Aidan. He had cried when Katelin had left. Screaming for his mommy. It broke Nick’s heart. Nick didn’t understand how he and Katelin had gotten to this point. Aidan had been created out of so much love. A love that had been completely ripped from them. And now this. The look in her eyes earlier in the afternoon when she had told him she was leaving. The same look that had been in her eyes last night when they were fighting. When he was physically, as well as emotionally, bruising her. It was something he had never seen cast in his direction. Something he never, ever wanted to see again.
“Nicky!” He groaned at the sound of Lanie’s voice coming from the foyer to his house. “Nicky? You here?” Nick rolled his eyes and walked out of the room and down the stairs.
“Oh, there you are.” Lanie grinned before walking over to him. She reached out to give him a hug but he held his arms up to stop her. “What’s wrong? What happened at the custody hearing and why the hell haven’t I heard from you? Did you sleep with her? Is that what happened?”
“Lanie shut up!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in exasperation and walking back towards the kitchen.
Lanie was partially in shock for a second but recovered quickly enough to take off after him. “What’s going on? You slept with her, didn’t you?”
“Jesus no,” Nick hissed. “I didn’t fucking sleep with her. And if it makes you happy, she’s not even here anymore. She moved out. Gone.”
Lanie’s eyes bugged out of her head. Had it actually worked? Did Nick lose custody of Aidan? “Aidan’s still here,” he told her, his eyes menacing. “I know that’s not what you want but it’s just too damn bad.”
“What are you talking about?” There’s no way he could’ve known. That social worker swore that her name would never come up.
“Did you think I’d never find out?” Nick asked, glaring at her. “That they’d never tell me? Why couldn’t you just talk to me about it, Lane? We could’ve worked something out. I know you didn’t like Katelin. But this…this crosses the line.”
“What are you saying?” Lanie felt tears burn her eyes. This was not how this was supposed to turn out.
“We’re done,” he told her, crossing his arms over his chest. “Probably something I should’ve done a long time ago. But now it’s over. You went way too far this time. And I’m sick of it. It’s over.”
“Nicky no!” She reached out for him but he pushed her away. “Get out of here, Lanie. Before I do something that we’ll both regret.”
Lanie stared at him wide-eyed before spinning around on her heel and running out of the house, tears streaming down her face the entire time. She jumped in her car and pulled her cell phone up, dialing a familiar number and waiting for the person to pick up. She heard the answering machine click on and left a message. “Call me. We need to talk. Looks like we need to move on to plan B.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
The Next Evening
“Congratulations!” Alyssa cried, throwing her arms around Ang’s neck. “Let me see the ring!”
Ang held her left hand out towards Alyssa, who grabbed it and instantly inspected it. “Oh my God, Ang. This is beautiful. Brian did such a good job.”
“What’d I do?” Brian asked, approaching them with a smile on his face.
“A great job picking out the ring,” Alyssa answered. “You have one of those for me too?”
Ang laughed. “I don’t think so, Lyss. Anyway, why don’t we go inside. Kevin, Adrienne, Howie, Christine, and Kate are already here.” There was a knock at the door and Brian stayed behind to answer it while Ang led Christine into the living room.
“What’s up man?” AJ asked. “Congrats buddy.” He stepped out of the way and Brian spotted Krista behind him. “Hey Kris,” he greeted. “Did you two come here together?”
Krista grinned, glancing over at AJ as he took her hand. “Yup. AJ took pity on a poor girl whose car is in the shop and brought me over.”
AJ snickered. “Shut up. Actually, we think we might give this another shot. Take things really slow this time.”
“Congratulations guys,” Brian said, sincerely. “You deserve all the best.”
“You too man,” AJ replied, throwing his arm around Brian’s shoulders and dragging Krista inside. “I’m happy for you.” He followed Brian into the living room where the rest of his friends were hanging out.
“Where’s Carter?” Kevin asked, half an hour later as they were all sitting around the living room. Everyone but Ang missed the scowl that crossed Katelin’s face at the mention of his name.
Brian shrugged. “He said he’d be here. He was bringing Aidan so it might take a little while.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the doorbell rang. Brian stood up to go answer it. “That must be him now.” He made his way to the foyer and answered the door, a confused look crossing his face when no one was there. “Nick?” He called. Nothing. Shrugging again, he closed the door and went back inside, not seeing the envelope that stuck out from under the welcome mat.
“Anyone need another drink?” Kevin asked, standing up.
“I do,” Adrienne replied, standing up and following him into the kitchen. “So, how are you holding up?” she asked, leaning on the counter while he grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge.
Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I really was in love with her and, on some level, I think I still do love her. But if I look back over the last few months, it wasn’t just her that was pulling away. It was me too. I think we just grew apart. Maybe it’s for the best. I mean, if she’s happy with J.C. than I can’t argue with that. That’s all I want for her.”
“Well, that’s a good attitude.” Adrienne smiled sincerely at him. She had grown fond of Kevin over the last few months of living down here. He had been a good friend. Sure, she had Katelin but Katelin was twelve years younger than she was. Also, no one could argue with the fact that Kevin was gorgeous. Not that she was after anything right now. Her husband had died only six months ago. And Kevin’s three-year relationship with the girl that he thought he was going to marry had only just ended. But maybe one day something could happen. Maybe one day they could both be happy. And maybe they would be happy together.
“So,” Krista began, grabbing Ang’s hand for the tenth time in the last half an hour and inspecting the ring. “When’s the big day gonna be?”
Ang glanced at Brian who shrugged in return. “Whenever you want, babe,” he told her.
She grinned at him. “You’re too good, Bri. Anyway,” turning back to Krista, “We haven’t really talked about it. I want a spring or summer wedding. I know that.”
“Summer in Florida?” Christine asked. “Isn’t it a little hot for that?”
“Yeah it is.” Ang laughed. “That’s why I’m going to have it in New York. I mean, that’s my hometown. My family and a lot of my friends are there. Whenever I’ve imagined my wedding, I’ve always imagined it in the City.”
“Ooh! A New York wedding!” Katelin squealed, clapping her hands together. “I can’t wait. This is going to be so much fun to plan. You totally have to have the reception at the Plaza.”
“Uh Kate,” Ang put her hand on Katelin’s arm so she would calm down as the rest of the group started laughing. “This is my family we’re talking about. We don’t have quite the assets that you do.”
Kate stuck her tongue out. “Shut up. And you are marrying Brian. It’s not like he can’t afford it.”
“Whatever she wants,” Brian said, pointing at Ang. “It’s her day. All I have to do is show up and where a tux.”
Ang playfully smacked his arm. “Oh shut up. You know I want you to help plan it. But, you are not paying for anything except the honeymoon, Bri. First of all, my parents would have your head if you even offered. I’m their only baby girl. They’ve been saving for this day for years.”
Brian threw his hands up in surrender, a wide smile on his face. “Okay okay. You’re the boss.”
“Mommy!” A little boy’s voice cried, his little feet running across the floor.
Katelin’s head whipped around towards the sound of the voice and she instantly opened her arms for him. “Hey baby. When did you get here?” She looked up and saw Nick standing in the doorway, a nervous smile on his face. She didn’t offer one back and dropped her eyes back down to Aidan who started babbling away.
“The door was open.” Nick sighed before turning back to Ang and Brian. “Congratulations you guys. You deserve all the best.”
“Where’s Lanie?” Alyssa asked, not seeing Nick’s girlfriend anywhere. She hadn’t seen her in a while, actually. Lanie hadn’t come home last night and hadn’t shown up at all today.
Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re through.” That instantly caught Katelin’s attention and she stared at him, wide-eyed.
“What?” Brian exclaimed, causing Nick to break his eye contact with Katelin. “What happened?”
“Nothing I want to get into now, man,” Nick explained. Brian nodded, in understanding. “So, are we the last ones here?”
“Yeah,” Brian answered. “We didn’t want to make a huge deal out of this. Just you guys.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“So we’re all set then,” Lanie said, folding her arms across her chest. He didn’t say anything. Only nodded. “I can have the money wired to you as early as tomorrow morning. But this has to happen fast. Understand?” Again, the slight nod of the head. She grinned. “Good. I’ll call you tomorrow with the last few details. Expect my call around three o’clock.”
They both stood up at that point and Lanie stuck her hand out which he instantly stuck out to shake. She watched as he walked away and shook her head smiled. This would work. It had to work. And Nick would be hers. Forever.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Katelin was in the kitchen, getting Aidan a glass of juice when Ang walked in. “Hey,” she greeted.
Katelin spun around and saw her best friend standing in the doorway. “Hi. I’m just looking for some juice for Aidan.”
“Uh, I think we might have some cranberry juice somewhere,” Ang replied, looking through the refrigerator. “So, you okay?”
Katelin shrugged, hopping up to sit on the counter. “I’m fine. I’m moving on with my life and just going to try and forget about him.”
“How can you forget about him, Kate?” Ang asked, her eyes sympathetic. “That’s going to be a little tough to do when he’s around all of the time. Not just physically. But he’s in Aidan too. You can’t deny that.”
Katelin sighed, heavily, ignoring the pain in her heart at the thought of trying to ‘forget about Nick.’ “I know that, Ang. But this isn’t healthy. And you know what? I think, as awful as the other night was, maybe it was what I needed to get some closure. Nick was right about one thing the other night. We were fucked up from the start. And it would be best for everyone if we just steered as clear of each other as we can.”
Ang didn’t necessarily agree but she nodded anyway. She knew she told yesterday Nick that he didn’t deserve Katelin and she was definitely furious with him for what he did to her best friend but she knew that the love that they had for one another, whether they admitted it to each other or not, that didn’t just go away.
“Hey,” they heard from the doorway. They both looked up at the sound of the soft voice and saw Nick’s pained blue eyes looking at them from the doorway. “Can I talk to Kate a minute?”
Ang grabbed the glass of cranberry juice off of the counter. “I’ll take this out to Aidan,” she said and, before Katelin could make a move to stop her, walked out of the kitchen.
“Kate…” Nick began.
She held her hands up to stop him. “Nick…really…I don’t have the strength to do this now. Please. Just leave me alone.”
“Just let me talk to you,” he begged. “Let me apologize, Kate. Please.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to keep her cool. She had nothing left in her to fight anymore. Nothing. “Please, Nick. I can’t do this with you anymore. We’re over. We’ve been over for a long time. And the other night just proves that we should never be together.”
“I’m sorry!” He cried. “God you have no idea. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I want to be with you more than anything. And I’m sorry for the other night. So sorry. I’ve never ever wanted to hurt you. And I know it seems that all I do lately. But I don’t want to hurt you anymore. Please.”
“Please what, Nick?” She asked, staring at him, wide-eyed. “What do you want me to do? Drop everything and run back to you?” Nick didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything to say. Of course that was what he wanted her to do. But he knew why she was so angry. He had hurt her the other night. Physically and emotionally. And there wasn’t much he could do to rectify the situation.
Katelin waited for him to answer her. When she realized he wasn’t going to, she continued. “Tell me something, honestly, okay? You at least owe me that much.” Nick nodded. “If Lanie hadn’t been the one to do that. To tell that social worker anything. Would you still be standing here telling me how much you love me? How much you want to be with me? Or would you still be with her?”
Again, he stared at her. He could see the pain in her eyes. It mirrored his own. But he couldn’t honestly answer her. He didn’t know. He probably would’ve stayed with Lanie. She was safe. She had saved him. He had loved her. But maybe he was never in love with her. His heart didn’t stop when she walked in a room like he felt like it did with Katelin. It never had been like that. But he never wanted to hurt again like he had after Kate had left three years ago. And that’s why he had stayed with Lanie this whole time.
“I guess I have my answer then,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. She turned around and walked back into the living room, in search of Brian and Ang, while Nick stood there staring at her retreating form, his heart breaking into small, little pieces.