I pulled up in a stone driveway that was a semi-circle in the front of the massive house. The house was probably two, maybe three stories tall and had lots of windows. There was a fence encircling the back, although I couldn’t see much of it because of the palm trees in the front. I got Tristan out of the car seat and carried him, along with my purse and his diaper bag, with me to the front door. I rang the doorbell and heard the chimes inside. A few moments later, Nick walked up and opened the door for us.
“Hey!” he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad you could make it. Come on in. We’re all out back on the patio,” Nick said leading the way through his house. He was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a yellow and blue plaid Tommy shirt over a white t-shirt.
I made note of how neat the house actually was. His house was very large and spacious. On my immediate left there was a long hallway that went through his house. Right after the hallway, there was a spiral staircase that led to the next floor. To my right there was another hallway that led to the other end of the house. As Nick led me further through his house toward the back patio, I found the living room to my left and the kitchen to my right. There were sky lights above the living room and kitchen.
Nick held the door for me, so that I could walk out onto the patio with him. I saw three other people sitting there talking and one man by the grill, flipping the hamburgers.
“Let me introduce you to everyone,” Nick said. “This is Brian and his girlfriend Maureen. The guy over there is Kevin, Brian’s cousin, and this is his wife, Cheri.”
Brian and Kevin…yep, I remembered them from my BSB obsessed days. They had changed slightly, in that their faces looked a bit older, but other than that their faces looked basically the same. Brian’s girlfriend Maureen had golden brown hair that fell past her shoulders and shining hazel eyes. Kevin’s wife Cheri had long light red hair and deep dark green eyes.
I smiled at them and introduced myself since Nick was making no attempt to introduce me. “Hi! Nice to meet you all. I’m Peyton and this is my son, Tristan.”
“Aww! He is so adorable! May I?” Cheri said, standing up and walking over to me. I noticed her tall figure and imagined how nice her and Kevin probably looked standing beside each other.
“Thank you. Yes, of course!” I smiled sweetly at her, carefully handing Tristan to her.
“Kevin and I don’t have any children yet, but we’d like to,” she said smiling and looking adoringly at her husband.
“How long have you been married?” I asked, settling down in a chair beside of Nick.
“We’ve been married for three wonderful years,” Kevin said, speaking for the first time. He sat down beside his wife and carefully fixed a stray piece of her red hair.
“So, do you all live here in Florida?” I asked, trying to make conversation.
Nick got up to check on the hamburgers while the rest of us talked and got to know each other.
“Okay, everyone! Food’s done!” Nick yelled.
“Nick, you don’t have to yell. We can all hear very well, thank you,” Maureen, Brian’s girlfriend said, standing up. I noticed that she was about my height, probably 5’1” or 5’2”.
Nick made a little face at her and set the plate of hamburgers down on the patio table.
“I’m going to go get some chips and stuff for the burgers. Want to come help me, Peyton?” Nick asked.
“Oh um…yeah, sure,” I said sliding my chair out and heading inside with him.
“Mmm…ketchup, mayonnaise, what else?” Nick asked.
I hadn’t said very much to him the entire time I had been there. I felt really guilty about sharing that kiss with Craig, so I was avoiding eye contact with Nick as much as possible. I had butterflies in my stomach and the guilt was killing me.
“What’s wrong?” Nick said, sitting the head of lettuce on the counter and staring at me.
“Nothing. Let’s take this stuff back out,” I said, avoiding his eyes, and gathering up the plates and napkins.
Nick grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. “Peyton, I’m tired of you telling me it’s nothing. I called you this afternoon and you were crying. You told me it was about the divorce, but I know that’s not it because you said yourself that you were over Craig. So what is it?” he asked, looking at me seriously.
“Nick,” I began, taking a deep breath, “Craig and I kissed.” I looked at him with sad eyes and noticed how badly my hands were shaking.
“Okay. So?” he questioned, pretending that it didn’t bother him.
“I’m so sorry. I feel awful. I didn’t mean for it to happen, it just did…” I trailed off, while tears welled up in my eyes.
“Hey, are you guys all right in here? We’re kinda hungry!” Brian called in, peering into the kitchen where we were.
“Yeah! Coming!” Nick said, grabbing the condiments and walked off, not giving me a second glance.
I sulkily followed him back out to the deck and sat the plates and napkins down on the table.
“Here…do you want me to take him now?” I said to Kevin, who was now holding Tristan.
“Oh um, yeah sure if you want to. He’s cute,” he smiled up at me, handing my son to me.
“Thanks,” I smiled back, walking over to my seat.
I sat down beside Nick, feeling his piercing stare. All of a sudden, he got up and walked into the house, not saying a word to anyone.
“What’s wrong with him?” Brian asked, looking at me.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, walking into the house after Nick.
