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Chapter Forty – July 2

Nick was determined to make up for his actions the day before. At six o’clock my alarm went off and I opened my eyes to a man, a baby, and a breakfast tray.

“Happy Birthday, mommy!” Nick said in a high voice. Brooklyn laughed through her fingers.

“What?” I asked groggily.

Nick set the tray down across my lap. He leaned down and kissed me gently.

“Happy Birthday,” he repeated in his normal voice. It sounded like velvet. He grinned. “Did you forget it was your birthday?”

“Of course, I didn’t,” I said lightly.

Of course, I did. It was a little hard to care about your birthday when you were getting married in less than ten hours. I looked down at the breakfast tray.

I burst into tears.

Scrambled eggs, pineapple juice, and toast with lots of yellow butter graced the tray. In the corner a yellow rose sat in a clear vase. It was the exact same breakfast he had delivered to me on my birthday last year.

“You remembered,” I said through my sniffles. Nick sat down on the bed and balanced Brooklyn on his knee. Her little eyes widened and she leaned over and looked at the floor. He bounced her back up to the safety of his lap. She giggled.

“Of course I remembered,” Nick said gently. His hand went to my bare foot. He rubbed gently.

“Plus, it’s the only breakfast foods I know how to make,” he said sweetly. I laughed.

“Well I love it.”

I took a bite of toast. Then I looked back up at Nick. My eyes widened.

“What are you doing here?”

He looked at me in surprise. “What?”

“I thought you were headed over to the hotel this morning!”

“I wanted to make you breakfast first.”

“We’re not supposed to see each other before the wedding.”

Nick laughed. “That’s superstitious.”

“Yeah, well superstition seems to love us.”

He scoffed. “Don’t worry about it. There was no way I wasn’t going to see you on your birthday. Plus Brooklyn told me not to go. Right Brookey?”

Brooke responded by spitting up on him. Nick made a face.

“Well, I guess that’s my cue to clean up and go.”

I smiled and gestured with my fork towards the tray. “Thank you.”

Nick winked. “Any time Mrs. Carter.”

A delicious shiver ran down my spine. “Not yet.”

Nick laughed. “Soon. Very soon.”

As he left the room I sank back into my pillows with a sigh. I glanced out the window. The sun was shining happily.

It was a perfect day.

----------------------------------------------

Our wedding was scheduled for three. Unlike yesterday, lateness was not going to be an option. I was scheduled to meet the girls at the hair salon at nine a.m. After a quick lunch, we would be meeting back at the house to get dressed. Nick was getting dressed over at the hotel.

With Brooklyn and my mom in tow, we pulled up to the hair salon a few minutes before nine. Angel was waiting outside.

“I swear I’m the only Carter who’s ever on time,” she said with a smile as I got out of the Pathfinder. I laughed.

“Well, I don’t plan on letting Nick’s bad habits rub off on me,” I assured her. Angel walked over to the car while I got Brooklyn out.

“There’s the ittle wittle munchkin,” Angel cooed. She held out a finger to tickle Brooklyn’s chin, but Brooke got it to her mouth first. Angel winced.

“Ouch.”

“It’s her teeth,” I said apologetically as Angel managed to get her finger away. Before cries could erupt, I stuck a teething ring in her mouth.

Ro and Leigh were the next ones to arrive. By that time the salon opened their doors. We filed in and took the first seats.

“I know Leslie and BJ are going to be late but where’s Leighanne?” I wondered out loud.

I saw Rochelle and Leigh share a look.

“She wasn’t feeling well,” Ro said. My face must have flashed with panic because she held up a hand. “Don’t worry. She said she was going to be here no matter what.”

Leslie and BJ arrived a half hour late. My hairdresser was taking her time with my hair. She was the same one who had fixed my orange hair. I had complete faith in her.

“So I have an update on AJ’s annoyance with Nick’s Twitter song,” Rochelle said with a smile.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. He opened a different account. He’s posted about twenty times in the last hour.”

I laughed. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. He’s determined to get to two hundred thousand followers before Nick. Then he’s going to do something like a video or a song. Most likely it will involve ripping Nick a new one.”

I rolled my eyes. “I swear our guys don’t have a life.”

“I’d have to agree,” Rochelle checked her phone. “He just took a picture of Howie in his underwear. Howie doesn’t look too happy.”

“Howie’s not happy about underwear in general. James is being stubborn about potty training,” Leigh said. “It’s the first time Howie wished we had a girl instead.”

“Did you try the Cheerio thing?” I asked. When I worked at the library, all the moms swore by the Cheerio thing.

“Yeah. There’s nothing that says ‘good morning!’ like a grown man demonstrating to his son how to pee on a Cheerio.”

I laughed.

“Sorry I’m late.”

I tried to turn my head but I was held in place by a large barrel curling iron. It didn’t matter; I knew who it was.

“Hey Leigh. You okay?”

“Yeah. Just slow going this morning.”

Leighanne came to stand in front of me. She looked exhausted.

I cut to the chase.

“Are you in labor?”

She shook her head.

“No. Just contractions.”

I sighed.

“Leigh, just go to the hospital.”

She shook her head stubbornly. “I’m fine. They’re false contractions. Like I said, I’m just moving slow this morning.”

A hairdresser came up and led her to a chair near mine. I glanced over at her as she awkwardly maneuvered herself into the seat.

“If you have her today, she’ll share a birthday with me,” I said. Leighanne laughed.

“And if she comes tomorrow, she’ll share a birthday with Mason.”

“No, she’ll share a bird-day with Mason.”

We laughed.

“You know, seriously Leigh…if you think you’re going into labor I’ll understand if you can’t do this.”

Leighanne nodded. Even though she looked stressed and tired, she was absolutely calm.

“Just relax, Liv.”

That was easier said than done. After over an hour of sitting in the chair, my butt was beginning to fall asleep. I shifted awkwardly.

“Almost done,” my hairdresser said.

A half hour later she twirled me around in the chair and handed me a mirror.

“What do you think?”

I held the mirror and looked at the back of my hair. The sides were pinned up with small diamond accents. A soft yellow flower was tucked above my right ear. My hair was curled and falling gently down my back. I smiled.

“It’s perfect,” I said.

The other girls were done not long after me. Rochelle’s hair was back to basic black. She looked a little like Katy Perry in the Waking Up in Vegas video. I loved it.

“You’re getting some tonight,” I teased her. She laughed.

“I don’t know about that. Remember his ass is broken. I think it’s going to be hard to work around the rubber donut.”

I grinned.

The last two girls to finish with their hair were Leigh and Leighanne. I hadn't seen Leigh all morning; her stylist's chair was behind a big partition. When she finally came out to the seating area, my mouth dropped open.

She had cut her long beautiful hair. She sported a short stylish curly do that only accentuated her narrow face and bright eyes. It just seemed like such an "Un-Leigh" thing to do that it took a moment for the shock to fade away.

"What do you think?" she asked. My mom was the first one to speak up.

"I love it. You look five years younger."

Leigh had never looked old, but I had to agree; it made her look younger.

"It's really cute," I said. She had little diamond accents put around the crown of her head.
It was cute, stylish, and dressy at the same time.

"Howie's going to have a cow," Rochelle chimed in.

Leigh waved off her concerns.

"He'll get over it. It's not easy maintaining my hair when I have a three year old running all over the place."

The girls jumped into a discussion about the practicalities of long hair when my cell phone rang. Seeing that Leighanne was still getting the last few pieces of her hair curled, I stepped outside to answer.

"Hello?"

"Guess who just got offered a job?"

I broke out into a wide smile. "Hi Sam."

"Well guess!"

I laughed.

"Howie called and offered you the job."

"Correct-a-mundo. You're going to be seeing a lot more of me. How's the bride today?"

I glanced at my watch. It was a little before noon.

"A little overwhelmed, but fine. Was everything okay back in New York?"

He snorted. "Yeah, it was stupid really. I have this pet snake and it got out of its tank. The person I had going over to feed it freaked out. When I got to my apartment she was standing on a table looking like she was going to pass out. She had armed herself with every single pot and pan I owned."

I laughed. "I would have done the same thing. You're not bringing that thing on tour are you?"

Silence.

"Sam?"

"I can't leave Mr. Bo Jangles that long," he explained.

My heart began to pound.

"We're getting you your own bus," I finally said. He laughed.

"Score!"

We talked for a few minutes longer.

"I better get going. We're headed to lunch."

"Alright. I'll see you later this afternoon. You're going to look beautiful."

I grinned. "Thanks Sam. See you later."

By the time I walked back in, the group was assembled and ready to go. We took our separate cars back to my house.

Even though Nick had told me Taryn didn't want to be in the wedding, she wasn't beyond helping. In fact, by the time we walked into the house, I could smell amazing aromas wafting from the kitchen. She had organized a massive take out spread.

I know as the bride I should have been too nervous to eat, but I was also eating for two. We filed down the food line and took seats in my still messy living room with plates on our laps and our hair looking like a million bucks. Leighanne only picked at her food. Every now and then I saw a wince. I knew it wouldn't do any good to argue with her again. I sighed.

"Everyone else bring their dresses?" I asked. I saw nods all around. My dress was still in my car from when I picked mom up this morning.

"Hey Liv, are you sure you want to marry my brother?" Angel asked. I looked over at her; she was holding her phone with a strange expression on her face. I laughed.

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

Angel looked over at me.

"Nick just tweeted a picture of a rubber band and wrote something about needing to go to the emergency room."

My pulse spiked up. Just what I needed. I grabbed my phone and ran out of the room. We had already broken tradition by seeing each other this morning. I didn't think our luck would be any worse if I called him three and a half hours before the wedding.

I just hoped whatever he tweeted about was something stupid rather than serious. As I impatiently listened to Nick's callback ringtone, I heard a moan from the living room.

I had a feeling the one who needed to go to the emergency room wasn't my future husband. It was the woman sitting in my living room.