| Chapter 79 "Hello," Lyn said. "Hey Lyn, it's Howie," he said. "Hey, how are you?" she asked. "Good, great actually. I didn't know how much I missed being here until I got back," he said. Lyn laughed, "Well I'm sure Kira has alot to do with that, how's she doing?" "Good, she had to go in to the shop for a while, otherwise I'd let you two talk," Howie said. "That's OK, I'll catch her next time," Lyn said. "What's Nick doing?" Howie asked. "Ohh, he's working on a painting. He got some of his art entered in a show right after you guys left, and now the gallery wants him to bring some more up to display," Lyn said. "Wow, that's great," Howie said. "I know, he was so excited. Do you wanna talk to him?" she asked. "Well, if he has time yeah," Howie said. "OK, hang on," Lyn said. Lyn walked over to the drawing table and tapped Nick on the shoulder. He looked over at her. "Howie's on the phone," she signed. Nick smiled as he got up and went to the machine and stuck the receiver in it. "Hey man," Nick typed. "Hey, I hear you're quite the artist now," Howie replied. Nick laughed, "Well, I don't know about that. So what's up?" "Well, Kira and I have been talking about the house," Howie typed. "And?" Nick asked. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Howie asked. "Positive. So?" Nick typed. "Then yes, we would like to," Howie answered. "Great! I'll have Lyn call my attorney and get the paperwork drawn up, and I'll sign it when we come down for Brian's party," Nick typed. "OK, that'll be good. Speaking of the party, do you know something?" Howie asked. Nick smiled, "No, why?" "I don't know, since when do they have a formal party? I've never seen Tara in a dress the entire time I've known her," Howie typed. Nick burst out laughing. "Well, that's true. I don't know, it's their first party together, maybe they wanted to do something different," he typed. "Yeah, I guess so. So where are you staying when you come?" Howie asked. "Well, if it's not to much of a problem, can we stay with you?" Nick asked. Howie laughed, "Nick, it's still your house. Of course you can, and Lyn's coming too right?" "Yes," he answered. "Good, Kira can't wait to meet her," Howie typed. "Yeah, Lyn's excited about coming too," Nick replied. "Well, I'll let you get back to your painting," Howie said. "OK, I'll see you in a couple of weeks then," Nick said. "Yeah, see ya man," Howie typed. "K, bye," Nick typed, then took the receiver out of the machine and hung up the phone. He looked up to see Lyn smiling at him. "What?" he asked. "What were you laughing at?" she asked. "Ohh, Howie was asking if I knew anything about Brian and Tara's party," Nick signed. Lyn laughed, "What'd you say?" "I said no, you know Bri would kill me if it got out," Nick said. "I know, I'm just hoping they can pull it off," Lyn said. "Are you kidding? With those two, they will absolutely pull it off," Nick signed. Nick got up and walked back to his drawing table and sat down. Lyn walked over and looked at what he was doing, "That's the best one so far." Nick looked at her, "You really think so?" "Yeah, but I'm a bit partial you know," Lyn signed. Nick laughed, "Yeah, I wonder what she thinks about it?" Lyn looked out the window for a moment, "I think she likes it." Nick smiled and looked down at his painting. It was a portrait of Tracy. She was standing on a grass covered hill, with the sun shining down on her. He had painted her in the gown he had grown accustomed to seeing her in when she would appear to him, but he had added a pair of wings. She truly looked like an angel. Nick sighed and got back to work. Lyn walked up to her office, needing to finish some things herself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Bri, what do you think about this one?" Tara asked. Brian looked over at the magazine Tara was holding, "I like that one." Tara put the magazine down and looked at him, "Brian, you've liked the last ten I've shown you. This isn't helping." He laughed, "I'm sorry, I'm just not good at this stuff." Tara walked over and sat down next to him on the couch. They were in a hotel in LA, Brian's last interview was tonight, then they would be on their way home. "When were we suppose to meet Lee and Gary?" Tara asked. "In about an hour," Brian answered. "Man, I'm still tired from last night. I knew that A.J. and Sarah liked to party, but good lord," Tara said. Brian laughed, "Yeah, those two were truly made for each other." "So when you called Nick about the party, he was OK with it right?" Tara asked. "Yeah, are you kidding, he asked me what took us so long," Brian said with a smile. "Did you remind him that we've been busy?" she said teasing. "Yeah, I'm glad we told him though. I'm not sure what his reaction would've been if we just sprang it on him," Brian said. "Well, as long as he and Lyn keep it to themselves until the party, we'll be OK," Tara said. "Did Lyn tell you about his art?" Brian asked. "Yeah, I think it's great. She also said some publishers were talking to him about doing some illustrations," Tara said. "I always knew that kid would do something like this one day," Brian said. Tara looked at him and smiled, "Bri, you just called him a kid." "Well he still is to me," he said. "I know, but you of all people know how much he's grown in the last few months. He's definitely not a kid anymore," Tara said. "I know. Sometimes I think he's more together than any of the rest of us," Brian said. She laughed, "Well, I'm not sure I'd go quite that far." "Well, we better get ready to go. You know how much Leighanne hates it when we're late," Brian said. "Yeah, that kid of there's is gonna be one punctual child," Tara said grinning. Brian laughed, then got up and went to get ready. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kira pulled up the drive and got out of the car. She walked in, and sat her purse down on the table next to the door. "Howie," she called. "In here," he answered from the kitchen. Kira walked down the hall to the kitchen, rounding the corner she saw him in front of the stove, an apron tied around his waist. "Whatcha cookin?" she asked. "Food, how was work?" he replied. "OK," she said walking up behind him and putting her arms around him. He turned around so he was facing her and smiled, "I'm glad your home." He softly kissed her, then turned back around to tend to his meal. Kira walked around the counter, and sat down on one of the bar stools, "So, what'd you do today?" "I called Nick about the house," Howie said. "Oh, he still want's to sell?" Kira asked. "Yeah, he's gonna have the paperwork drawn up and sign it when he comes for Brian's party," Howie said. "Did you ask him about that, there's something fishy going on there," Kira said. Howie laughed, "I asked, but he didn't say anything." "But he knows something doesn't he?" she asked. "I'm not sure, it's hard to tell when your typing on a machine. If I was actually talking to him, maybe I could tell by his voice, but I don't know," he said. "I wonder what it is," Kira said. Howie turned around and looked at her, "Whatever it is, we'll find out soon enough." Kira pouted, "But it's still two weeks away. Do you know how bad this is going to bother me until we find out?" Howie pointed at her with the spoon he was holding in his hand, "No snooping missy, whatever it is, Bri and Tara will tell us when they're ready to, and not before." Kira sighed heavily, "OK I won't snoop." Howie laughed at her, "You look so cute when you do that." "Do what?" she asked. "Act like you're giving up, when you're actually thinking of some way to find out what it is you want to know," he said. Kira dawned her most innocent face, "I would never..." "Oh yes you would, that's one of the reasons I love you," Howie said. Kira laughed, "OK, you got me, but I promise I won't snoop." "Yeah right," Howie said under his breath. "What was that?" Kira asked. "Oh nothing, come taste this," he said holding out the spoon. She got up and walked over, taking a small bite. "That's good," she said. Howie looked at her, she had some sauce on her lip. "Um, you have some sauce....." he said pointing at where it was. Kira looked at him like she didn't know what he was talking about. "Where?" she asked. "Here let me," Howie said, leaning in and kissing her. Kira breathed into the kiss, and pulled him closer to her. Their kiss became more passionate, and Kira pulled the apron off and dropped it in the floor. Howie pulled away, "What about the food?" She smiled and turned off the stove, "Forget the food." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn approved her last order and turned off the computer. She looked over at the clock. She had been working for four hours. She got up and headed downstairs, she hadn't intended on working so long. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked over at the drawing table. The finished painting was setting there drying, but Nick wasn't in site. She looked around the living room, spotting him on the couch asleep. She walked over and sat down in front of him, watching him sleep. His notebook was in the floor, and she picked it up. He had been writing down some lyrics. She read them as tears came to her eyes. She could only imagine what they would sound like with music. Nick reached over and pushed the notebook down, so he could see her face. "Why you crying?" he asked. "These lyrics are beautiful," she signed. He smiled, "I wrote them for you. I want Brian to put them to music when they work on their next album." Nick sat up, pulling her up on the couch with him. "So what do you want to do tonight?" she asked. "I'm really tired, let's just stay here," he answered. Lyn looked at him concerned, "Are you feeling OK?" "Yeah, I'm just tired, been working to hard on the painting," he answered. "Are you sure that's all?" she asked. "Lyn, I'm fine," he signed. She smiled at him, "Do you want something to eat?" "Yeah," he said. She got up and went to the kitchen to make them some dinner. Nick turned on the TV and was interested in the news when he jumped. He looked around trying to figure out what it was that frightened him. He got up and walked into the kitchen. Lyn was picking up the broken glass she had just dropped. "Are you OK?" he asked. "Yeah, I just dropped this is all," she said. She could tell Nick was unnerved. "Nick, is something wrong?" she asked. "I don't know, something scared me, I think I...." he signed. "Nick, did you hear this break?" Lyn asked. "I'm not sure, I think I did," he said. Chapter 80 |