~*~ Breaking the Rules ~*~
A few minutes before nine, Andi heard a car pull up then a knock at the door. She was ready for work and thought it was Seth. Emerging from her room, she was shocked to hear a familiar voice and rushed to the living room to find Howie talking to her grandfather and brother-in-law with Steven in his lap. This was a very strange turn of events but Andi wasn’t going to argue with it. She could see that her grandfather had calmed down, like nothing had ever happened and was smiling. Howie had impressed her grandfather this weekend.
Howie looked up at Andi and winked. "You ready?"
"Yeah. Grandfather?"
"Go ahead with Howard."
A definite break! Andi smiled with relief. "Thank you, Grandfather."
Looking at Howie, "Make sure my granddaughter gets some dinner. She locked herself in her room studying."
Howie gave Andi a knowing glance. "Sure will."
Andi started to leave but her nephew who had been in Howie’s lap jumped down and ran to her. "Andi, don’t leave yet!"
"I’ve gotta go to work, ‘Little Man’!! What do you need?"
"You need to give Papa a kiss before you go. You ALWAYS give him a kiss!"
Andi looked up at her grandfather who was watching them and said, "I’m not sure Papa wants a kiss from me."
"Why not?" asked the little boy curiously.
"We had a disagreement."
"So?"
Andi was still furious but she loved her grandfather and her nephew. Standing up, she said, "I’ll see you in the morning, Grandfather."
"I do love you, Andi."
Andi had to bite her tongue to hold back the smartalicy remark to say instead. "Me too."
Grabbing her purse, she led Howie out of the house and across the yard. It was all she could do to contain her excitement over this development.
In the care, she bubbled, "Where is he?"
"His house. We’re headed there now," said Howie as the car pulled away passing another car.
Panic set in as Andi realized it was Seth. "NO! We can’t go there!"
"What’s wrong?"
Looking back as the house disappeared, Andi saw Seth headed up the sidewalk and she said, "Seth has been following me and if Grandfather finds out I’m NOT at work, he won’t let me go with you like this."
"Okay, no problem." Howie handed her his cell phone. "Call ‘J’, and tell him to meet us at ‘Tabu’. He’s number six on my speed dial."
As Howie drove through the quiet neighborhood, Andi pressed six and waited.
"Yo! D! What’s up?" answered AJ.
Andi tired to laugh but it got caught in her throat and tears spilled over.
"Andi?"
"Yeah," she choked out.
"Where are you?"
"With Howie."
"Your grandfather didn’t listen, did he?"
Andi broke down sobbing and Howie took the phone. "’J’, meet us at the club and we’ll explain later."
"Howie, is she okay?"
Glancing over at Andi, "No, she’s not."
"Take care of her until I can get there."
"I will, ‘J’." Hanging up, Howie asked, "Wanna tell me what happened?"
Andi wiped her tears. "Not yet, Howie."
"That’s cool." He took her hand and squeezed. "Pull yourself together and we’ll be there shortly."
"Howie, can you stop Seth from coming into the club?"
"Yeah, I can. I’ll leave his name at the door with instructions he’s NOT to be allowed in under ANY circumstances."
"Thank you. How am I gonna get out without him seeing me though?"
Howie thought for a minute, then pulled out his phone again. Pushing two numbers, he held the phone to his ear. "Hey, get Marcus and come to the club. I need you to wait at the VIP entrance for AJ and his girlfriend. Yeah, I’ve got a job for you to take care of. Later."
"Who was that?"
"Our bodyguards. Seth won’t be able to bother you with them around."
"Thank you, Howie." Andi leaned over and put her head on his shoulder as he put his arm around her.
