FRIDAY - JUNE 25, 1976

Sam sat on the bus, his fingers moved absently across his guitar strings, as he stared out the window. They were headed to Spokane to do a show there tonight. He sat alone, as he had been doing a lot, lately.

When they got to a hotel, he would shut himself in his room, coming out when it was time to leave for the show. After the shows, he would go back to his room, not wanting to go to the parties afterward.

There were damages to some of the rooms, but it was usually limited to the phone. After hearing the busy signal all the time, it sometimes got pitched across the room. He didn't want to talk to anyone. Except Sarah. He needed to hear her voice so bad, he ached, the pain bounced around inside him.

He had thought, for sure, that once she received the photo album, they could at least have talked. But since the one time when he had gotten through on the phone, only to hear Sarah was with Pete, her phone was off the hook again.

He had made up his mind that he was going to see her. He had checked into flights and had found one for Saturday night after the show in Portland.

Gisette sat down in the seat beside him, starting to talk before he had a chance to tell her to leave.

"I hear that you're going to see Sarah. You'll be back in time for the show in Reno on Monday?"

"Yeah, that's why I picked that day. No shows on Sunday. Is that ok with you?" Sam said sharply.

"Sam, I'm on your side, I want you and Sarah back together. Look, I know I made her life miserable when she was here, and I told you that I'm sorry for that. And I can't help it if I got a pregnancy scare when you two were just getting your act together again. Georgie told me why she left. You should have told her, Sam."

"I fucking know that now! At the time, I thought I was protecting her."

"Well, maybe she will understand when you see her and talk to her." Gisette said as she got up to leave. "I really do wish you luck. I hope she comes back to you. Your performance last night wasn't as good as it usually is."

***

Sarah was eating dinner with her parents when they heard the doorbell ring. She put down her fork and sat still, trying to calm the crazy flip flops her heart was doing.

Her father got up from the table muttering. "This has got to stop. Every damn time the phone rings or someone's at the door, I have to see that look on your face, Sarah. If it doesn't end soon, I swear to God, we're moving!"

He came back to the table, visibly shaken. "Jane, that was Delly. Your mom called her, just as Delly was leaving the house, she can't get through on our phone. She's feeling a little strange and she wants to go to the emergency room."

He caught his wife as she started to run from the kitchen. "Baby, she'll be ok. She called an ambulance before she called here. Delly heard the sirens when she was talking to her, so the ambulance is there. We'll meet them at the hospital."

Jane looked down at Sarah. "We could be there awhile." She was worried about Sarah staying by herself. "I have to put the phone back on the hook, Sarah. If anything happens, I'll need to call you. Will you be ok?"

Sarah nodded in agreement. "I'll wait here. Call me, I'll answer the phone." She saw her mother's worried look. "Everything will be okay. Call me when you find anything out."

Sarah sat at the kitchen table, by the phone. Her mother had called twice now, once when they got there and an hour later, to say that they were taking Sarah's grandmother down for tests. The last call had been an hour ago, and she was waiting to hear how the tests had come out.

When the phone rang, she picked up, quickly, then sat, frozen, when she heard Sam's voice.

"Sarah! Oh my god, sweetheart! It is so good to hear your voice!" Sam sounded surprised and overjoyed.

Sarah hung up on him. Her body started trembling and she felt the tears building up.She had heard him calling her name and she knew then that there was no way she could talk to him. She still felt too vulnerable. The phone rang again and she was afraid to answer, but she knew that it could be her mother.

"Sarah, hi honey, it's Mom." Jane paused. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I am. How is Grams?"

"They're going to admit her, they think she's had a stroke. Jane sighed. "It's going to be another long night." The line was silent as Jane listened to her daughter crying. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I can stay here, Mom. Sam has already called once."

"Is Midgie home?" Jane asked, anxiously.

Sarah shook her head. "No, she's out with Dave."

"Then you have to go to Pete's."

"Oh, the town gossips will love that." Sarah said, cryptically.

"That's ok, I can handle the gossip. I have his number, I'll call you there. Call Pete, he'll come pick you up."

Sarah dialed Pete's number as soon as she hung up, and he answered on the first ring. She explained the situation and he quickly agreed to pick her, saying he'd be there in five minutes. She went upstairs to get ready, and the phone rang again.

Sarah stood in her parent's room and stared at the phone as it rang for a third time. Finally, gathering up her courage, she picked up the receiver.

"Sarah! Don't hang up, please, sweetheart." She slammed the phone down again, and went downstairs to wait for Pete.

Sam threw the phone across the room, luckily doing no damage, besides the jack being forced from the base. He could hear someone at his door, and he groaned when he heard the female French voice.

"Go away, Gisette! I didn't break anything." He picked up the phone and plugged the jack back into it, lifting the receiver to listen for the dial tone.

"Let me in, Sam. I'm not leaving until you open this door!" Gisette pounded on the door again.

Sam opened the door, and Gisette pushed her way into the room. She turned in a circle, checking for damages, then, seeing everything in it's place, she sat in the chair.

"I'm not in the mood for company." Sam growled.

"Too bad. I came here to tell you that everyone expects to see you at dinner before the show tonight. You've been hiding in your room, not eating, I don't think you're sleeping good." She looked at him in exasperation. "We know you are having a hard time. But your performances are being affected by it. You're not putting as much focus on them. Everyone is getting tired of this, Sam. You are putting us all in a bad situation. It's time to change that before it's too late."

"Are you saying that everyone wants me out of the band?" Sam narrowed his eyes at Gisette.

"Not yet," Gisette looked at him, narrowly. "But if this keeps up, we don't know."

Sam sat on the edge of the bed. "I can't fucking believe this!"

"We don't want to have to do that. It would set us back. But this is costing us too much and we can't afford it." Gisette went to stand in front of him. "You're going to see Sarah on Sunday. Do you think that for the next two days, you can at least try to be a part of this band?"

Sam nodded his head, still shaken by what she had said.

"Good, then we'll see you in an hour." Gisette crossed the room and left.

***

Sarah walked ahead of Pete as they approached the steps to his apartment. She turned, halfway up the stairs, to say something and saw Mrs. Schultz's curtain twitch.

"Well, we've been caught." She said, still hiccuping from her crying jag.

Pete just shrugged his shoulder, going ahead of her and opening his door.

"We are the latest hot gossip. C'mon, I need to get high."

Sarah sat curled on the end of Pete's couch, staring at the TV. Pete sat at the other end, engrossed in The Rockford Files. Her head was filled with the sound of Sam's voice, just those few words he had said kept running through her mind.

"You're thinking about him. I can see it in your face." Pete said. "I'm going to get us a beer. And when I get back, we're going to get your mind off of him. Think of something that we can talk about."

Pete came back with two beers, handing one to Sarah. "Here, these were actually bought legally. In fact, the guy at the store wished me a happy birthday when I paid for them!"

Pete sat down on the couch, leaning his forearms on his legs. "Well? Did you think of anything to talk about?"

Sarah gave him a blank look and he continued. "You weren't even listening. Ok, well listen now, because I want to talk to you about something."

He stopped to take a long drink of his beer, then lit up a joint. "You're here tonight because you don't want to talk to Sam on the phone. And there's no chance of him bothering you here, he doesn't know where I live, right?"

"Right." Sarah agreed. "We didn't get a chance to come here when we were here before. You were moving in."

"Ok. Then this is what I've been thinking. Why don't you move in with me?" He laughed at her startled look. "Friends, baby, just friends. I promise. But it would solve your problems. Think about it."

Sarah took the joint from him, looking at him, carefully. "What about what everyone will say?"

"Like I've said before, fuck them! We know what's going on, let their tiny little minds think anything they want. It will get our mom's off our backs, too."

"Let me think about it, ok?"

"Sure." Pete nodded. "How about a game of cards?" He grinned, slyly. "I promise not to cheat."

SATURDAY - JUNE 26, 1976

Sarah stood, staring out the kitchen window of Pete's apartment. She had spent the night, sleeping in his bed while he slept on the couch. Her mother had called during the night and updated Sarah, giving her the room number that her grandmother was in. She had added that she was glad that Sarah was staying at Pete's and she wouldn't be so worried about her.

"Where would I sleep?" Sarah continued to stare out the window.

Pete was at the counter, pouring them coffee. "You can have the bed, I'll take the couch. It was fine last night."

"You're too tall for the couch. You had to sleep all curled up last night. I saw it when I got up during the night."

Pete sighed. "We'll go out today and buy a new one. I've been wanting one anyway. That is just the one that was here when I moved in."

Sarah sipped her coffee, deep in thought.

"It would work, baby." Pete said from behind her.

"Isn't that the tree that I got stuck in?" Sarah pointed to the tall oak in Mrs. Schultz's back yard.

Pete looked over her shoulder and chuckled. "Yep, we were about eight years old, you had to prove that you could climb trees as good as a boy. But you couldn't get back down, I went up and helped you."

"Yeah..." Sarah stared at the tree as she remembered that day.

Pete went to the refrigerator, opening it and surveying the contents. The top shelf had a dozen bottles of beer, and the second shelf had the stub of a sub sandwich he had put in there last week. The door shelves were empty except for a bottle of ketchup. He closed the refrigerator and opened a cupboard.

"I have Sugar Puffs!" He said, pulling out the box of cereal. "We can eat them by the handful like we used to."

Sarah turned to Pete, wrinkling her nose. "Let's go to the restaurant for breakfast. Then we can stop at Walker's Furniture store and look at couches."