Chapter 8 – Coming Home

Keith's tour was coming to an end and Paige was expecting him back in San Pueblo any day now and while they had spoken nearly every day he had been away, it had not been the same as having him in her arms. Every knock on the front door made her heart skip in the hope that it would be him. Charlie in his exasperation and need to get his sister's mind off Keith Partridge had arranged for a dinner party with Jane his girlfriend and three of his less dubious friends and his son Jay and of course Paige. The three Gallagher's were in the kitchen, Jay was sitting in his high-chair drawing happily, Charlie was standing over the hotplate concentrating on the sauce for the pasta and the water was boiling away beside him and Paige was at the butcher's block preparing the starters for the evening as that was the easiest of the things to prepare for their meal.

A ring of the doorbell caused Paige to remove her apron as she said, "I thought you told everyone to be here at eight, it's only half past six."

Charlie turned to look back at his sister a moment before he replied, "I did," he added quickly, "If that's another lot of roses from your friend, I'm moving out! I can't take it anymore! Everything smells of roses, even me!"

"Charlie don't exaggerate there aren't flowers everywhere! Keith's just been a little over generous with his flower giving that's all but its sweet and I like him, so shut up!" Paige said as she stormed out of the kitchen, rather like a child would.

Keith had tried phoning Paige just as he had gotten on the flight but there had been no reply, and for some reason the in-flight phone had not been working. He had hoped that she would have been able to meet him at the airport; he knew it was a bit selfish of him to ask that of her but he had just missed her so much that even the hour's drive from the airport to her home had seemed too long without her. Before he left the airport he purchased long stemmed red roses much to Terry's annoyance and had insisted in the car on the way to his home that he be dropped off at Paige's townhouse. Terry had tried to convince him against it, that he needed to rest his voice, he needed his sleep but Keith ignored the other man and as the car pulled up to the curb, he leant over and brushed a kiss against Maddy's cheek before he got from the car and with the help of the driver carried his luggage up to the front door.

Terry shook his head as he watched Keith and thought out loud, "I can't believe that he still remembers her. He's never remembered any of his other one-night stands."

Maddy, Keith's personal assistant smiled and said, "That's because she's not one of his one-night stands. He's falling in love with her, why can't you understand that?"

Turning to look at the woman beside him, Terry said more than a little bitterly, "Because if he is falling for her, he'll want to stop touring and you and me, could be out of a job."

Maddy laughed and replied, "You can't possibly think that? Keith loves to perform. The only thing that'll be different will be that he'll be happy. Surely you want that for Keith?"

Sighing, Terry nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. Just be prepared to have a lot more down time."

Paige as she approached the front door; adjusted the straps on her knee length black dress and grabbed her sandals that she had left on the bottom stair and placed them on her feet. She pulled the door open and standing before her was a man, close to being the same height as Keith with his face hidden behind a large bunch of long stemmed roses. She smiled and laughed, as she said to the still faceless man, "My brother keeps telling me that if my friend keeps sending me flowers, he's going to move out! He thinks the house is becoming a florist's."

Keith smiled and lowered the flowers to reveal his face as he shrugged a little and said, "Guess I overdid the flowers, huh? And only a friend, I had hoped I was more than a friend."

Paige smiled in delight and rushed forward and wrapped Keith in a hug before taking his lips in a breathless, passion filled kiss.

He dropped the roses and willingly wrapped his own arms about her waist to life her a little and kissed her back with equal ferocity. The need for oxygen forced the couple apart but only an inch, he mumbled, "Hmm, I missed you too and if that's how you greet a friend, I can live with being called a friend."

She smiled and whispered, "Boyfriend."

"Boyfriend, huh? Well, that's certainly better but let's try to make it something more."

"Thank you for all the roses; I've never received so many."

Keith smiled and kissed her lightly again, before he took the pendant that he had bought for Paige between his fingers and ran the pad of his thumb over the bare skin of her breastbone, "I wasn't sure if you'd like this but when I saw it, I had to buy it for you."

"You shouldn't have bought it, I'm sure that it was absurdly expensive. But as you did buy it and didn't let me open it while you were here, I love it. It's the nicest present that anyone has ever bought me, not that I've received many presents but still, I love it."

He leant forward slightly and mumbled against her lips, "Has anyone ever told you that you're adorable when you ramble?"

She laughed and replied, "Yes, you," before she bit lightly at his lips and added, "Come on, it's getting cold out."

He eagerly followed Paige into the warmly lit front entrance and only stopped her from closing the door as he said, "Wait, my luggage and your flowers are still outside."

A little surprised, she asked, "You came straight here from the airport?"

He nodded a little sheepishly before he replied, "I couldn't wait to see you any longer."

With the help of Paige, Keith's luggage, guitar cases and her roses were brought in from the front step. Paige placed the new lot of flowers upon the hall table and wrapped her arms once more about Keith's neck and ran her hand through the hair at its nape before she asked, "Now what do you want first; something to drink, something to eat or a shower?"

The smouldering passion found within his eyes told her exactly what he wanted first but he replied, "A shower, if that's alright."

She pulled back more than a little reluctantly and replied, "Of course, it's up the stairs, to the left, end of the hall. There should be clean towels in there but if there isn't; cupboard on the right."

Keith smiled and ran his hands slowly along Paige's body as his own longed for him to casually ask her if she wanted to join him in the shower. Instead, he turned and grabbed his suitbag and mounted the stairs two at a time as he noticed that he really had overdone the roses, the front entrance was filled, as were the parts of the lounge that he could see, even every second tread of the stairs had a vase full of the blooms.

Paige watched the retreating form of her new love up the stairs, admitting to herself that she quite enjoyed the view. She picked the roses up and returned to the kitchen, as she pushed the swinging door open and was confronted by the sight of Charlie and Jane kissed passionately, she smiled and coughed audibly to make her presence in the room known to the couple as she went to search through the cupboards for a container to put the flowers in.

Jane turned and smiled at the younger blonde haired woman and said, "Hey Paige, nice roses. Still coming from your friend?"

Before Paige could reply, Charlie groaned and said, "More flowers? No, Paige please, tell Keith not to send anymore, I can't take it! I eat, sleep, even dream of roses. It's driving me insane."

"Don't be so melodramatic Charlie!" stated Paige as she placed the red blooms upon the dining table, "Besides there won't be any more flowers for a while anyway."

"Oh, why?" asked Charlie concerned for the safety of his sister's heart.

"Because," Paige replied beaming at him, "Keith's back from his tour, he's upstairs taking a shower."

Charlie smiled in return and gave his sister a light hug, "I'm happy for you, Paige. So I take it that there'll be one more joining us for dinner?"

"You bet, he's only had airport foot and room service to live on for the last couple of months, I'm sure that he'll be delighted to have a home cooked meal," Paige replied.

"Well, it's lucky that it's not your turn to cook then isn't it?" Charlie said with a laugh as he skilfully ducked the wet sponge that came whizzing past his ear.

Laughing at the antics of the twins, Jane asked, "So what's the name of your new guy, Paige?"

Bending down to look into the fridge as she searched for the bottles of red and white wine that Charlie had placed in there earlier, "Keith Partridge," she replied distractedly.

An almost strangled cry made both Paige and Charlie turn from their respective preparations for the evening as they say Jane, drop into a chair at the kitchen table and appeared to their eyes to be hyperventilating.

Concerned looks crossed the twin's faces as Paige got a drink of water for the other woman while Charlie moved to the side of his girlfriend and placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Jane, what's wrong?"

Jane was unable to answer she could only follow the movements of Paige as she returned with the glass of iced water. 'Keith Partridge,' her mind kept repeating, 'my boyfriend's sister is dating Keith Partridge.'

Eventually having gotten Jane's breathing under control once more with lots of reassurances that Keith really was just a man, the same as any other and with a promise that she would get to meet him and that Paige would ask him for an autograph for her. Paige returned upstairs in search of her new love.

She tapped quietly at her bedroom door but received no reply and she pushed it open, assuming that Keith was still in the shower. She was a little surprised to find him instead asleep on her bed wearing only his jeans. She smiled and quietly walked toward him, she perched herself on the edge of the bed and reached a gentle hand out toward him to brush a lock of hair from his face. She wondered for a moment if she should wake him for dinner or leave him be, eventually she decided that he must obviously have been exhausted to have been halfway through dressing and had to lie down to rest a minute, leaving his socks and shirt on the corner of her bed and his boots dropped nearby on the floor.

She debated a moment whether to just cover him with the blankets and return downstairs or remove his jeans before covering him. She decided that he would sleep a lot more comfortably without his jeans, licking her suddenly dry lips a little nervously; she reached her hands out and slowly brushed her fingertips down over his smooth stomach, freezing when she heard Keith moan a little at her touch, but he did not wake. She pulled at his button-down jeans and prayed that Keith would not wake and find her undressing him. She tugged softly at his jeans and pulled them down off his lean but muscled legs. She folded the material up and placed the jeans on a chair and she turned and stood a moment admiring her love wearing only black boxer shorts. She saw Keith shiver a little at the sudden cold, she walked forward and covered him with the blankets and placed a soft kiss across his slightly parted lips and returned downstairs.