Like strawberry wine at seventeen The hot July moon saw everything My first taste of love oh bittersweet The green on the vine Like strawberry wine
I still remember when thirty was old My biggest fear was September when he had to go A few cards and letters and one long distance call We drifted away like the leaves in the fall But year after year I come back to this place Just to remember the taste
Of strawberry wine at seventeen The hot July moon saw everything My first taste of love oh bittersweet The green on the vine Like strawberry wine
The fields have grown over now Years since they've seen the plow There's nothing time hasn't touched Is it really him or the loss of my innocence I've been missing so much
Yeah...
Strawberry wine at seventeen The hot July moon saw everything My first taste of love oh bittersweet And green on the vine Like strawberry wine
At seventeen The hot July moon saw everything My first taste of love oh bittersweet And green on the vine Like strawberry wine Strawberry wine
-Strawberry Wine, by Deanna Carter (CD: Did I Shave My Legs For This?)
Krista could still feel the sensation of the sun heating her skin as the two would lay in her grandfather's corn fields. She and Nick would lay there for hours, watching as the clouds changed patterns and knowing that nobody could find them in the midst of hundreds of tall stalks ... nobody could find them in the world they had created. And they wouldn't allow a soul to take them from their dreams until they were ready to head back to the everyday routines. Nick had come to the farm in the middle of June to help her grandfather. He was in a famous singing group that was doing well and said that he needed a break from his stressful life. Supposedly, Krista's grandfather had been friends with Nick's own grandfather as a child. But Krista had never met Nick before that fateful day on June 16th. Now, three years after their summer of playful fun, Krista was twenty and hadn't seen Nick since they'd left the farm. But she'd gone back every year, even though her grandfather had passed away a year after she and Nick spent their summer there. She went back to stand in their field and watch the sun rise and set, just as she and Nick had done countless times.
Krista buckled her daughter's carseat into the back seat of her car, before placing her daughter inside and buckling her in. As she drove down the highway she rolled down her window and stuck her arm outside, feeling the heat and wind beat against her skin. She loved to drive the long stretch, listening to music and giggling with her daughter. Krista began to reminisce about her memories of she and Nick as she looked in the rearview mirror at Caitlin Nikole, who was now sleeping peacefully. Caitlin was two and every day she looked a little more like her father.
~ * ~ Three years earlier: June 16, 2001 ~ * ~
"Krista, can you go grab Nick's bags, please?" Krista's grandmother, Grace, called from the kitchen. Grace was always in the kitchen; always cooking up one thing or another. Krista often thought they should just pull a bed in there for her. That way Grandma Grace could continue to watch what was brewing, and still manage to catch a few minutes of sleep. Grandma Grace's strong Texas accent was strong and Krista couldn't help but wonder what Nick, this city boy who seemed to know nothing about farm life, would have in common with her grandparents. At least she'd be there to keep the boy company. She'd figured from the moment her grandfather had told her that Nick was coming that she'd end up with baby-sitting duties, and she'd finally began not to care.
Krista stepped from her grandparent's beautiful country home into the hot Texas air. She lived in Washington with her family and every time she came to Texas she found the difference in temperatures harsh, yet sometimes welcoming. It was good to get away from the rain every now and then, but today was just far too hot.
I'll have to spend my time in the barn, she thought to herself as she headed over to the truck that Nick and her grandfather had just pulled up in. The barn was where she went on unbearably hot days. She found comfort in the shade and could often think there, even among the noisy cows.
Her grandfather stepped from the truck and smiled good morning to her, before beginning to unload Nick's luggage from the back. Geez, how many clothes could the little tike possibly wear? Surely kids his age didn't change their underwear. But suddenly it was a tall, toned, tanned, and blonde man stepping from the passenger side of her grandpa's truck. She heard herself whisper some form of obscenity, but that's all she remembered until Nick was standing in front of her with his hand outstreched.
"Nick Carter," he introduced himself, and Krista decided he had to be around the age of twenty. She later found out that she had been close, but not exact--he was twenty-one and absolutely beautiful.
"Krista McGliedon." She in turn shoved her hand toward him and they met in the middle, shaking hands politely, though their fingers seemed to linger. She was beautiful and Nick Carter was finding it hard not to stare.
Krista couldn't believe this. Here was this guy that was obviously closer to her age than five, which was what she had been expecting. Her grandparents hadn't told her how old this Nick guy was, and for some reason Krista had automatically conjured up an image of a little boy that she would have to chase around. Now she was praying she'd get to chase him around--and be chased by him. All her grandparents had said of him was that he was a "nice kid," a "respectable kid." Kid. But that's how old people talked. To them, everyone was a kid. But this Nick Carter was definitely a child.
Krista helped her grandfather and Nick with the luggage and hauled it all up to the room that Nick would be staying in for the next two and one half months. The room was directly across the hall from her own and her grandparent's bedroom was downstairs. Oh, she could have fun with this. After dinner, her grandfather began a boring conversation with Nick that really didn't interest her whatsoever, and her grandmother was in the kitchen making dessert. So Krista took the opportunity to escape and climb up to the top of the barn. She stood, looking out of the little window at the stars and listening to the sound of the cow bells jangling from their necks.
"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight-"
"I wish I may, I wish I might, wish the wish I wish tonight."
Krista turned around abruptly, hearing somebody finishing her sentence for her. It was the ever-so-sexy Nick. He came and stood behind her, looking out of her window. She shuddered when he placed his hands on the wooden window sill, an arm on either side of her.
His lips were so close to her ear that as he whispered to her the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. "What were you gonna wish?"
"I can't say, or it won't come true," Krista stated simply, continuing to look at her specific star. She quickly and silently made her wish while twisting her favorite ring around her finger nervously.
Nick nodded, "Very true. Your grandfather told me that you were seventeen. You know, you don't look your age."
"Never have."
"Well, I'm twenty-one, just in case you were wondering."
Krista turned around and found out just how close they were when their noses brushed. "And why would I be wondering?" her voice faltered and she kicked herself for it, pulling her face farther from his. His eyes were strangely tantalizing.
"I dunno ... If you maybe ... If you ..." Nick was finally rendered speechless. She was beautiful.
She cleared her throat and just like him couldn't find her voice. They finally moved away from each other and sat down, leaning against the wall of the barn. It was completely dark in there, and Krista was sure there were most likely rats running around, but she never had cared about things like that. As long as they didn't touch her. They stayed up for hours, sitting up in the barn, talking and laughing together. They learned a lot about each other that night. And the two found themselves falling quickly for one another.
~ * ~ July ~ * ~
Weeks had passed and the hot July sun had been good to both Nick and Krista. Their tans were deepening and the two looked completely healthy and were both full of energy. They'd become fast friends and were constantly together. Krista knew that her grandparents were beginning to worry--she was seventeen and Nick was twenty-one--but they weren't doing anything illegal and Krista enjoyed and needed his company while she was there in Texas. It got boring on her grandparent's farm during the long summer days, and Nick certainly helped her pass the time. He made her laugh and they swam in the huge lake out back. He was like a kid himself, and they enjoyed each other. They were also falling in love, and they'd expressed this much to the each other, but they knew that it would be difficult because of their ages. Krista was just hoping that Nick could stick it out with her until she was eighteen, which was another seven months. They had both decided to just be young and enjoy their summer together and do spontaneous things with one another. They weren't going to think too much about what would happen when September finally came around.
"Nick, you wanna go out to the corn fields??" Krista called up the staircase a good fifteen minutes after she'd heard the shower shut off, knowing Nick would be ready by now. She waited a few minutes but got no response. Krista jogged up the staircase and into his room, not even thinking about the possibility that her calculations on him already being dressed could be wrong. She gasped as she came upon a very naked, very beautiful, Nick standing in his room gelling his hair. She felt her knees beginning to turn to jelly and quickly grabbed onto the dresser. "I ... am ... so sorry, Nick." Krista turned to leave but Nick had already grabbed her arm, pulling her back.
"No, wait. It's okay, don't freak. Never seen a guy naked before?" Nick smirked, his hands on her arms, his forehead resting against hers.
Krista's breath was coming out unevenly. "Not somebody as wonderful looking as you," she whispered. She noticed Nick look behind him quickly to make sure the window's blinds were down, and a moment later his lips were on hers, his arms encircling her waste, drawing her up against him.
"Wanna go to the corn fields?" Nick breathed against her neck, tickling her skin.
"Exactly my thoughts."
Nick threw on a pair of loose fitting cotton shorts and decided not to put a shirt on. It was far too hot, and Krista would be taking it off in the corn fields in a matter of minutes anyway.
~ * ~
Krista and Nick were almost completely silent during supper that night, the two of them only looking at each other through eyelashes. She hoped that her grandparents hadn't noticed, but they had, and they'd figured out what was going on between the two but said nothing.
Krista had blushed deeply and Nick had cleared his throat quietly when Grandma Grace had mentioned how good and sweet the corn was that night. She complimented the two on their pickings. Neither Nick nor Krista could bring themselves to eat any of it.
After dinner Krista helped Grandma Grace clean the kitchen and Nick went up to his bedroom to write to one of his friends. Krista waited fifteen minutes after she was done with the kitchen to go up to Nick's room and knocked on the door this time.
"Come in," Nick called, his voice muffled from behind the door. He turned as she stepped inside and closed the door softly. "Hey, hon."
Krista blushed for the thousandth time that night and went over to Nick, sitting herself on his knee as he had gestured for her to do. "Do you think Grandma Grace and Grandpa Tom know?" she whispered, their foreheads pressed together.
Nick smiled up at her, "No. I think they suspect that we're attracted to each other. Maybe that we've been 'kissin' up in the barn.'" Nick laughed at the way older people thought of the younger generation. "I doubt they suspect what we did in the corn field," he smirked and Krista's blush darkened.
She finally leaned down and tentatively kissed him.
"I love you," Nick breathed in a hushed tone and Krista was surprised.
But she wasn't surprised how she answered, and answered him honestly, "I love you too, Nick."
~ * ~ August ~ * ~
Krista bit back a sob as Nick held her in his strong embrace. They were in their corn field and Nick would be leaving in half an hour. Her grandfather would be driving him back to the airport, which would take two hours, and then he'd be on a plane all the way back to Florida. She knew she'd never see him again. He'd explained that much to her. She was seventeen and if her family were to find out the things they'd done he'd be in a lot of trouble. Nick also explained to her how busy he was, and he promised to try and keep in touch, but they both knew it would be hard to do so. They'd pretty much decided to leave their summer love as it was ... back at the farm, in the three months that they'd spent together ... stuck in their memories.
Krista began to cry at the thought and Nick held her to him and kissed her.
"I wouldn't change what we've had for the world, baby girl," Nick whispered, before dropping a sullen kiss on her forehead.
Cuz I was loved, I was touched And I learned what love is And I learned what love is I was blessed, so blessed Cuz I learned what love is, I learned what love is from loving you
I held you, I held everything I ever dreamed of With that first kiss from you all this world seemed oh so right But who was to see the way it would be I'll never forget all the heaven we shared And I thank God for every moment Every moment that I had you there
I was loved, I was touched And I learned what love is And I learned what love is I was blessed, so blessed Cuz I learned what love is, I learned what love is from loving you
Some people search their whole lives, never find what I found in your eyes Glad I got to get the chance to have you in my life I won't be sad when I look back Cuz I was...
I was loved, I was touched And I learned what love is And I learned what love is I was blessed, so blessed Cuz I learned what love is, I learned what love is from loving you, I learned what love is from loving you
-From Loving You, by Mandy Moore
~ * ~ Present time: July 6, 2004 ~ * ~
So they'd never seen each other again after that day. They'd sent a few letters, shared a couple phone calls, but slowly she ceased to get either one from him ... and so she stopped, too. Krista didn't know if it was him that she still missed, or if it were the memories, but she missed something, and she was pretty sure it was Nick ... after all, she'd had his child, and though he didn't know about Caitlin, Krista and Nick were still attached in some way.
Krista stepped from her car and gently took Caitlin from her carseat. She walked to the corn field in silence, carrying Caitlin on her hip. They stood in the field for a while, Krista seeing images of she and Nick in her mind. She felt like crying, but didn't for the sake of Caitlin. After a few minutes, Krista took her inside the house and took her up into the bedroom that she'd turned into a nursery--the one that Nick had stayed in while he was there--and put her down for a nap. The two of them were staying at the farm for a week, as they did every year. She'd just gotten all of their luggage inside the doorway and was digging around in the kitchen and throwing out all of the things that had perished from the last time they'd been there, when a dark green SUV pulled into the driveway. She made a note to herself to go to the grocery store later that afternoon once Caitlin was awake from her nap, before going outside to see who had driven up.
"Can I help you?" Krista asked tentatively, standing in the doorway as a tall man stepped from his truck with sunglasses and a hat covering most of his face.
The man instantly took his sunglasses off and squinted at her, "Krista?"
Krista's eyes widened in surprise and suddenly she remembered Caitlin upstairs asleep. Her baby's father was here, and he didn't even know he had a daughter yet. "Nick! Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?"
"I came to see how Grandma Grace and Grandpa Tom were! Where are they anyway?" Nick walked closer to her and embraced her quickly in his familiar arms. He looked around for Krista's grandparents, not seeing any life at the farm other than the woman in front of him. There wasn't even livestock wandering around. Nick looked down at Krista and noticed the sullen look that had crossed her features. "Everything okay with them, Krista? What's wrong?"
Krista's eyes clouded over suddenly, "Grandpa Tom passed away a few months after you and I left here, Nick."
Nick gasped and automatically tightened his arms around her, his face buried deep in her hair. "I'm so sorry, Krista. I didn't know. I can't believe I didn't know. But my grandpa isn't all here anymore, so I didn't really have much of a connection to them except if I were to come here on my own--and I guess I'm too late. Where's Grandma Grace?"
Krista sighed against him, her arms tight around his neck, "She wasn't doing too well after Grandpa died. She passed on last year." She felt Nick go more limp against her. It was hard on the both of them. They'd been like his grandparents too, even if they weren't by blood. "It's okay though, hon. She was dead inside without him. They hadn't been separated for more than a day once they'd gotten married."
Nick finally released her before dropping a kiss to her forehead, and it immediately brought Krista straight back to the summer of 2001, when fireworks had practically flown for the two of them.
"Were you planning on staying, Nick?" she asked as she looked up at him, sort of hoping that he would ... sort of hoping that he'd leave, before he had the chance to see Caitlin. She was scared to death of his reaction to the baby.
"Well, I knew your grandparents would open their house up to me for a few days ... maybe a month," Nick chuckled before growing serious, "but ... I guess there's a change of plans."
"Well, actually we're gonna be here for a week ... if you'd like to stay with us."
"'We'?" Nick's eyebrows shot up.
Oh great, she's married, he thought to himself.
Krista grabbed his hand in her own and led him inside the still beautiful country home. "C'mere ... I'll show you."
Okay, maybe it's a puppy.
They climbed the staircase silently and Nick suddenly found himself in the bedroom that he had used while staying there that summer. He was surprised to find that it had been turned into a nursery and even more surprised when Krista led him over to a baby crib where a toddler was asleep in a little pink onesie. He bit his lip. Oh, boy.
~ * ~
Nick had agreed to stay for the week after being assured that he wouldn't be bothering her. Krista had set him up in the room that had once been her grandparents since Krista needed to be in the room across from Caitlin. But she'd joked with Nick, once Caitlin had awoken from her nap and taken quite a liking to him, that maybe the baby wouldn't need her. Caitlin seemed awfully content with just Nick. He had laughed before beginning to blow raspberries on a giggling Caitlin's tummy.
They spent the afternoon talking and getting to know each other again and Nick watched Caitlin back at the house while Krista went grocery shopping for dinner and the rest of the week. Krista was glad that the two had hit it off so well, but she was worried, knowing that Nick would begin to question who Caitlin's father was ... and she wasn't going to lie to him. Days past and she and Nick continued to grow closer. They'd always had a connection between them that enabled them to converse openly and click immediately. They spent many afternoons with Caitlin at the lake, playing hide and seek with her in the corn fields, and neither Krista nor Nick ever mentioned what they had done in that same corn field before Caitlin was around.
The conversation that Krista had been dreading from the moment she had seen Nick jump from his truck three days before finally came up over mocha frappucinos. They were sitting in the living room together after dinner and Caitlin had already gone to bed an hour before. They were talking laughing with one another when Nick suddenly grew serious.
"Krista, I was just wondering ... and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, so don't feel obligated. I just ... what's the story behind Caitlin's father?" He was facing her now, his feet tucked up underneath him. He watched as Krista began to nervously fiddle with her glass.
"Um ... well ... " she mumbled, deciding not to come out and tell the complete story. "He and I spent what now just feels like a moment of our lives together. I was extremely young--seventeen, to be exact--and we decided that we weren't meant to be, I guess. I found out a couple months later that I was pregnant, but the letters had stopped coming and I was too scared to search for him. Plus, I was seventeen and he was a few years older than me. It wouldn't be right, and I hadn't wanted to ruin his career."
Nick felt his breath practically being sucked from his body. Who else could be the father but himself? "What's her full name, Krista?"
Krista took a deep wavering breath, "Caitlin Nikole Carter."
Moments later Nick stood to his feet and began to pace, his hands deep in his blonde locks, "I'm the father?"
"Yes," she whispered as he stopped to stand in front of her, looking down at her with piercing eyes. She'd honestly never seen him like this.
"I'm a father? I have a baby and you never told me? How could you do this?!"
"I said why, Nick! We weren't talking, and I was seventeen! You were twenty-one! I was underage and pregnant, and you were famous! And as you said, there would be a scandal if we were together, yet alone if I were pregnant! What did you expect me to do?" By now she was standing too, screaming just as he had been.
Nick was furious. "Something more than not telling me about Caitlin! I can't believe you!"
A second later, Caitlin's shrill cry came from upstairs and Krista sighed. "I need to go check on MY daughter. Excuse me!" She left the room with a curt look in Nick's direction and when she returned he was gone, having left a small note behind on the coffee table.
Krista sighed and sat down on the couch heavily. What had she done? What should she have done?
~ * ~ The next afternoon ~ * ~
Krista had decided to spend her day weeding while Caitlin ran around in a diaper on the front yard, chasing a very annoyed duck. She was trying to get Nick off her mind, but hadn't heard from him since he'd left and though she tried to deny it, she was worried about him. But she wasn't really expecting him to come back any time soon. He'd said a couple days, and it hadn't even been twenty-four hours yet. Who knew if he would be back at all. But she was trying to remain optimistic, though it was hard to do. Krista smiled, watching her daughter as she took a break from her yard work, and suddenly the now familiar dark green Durango pulled back into the driveway. Her heart began to beat rapidly as she walked over to Caitlin and picked her up in her arms, holding her on her hip. Caitlin began to squeal happily as Nick stepped from the car. She held her little baby arms out to him and Nick took her from Krista with a smile.
"Hey, sweetie," he whispered, dropping a kiss on the baby's head. As Caitlin began to play with the silver chain that he wore around his neck, Nick turned to Krista and took a deep breath. "Hey."
"Hi. You're back quick," Krista noted, watching their daughter who was entirely fascinated by the piece of jewelry.
Nick smiled gently, "Well ... I couldn't stay away too long."
Krista looked up at him surprised, and a moment later he kissed her softly. She blushed, and remembered how often she had done that around him in the three months of summer they had shared together three years before. Nick wrapped his arm around Krista's shoulders and held her to him as all three of them headed back into the house together.
