Lily sat on the balcony, feeding Nate lunch as he sat contentedly in his bouncy seat.
It was a gorgeous day, the sky was blue and there was slight breeze in the air stirring up the scent of jasmine and saltwater. Smiling at Nate as he opened his mouth for another spoonful of pureed sweet potatoes the phone rang on the table beside Lily, making her scowl.
Peeking at he caller I.D. the single line read KRISTIN.
“Stop bothering me bitch.” Lily mumbled to herself, careful to hide her irritation from Nate as he batted playfully at the spoon the sweet potatoes dribbling onto his pale blue onesie.
“Silly boy.” Scooping the orange mash back onto the spoon Lily whirled it towards Nate’s mouth like an airplane making him giggle with delight.
The phone began to ring again.
“Give it up Kristin,” Lily sang in a sweet voice spooning another bite into Nate’s waiting mouth. “You lost your husband and your son. And you’re going to have to face the fact that you’re all alone.”
* * *
Throwing her cell phone across the room Kristin let out a scream.
“PICK UP THE GOD DAMNED PHONE LESLIE!” She roared as the phone smashed against the wall dropping to the bed.
Grinding her teeth she paced the room A.J.’s words cutting through her thoughts like a knife.
“Your god damned nanny is the one who is filling Kevin’s head with all these lies Kristin.”
“No A.J., you’re wrong.” Shaking her head Kristin pulled away from him, feeling like a trapped animal.
“Open your eyes!” He shouted making her jump. “She’s been filling his head with shit since we left on tour.”
“Why-“ Rubbing her eyes she tossed back the covers with a trembling hand. “Why would she do that. She’s my friend.” Dropping her feet to the ground she attempted to stand up but found she had no strength as she fell back to the bed.
“A friend who told your husband that you were having an affair and snorting cocaine.” Rubbing her arm A.J. continued.
“He’s filing for divorce Kristin.”
“This isn’t happening.”
“He’s leaving you and taking Nate.”
“This isn’t happening.”
“And you better bet that when he gets home Leslie will be waiting for him with open arms.”
“Over my dead body she will.” Reaching for the phone on the nightstand Kristin pushed the zero waiting for someone from the front desk to pick up.
“Yes.”
“I need to book a flight to Florida immediately.” She had promised A.J. that she wouldn’t make a move until he returned from The Today Show interview but there were some things that just couldn’t wait.
She would leave him a note, let him know what was going on and hopefully he would be able to find Kevin and explain things to him before it was too late.
* * *
The interview had gone well, Katie and Matt had even asked the guys to stay for the cooking segment with Rocco DiSpirito.
The crew howled with laughter as A.J. began adding the spices shouting “BAM” with each pinch that he dropped into the bubbling chicken mixture.
“You know that’s Emerils thing right?” Howie asked tapping A.J. on the shoulder as he danced in a circle yelling “KICK IT UP A NOTCH.”
“No way man that is pure Rocco.” A.J. replied bumping his elbow into Rocco’s arm as the chef smiled back sheepishly.
“He’s right A.J., that’s Emeril.”
“Oops.” A.J. shrugged with a grin as Katie Couric came between them a gummy smile plastered on her face.
“I guess we’ll need to get A.J. some complimentary dinners at Rocco’s restaurant so that he can become more familiar with your style won’t we Rocco.” Laughing Rocco nodded as Brian and Nick tried to out stir each other, their bowls of Marsala sauce slopping all over the countertop.
“And maybe we can get Rocco to toss in a couple of those free dinners for Kevin when he’s feeling up to going out to eat. Hey fellas-“ Gliding effortlessly into her next segment Katie popped up between Brian and Nick.
“We’ve got a few minutes until the show ends, how about playing us out with another song from your new CD?”
Shrugging Nick looked over at Brian who nodded with a smile as he and the rest of the guys shed their aprons shaking Rocco’s hand and heading for the stage where the band was ready to go.
They hadn’t prepared three songs for the show but being on the road kept them sharp and they were ready for anything, especially if it meant pushing the new CD.
A.J. turned to the band letting them know that he wanted them to play “Spirit” the song that would be their next single, and the song that required the least amount of Kevin’s vocals to pull it off.
* * *
Spreading out a blanket on the plush white carpet Lily deposited Nate in front of the t.v. as she herself sank into the sofa cushions to watch the guy’s final performance the production credits for the show rolling up the right side of the screen.
Kevin was nowhere to be seen which meant that he was winging it right now home to her and to their son.
“Daddy will be home soon Kayden and then after he helps Mommy clean up that mess upstairs in the bedroom maybe he’ll take us to the park.” Giggling Nate grabbed for the bright sparkly blue ball in front of him blissfully unaware that his life was about to take a drastic turn for the bizarre.
* * *
Walking down the hall towards their hotel rooms the guys loudly critiqued their performance to one another, all of them deciding that Nick should never again slash green streaks of dye into his platinum blonde hair before a performance on national t.v.
“Hey I did it for Sluggo over there.” He said motioning to Brian. “Katie was so obsessed with my new do that she didn’t even have time to mention that Rok’s wearing a layer of flesh colored base all around his eye.”
“You look like a leprechaun.” Howie snorted slapping Nick on the back as they reached A.J.’s room. “But you’re right it took the heat off of all of our other troubles right now.”
“For sure.” A.J. countered slipping his key card into the door. “So are we going to the radio stations this afternoon?”
“Yeah, we have three radio stations to hit and some interview with a lady from People magazine.” Jumping up Brian rubbed Nicks striped hair. “Let’s just hope they don’t want any pictures for the People magazine article right Nick.”
“Fuck you man.” Nick turned chasing Brian down the hall, Howie following behind as A.J. disappeared inside his room, ready to strategize with Kristin for the best way to talk to Kevin about their suspicions where Leslie was concerned.
But Kristin was gone.
The letter was tossed casually onto the unmade bed so that A.J. missed it on his first pass through the room.
The second time through he spotted it, picking it up he read the shaky handwriting with a tight knot forming in the pit of his stomach.
I couldn’t wait; I had to take care of things right away. She’ll never get my son.
Kris
Shit.