“Christine?” Paul called, entering the house that night. “You home?” He wanted to take her out tonight. Make up for the way he treated her the night before. He didn’t mean to hit her. It’s just that she had made him so mad by coming home so late and so drunk. He had figured she would’ve stayed home from work today. She usually did when Paul’s temper had gotten out of control. But when he called around two o’clock that afternoon, there was no answer. He would have tried her at work but she had sworn that her boss had a thing about personal calls during the day.
He grabbed the portable phone from the living room and began walking up the stairs, dialing her cell phone number. Groaning in frustration when she didn’t answer, he entered their bedroom so he could change his clothes. He walked into the huge walk-in closet and his eyes widened in fury at what he saw. All of Christine’s belongings were gone. Every shirt, skirt, and shoe had disappeared.
“Hello?” Melissa asked, answering the phone at her mother’s house.
“Put Christine on the phone!” Paul growled into the receiver.
“What are you talking about?” Melissa asked, confused. “Chris isn’t here.”
“Then where the hell is she?” he exclaimed.
“I don’t know,” Melissa answered, calmly. “Why don’t you try her cell phone or the office.” Without saying anything else, Paul slammed down the phone.
“You ready?” Melissa asked, turning to face her younger sister on the couch. “We should get going.”
“That was him?” Christine questioned, already knowing the answer. Melissa nodded. “Alright,” Christine sighed. “Let’s get going.”
“You coming mom?” Melissa called upstairs.
“Yeah!” Mrs. DeMarco replied. “I’m right behind you.”
“Let’s go,” Christine said, starting out the front door. “We don’t want to be late.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Early the next morning, Nick and Lanie sat quietly in the first class section of the plane. Lanie had tried to get Nick to open up and talk but Nick had barely said two words to her during the flight. Lanie chalked it up to nerves and left him alone with his thoughts. The flight was almost over and they would be landing at Kennedy airport at any moment. Once they were safely on the ground and they were settled into the limo for the ride into the city, did Nick finally speak, asking Lanie if she minded if he went to the funeral by himself. Lanie, surprised at first, agreed, albeit reluctantly. She would have liked to be there for him but she understood that this was something he needed to do by himself. After stopping by the hotel so they could change their clothes, Nick climbed back into his limo on his way to the church and Lanie hailed a cab to her parents place.
“Mr. Carter?” The driver rolled down the dividing window when they had arrived at the church. “We’ve arrived.”
“Thanks,” Nick replied. “I just need to sit here for a minute or two.”
The sidewalk outside of the church was bustling with family, friends, business associates, and television crews. Inside was a much different story, though. Only Katelin and Adrienne were in the church, both sitting silently in the front pew staring straight ahead.
“We should get started,” Adrienne finally pointed out. Katelin nodded slightly, not taking her eyes off of her father’s portrait at the front of the church. Adrienne walked back towards the back of the church, spotting her parents standing with Ang and Dylan, Katelin’s boyfriend.
“You guys should go sit with her,” Adrienne said, tiredly. “She’s out of it.”
“You go,” Ang told Dylan. “I need to wait for my parents and Krista.” Dylan nodded and walked inside to sit with his girlfriend.
Ang was standing outside talking to Krista moments before the service started. Everyone had since disappeared inside the church and it was just the two of them and the television cameras.
“Sorry I’m so late,” Krista apologized. “Parking in this city is a bitch.”
“Oh my god…” Ang breathed staring out at the street. “I can’t believe he came.”
“Who?” Krista asked, following Ang’s line of vision. “Shit…is that Nick?”
“Yeah,” Ang said. “I begged him to come with me and he blatantly refused. I wonder what changed his mind.” They both watched as Nick approached them nervously.
“Hey Ang,” he said. “Oh my god! Krista?”
“Hey Nicky,” Krista smiled. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” Nick reached out and pulled her into a hug. “It’s so good to see you. What are you doing here?”
“Being there for a friend,” Krista told him. “It’s good that you’re here, Nick.” Nick nodded and watched as she walked inside.
“So what changed your mind?” Ang asked.
“I’m not really sure,” Nick admitted, shrugging. “I guess Lanie did. She basically told me I should go so we flew up this morning.”
“We?” Ang questioned.
“Yeah,” Nick replied. “She came with me but she’s visiting her parents now. It’s not fair for either one of them to meet each other like this.” Ang nodded and walked inside with Nick. When they reached the back of the church, Nick stopped suddenly.
“I’m gonna hang back here, okay?” He told her. Ang looked at him and was about to open her mouth when Nick cut her off. “This isn’t the time for her to see me. I’ll wait until after the funeral.”
“Okay, Nicky,” Ang smiled. “I’ll see you afterwards.” Nick watched as Ang walked up the front of the church and sat down in the first row. His eyes traveled to the girl two people to her right. He could only see the back of her but he knew immediately that it was her. Her long, straight blond hair was longer than he had remembered it, reaching to the middle of her back. But that’s also when he saw him. He had her arms wrapped protectively around her, comforting her. Nick felt a pain in his heart. He knew he had no right to be jealous but he was. He had his girlfriend whom he loved very much. But he couldn’t help feel that Katelin was still his and it hurt to see another man’s arms around her. That should’ve been him.
Right at that second, he knew coming to this funeral was a bad idea. Katelin had moved on with her life. As had he. Seeing each other again would only bring back painful memories of what they once had and Nick wasn’t ready to deal with that right now. And now was not the time for Katelin to have to deal with it. Her father had just died and seeing Nick would only make the day that much more emotional. He wasn’t going to do that now. He wasn’t sure he would do it ever. Turning around on his heel, Nick walked back out of the church and to the limo. He instructed the driver to take him to Central Park, not wanting to get back to Lanie just yet. He knew coming to New York was a mistake. It was much better off this way.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Christine woke up that morning feeling more alive than she had in months. She had finally done it. She had left Paul. It’s something she had thought about doing for awhile. But with the promotion she was offered, she finally had a reason to. Climbing out of bed, she walked over to the balcony door and opened it up, stepping outside. The warm Florida air hit her as she looked out at the city of Orlando. She finally felt like she was home. Although she had grown up in Fairfield, during the past couple of years, it hadn’t felt like home. Orlando was her home. It had been since she had first laid eyes on Howie. Howie. She hadn’t heard a word from him since she walked out of his life three years ago. She didn’t expect to. It was her fault that they weren’t together. She gave up. She had let Paul get to her and convince her that Howie couldn’t make her happy.
She looked at her watch and saw that she needed to be at the Jive building in a little more than an hour. After getting a shower, she walked out of the hotel and hailed a cab. She sat in the cab and stared out the window, seeing the passing buildings of Orlando, finally feeling like she was getting her life back.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Nick sat on a bench overlooking the duck pond in the middle of Central Park. He thought back to the day that he first met Katelin. After he had spilled something all over her shirt and gotten in a screaming match with her, causing her to run out of the building in tears, Ang had told him that he would find her here. He remembered that he had come here, wanting to make sure she was okay. She had been nothing but a bitch to him though, and he had vowed to hate her for the rest of his life. Maybe his life would have been much easier if he had kept that promise to himself, instead of turning around and falling in love with her. He knew better than to get involved with her. For one thing, it was illegal. He should have just listened to his conscious instead of his heart. It would have saved him a lot more heartache.
“Hi,” he heard a tiny voice say in his ear. He turned around and came face to face with the bluest eyes on a child that he had ever seen.
“Hi,” Nick replied, smiling.
“Aidan!” A woman called from the bench next to them. “Come back here. Leave that man alone!” When Aidan didn’t listen, both the woman and what must have been her husband, came walking over.
“I’m sorry,” the woman apologized, getting a better look at the man talking to her son. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw his face and she glanced at her husband. By the look on his face, he must have been thinking the same thing. This was Nick Carter. Yes, he was a celebrity, but he was also something else to them. Two years ago, when they had arranged the adoption of their son with Michael Taylor, they asked that both the biological mother and the biological father be put on the birth certificate. They were shocked, to say the least, that the father was none other than Nick Carter. Catherine Gordon had had a younger sister that was a fan of the Backstreet Boys. She would have recognized that name anywhere. And now, not only was it Nick Carter talking to their son, it was Aidan’s real father.
“It’s okay,” Nick smiled politely. The little boy was cute. There was something really familiar about him but Nick couldn’t put his finger on it. “He’s cute.”
“Th…thanks,” Catherine stuttered, glancing at her husband. If this man was to find out that Aidan was actually his son, god knows what he would do. “Come on Aidan.” She turned to her son and grabbed his hand. “We should go.” Aidan waved goodbye to Nick and followed his parents away from the pond. Nick glanced art them curiously. He couldn’t figure out what was so familiar about that little boy. Where could he have seen him before?