Section 10
The sounds were different, the smells were different, the entire atmosphere of Hollywood, California, was different from Tampa, Florida. Paige had been to Hollywood dozens of times since signing a contract with RCA, but each visit overwhelmed her. Big city, big lights, big stars, and suddenly she was a part of it and she hadn't been expecting it.
"So how'd you get your start, by the way?" Nick asked as a car drove the two of them and their respective children to the hotel.
"Singing in an airport actually."
"You had a gig in an airport? Interesting."
"No," Paige laughed at the odd expression on Nick's face. "I was standing at the ticket desk waiting to be helped and I had some song that I heard on the radio that morning in my head. So I started singing quietly to myself."
"'Some song'?" Nick looked at her incredulously and Paige looked confused by his comment.
"What do you mean?"
"It was the song you were singing when you were discovered and you're trying to tell me you don't remember what it was?"
Paige rolled her eyes and glanced out of the window beside her. "Okay, it was Britney, you happy now? I don't like to tell people that because I'm not that type of girl. I'm not like her."
Nick's smile was dazzling. "I know." Apparently, he liked that about her.
Paige was touched by how genuine he was and could have kicked herself for caring. "Can I finish my story now?" When she got his nod of approval, she continued, "Anyway, I guess I was singing louder than I'd intended because a guy that had been standing behind me got out of line when I was done checking in, and ran after me to give me his business card. He asked me to please send him a demo of my singing. To be honest, I didn't have one."
Nick looked surprised. "You weren't planning on being a singer?"
"Nope." Paige smiled at him blithely. "English lit major with a minor in creative writing."
"A writer, huh?"
Paige was pleased to see that once again he looked surprised. She liked that she kept him guessing.
"What kind of writing did you want to do?"
"Fiction novels." She spoke quietly and Nick noticed that she had a dreamy look on her face as she answered him.
Nick smiled at her affectionately and ran his hand over the top of her hair to regain her wandering attention. "Still wanna do it one day, don't you?"
"So much."
And he knew she would.
"Zack... you are just so cute... yes, you are... yes, you are!"
Nick walked into his and Zack's hotel room to find Paige baby talking his son. He tried to stop the grin that was slowly creeping across his face, but couldn't. He stood silently in the doorway, hating to interrupt such a sweet scene as the one before him. But after a few minutes of standing with a silly grin on his face, Natalia spotted him and her giggling and pointing gave his presence away. Paige looked up in surprise and gave a sheepish smile... one that oddly enough matched Nick's own perfectly.
His blush gave away his embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm not usually the voyeur type. It's just that I--"
Paige's shy smile changed into a grin. "It's okay." After all, she knew if she'd walked in on Nick playing with her daughter, she would have stood and stared, too.
"So," Nick cleared his throat and moved farther into the room. He purposefully broke the spellbound eye contact between he and Paige. "Emma will be here in a few minutes. I talked to her on the phone downstairs and she was just leaving the airport. She's really excited to meet Nat."
"Good, can't wait to meet her myself." Paige smiled and stood from her place on the floor, taking a second to bend and place a kiss on Zack's forehead. "I'm gonna go get Nat cleaned up a bit. Will you take Emma to my room when she gets here? Or just let me know, and I'll come back?"
"Yeah, of course." Nick nodded and watched her walk to the door with Natalia in her arms.
