The next morning, I was awake at 5am, but not because my boys woke me. I was awake even before they came in my room. I barely slept all night. I was busy thinking about what Shanelle told me. She said I have to go see him. I have to go to the concert. I mean, I know I don't have to. But I should, right? I mean... I was just really confused when my boys ran in my room around 5:30am.
"Mama?" Emery asked me. "What we do today?"
"Well..." I thought for a short while, just smiling at the twins. "You can spend another day with Mackenzie, if you want. Shanelle and I are going out..." I told them.
"YEAH!" they both yelled in unison.
"You sure?" I asked them again, already knowing their answer. They loved being with Mackenzie.
"Yessss!" they screamed happily.
"Ok, good." I finished.
I was going to call around and see if I could find out where the Backstreet Boys were staying or something. I was going to find him today.
It was about noon when I made plans with Shanelle. We decided I'd bring the boys down there around 1pm and then she and I would leave. We didn't tell Mackenzie what we were going to do. He'd either not believe us, or make fun of us or something. And the boys didn't know either, but that didn't matter yet.
At about quarter to 1pm, I was just finishing getting the boys cleaned up from lunch, and the telephone rang. Thinking it was probably just Shanelle, I grabbed it after quite a few rings.
"Hello?" I asked into it, wiping Eden's face as he ran away.
"Hey Torr! Why'd you take so long to answer?" the voice asked me. It was Mallory, back in Sanford.
"Oh hey you... sorry I thought it would be Shanelle... we're leaving in a few minutes..." I told her. She was still my best friend, but now I was only talking to her like once every few days.
"Oh, where you headed?" Mallory asked me. I hadn't told her about either of my Nick-sightings. I didn't want her to flip out, like I knew she would.
"Shanelle and I are just going out, I don't know where. I'm leaving the boys with Mackenzie." I replied.
"It's weird... I used to be the one who you left the boys with. And now it's some 'Mackenzie' guy I don't know..." Mallory said. She meant for it to be funny, but neither of us laughed.
"Yeah, well... they're really awesome... they accepted me right from the first day we were here. And they love the boys." I told her. I could almost feel her jealousy.
"I really miss you, and the boys." Mallory pouted.
"We miss you too... but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. We love it here." I told her.
"Are you going to come back soon?" Mallory asked me.
"Mal, we've only been gone barely two weeks." I let out a laugh. I heard no reply.
"So... you don't wanna come back?" she asked rudely.
"No, Mal, we do. But we're finally really settled in here... we'll wait about a month, maybe... but we'll be back to visit." I reassured her.
"Fine... ok... tell the boys I love them." she finished.
"For sure... I should go get the boys ready... see ya Mal." I told her.
With a sigh, Mallory answered, "Bye Torrance."
I also sighed and put down the phone. Then I finished getting the boys ready, got myself ready, and we went downstairs to 'Nelle and Mack's.
Shanelle and I were gone by 1:30pm. We took my car. I just started driving. We listened to the Backstreet Boys. Shanelle called every hotel in town to find out if they were staying in a hotel, but none would give out any information. Thinking we would never find them, we pulled into a McDonald's to grab some food. It was about 4pm. We told Mackenzie we wouldn't be back until the evening.
When we went into the McDonald's, I was a little disapointed I that I couldn't find him. We ordered some supper and sat down in a booth to eat. We talked a little, but I didn't even feel like talking. And Shanelle could tell that I was a little let down over this whole thing. I just wanted so badly for my boys to know their dad. It didn't look like that was going to happen.
*Same Time; Nick's Truck*
I can't go home until I've found her...Nick Carter told himself. I've got to find her.
He'd been driving around in his green truck all day, calling hotels, motels and inns from his car phone. But he'd had no luck.
I'll stop to get some food, and then I'm going back out to look for her. I will find her. Nick kept telling himself, after realizing he was starving.
He pulled into the closest McDonald's, and turned off his truck. He put on a hat and sunglasses and then went into the resturant. He knew he'd be reconized by someone, he couldn't go anywhere without being reconized. But he didn't know that he'd be reconized by someone he knew. Well, used to know.
