My eyes wandered around, trying desperately not to look at him. I was just too scared of what was going to happen. But, without thinking, I looked at his face, and our eyes met. We both looked away quickly, but we both knew. We both had that same feeling. It was minutes before either of us spoke, and I was glad it was him and not me.
"This is... awkward... isn't it?" he asked me, looking me right in the eyes. Our eyes met again.
"It sure is." I replied, but started to smile. This is him, the man I loved for most of my life. He was finally with me again. My heart was beating so fast.
"You look awesome." he stated. I just kept smiling. "You're so beautiful."
"Thank you... but..." I said, and he knew what I was going to say, "Why-"
"I know... ok? Don't get me started on that... please." he asked me. I was confused.
"I have the right to know why you did that to me, Nick." I almost yelled.
"I... I know you do. I'm so sorry. I couldn't be more sorry. I... you know... I-" he hesitated.
"You what? I want to just forget that you left me while I was pregnant with your sons, but I can't. I just can't." I told him.
"I know..." he started, but then realized what I'd said. "What? My... what?" he asked.
"Your... sons. You have two wonderful, beautiful, awesome 3-year-old sons... Eden Gene and Emery Nickolas." I smiled, thinking about them.
"Are you serious?" he asked right away, not believing me.
"Yeah, they're great." I finished. "Shit, Nick... I can't believe I haven't seen you in over 3 years. I've missed you so much." I told him, breaking down. I didn't really care why he left me, I was just glad he was back.
"I know... I'm so sorry, believe me. I haven't stopped thinking about you." he told me.
"Yeah right? You're all big and famous now, and you're still thinking abuot me?" I asked him. He nodded.
"Of course I am. I haven't had one steady girlfriend since you... I just couldn't." he told me sadly.
"Then why haven't you made an attempt to find me? Or even talk to me?" I asked him.
"How was I supposed to know you moved here, to Tampa?" he asked back.
"I just moved here a few weeks ago." I informed him.
"You... you've been living in Sanford?" he asked me.
"Yup... why?" I asked back. We just had so many questions for each other.
"I... I called Mallory about a year ago, to find out where you were staying and everything... she told me you moved away..." Nick told me sadly.
"Mallory told you I moved away a year ago?" I asked back, shocked. He just nodded.
"Oh damn, I gotta talk to her now..." I mumbled angrily.
"So... why did you just move here?" he asked me.
"For a change. I love Tampa, I always have. I really missed it. And the boys had never been here..." I let my voice trail off. We were going to talk about the boys again.
"The boys... our boys..." Nick repeated. I guess it sounded weird to him. "I can't believe I have two sons..."
"You do... they look just like you..." I told him.
"They do?" he asked. I nodded.
"You... you want to see them... meet them?" I asked him. He was very shocked I had asked that.
"Of course, yeah... I just don't think I deserve to see them. I love you so much, I can't believe I let everyone talk me into leaving you... I'm such a jerk..." he replied, looking at the ground.
"No, Nick, you're not... I mean, we were all mad at you for awhile, but just think... what if you hadn't left me? What if the media found out you had children a few years ago? You might not be as big as you are now." I informed him.
"I don't care about that, Torr. I hurt you... and I shouldn't have. I put my "job" before you. You were my everything..." he told me. I felt tears in my eyes, knowing that he was speaking from his heart.
"Oh Nick..." I managed to say, before I started to cry. All of our good memories flowed back into my head, and the bad things left instantly. The past was behind us, we only had the future to deal with.
Nick got up and came around to my side of the booth. He sat beside me and I fell into his arms. I cried into his shoulder. Being in his arms again felt so good. I could tell he didn't want to let go of me. After a few minutes, I pulled away and just looked into his eyes.
"What are we going to do?" I asked him, still crying.
"Let's take this one day at a time..." he told me, trying hard not to cry.
"Nick...?" I asked him.
"Yeah?" he asked back.
"It's ok to cry." I told him. He just nodded.
We hugged again and when we pulled away I saw tears running down his cheeks. At that moment I knew everything was going to be ok.
