January 3, 2000 9:15 am

Stasia was struggling to get her key in the door, juggle her purse, her briefcase, her suitcases and Jake, who did not want to be put down. ‘This was great day for Jess to make me take a cab! Nice, as if being in Court is a real excuse!’ The door finally gave way, and she made a mad dash for the bedroom, ‘If I’m going to drop all of this crap, I’m going to drop it on the bed.’ She flipped on the light switch...and screamed. “MY GOD GARRET! What the hell are you doing here...IN MY BED?”

“Hey babe.” He stretched his arms over his head with a yawn.

“Hey BABE? HEY BABE? Are you high? Why are you here, and better yet, how did you get in?”

“We had a fight, I came over to talk to you, and you were gone, so I got that old guy to let me in...you know the landlord guy.”

“I guess I need to talk to ‘that landlord guy’. Garret, get out of my bed, and get out of my house. Now.”

He sat up in the bed and looked at her as if she was crazy, “You can’t be serious. I came over here to make up with you. Where were you, do you have a tan?”

“We are not making up. We BROKE UP. It was your idea. It doesn’t matter where I was.”

“You are tan. Were you in Florida?”

“Garret get out.” Jake jumped up on the bed and began to growl at Garret.

“Call off the mutt Anastasia.” He swung his legs out from under the covers. He stood up, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts.

“First of all, he is not a mutt. Second, this is his house, I am not about to call off my ten pound dog. Third, PUT ON YOUR CLOTHES!” She bent and picked up the pile of clothes laying on the floor next to her bed, then threw them at his head.

She walked out of the room, and Jake jumped off the bed and followed her into the livingroom. ‘I don’t believe this.’

Jess came bouncing through the still open door, with her arms full of empty packing boxes. Stasia flashed a look at Jess that told her everything. She mouthed, ‘HE IS HERE!’

Jess dropped the boxes on the floor. ‘WHAT?’She mouthed back.

‘Found him IN MY BED’

“WHAT?” This time Jess was at full volume. She started for the bedroom, but Stasia reached out and grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to spin around.

“I don’t have any cash to bail you out if you kill him. Just help me start packing.”

“Are you kidding? We’re just going to pack? With that freak in there in you bed?” She gestured to the bedroom door. Stasia nodded her head. Jess started to speak again, “But...”

“Pack.”

“Ok. If you say so.”

“I do.” Stasia picked up a box and went over to the bookcase in front of the window. She sat down on the floor and began neatly stacking books in the box. Jess flopped down next to her and began loading a second box. “I can’t believe him, Jess.”

“I told you he was an idiot.”

“You were right.”

Garret walked out of the bedroom, pulling a sweatshirt over his head. “What are you doing?”

“Playing checkers.” Jess rolled her eyes at him.

“Seriously, what are you doing? Babe, what’s up with the books?”

“Don’t call me Babe.”

“ANASTASIA, what’s up with the books?” He flopped down on the couch, and put his feet up on the coffee table.

“I’m packing Garret.”

“I see that. Why are you packing?” He set his feet on the floor, placed his elbows on his knees, and folded his hands in front of him.

“Because, I’m moving. I thought I asked you to leave.”

“What? Are you moving in with the She Devil?” He looked pointedly at Jess, who growled from her chest. Stasia clamped her hand over Jess’s mouth before she could speak.

“It really shouldn’t matter to you where I’m moving. We...are...not...together.” Jess bit Stasia’s palm. “Ouch!” She pulled her hand back and shook it. “Jess!”

“I will NOT keep my mouth shut! Garret, Stasia has asked you to leave, I suggest you do that! You know I am more then willing to call the police to have you removed. Breaking and entering...not an offense to be taken lightly.”

“Shove it Jessica. This is between Anastasia and I. Where are you moving?”

Stasia pushed herself up off of the floor. “Garret, that is none of your business.” She walked over and pulled the door open. “Now get out, I have a lot to do, and not much time to do it in.” She had one hand resting on the doorknob, the other on her hip. Her eyes were flashing with anger.

“So you are just giving up on us, throwing our past out?” Stasia shook her head trying to clear it, and comprehend what he was saying at the same time.

“WE HAVE HAD THIS CONVERSATION! Now get out of my house. NOW!” She pointed out the open door. Jess got up and stood beside Stasia. The look on her face was not only angry, it bordered on crazed.

Garret slowly stood up, his eyes locked with Stasia’s, he was angry, and his glare was met with a glare of even greater intensity. “You are going to regret this. You are going to regret the day you let me walk out this door.”

“I’m not letting you, I’m telling you to walk out the door.”

“You are going to be sorry. I’m not letting this go so easily.” He stormed out the door. Jess and Stasia looked at one another, and burst out into a fit of laughter.

“I’m going to be sorry. He’s not letting go this easily. What the hell does that mean? This has been one interesting week. I get a new job, get attacked, go to Hawaii, meet a bunch of really cool people, who just happen to be famous, and now freak boy isn’t letting go? Is this my life?”

“It sure isn’t mine. Hey great tan by the way, I didn’t think you tanned at all.”

“I spent most of my time there laying by the pool, or on the beach. It’s easy to get a tan in Hawaii. You should take your honeymoon there. You and Brent would love it.”

“Oh sure, we’ll just jet off to Hawaii on your private jet.”

“It’s not mine, it’s Jive’s.”

“OH! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse the ownership of the private jet you flew to and from California on.”

“Shut up Jess.”

They packed the entire contents of Stasia tiny living room in a little over an hour. They walked into the equally small kitchen, “We need some newspaper to wrap all of the dishes in, I’ll run downstairs to the recycle bin.”

Stasia bounced down the stairs into the basement of the building, she walked over to the recycle bin and pulled out an arm full of old newspapers. She turned to walk back up the stairs, and saw the door to her storage unit. ‘Oh God! I forgot about this unit, how much crap is crammed in here?’ She pulled the door open to reveal the golf clubs she bought last spring when she and Jess decided to learn the sport, it was the first sport she had even attempted that she was actually very good at, the pro who gave them lessons said she was a natural. Next to the clubs was the rest of her luggage, she wasn’t even going to bother unpacking the bags she took to Hawaii, it was all summer clothing anyway. There were ten neatly stacked boxes all marked “NOAH & NICOLE”. She sucked in her breath, she set the newspapers down on the floor next to the open door and ran her hand across the tops of the boxes.

Stasia had not opened any of these boxes since the day Jess and Brent helped her pack them, and put them in the storage unit. She pulled at the flap on one of the boxes. She reached above her head and pulled the cord attached to the light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Light flooded the little room. She pulled at the flap on the box again, this time it gave way and the box opened. She pushed the flaps back to peer inside.

A smile pulled at the corners of Stasia’s mouth when she was greeted with a framed picture of Noah, Nicole and Jake as a puppy. Stasia remember the day the picture was taken, she had taken it. The three of them had take Jake to the park the day Nicole brought him home for Noah. Jake had been so small Noah could hold him in one hand. She set the picture to the side and dug further into the box. Her hand ran across a large, black leather book. She pulled it out and opened the cover.

The first thing she noticed was the bold handwriting, it was strong and angular, like her own. Noah and Stasia both wrote like their mother, they had confident handwriting. Noah had always used a black fountain pen, Stasia always used blue. The firm black letters stretched across the pages, she flipped through the book, slowly realizing, she was holding her brother’s personal journal. She turned back to the first page of the journal and began to read.

May 10, 1996: Today we watched Stasia graduate from Michigan State. I don’t think she will ever be aware of how proud I was of her as she walked across that stage. Nik was crying, and laughing and clapping. I could not stop smiling. My baby sister is a college graduate. She did this all on her own. She has raised herself for the most part, and she has done an amazing job. She is twenty-two, and has the world at her feet. Mom had to be looking down with so much pride. She wanted so much for us, I wish she could have seen us today. I couldn’t find the words to express how I was feeling, mom would have said the perfect thing, she always did. I hope one day I will be able to explain to Stasia how much I love her, and how amazing I think she is. My little sister has grown into a remarkable woman. I wish I had half her strength. God! I’m feeling sappy today.

Stasia ran her fingertips over the page and quietly said, “I knew how much you loved me.” She turned to the last entry and began to read again.

January 16, 1998: I am in total shock. We are about to leave, we are going over to Stasia’s to tell her the news. I had to sit down to write so I could sort out my thoughts. I have so much to tell her. I’ve decided that this is the perfect day to tell her everything, about mom and our father. About everything that happened before she was born. I shouldn’t have waited so long to tell her, but I didn’t want her to have to think about it. But now, we have so much to be happy about. Truly happy. I am going to tell her about the past and then tell her about the future. I can’t wait to see her face when I tell her she is going to be an aunt. Well, off we go to tell Stasia!

That was the night they had been killed. Stasia suddenly felt sick. She slid down the wall of the storage unit hugging Noah’s journal to her chest. She felt it building in the darkest part of her soul. It was building and there was no way she could stop it. She screamed. A blood-curdling scream that came from a place in her heart she didn’t even know existed. She began slowly rocking back and forth.

“Stasia? What is it?” Jess was crouched in front of her pushing Stasia’s hair back off of her face. Jess panicked. Stasia was completely white, her eyes were black, and it was as if she couldn’t see Jess in front of her. “STASIA TALK TO ME!” She grabbed her friend by the shoulders and shook her. “What happened? PLEASE TELL ME!” She pulled Stasia to her chest and ran her hand over Stasia’s hair.

“I didn’t even know.” Jess barely heard her. It was barely a whisper against her shoulder.

“You didn’t know what?” She pulled back so she could look into her friend’s eyes.

“About the baby.” Again, it was barely audible.

“Stasia, honey, I’m sorry, I don’t know what you are talking about.” Stasia pushed the journal at Jess, who turned it so she could read what was in front of her. “Oh God.”

“I didn’t know.”

Jess stood and helped Stasia to her feet. They made their way up the stairs and into the apartment. She put Stasia on the couch and covered her with a blanket. She went to the kitchen and made her friend a cup of tea. When she returned to the couch, Stasia’s eyes were a little clearer. “Here, take a sip of this.”

“I’m sorry Jess.”

“For what? You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I freaked out for a minute there. I have not been that shocked since...”

“The accident.”

“Yeah. Nik was pregnant. They were going to have a baby. The doctors never told me that. I didn’t know.”

“Stasia, you were already in shock, I’m sure they just didn’t want to make it any worse for you.”

“But still. I should have known.”

Jess put her arms around her friend. Stasia rested her head on her friend’s shoulder. Jake jumped up on the couch and began licking Stasia’s nose.

“God! That dog still amazes me. Did Noah train him to do this stuff?”

A smile spread across Stasia’s face and she rubbed Jake behind his ears. “No, he is just amazing all on his own.” Stasia took a gulp of tea, set the cup down on the coffee table, ran both hands over her face and through her hair. “Well, that was unexpected.”

“I should say so. You had no way to know what that was going to say in there. You’ve never looked in those boxes before have you?”

“No. I wasn’t ready. I guess I’m still not.”

“At some point you will be. If you want me to be there, I will be.”

“I know. Thanks. I’m just going to close that box and have it shipped with the rest of my stuff. Maybe in new surroundings it will be easier.”

“You need to do what ever you think is best for you.”

“I need to do something, do you mind getting the newspaper? It’s on the floor in the storage unit.”

“I’ll close up the box too. Is that ok?”

“Yeah. Thanks Jess.”

They made quick work of the kitchen. The pile of boxes stacked neatly in the corner of the living room was growing.

Stasia’s one bedroom apartment, was very small. The entire apartment consisted of a small bedroom, a very small kitchen, a tiny bathroom and a combination living/dining room. This had always been such a cozy place to live.

Jess thought about how much she loved it here, the way Stasia decorated, everyone who walked through the door felt at home. People helped themselves from the refrigerator. They put their feet on the coffee table. Anyone was welcome in Stasia’s house, and people came here frequently. She let any of her friends crash on the couch whenever they needed a place to stay or someone to talk to, Stasia was trusted with everyone’s secrets, because she listened - really listened. She only gave advice when she was asked for it, but when she gave it, she was honest and very blunt. Stasia told it like it was. If she thought you were wrong, she didn’t candy coat it. Now the contents of that home, along with all of the secrets told within the walls, were packed and waiting to be loaded onto a truck and shipped to Mississippi, where there would be a whole new set of walls and a new set of secrets.

Stasia packed the last of her towels and taped the box shut. With a big black marker, she neatly printed ‘BATHROOM’ on the side of the box. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Jess, we’re done.”

“I know. What time will the truck be here tomorrow morning?”

“8:30"

“How are you getting your car down?”

“It’s going on the truck with the rest of my stuff, they load the car first, then the boxes and furniture.”

“The car goes on the truck? That’s a new one. You are spending the night at my house tomorrow night right?

“Yes. I need to go to the office tomorrow too, so if you could pick me up on your way in that would be cool. I have some loose ends to tie up, and I want to say good-bye to everyone.”

“Ok, that is easy enough, since I have to go there anyway. Then, if you have anything else to do, you can take my car. Then, you can pick me up, and I’ll take you and Jake to the airport.”

“Sounds like we have a plan.”

Jess looked up at Stasia, she ran a hand through her hair and said, “I’m going to miss you so much.” They hugged tightly.

“I’m going to miss you too. I love you Jess.”

Joey and Chris fell in a heap on the floor. “Wade...must...stop.” Joey panted.

“Ok guys, take twenty. We have to finish the changes to ‘Bye Bye Bye’ by tomorrow. Wade walked out of the room.

Chris groaned, “How old is this kid again?”

“18, and one of the best choreographers in the business.” JC answered.

Justin flopped down on the couch at the back of the dance studio and JC walked over to the table in the corner and asked, “Water guys?” He was greeted with four moans. He threw a bottle of water at each of his friends.

Lance sat down next to Justin, and opened his water bottle. Justin rolled his head along the couch to face Lance. “Hey isn’t Stasia coming in tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure.”

Chris rolled over onto his stomach, “Yeah, she’ll be here around 11:00. She’s staying at Dani’s. Lance, I thought you were the schedule guy.”

Lance rolled his eyes and he snapped, “Oh? It’s not bad enough I have to keep track of everything for you guys, now I have to keep track of her too?”

Joey laughed, “I wouldn’t worry about Stasia. I think she’s got it under control.”

“No kidding! Lance, your mom did you a favor here. Stasia is great! She has a ton of experience - for someone who wanted to be a teacher.” JC observed.

“That’s no surprise, her wanting to be a teacher, I mean. She’s great with kids. Did you check her with Jon and Steven? She saved my life.” Justin smiled at the memory.

“Picachu - I couldn’t believe it! Steven wouldn’t let me talk to ‘Stay-a’ all night!” Joey informed his friends.

Chris shuddered, “I’m, still afraid of being paid back for my little wake up call.”

“Do we have to talk about Anastasia?” Lance huffed.

“She likes Stasia better.” JC corrected.

“OK...Do we have to talk about STASIA?”

Justin gently smacked Lance’s arm, “What’s up with you? You’ve been all...weird.”

“I’ve got a lot going on. I’m fine.” He shrugged.

JC walked over to stand in front of the younger man. “Hey, we’re supposed to be your best friends, your brothers. What is going on that you can’t talk to us about?”

Lance shut his eyes, ran a hand over his face and through his hair. He sighed, “ I thought I could deal with seeing Danielle with Troy. I was wrong. Then I had this Anastasia thing dumped in my lap. I am just trying to sort all of this out. She, Anastasia I mean, seems to be OK though.”

“OK!? I want to marry the girl! She knows twice as much about football as me.” Joey pushed himself up off of the floor.

“And she’s not ugly.” Justin pointed out.

Lance rolled his eyes, “I didn’t notice.”

Joey pulled Chris to his feet, “You were too busy watching your ex-girlfriend play kissy face with her current boyfriend.”

“Shut up. Let’s finish this rehearsal.”

She stepped off the plane, and made her way into the crowded Orlando airport. She was already getting better about travel - She had decided to stop carrying a purse, it was just another thing to balance. Now, she carried a bag that worked as a carrying case for her computer, paperwork and the few personal items she needed. Chapstick and Tylenol didn’t exactly take up a lot of room.

Today however, her bag also contained Lance’s new laptop. She had spent a few hours loading all of the software he would need. All Lance had to do was plug-in and go. She was ready to roll. She was adjusting the bag on her shoulder and asking the girl at the nearest counter where to find the rental car counter, when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Lonnie smiling down at her.

“Lonnie! Hi! Is someone else arriving today?”

“No, why?”

“I assumed you were here to pick up someone important to the guys.”

“I am.”

“Really who? She looked around to see who she’d missed seeing.

“You. Lance didn’t want you to have to deal with all your luggage and getting to Dani’s and Jive by yourself.”

“Really? Well that is very nice of him, but I’m sorry to inconvenience you.”

“Are you kidding? It was either come out here and pick up little miss feisty, or watch them fab five trip over one another in dance rehearsal and let Jay or Dre come out here to flirt with you.”

“Feisty huh? Looks like I made a pretty good first impression.” She laughed.

“I’d say so. Hey...give me that bag.” He took the bag from her. “What do you have in here? It feels like this sucker is full of bricks.”

“No bricks, just two computers and a stack of paperwork.” They made their way to baggage claim, where Stasia pointed to two suitcases.

Lonnie asked, “How many more am I looking for?”

“That’s it, just the two. It’s only three weeks.”

He started laughing, “Can you please teach Justin to pack?”

“I’d be happy to talk to him for you...over packer huh?”

“That is an understatement.”

As they walked out of the terminal, Stasia looked up at Lonnie, “Where are you parked?”

He pointed to a black SUV parked by the curb. “Right there, and we better get going before Lance’s car is noticed.”

“Before Lance’s car is noticed? How many black trucks are there in Florida? I would think this one would just blend in.”

“Are you kidding? The fans know their license plate numbers. At least Lance’s car is pretty low profile, Justin is the one that gets noticed the most.”

They went straight to Jive, so Stasia could get Dani’s key from Chris. She and Lonnie walked into the building, and he led the way to the elevator, which they took to the basement, where all of the dance studios were located.

They made their way down a long hall lined with doors labeled with handmade signs stating who was rehearsing inside each room. When they reached the door reading *N SYNC they looked through the window and watched as the five guys went through a dance sequence that Stasia noticed was more rigorous than any advance aerobics class she had ever attended. Suddenly, the music stopped and the guys relaxed, panting. Lonnie pushed the door open and held it for Stasia.

Joey noticed her first, “Hey girl!” He ran over and scooped her up into a hug.

“Hey Bay-be!” She hugged him back.

“Oh man! I’m all sweaty, I’m sorry.” He set her down on the floor.

“No big deal Joe.”

“No big deal?” Chris and Justin ran over and made it a group hug.

“OK! Now this is a bit much guys!”

They released her and JC walked over and put his arm around her shoulders, “How was your flight?”

“It was fine. I’m getting used to it. I guess I’ve had a crash course in travel. I’d flown once before two weeks ago. Now I could fly to China on my frequent flier miles!”

Lance walked over and extended his hand, she accepted and shook it. She gave him a warm smile, “Thanks for sending Lonnie. It was nice to see a friendly face.”

“No problem. I’m glad you got here safely.”

“Thanks! I’m glad too.”

A young man walked over and Lance said, “ Oh! Wade, this is Anastasia. Anastasia, this is our choreographer Wade.”

“Call me Stasia.”

“Hey Stasia, it’s nice to meet you.” Wade smiled.

The guys finished their rehearsal, and Stasia was amazed at the workout Wade put them through, but by the end of the session, they looked great.

Chris offered to take Stasia over to Dani’s house and to help her get settled. Dani was in LA and wanted to be sure Stasia was comfortable. Chris and Lance transferred Stasia’s bags into Chris’s car then Lance and Stasia made plans to meet at a coffee shop in an hour, to get some work done.

Chris got Stasia to Dani’s, gave her the grand tour and directions to the coffee shop where she was supposed to meet Lance. Then he left to go home and shower, he said he would check up on her later.

After he left, Stasia got settled in the guest room, changed her clothes, and made sure everything she needed was in her bag. Chris told her the coffee shop was only two blocks away, so she decided to walk. When she walked in, Lance was already there. She glanced down at her watch and smiled, she was ten minutes early, and he beat her. He was sitting alone at a corner table, with a hat and sunglasses on and a cup of coffee in front of him. He started to stand and she shook her head, “Oh! Don’t bother, it’s only me.” She sat down across from him and set her bag down on the floor next to her chair.

“Do you want anything?” He asked.

“I’d kill for a latte.”

“OK, I’ll be right back.” He got up and walked over to the counter. When he returned, there were two computers sitting on the table. He set her drink down.

“Thank you, I need this.” She inhaled the scent of the coffee before taking a sip and closing her eyes. “Here is your new computer.” She smiled at him.

“Sony Viao...cool.”

“I think you’ll like it. I’ve loaded everything you should need. You are ready to roll.”

Lance opened the computer, and quickly found the power button. “Woah!” The monitor lit up with a picture as clear as any TV. And his jaw dropped when he saw the picture she had loaded as his wallpaper.

It was a picture of his family standing in front of his parents house. He and Stacy must have been in high school at the time it was taken. “How’d you do this?”

“I asked your mom for her favorite family picture, then I scanned it at the office. Do you mind? I thought you might like a little reminder of home when we’re on the road.”

“No, I don’t mind at all. I can’t believe you did this. Thanks.”

Stasia spent the next two hours showing him the stuff she had loaded for him and how to access the office computers from the road.

Lance looked down at his watch, “I’m supposed to meet JC and his friend Lyn for dinner. Did you want to come with us?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

As they started to stand up and pack up their computers, a little girl walked up, “Excuse me sir.”

Lance laughed, “Yes?”

“Are you Lance?”

He glanced around, and then crouched down to be on her level, “Yeah, I am.”

“May I please have your autograph?”

“Of course you may.” He looked around for a piece of paper and a pen. Stasia reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of Free Lance notepaper and a pen. She handed them to Lance who smiled up at her and said, “Thanks. Now what is your name sweetie?”

“Katherine.”

He took several minutes to write a note for her. When he handed her the paper, she read it and then hugged it. “Thank you very much Lance.”

He smiled widely and asked, “May I have a hug, Katherine?” Stasia couldn’t help smiling. Lance had just made this little girl’s lifetime.

“Yes!”

He hugged her tightly, then kissed the top of her head. Then he straightened up and waved to Katherine. He and Stasia walked out of the shop and he glanced sideways down at her, then held out his hand. She looked at him curiously. “Your bag.”

“Oh, thanks.” She handed him the bag.

“Geeze, heavy.”

“Well, I am lugging around YOUR computer, along with my own.”

He looked a little shocked at her comment, then grinned, “Joey’s right.”

“About what?”

“You’re going to be a handful.”

“HA! Isn’t that the truth!”

Dinner was a lot of fun, and Stasia got along with Lyn. Again, Lance was basically quiet all evening. He was watching Stasia interact with JC and Lyn. He was impressed by how she seemed to get along well with his friends, as if she had known them forever. Stasia was at ease. She and JC joked like they had known each other since childhood. Lyn was asking advice about her computer, when Lance finally made a comment. “You should see what she did to my computer - it’s cool.”

JC slowly turned to face him, “What did she do?”

“Put this picture thing on - it’s cool.”

“Ok - it’s cool. Got it.” He looked at Lance questioningly, and Lance shrugged.

Lance realized that his entire contribution to the conversation all night had been to say that his computer had a cool picture. Not only had he been rude by not saying anything, but when he did, he sounded like a total idiot. But when he looked over at Stasia, her eyes were gleaming and she had a slight smile on her face, as if she understood his thoughts.

They finished dinner and as they were leaving, JC bent to hug Stasia, “I’m glad you’re here.” Then, he pulled on her ponytail, offered Lyn his arm and left.

Lance dropped Stasia off at Dani’s and told her he would call first thing to give her the schedule for the day, and so that they could go over the schedule for the rest of the week.

She opened the door and flipped on the light, to see a huge bouquet of flowers sitting on the coffee table. She noticed a note on the table next to the flowers.

Stasia
I came by to check on you, but you weren’t here, I bet you knew that. Some flower guy dropped these off for you. You owe me $10.00 for the tip.
Chris

She laughed and pulled the card out of the bouquet.

Stasia,
We wish you the best of luck! Remember, you can ALWAYS come back here!
With love,
Barnett & Adams
PS Don’t forget to call home - Josh

She was so touched, it was nice to know that they care. But she had no intention of going back.

She picked up the phone and called Diane to check on Jake. Diane assured her that Jake was not only fine, but that they loved having him. As a matter of fact, Jim was out in the yard playing with him right then.

After talking to Diane for a little while longer, she hung up the phone. And crossed Diane’s name off of her list. Next, was Josh. She dialed his home number, and he picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi Josh, it’s...”

“STASIA! Hi sweetie! How’s it going?”

She grinned, “Things are going really well. All of my belongings got to Mississippi, which was good. I got a little unpacking done. Now, I’m here in Florida, looking at these beautiful flowers. Thank you so much Josh!” After twenty minutes of chit chat, and fatherly advice, they said good-bye, after Stasia promised to keep him posted.

Then she tried to call Jess, who had left a message asking advice about centerpieces for the wedding. Jess wasn’t home so Stasia left a message of her own.

She put on her pajamas and wandered around the house, she was getting a glass of water when the phone rang. She jogged over to the phone hanging on the kitchen wall, “Hello?”

“Hey Stasia!” She was met with Dani’s cheerful voice.

“Hi Dani! This place is great. Thank you so much for letting me stay here.”

“Oh, do me a favor and hit ‘play’ on the answering machine.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Stasia hit ‘play’ and heard Dani’s voice, “Hi! You’ve reached Dani and Stasia. We can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message, we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!”

“Dani! That is so sweet! You didn’t have to do that!”

“I consider you my Florida roommate now, seriously, make yourself at home. And think of it this way, I’m really only there when Chris is home for a long stretch, so you are doing me a favor being there.”

“Whatever you say! I am paying the rent this month.”

“Oh no you are not!”

“What are you going to do to stop me Danielle? Fly here from LA?”

“OK, you have a point there, but I do not expect you to pay rent, that’s just silly!”

“It is not, do not argue with me.”

“We’ll discuss it later.”

“If you can catch me.”

“Ha! I know where to look!”

They talked a while longer, before saying good-bye, as Stasia was hanging up the phone she heard Dani, “HEY! STASIA!”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Don’t forget, Chris has a key...be careful.”

“Oh God! Thanks for the warning. Bye!”

Stasia crawled into bed and laid there recapping her day. Lance popped into her mind and a slow grin spread across her face, as she thought to herself, ‘He doesn’t have much to say, but it doesn’t really matter...I don’t mind looking at him, quiet or not. ANASTASIA ELIZABETH! Stop.’ She sighed, “Where is Jake when I need to talk to him?” She rolled over on to her side and then said, “But he is really cute. And who the heck am I talking to? AHH!”