Chapter Nineteen

“Am I late?” Lori asked.

“No, no. You’re right on time,” Howie said, kissing her softly on the neck.

“Everyone’s here?”

“Yeah, they’re all out back, waiting to meet you.”

“Do I look okay?”

Howie took in her khaki shorts and pink baby tee. Her beautiful blond hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail with stray wisps curling around her face.

“You look gorgeous,” he told her.

She giggled. “I didn’t ask that, silly! I asked if I looked okay.”

“Lori, you look fine. Honest.”

“All right.”

Hand in hand, they walked through the house to the patio doors. Howie let her walk ahead of him into the sunlight, and into the view of his friends.

“Everyone, this is Lori Haberlan,” he introduced, guiding her to the table. He went around the circle, starting with AJ and Amanda.

Just as he was about to say Nick’s name, Lori’s face broke into a grin and she exclaimed, “Nick!”

It took a second for him to place her, and when he did, he jumped from his chair and came around the table to hug her.

“Omigosh, Lori!” he cried, spinning her around.

Mandy quietly fumed, watching the happy exchange between her boyfriend and this woman.

“Um, you guys know each other?” Howie asked uncertainly.

Nick set her down and smiled. “We met at Steps a couple weeks ago, remember when we went there? It was the day I brought you the puppy.”

“You were there?” Howie and AJ asked in unison.

Lori nodded, Nick’s arm still around her waist. “Yeah, I danced with him, we had a good time.”

Mandy cleared her throat loudly and stood up, making her way towards them and pushing herself between Nick and Lori.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Mandy, Nick’s girlfriend.”

“Hello,” Lori said, a flicker of a frown crossing her face at the obvious jealousy from the other girl. “Nice to meet you.”

“Maybe you've heard of me,” Mandy continued. “I’m a singer, but I go by the name of Willa Ford. It’s my stage name,” she said, staring directly at Howie.

Howie’s hands clenched into fists and he threw her a warning glare. Nick laughed nervously and pulled Mandy back to the table with him.

I’m in hell, Howie thought.

He turned back to the introductions.

“This is Kevin, and his wife Kristin, and Brian and his wife Leighanne.”

Lori nodded politely at each of them, but her gaze lingered on Kevin for an extra second.

“And this is my puppy dog, Stinker,” Howie said, scooping up the dog in both hands. He was instantly rewarded with a wet kiss. “She’s a good dog, but beware, her gas is almost lethal.” He set her down and she took off running around the pool. “I’m going to start the steaks and burgers. Why don’t you sit down and get to know them? Would you like something to drink?”

“Sure, I’ll have an iced tea,” she said. “Thanks.”

Howie moved away to pour her a glass, then brought it over. He slapped several steaks on the grill and hurried back to the table. He was so nervous, he feared he wouldn’t be able to eat anything.

Lori faced Kevin again, studying him with a critical eye.

"I swear I know you from somewhere,” she said. “I just can’t put my finger on where.”

Kevin shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Howie.

“Maybe I just have one of those faces,” he said with a forced laugh.

Lori shook her head. “No, no. I’ve seen your picture somewhere before.” She snapped her fingers and sat up straighter. “You’re a model, aren’t you?”

“Uh, well,” Kevin stuttered.

“You did a show for Donatella Versace a couple of years ago, in Milan, didn’t you?”

“Actually, yeah. Were you there?”

Howie began to panic. He had been at that show too!

“No,” Lori said. “I wasn’t there. A friend of mine is in the fashion industry and went to it. She came back telling me all about the absolutely gorgeous guy Donatella had there, and she showed me the picture she took of you.”

Kristin laughed and patted Kevin’s cheek. “Absolutely gorgeous, he certainly is,” she said, making her husband blush.

Howie exhaled sharply, a little too sharply, because Lori glanced his way. He coughed and stood up.

“Better check on those steaks,” he said, excusing himself.

“Let me help you with those,” AJ offered, standing up. He leaned down to kiss Amanda and whispered, “Keep an eye on Mandy.”

Amanda nodded and turned her attention to Nick’s girlfriend, who was now clinging like plastic wrap to Nick’s arm.

AJ joined Howie at the grill and immediately noticed the tiny beads of sweat on Howie’s forehead.

“Relax, you’re doing fine,” he told his friend.

"Mandy’s gonna spill it, I just know it.”

“Not if we keep her under control.”

“Oh yeah, right. She’s just sooo easy to control,” Howie groaned.

“You’ll be okay,” AJ said soothingly. “Just breathe.”

Howie flipped the steaks and placed some burgers beside them. They grabbed some bowls of chips and more drinks and went back to the table.

“Nicky, come swimming with me,” Mandy whined, tugging at his arm.

“I’m talking to Lori,” he said.

Mandy pouted prettily, but Howie knew she was extremely pissed.

“Aww, Nick, why not take a dip?” he suggested, widening his eyes and tipping his head towards the pool. “You’ve got time.”

Nick took the hint, Keep Mandy happy! and followed her inside to change into the swimsuits they’d brought.

Lori watched them go. “Yikes, was it just me, or did I pick up on a possessive vibe from her?”

Brian laughed loudly. “You’ve pegged that one just right. She’s a bit clingy.”

“A bit?” Amanda exclaimed. “You’d need a power saw to detach her from Nick’s side.”

Everyone started laughing and AJ began to dig around in his pockets for a cigarette. Amanda saw him and took his hands in hers.

“Sweetie, you’re trying to stop,” she reminded him.

He sighed and placed his hands on the table. “Yeah, but it’s hard. Howie suggested I try hypnosis,” he said, realizing his mistake too late.

“Who’s Howie?” Lori asked, puzzled.

Howie’s tongue locked into place and he couldn’t even swallow.

“He’s m-my brother,” AJ said quickly, nodding his head. “My brother.”

“Oh. Well, I’ve heard hypnosis works,” Lori told him with an encouraging smile.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that too.”

Howie finally got his voice back and declared that he was going to quick check on the grill. Once he was away from the table, he allowed himself to breathe normally.

As he placed finished steaks onto a plate, AJ came to stand beside him, gathering up paper plates and plastic silverware.

“I am so sorry, D,” he whispered. “I feel like such an ass.”

“It was an accident, and you saved yourself well, don’t worry about it,” Howie said, although his stomach was still quaking.

“I’ll be more careful the rest of the day, I promise,” AJ said.

They went back to the table and presented the steaks.

“Burgers will be ready in a few,” Howie said, taking his place next to Lori.

Nick and Mandy emerged from the house, Nick in brightly colored swimtrunks and Mandy in three tiny triangles of pink that could barely be called a bikini.

“The food’s done?” Nick asked, passing by the table for a handful of chips.

“Only the steaks,” Kristin answered. “You can still go swimming if you want.”

“Yes, we want to, right, Nick?” Mandy pleaded, tugging on his arm and glaring at Lori at the same time.

“Sure, we can swim,” Nick said, turning to follow her to the steps leading into the pool.

“Is there any particular reason why that girl hates my guts?” Lori wondered, serving herself some of Leighanne’s potato salad.

“You know him,” Amanda stated simply. “That’s all there is to it.”

“That’s too bad,” Lori said. “Why does he stay with her?”

Kevin looked out to the pool where Nick was splashing her with water, and she was screaming at him to stop.

“We’d all love the answer to that one,” he said.

The burgers finished cooking and Howie brought them to the table where the conversation moved away from Nick and Mandy and onto Lori. She told them all about her job and her life in Switzerland, and how happy she was that she’d found Tony again. She began to notice that she was doing all of the talking and laughed nervously.

“You all can’t be that interested in me,” she said. “Please, tell me something about yourselves.”

Glances were exchanged all around the table as they silently tried to decide what to say.

Howie cleared his throat and said with a smile, “Not much to tell really. They’re pretty dull people. Um, Kevin’s a model, Brian’s a, uh, he works with children’s charities, Nick, um, well he’s Nick, and AJ here. . . “ Howie faltered, coming up with nothing.

“I’m a tattoo artist,” AJ said smoothly, motioning to his arms.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo, but I’m a little scared of needles,” Lori said.

“It only hurts for a bit, really.”

“Maybe I’ll have to get one,” Lori mused, studying AJ’s artwork.

Nick and Mandy climbed the steps out of the pool and hurried over, grabbing towels and taking seats at the table.

“Okay, now I’m starving,” Nick said, reaching for everything and anything he could get his hands on. “Lori, do you swim?”

“I can do a mean dog paddle,” she replied, making Nick snort.

“Did you bring a suit with you?”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to.”

“You could run home and get one. The water’s great.”

Lori couldn’t ignore the daggers being shot in her direction by Mandy and shook her head. “Maybe next time, okay?”

“All righty.”

Lori instinctively scooted closer to Howie, as if to prove to Mandy that she had no intentions of stealing Nick away from her. Suddenly a wet nose pressed itself against her leg. She looked down to see two chocolate brown eyes staring up at her pleadingly.

“Awww, you want something to eat?” she cooed, pulling the puppy into her lap. “Here, how about some steak?”

Brian began to laugh as Lori fed Stinker some of her food. “Does she know how to beg or what?”

Soon, bits of meat were being pushed across the table towards the dog, who swallowed them all without chewing. Her tail thumped against Lori’s lap and Nick leaned down to baby-talk with her.

Beside him, Mandy grew more and more annoyed, finally reaching around Nick to snatch the puppy from Lori’s hands, thinking that if she had the dog, Nick would turn his attention back to her.

“Here, she hasn’t been fed by me yet,” Mandy said, picking off a piece of her burger and holding it out for Stinker to sniff.

“I don’t know if she can handle anymore,” Lori said, eyeing the puppy cautiously. “She’s already had a good amount.”

Mandy scoffed and pushed the piece of meat at Stinker, urging her to eat it. Stinker tentatively opened her mouth and took the meat. Mandy smiled in triumph and bounced Stinker on her knee.

“See? She took that just fine -- Ahhhh!”

Mandy let out a shriek that could have woken the dead as Stinker’s little body began to shake and she spewed all over Mandy’s bare legs.

“Argh! Get it away from me, the little rat just threw up on me!” she cried, jumping to her feet and dropping Stinker to the ground.

Lori quickly reached down to grab the puppy before she was trampled as Mandy hopped around the table, wiping at the mess with a napkin. Brian and Kevin snickered softly from behind their hands until their wives nudged them to stop.

“Nicky! Help me!” Mandy screamed.

“What the hell am I supposed to do?” Nick demanded. “Lick it off?!”

Mandy stomped into the house, shouting about dumb dogs, rotton meat and stupid stage names. Nick shared an apprehensive glance with Howie before jumping to his feet to go after her.

“Oh, Tony, she’s scared,” Lori said, petting Stinker.

Howie cuddled the dog with Lori, praying that Nick would get Mandy calmed down, or even better yet, get her the hell away.