A New Day
Chapter 9
Meanwhile back in the conference room, Kevin, Nick and Brian were stood together talking quietly. Kevin kept looking at the clock, and then at the door, watching for AJ and Howie's return, paying little notice to the other's conversation. After Kevin looked at his watch for the tenth time, Nick had had enough.
"Kevin chill. They'll be back."
Kevin glared at Nick for a moment before sighing. "I just wish they'd hurry up. We need to get this finished."
"I know cuz." Brian told him. "But a few minutes isn't going to kill us."
"Besides, they might need a few minutes to talk."
That got both their attention, and Kevin looked at him worriedly. "Why? What's wrong?" He asked.
"I don't know." Nick replied in a low voice, so that no one else could hear. "AJ's been acting funny the last couple of days. I asked Howie about it just now and he said that it was okay, cos he was helping AJ deal with it, whatever it is. He asked me to cover for them if they were late back."
"He wanted you to lie to us?" Kevin asked, his voice raised in surprise and a little anger.
"No. No." Nick quickly replied. "He didn't want them to know." He told him, jerking his head in the direction of the other people in the room. "I don't think it's bad, but he doesn't want them coming down on AJ cos they think he's gonna relapse or something. You know what they're like. Howie just doesn't want AJ to have to deal with that crap. He said to wait until it was just us around before getting into it."
Kevin visibly relaxed at that, and Nick breathed a sigh of relief. Brian looked at them both before speaking.
"I thought AJ was acting funny this morning. But I thought that it was a good thing."
Nick and Kevin both looked at him, matching confusion written across their faces.
"Huh?" "Care to explain?" came the replies.
"I don't know how to explain it, except to say that he was happy. Happy like I haven't seen him in years. So Howie must be right when he says not to worry about AJ right now, cos he wouldn't be happy if he was having problems now, would he."
Before either of them could answer, the conference room door opened, and AJ strolled in, followed closely by Howie. Both men were laughing about something, and had matching grins on their faces. The others watched as they sat back down at the table, and Nick and Kevin could suddenly see what Brian had meant. AJ looked happy, and all three men smiled as they sat down, whatever Howie was helping AJ with, it could only be a good thing if it meant that AJ smiled like that more often.