We had just pulled up to the hospital parking lot when my cell phone rang,
"Hello?" It was arranged that we would go to the hospital and visit a little girl who was apparently a big fan of ours,
"Hi, I'm here and on my way to the hotel." I heard her ask the driver how much longer,
"I should be there in about five minutes." I stepped out of the van,
"The hotel will let you in the room, get comfortable and I'll be there as soon as I can." I walked further away, I didn't want anyone to hear me talking to Sarah or know that she was coming. Howie and so far he has either kept it to himself or the other guys have done a good job of not gloating in my face that they knew my business.
"It's so sweet that you are going to visit a sick child. That's so admirable Nick." Earlier when I told her why I wouldn't be at the hotel when she arrived she was gushing like crazy. If there was any doubt if I would get laid it was put to rest after she found out how charitable I am.
"What time are you going to be back? I'm starving." I really wasn't sure when we would return but I figure we weren't going to stay for too long,
"I'm sure we won't be here too long. We usually do about thirty minutes to an hour max. Go ahead and order room service if you want. Or, do you want to go out to dinner?" Please let her say room service is ok. I really don't want to go out at all.
"No, that's ok. I'll just order room service, it'll be quicker." Thank God,
"Unless you want me to wait for you?" I had been nibbling all day and I wasn't really hungry,
"I'm alright. You go ahead and get whatever you want." I caught Natalie's eye and she motioned me over. I began to walk towards her as I ended the conversation,
"Ok I have to go. We're walking into the hospital now. Call me if you need anything." Natalie shook her head as she whispered,
"Cell phones off." I nodded,
"Hey, I'm going to have my cell phone off but I'll call you as soon as I can." Howie started walking next to me and I smiled at him.
"Ok, I'll be here." I turned the phone off and stuffed it in my pocket.
"Are you sure you don't want to go out tonight?" I turned to him and smiled,
"Howie? Remember why I'm not going out tonight?" I could see the light turn on in the attic and laughed.
"Oh yeah, but she's more than welcome." I shook my head quickly and my eyes widened so much he seemed to sense I really didn't want her to go,
"Why don't you want to go out with her? Is it a secret?" I frowned at him,
"Why? Did you say something to someone?" He knew I was teasing him and it was all in fun,
"No, I didn't. I can keep a secret." Actually, that was something really good about Howie. He could keep a secret when he knew it was something personal. That was something he and I had in common. No one ever tried to pump me for information because they knew it was a lost cause. One of Kevin's pre-marriage girlfriends said I missed my calling, that I should have been in the CIA. Kevin, Brian and AJ; well they couldn't keep a secret to save their lives. AJ because he just wanted to talk and let you know he knew something you didn't know. Brian and Kevin, it wasn't for gossiping sake, most of the time. It was generaly because they wanted someone's advice, usually each other's, on how to handle whatever it is you just told them.
"I know you can man." That was the end of it, or so I thought.
"So what's the deal?" I shrugged,
"We only have tonight and tomorrow and I just want to enjoy it. Not go out." That was the truth but there was one other small detail that I just didn't think he needed to be in on and that was Jessica. His eyebrows raised,
"Quality time? Are you thinking about getting serious with her?" I laughed and shook my head,
"You know better. I'm just thinking about having a good time." Howie and I were the last ones, not including the bodyguards bringing up the rear, to enter the hospital.
"Man, I just don't know how Lauren does it?" AJ almost whispered as we rode in the van. It was so quiet that he was heard loud and clear. Lauren was eight years old and was battling leukemia. Brian turned in the seat,
"She handles it like a trooper." At one point he began to cry and Lauren held his hand to comfort him. She even managed to make a few jokes about her hair falling out. She said she never figured AJ would have more hair than her. Kevin seemed to be affected by it the most,
"I don't know how her parents deal with it. That has to be such an unbelievable thing to go through." Kevin spent most of our time with Lauren's parents. He was the only one of us who had a kid so he could relate to that parental thing. Molly was Kevin's life and the reason we had so much time off compared to our previous tour schedules. Thank God for Molly. She's about seven months old or something like that and has the prettiest brown eyes in the world. It was always fun when she was around for a few days and I like being Uncle Nick, especially when she started screaming, shitting or hurling that way I could give her back to her parents. That uncle status is the best. I wasn't the only one thinking about her,
"Is Kristin and Molly coming out on the road?" Brian loved Molly and I'm surprised with all the baby talk and Kevin's new addition to his family it didn't cause Leighanne and him to add to their family. Kristin and Molly were in Kansas City visiting her family and I know Kevin was really missing them while we were in LA.
"No, right after Vegas I'm flying home." We taped the 80s show on Thursday then we had the last two shows of this leg of the tour on Saturday and Sunday nights. After that it was a week off before the MTV VMAs which were the following Sunday in New York. I'm not sure what I'm doing for that week. I've thought about visiting Colleen in Boston or maybe I should go home. Things are going well with the family and if I decided to spend my time with friends instead of going home it would probably cause a little turbulence. Then again, we were about to spend a lot of time together on the Carter family vacation so maybe I should stay away. I don't want to tempt fate, disrupt the Gods or anything of that nature. Things were just beginning to be good with the family again; what of being around them too much caused a strain? I don't know what I'm going to do for a week but whatever it is I am determined for it to be as stress free and fun as possible. It was going to be the kickoff to my two month vacation. I zoned out trying to figure out the perfect one week break as the guys talked about Molly.
Chapter 91
Stranger Than Fiction
Stories
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