Part 194
With Nick gone and Jesse standing on a chair beside Sarah, Becca did her best to get comfortable on one of the barstools. She smiled watching her best friend teaching Jesse how to break eggs and absentmindedly rubbed her stomach thinking how wonderful it was going to be to be able to do all the motherly things she’d missed with her mother.
Sarah looked back at Becca and smiled but Becca was lost in thought.
After several minutes, Becca spoke up, "I missed something earlier, didn’t I?"
Sarah reached for the cheese that needed to be grated and laughed, "Most definitely."
"Mommie, where were you and Daddy this morning? You weren’t in bed when I crawled in."
Becca looked at Sarah quizzically as Sarah watched Jesse break an egg. "Jess, be careful. Don’t get the shells in it too."
"Well?" questioned Becca.
"Well what?" teased Sarah as she helped get the shells out.
"Where were you?"
"We fell asleep on the couch," answered Sarah as she took some of the cheese she’d just grated and mixed it in with the eggs. "Bec, turn the bacon down some please."
Moving to do that, Becca said, "But I thought you went to bed when…"
"I did but I woke around two and Howie wasn’t in bed yet so I came down to find him."
"And?"
"We fell asleep on the couch."
"Oh…that is NOT the whole story and you know it," raved Becca.
Sarah laughed, "No, its not…are you sure you REALLY want to hear it all?"
"Yes! Spill it girlfriend!"
With that, Sarah explained the whole thing to Becca the best she could with Jesse standing there.
Becca laughed, "No wonder Nick was so embarrassed this morning. How much did he see?"
"I have NO idea. We all heard the glass break and I looked up to see him standing in the doorway. I thought Kevin and Alex were gonna lose it completely!"
"And it just made their morning knowing what it did to Nick," laughed Becca.
"Oh yeah!! Most definitely!"
"But you! I can’t believe you! After all you went through…how can you STILL do that?"
"The rules are different, Bec. Kevin and Alex can’t touch and it’s fun to have someone watching. It’s a rush…like getting caught! And it’s obviously a turn on for Nick to watch!"
Becca laughed, "Definitely! Oh…this is DEFINITE ammunition."
**************
Meanwhile in the living room, Kevin and the guys were discussing the remaining part of the tour and their record label. "We’re ready to sign another artist guys. Sarah’s ready and we can use the last part of this tour to get her out to the public. I think between AJ, Howie, and myself, she has enough original material. She can perform it and see how the crowd reacts. Then we can just take that and decide what to put on her first CD."
"How many and over what time period?" asked Brian.
Kevin looked at Howie, "Four in four years?"
Howie considered it as AJ smirked, "As long as she doesn’t get pregnant again."
"No guarantee that she won’t either," grinned Howie.
"Okay, 4 over six years," said Kevin. "Who do you want to handle the legal part?"
"Steve’s agreed to handle all that for her."
"Sarah can’t stand Steve," said AJ.
"Personally, no, but she knows he’ll handle her business fairly."
"Now, getting her out there. We can have Sarah open for us…before Krystal."
"What about Shaggy and the contract we have with him to open?" asked AJ.
"He’s not going back out with us. Sisqo is coming aboard and we’re not gonna cut anyone out…just let Sarah open for some of the shows. There’s also the VMA’s…that will be an AWESOME chance to get her out there. We’re suppose to present and perform there…"
"How are we gonna do that? We’ve got…" started Nick.
"Just listen, Nick," growled Kevin. "I want Sarah to perform in our place."
Howie asked, "Can we get that done?"
"Already done. All I have to do is confirm."
"Have you told her yet?"
"No, I thought I’d let you do that, so you can reap…"
"ENOUGH!" said Brian.
They all laughed and Howie said as he started to get up, "We need to tell her all this."
"Whoa, one more thing and you have final say on this, Howie. I want her to open for us in Japan but I know she’ll be showing more by then and not able to hide it like she does now."
Curiously, Brian asked, "How can you tell Sarah’s starting to show?"
Nick took his chance now to get in a shot at Kevin to embarrass him. "Yeah, Kev, how would you know she’s showing?"
Kevin shot Nick a dirty look. "The same way YOU know! Still want to go down this path, Nickolas?"
Nick had turned a nice shade of pink as Kevin reminded him of what he had seen.
Howie spoke up to end the discussion, "Kevin, Sarah and I haven’t discussed her going to Japan yet, especially now that Jesse is with us."
"It would be a good opportunity for her but you have the final say. We aren’t gonna do anything to jeopardize her health or the babies’."
"I’ll talk to her later."
"Oh, c’mon, D! Be a man! TELL her what she’s gonna do," teased Nick. "You were pretty in charge last night."
"Drop it, Nick," growled Kevin. "We’re trying to talk business."
"I think I need to tell her all this before either of us makes a decision. I’ll go talk to her now…as long as we’re ALL in agreement."
The other three nodded their agreement and Howie headed to the kitchen. Sarah was finishing breakfast while she and Becca were talking about babies and the advantages of breastfeeding.
Jesse whined, "I was gonna come get you, Daddy!!"
Howie picked her up as he said, "That’s okay, Princess. I have a more important job for you. I need you to go tell the other’s that breakfast is ready but there’s a trick to it."
"Really?" questioned Jesse, her eyes wide.
"Yeah. You see, you have to whisper to them that breakfast is ready so that Uncle Nicky doesn’t hear you. You tell them that Mommie made something special for each one of them but they can’t tell the others and you have to make sure that Uncle Nicky is LAST. Let each one get into the kitchen before you tell the next one."
"Why, Daddy?"
"Because if you don’t, Uncle Nicky will eat EVERYTHING and not leave us any breakfast."
Jesse considered what Howie had said and then looked at him. "What about MY breakfast?"
Becca spoke up, "That’s easy, Jess. When you whisper in Uncle Nicky’s ear, make sure you give him a kiss first and ask him to fix your plate."
Howie set Jesse down and she started out to the living room. "Princess, don’t forget, whisper."
Jesse rolled her eyes, "Oh Daddy…I’m NOT THAT forgettable."
All three laughed as Jesse pushed the door open and as it closed behind her, Becca said, "That was mean, D."
"Nick deserves it. Angel, I need to talk to you alone."
"I can finish for you," offered Becca.
Sarah wiped her hands and followed Howie out to the pool to talk. He explained to her what he and the others had discussed and then they talked about it at greater lengths.
Becca asked as Kevin was serving himself, "What’s going on with Howie and Sarah?"
Looking out the doors at the couple and then back at Becca, he replied, "We’re offering her a recording deal."
"OH WOW! She’s gonna be AWESOME."
No one had to wonder what Sarah’s answer was because they all heard her squeal with delight and then saw her jump into Howie’s arms. As the couple rejoined the others, Sarah was practically dancing.
"Uh, Kevin…Sarah’s answer is…" laughed Howie.
"YES!" squealed Sarah. "Thank you guys for believing in me…for making my dreams come true."
All the guys laughed as they watched Sarah bounce around the table to hug each one of them. It made them just as happy to see her this excited as it did Howie.
Sarah couldn’t concentrate through breakfast because she was so excited but the conversation was light. They were all making plans for the rest of the afternoon and talking about the rest of the tour.