Chapter 14

Twice, Linda had picked up the phone to call Danny and twice she'd put it down. She knew he was watching the game with Frank, Henry, and Jamie. There was no reason to call. Was there? She'd done her best to hide her agitation from Jack and Sean, and calm herself down. Rachel was known to exaggerate everything she saw, so Linda knew she couldn't take her friend's text at face value.

Hey, L. Was just passing by Dom's. Saw Danny having cozy chat with Lauren; must B something else having famous friend.

She sat down at the kitchen table to sort through some bills; even with her working again, money was tight. She looked at her phone for the third time in less than 15 minutes, and scrolled to the text screen to read it yet again.

No, Danny is at Frank's, she told herself.

If he hadn't shown up for the game, someone would have called her looking for him. Rachel must be mistaken, or there had to be some reasonable expectation. There had to be. She wrangled the boys through their homework and off to bed. Both had been disappointed they couldn't go to their grandfathers and watch the game, too. But it was a school night and Linda wasn't going to have them up that late. In a few years, Jack could start to be part of the tradition, then Sean. But for now, it was bedtime.

Once Jack and Sean were settled, she cleaned a little more in the house and checked the clock. It was nearly 11:00 p.m. and Danny still wasn't home. But if the game went late, he might have stayed for the end. She had just finished brushing her teeth when Danny pulled into the driveway. He was quiet about the door so he didn't wake the boys up – they'd want a full update on the game and then no one would get any sleep.

"Hey." He gave Linda a peck on the cheek. "You didn't have to wait up."

"I was cleaning the kitchen," she said. "Was just on my way up to bed. How was the game?"

"Good. Real pitchers' duel. Mets won in extra innings for a change." He was a Mets fan, always liked rooting for the underdog. Jamie and Pops, on the other hand, were Yankees fans and he'd enjoyed the chance to flaunt the loss.

"So did you do anything else?"

Danny shook his head. "No, just the game."

"Pops make something for you guys to eat?"

"Actually, we had pizza and beer. I picked it up from Dom's before the game."

"Dom's," said Linda. He was there; was he with her? Was Rachel right? She forced her voice to brighten, so she didn't sound suspicious or jealous. "They always have good food. Good place to meet people, too, since it is such a part of the neighborhood."

"I can't imagine it without Dom's," he replied. "We all grew up there. I remember having to take Jamie in to pick stuff up and he couldn't even see over the counter."

"See anyone you knew tonight?"

Danny was about to say he'd unexpectedly run into Lauren, but he stopped himself. Linda's efforts to seem casual weren't entirely successful and something in her tone made Danny wary. His wife had been, as far as he was concerned, completely around the bend about Lauren. And it had been worse since the Sandoval show. She had practically accused him the other day of having an affair, a completely unfounded indictment.

Had Danny been thinking about Lauren? Yes. Did he have regrets and things he'd do differently, given a second chance? Absolutely. But he was not sleeping with her, and he resented Linda assuming that he was. He knew Linda would go rat-shit if he told her that he'd spent some time with Lauren at Dom's, and he didn't feel like dealing with that or sleeping on the couch again.

"No," said Danny. "No one."

It might have been a white lie, but it was a lie just the same.

Across the city, Lauren's apartment was hopping. As Thin Lizzy had put it: the boys were back in town. All of the members of the Kingmakers had arrived in New York and gotten settled in their houses or apartments. Lauren had invited everyone over – the band and their families – for dinner and a small kick off party for the new album.

Mike Mendoza, who played bass in the band, sat side by side with Augie on Lauren's sofa. They were playing Black Ops 2 and shouting at each other. Lauren was leaning over their shoulder doing some rather funny color commentary about their ability to shoot the enemy. She saw Danielle, Stevie's long-time girlfriend, come out of the spare bedroom.

"Are we being too loud?" she asked, chagrined.

"Don't you worry," said Danielle. "Kelly is dead to the world. Too used to her Daddy playing at all hours." Kelly was Stevie and Danielle's 4-year-old daughter and when she had finally crashed, Lauren had made a little bed for her in the guest room where she could sleep until her parents were ready to go home. And it hadn't been long until DJ and Tina's youngest—the twins, James and Haley—were too tired to stay awake, and Lauren had made sure they were tucked in, too.

"You're a great Auntie," said Danielle. "They're all sound asleep."

David Jareau, known as DJ to the band, was having a deep discussion with Stevie over which Van Halen video back in the '80s was the best. He gave his wife a good hard swat on the bottom as she walked by, and Tina gasped in surprise.

"Watch yourself," called Mike. "That's my sister's ass you're grabbing."

"She loves it."

"Yes, I do, babe." Tina gave her husband a kiss. DJ and Tina had been married for nearly 15 years and had three kids. In addition to the twins, David Jr. was 11 now, but he was staying with some other cousins tonight at a sleep over.

Augie let out an anguished cry as his avatar was hit by an extraordinary number of bullets in the game, and Lauren almost fell of the sofa laughing. "Dude, you suck at this. I'm glad you're not really in the army; you can't hit shit!"

Mike, after jumping off the sofa and doing a ridiculous victory dance around the living room, pulled out his cell phone and started tapping away at a text. Then he took a picture of Augie's forlorn face and typed a little more. He hit send and laughed.

"Who did you send that to?" asked DJ.

"Joey and Jake. I told them I just crushed Augie on Xbox." He gave an exaggerated, cackling laugh like an evil genius and rubbed his hands together. Joey and Jake were his two oldest sons. They were 15 and 14, the product of a two-year marriage to Donna, and lived in California with their mother. His second ex, Jennifer, lived in Texas now with his other two children, Michelle and Robbie.

From the other room, Stevie emerged carrying Kelly. The little girl was still sound asleep, her head on her father's shoulder. "We've got to go," he said. "Gotta get this one into her real bed."

"Thanks for having us over," said Tina as she gave Lauren a hug. "Next get together will be at our place when you guys need a break from the studio."

Since it was almost midnight, everyone took that as a sign they should pack it in as well. Everyone said their good-byes and headed out. Lauren liked starting off a production session with a party like this. It put everyone in a good mood, and reminded them they were all friends. There would come a point over the next few months, where the forced togetherness would start to wear on everyone.

The penthouse seemed very quiet after everyone left and Lauren yawned. She looked in the mirror as she brushed her teeth and wondered what fans would think. Would they be disappointed to learn that the Kingmakers didn't keep the party going until the sun came up any more?

Later that night, Lauren woke, breathless and covered in sweat. The room was dark and she had to fumble with the clock to see the time: 2:00 a.m. Crawling out of bed, she stripped off her damp tank top and rummaged through a dresser drawer until she found a new one. Throwing that on, she walked quietly out to the kitchen. The small bit of light from the night-light kept her from tripping over anything. She splashed a little water on her face and leaned in to get a drink from the faucet.

I need something stronger than this, she thought, but then thought better of the idea. Instead she grabbed the orange juice out of the refrigerator and drank straight from the bottle. One of the perks of living alone, she thought. No one complains about your late night eating habits.

It had been a long time since she'd had a dream that intense. She swore she could still feel Danny's hands on her body, the scrape of the unshaved stubble on his chin rough on her shoulder as he kissed her neck. Years ago, she'd had dreams like this. Augie had told her more than once that she'd woken him from the other room by calling out Danny's name in her sleep. Over the years, the dreams decreased in frequency and intensity, but they never went away. It was a safe bet that at least once a month, Danny Reagan appeared in Lauren's dreams.

But this dream. This one had all the intensity and passion as the ones she used to have. Lauren sat down at the island and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Then she reached for the drawer for a pad of paper and pen. She wanted to capture this dream before it faded; there was probably a song buried in this one somewhere.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember some of the fragments before they faded away. There had been swings, little kid swings like she used to play on in elementary school. And a pine tree. There had definitely been a pine tree, but those details were ephemeral, intangible. What she remembered was him. In the dream, she'd heard Danny behind her. He'd called out laughing but before she could turn, he was behind her, wrapping Lauren in his arms. She'd leaned back, feeling safe and sheltered in his arms. His skin had felt warm and that's when she'd realized they were naked. He started to kiss her neck, his chin rubbing along her shoulder. She leaned her head back, a soft moan escaping her lips as he kissed her harder.

In the dark kitchen, Lauren opened her eyes again and realized she was breathing harder and felt flushed. She tossed the pen down. "Damn," she said, "I need a freakin' cold shower."

Author's Note - Author's Note - Author's Note

This chapter is a bit of a transition one. I wanted a chance to introduce the band and accomplish a few other things. Hopefully it isn't too choppy! Thanks, as always for reading, and for leaving comments!