| Chapter 49 Kira woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. She rolled over and grabbed it, "Hello." "Kira, hi it's Kristin," she said. "Hey Kris, how are you?" Kira asked. "Good, listen, I was wondering if you'd like to go shopping with me today?" Kristin asked. "Um, well, hang on a sec," Kira said. She reached over and shook Howie. "W-what?" Howie said waking up. "Honey, we don't have any plans for today do we?" Kira asked. Howie looked at her, "No, I don't think so. Why?" "Kris wants me to go shopping with her," Kira said. "Oh, no, go ahead," Howie said, trying not to sound like he wanted to get rid of her. Kira smiled at him, "Kris?" "Yeah," Kristin said. "Sure I'll go, what time?" Kira asked. "How bout an hour, I'll pick you up," Kristin said. "OK, I'll be ready," Kira said. "Alright see ya in a bit," Kristin said and hung up the phone. "So did she fall for it?" Kevin asked. Kristin smiled, "Hook, line and sinker. So tell me again why I'm doing this?" "I don't know, Howie wants to do some stuff and he don't want her to know," Kevin replied. Kristin smiled, "You don't think he's gonna....?" Kevin just shook his head, "I have no idea." "Well I hope he does, those two are good together," she said. "Yeah, they are. Remind me of us when we got together," Kevin said. "So how long am I suppose to keep her out?" Kristin asked. "I don't know, Howie didn't say. Make a day of it, what the hell. That'll surely give him enough time to do whatever it is he's doing," Kevin said. "OK, I'm gonna go get ready," Kristin said, then left the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick woke up coughing. He rolled over and stared at the ceiling. His entire body ached, and he felt like someone was sitting on his chest. His cough was worse than it had been the night before. "Great, just damn great," Nick said getting out of bed. He put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt. He rummaged around his bag until he found his jacket, put that on and left the house. He didn't intend on going anywhere, he just wanted to sit on the beach and watch the waves. He didn't care that he was sick, or that being outside might make him worse. All he cared about was looking at the water, and wanting to disappear. The minute he sat down on the beach the tears returned. It seemed that's all he could do now was sit there and cry. He had no desire to go anywhere, or see anyone. He just sat there mesmerized by the rhythm of the waves, and let the tears fall. * Tracy stood next to him on the beach. She looked over at Jade who was on the other side of him, "He's not gonna last to much longer like this." "I know, but she's not ready yet," Jade said. Tracy looked back at Nick, he was crying uncontrollably and already shivering. "She may not have much of a choice," Tracy said. * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leighanne fidgeted with her hair on the elevator. She was to meet Gary on the fifth floor, then they were to go into the station offices. She couldn't figure out why she was so nervous. She'd done promotional stuff before, that was nothing new. Was it seeing Gary again? It'd just been three days since she saw him last, since he tried to apologize. She was still angry at him, and probably would be for a long time. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Leighanne stepped out and looked around. Gary was standing a little way down the hall. She reluctantly walked over to him. "Hi Anne," Gary said. "Hi," she said flatly, "Where we suppose to go now?" "It's down this way," Gary said leading the way down the hall. He knew she was still angry with him, and she had every right to be. "Anne, can I ask you something before we go in?" he asked. "Gary, I just want to do this and get it over with," she said staring at him. Gary just nodded his head and opened the door for her. Leighanne walked in and was greeted by a receptionist. They were then led to the studio where the interview would be held. "OK, Mark, that's the reporter, he'll ask some general questions about the movie, how you guys like working together, stuff like that," the receptionist said. "OK, that sounds easy," Gary said. "Oh, and Leighanne, he may have a couple questions bout you and your husbands break up too," said the receptionist. Leighanne looked shocked, "Um, that's not what we're here for." The receptionist stared at her, "Honey it's all over the news. Every entertainment news show is doing a story on it, hell even Good Morning America had a segment on it. You can't expect him to give up an opportunity to talk about it." Leighanne stood there glaring at the girl. Gary walked over to the girl and put his arm around her shoulder, "Listen, we are here to talk about the movie, and only the movie. Ms. Littrell doesn't want to talk about her personal life. The interview she did with MTV was the only one she's doing. If your reporter can't respect that, then we will leave and he will have no interview at all." The girl looked at Gary, "Fine, I'll tell him what you said." She left them alone in the room. Gary walked back over and sat down next to Leighanne. "Thanks for doing that," Leighanne said, "I didn't expect to be asked about it." Gary smiled at her, "No problem, and you shouldn't have to be." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian walked into the bathroom just as Tara threw her hair brush across the room. "Should I come back?" he asked smiling. She turned around, frustration all over her face, "No, I'm just pissed." "About what?" Brian asked. "I can't raise my arms high enough to do anything with my hair, and I can't get it washed good either. I'm about ready to go have it all cut off," Tara said. Brian laughed. "It's not funny," Tara said. Brian walked over and took her hand, "All you have to do is ask me and I'll help you." Tara looked down at the floor, "I know, but I should be able to do it by myself by now." Brian shook his head, "Do me a favor, go out to the patio and sit down, I'll be out in a minute." Tara looked at him skeptically, "What for?" "You'll see, now go," Brian said. She shrugged her shoulders and headed down to the patio. She'd been sitting on the patio for a few minutes when Brian came out. He had his arms full of bottles, towels, and a pitcher from the kitchen. "What's all this?" Tara asked. Brian smiled at her, "Lean back in your chair." Tara raised her eyebrows, but did as she was told. Brian made sure all her hair was hanging over the back of the chair, then he took the pitcher and poured warm water over her hair. Tara looked up at him and smiled. When he got her hair wet enough, then Brian grabbed the shampoo bottle and began working the shampoo through her hair. Tara closed her eyes and smiled, she wanted to enjoy every minute. Brian started laughing. She opened her eyes and looked at him, "What's so funny?" "Nothin, I'm just making animals out of your hair," he said. "What?" she said, and turned around to see her reflection in the patio doors. She had bunny ears. "Brian Thomas, I think you're havin too much fun with this," she said laughing. "OK, OK I'll stop," he said. She turned back around and he rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and wrapped it in the towel. Tara sat up and started drying her hair with the towel, "Thanks." Brian smiled at her, "Anytime." When she finished, Brian grabbed the brush, and gently brushed her hair. Then he put it in a pony tail for her. When he was done he sat down next to her. She reached over and held his hand. He looked at her, she was staring at him. They sat that way for a long time. No words had to be spoken, they both knew how the other felt. Finally Brian broke the silence, "You wanna go in?" Tara nodded her head, and Brian got up, picked her up from her chair and headed into the house. Chapter 50 |