Back To Present:
“It was a beautiful service,” Ellen Sanders commented to Nicole after the funeral. They were all still at the cemetery where the service had just finished. It was a small gathering. Just family and close friends. That’s the way Nick wanted it and the way Kayleigh would have wanted it.
“Yes it was,” Nicole replied tearfully.
“Are you okay, hon?” James asked, joining Nicole and her mother.
“I’ll be fine.” Nicole wiped her tears away and began making her way towards Nick. He was still seated in his chair in front of the grave site. No emotion crossed his face. It was blank and he was staring at the single red rose in his hand that he had yet to put on top of Kayleigh’s casket.
“Hey Nick,” Nicole said, coming up next to him. He glanced up, a blank look in his eye.
“Hi Nicole,” he greeted solemnly.
“The service was beautiful,” Nicole commented. “Kayleigh would have been happy.”
“I know,” Nick replied. “She always wanted things to be simple.”
“You coming back to Carolyn’s house?” she asked.
Nick nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be there in a little bit. I want to be by myself for a little while.”
“Alright. I’ll see you there.” Nicole went back to join James and her parents in the car ride back to the Madison’s house.
Brian and Leighanne watched Nick from the bottom of the hill. Nicole had walked away fifteen minutes ago and he still hadn’t moved, the rose still clenched tightly in his fists. Leighanne shrugged and looked at her husband, as if to say she had no idea.
“Should I go over there?” Brian asked.
“I don’t think so,” Leighanne answered. “He needs this time.”
“He’s barely said three words in the last few days, Leigh,” Brian commented. “I’m worried about him.”
“That’s understandable, Bri,” Leighanne told him. “The love of his life just died. He’s probably still in shock. We’ll just wait down here for him.”
“Alright.” Brian nodded and he and Leighanne went to wait in the limo, in an effort to stay out of the misty rain that had begun to fall.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“Where’s my daughter?” Those were the first words as soon as Nick entered his mother-in-law’s house.
“She’s upstairs in Kayleigh’s room,” Rick replied, pointing in that direction. Nick nodded and walked slowly up the stairs, just like he had done so many times all those years ago.
“Hey sweetheart,” he quietly greeted as he stepped inside the room. The room had not changed much in the last twelve years. The same yellow and blue color scheme was still there, along with all of the soccer trophies and awards that Kayleigh had accumulated over the years.
“Hi daddy,” Elizabeth replied, quietly, still staring at a picture of her parents when they were teenagers.
“Whatcha got there?” Nick asked, looking down at the picture in their hands. It was taken at Kayleigh’s high school graduation. She was standing in her cap and gown, showing off her diploma, while Nick had his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Nick still remembered that day as clear as if it were yesterday, along with every other day of their friendship. He still couldn’t get over the fact that she wasn’t going to walk through that door any minute. What he wouldn’t give to go back to when he was eleven years old and the new girl next door just kicked him in the face with a soccer ball. What he wouldn’t give to have those days again. To live those years over again. He would even live those three miserable years when she had run away over again. Just the knowledge that she was still out there was all he needed to keep himself going. Now what was he going to do? Never mind his wife. How was he going to get through his life without his best friend by his side?
“It’s a picture of you and mommy,” Elizabeth stated. “Isn’t she pretty?”
“She was beautiful, Lizzie,” Nick told her, tearfully. “Beautiful.”
“I miss her,” she whispered. “I miss my mommy.”
“I do too, baby,” Nick told her, choking on his words. “I miss your mommy too.”
“Do you ever wonder if you’re going to find your soul mate?” Kayleigh asked, sitting down next to Nick on the docks, their feet hanging in the water.
“Where’d that come from?” he asked her, quizzically. One minute they were talking about a new Nintendo game that Nick wanted and the next she was asking him philosophical questions.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I was just thinking about it. They say that there’s one person out there for everyone that’s their soul mate. Do you think that everyone has one? And if they do, do you think that everyone finds them? I mean, how sad is it to go through life and not know this person whom you’re supposed to be with?”
“Well, what about Tyler?” Nick questioned. “Don’t you think that he’s your soul mate?”
Kayleigh shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I love him. I really do. But do I think that he’s the one person I’m supposed to be with for the rest of my life? Well, that’s where I’m not so sure.”
“Well, if it isn’t Tyler, then who do you think it is?” Nick asked her.
She glanced over at him and their blue eyes locked. “I don’t know, Nicky,” she responded, reaching up to wipe a stray lock of blond hair from his forehead. “No one knows who their soul mate is until they actually find them. You’re just supposed to know, I guess. Do you ever wonder who yours is?”
“I’ve never really given it much thought,” he told her. “But whoever she is, she’s going to have to put up with you.”
“Put up with me?” Kayleigh asked, a smirk playing on her lips. “Am I that hard to be around?”
“Did I say that?” Nick pretended to be innocent. “I would never say that.”
“Good,” Kayleigh grinned. “Cause I was two seconds away from pushing you right into this water.”
“Don’t think for one second that you wouldn’t have gone in with me,” Nick warned, jokingly.
“You fail to realize that I am stronger than you,” Kayleigh told him.
“You just keep telling yourself that, Kayles,” Nick laughed. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been working out.”
“Oh and it shows,” she told him, standing up and running down the docks before he could catch her. He caught her just before she reached the edge and picked her up, dangling her feet over the water.
“Oh come on, Nick!” Kayleigh shrieked, laughing. “Don’t let go!”
Nick pulled her back up and cradled her against his chest. “I’ll never let you go, Kayles.”
Nick glanced down at the picture and traced his finger over her face. “I’ll never let you go, Kayles.”