CHAPTER 5

Amy led the guys back to the kitchen. She didn't know how, but her hand had ended up in Brian's and if felt good. She looked at him, smiling slightly when he grinned at her. They settled in the kitchen, Brian finally releasing her hand as she made them all something to drink.

Howie finally broke the silence. "I can't believe how hurt she is. She always seemed so strong. I guess prison was worse than we all thought it would be for her. I guess we didn't want to realize how bad it must have been. Damn, how insensitive can we be?"

"D-Man, we weren't thinking,” AJ says. “Not really. I guess we wanted to believe there wasn't any after effects of what happened. We're just dumb men."

Amy was shocked at what AJ said. "AJ, you aren't dumb. Any of you. You want to make things right for her. She's good at hiding what she's feeling now. As well as I know her, she hid it from me. You couldn't have known."

Howie spoke up quietly. "What can we do for her Amy? We want to help you find your friend. Find our friend. What should we do?"

"Howie, I think the best thing for her is if we don't crowd her. Let Nick take care of her. You all know how close they were. I think he is just what she needs. He can help her more than I can."

Brian could sense her sadness at that statement, and he reached over to hold her hand. "Amy, you have spent the past months pulling her out of her shell. I can't read her mind, but I bet she feels like she's a burden to you. She used to be very independent. It's hard to give that up."

Amy sighed, looking at their hands joined together on the table. "Thanks Brian, I know that. It's just, she's my best friend. If I can't help her, what good am I?"

None of them saw Nick and Dottie come into the room. Dottie heard what Amy said, and she felt really bad about what she had made her friend feel. She broke the tense silence by saying, "A, you never gave up on me, how could you think you haven't helped me? I depend on you to keep me sane, and it isn't really fair to you. It's time I got back on my own two feet."

Nick slid his hand around her from behind, resting it on her stomach. "Amy, if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have Dottie back the way she is now. She would have shut us all out." Dottie leaned her head back on his shoulder as he continued. "Today was just the breaking point. She's finally realized she needs us in her life, whether she wants to admit it or not. And, I don't know about all of you, but I'm not letting her shut herself off from me. Not again."

AJ was quick to jump in. “No, none of us are letting you shut us out. We made that mistake before; we aren’t going to do it again.”

Amy stood, walking over to Dottie. The two friends hugged as Amy promised, “I’m not going anywhere, D. You’re stuck with me.”

Dottie choked back a sob as she hugged Amy. “A, you’ve never given up on me, and I love you so much for that. But I think I need to be alone for a bit. Just to get my bearings for myself. I won’t shut myself off, I promise, I just need time. Time to figure out what I’m going to do with my life.”

Howie stood up, moving to put his glass in the sink. “Dottie, that’s easy. You’re going to do what you do best, run our lives. When you’re ready, we want you back. Not affiliated with the record company, but just for us. We’ve never been able to handle things with another assistant. No one understands us the way you did. We won’t push you, but think about it, ok? We want you back.”

She looked around the room at all of them. Nick sensed her uneasiness and wrapped his arm around her waist. Leaning down, he said, “Dottie, we know you aren’t ready, but we want you to know that when you are, you have someplace to go. It’s where you belong.”

Amy gave her friend a watery smile. “Where do you want to go D? I know you need time, but I want to know where you are going.”

Nick piped in then, shocking them all. “She’s staying at my house in Florida while we are on tour. She’ll have her privacy and we can all get in touch with her.”

All of them seemed shocked, but Brian recovered first. “Well, that’s great. Yeah, you’ll have all the privacy you want. Nick’s house is definitely secluded. It’s the only one the fans can’t find.”

“They still haven’t found it?” Dottie’s question caught them all off guard as she watched Nick.

Nick blushed, looking around the room. AJ found his voice first. “She knows where your house is doesn’t she? You swore us to secrecy, we couldn’t even tell our families.”

Dottie popped in, surprising them all. “I helped him find his house guys. We spent two weeks shopping for it.”

Amy was shocked. “Two weeks? And you didn’t tell me what was going on?”

Dottie blushed. “Amy, it’s no big deal, just house hunting. He wanted seclusion, we found it.”

Amy knew there was more to it than that, but she kept her mouth shut. She had a feeling that was when her friend fell for Nick. “Oh, ok. I’m sorry. I just never realized you helped him out. You know, that sounds like a good idea, D. Just to get away. But you do know I’m always going to be here if you need me.”

Dottie hugged Amy’s neck. “I know that, Amy. I just have to be by myself while I figure out what to do. How to move on.”