner, but I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”