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Chapter One – October 1

It’s funny how much life can change in two years. On October 1, 2009, I was in Japan with the guys to promote This is Us and spent the night with a beautiful Japanese woman who decided to prove to me how well she could deep throat. Sure, I was dating Lauren, but at that particular moment I thought variety was the spice of life. In my mind, my life couldn’t get any better. Little did I know that I’d meet my soul mate eight months later.

If my life was a VHS tape and that VHS tape was a time machine, I would love to go back and visit my twenty nine year old self. I’m pretty sure that the Nick Carter of 2009 wouldn’t have believed for one minute that in two years he would be happily married to a wife that oozed sexuality and could blow (heh heh) the Japanese chick out of the water in the deep throat category. And Nicky 09 really wouldn’t believe that one of his favorite ways to spend an afternoon would include singing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ to his daughter while anticipating the arrival of yet another child.

“It’s no use. I give up.”

I looked over at Liv, trying to clear my mind of the thought of her lips around my favorite appendage. It was eleven o’clock in the morning. I was due at the studio at ten o’clock. Even though I suck at math, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that I was late. At the moment I was lying on the bed with Brooklyn, steadying her bottle with my foot as she stubbornly held it all by herself. I was expecting a phone call from Kevin at any moment. We had been in the studio for the past three weeks and having Kevin back was like working with a bear that had stayed awake during the winter. Liv stood by the closet, a huge pile of clothes at her feet. I had a weird feeling of déjà vu.

“You could wear my Bucs jersey again,” I suggested.

Liv turned; I couldn’t help but smile at her protruding stomach. I used to roll my eyes when Brian talked about the ‘pride’ of planting the ‘seed.’ I used to want to shove a pair of gardening gloves up his ass. Now I kind of saw where he was coming from. If I was a bull, I would be worth a million bucks. My swimmers were golden. It took a real man to knock up your wife twice in one year.

“I wore that last week when I came by the studio,” Liv reminded me.

“Well, then I think the jig is up.”

Liv frowned. “But, I wanted to wait a little longer.”

“Unless we tell everyone you’re hiding a small turkey under your clothes, I think we just need to let the cat out of the bag.”

“It’s ‘cause I got so fat.”

“Liv, you’re four and a half months pregnant. You’re not fat.”

Before Liv could reply, the phone rang. She walked towards the phone.

“Don’t answer it!”

“Why not?”

“Because I already know it’s Kevin. I’m more than an hour late.”

Liv looked at the clock. “Aw, crap. I’m sorry.”

I smiled. “Hey, it’s not the first time I’m late. It’s not even the first time this week. Just find something comfy and wear it.”

I scooped Brooklyn up. She had sucked her bottle dry. I picked up a sparkly silver shirt from the floor.

“This is cute.”

“I look like a disco ball in that.”

I laughed and dropped the shirt. I picked up another and held it up against her for the sole purpose of brushing against her breasts. I kissed her softly.

“Ten minutes, Liv,” I said. “Brooklyn and I will be waiting in the car.”

I walked out of the bedroom, down the stairs and picked up my keys from the foyer table.

“You want to drive?” I asked Brooke. She grabbed the keys and shook them happily. I kissed her cheek.

“You can dream, but I’m not letting you drive for real until your forty.”

She gave me a look that oozed Carter attitude. Like father, like daughter.

We headed outside; it was a beautiful sunny fall day in Tampa. The grass glistened with dew drops and birds sang overhead as I got Brooklyn into her car seat. After I closed the door, I turned to look at our home.

For a long time, I had thought that I had to live in a mansion to be happy and to show people that I was successful. I had moved from house to house for awhile, constantly upgrading. However, after the whole Aaron fiasco and our temporary relocation, I realized that those mansions weren’t really homes. It took a family and love to make a real home.

I had gone out to fill up for gas one night when I let myself purposely get lost. That’s how I found our home. It was a beautiful cheery house with yellow siding and maroon shutters complete with a brick front yard and a grassy back yard. I remember hopping over the fence and walking around the backyard picturing a swing set and barbeques. The information sheet I had shown to Liv stated that the two story house had five bedrooms, three baths, and a finished basement that just begged to be turned into a studio.

Weeks later, we moved in. I had never been happier in my life. I was domesticated and loving it.

I bent down to pick a weed from our sidewalk when Liv finally stepped outside. She gave a hard tug to her t-shirt and locked the door. As she turned around, she tugged again.

“You look beautiful,” I assured her. I walked around the car and opened her door. She stopped right in front of me, a smile playing on her lips.

“Am I beautiful because we’re late and you want to hurry me up?”

I grinned. She had one piece of hair that always fell into her eyes. I brushed it away lovingly. “No, you’re beautiful because you are. Now giddy up.”

She got into the car and I went around to the driver’s side. With any luck we’d get to the studio before Kevin started foaming at the mouth.

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

“You’re an hour and a half late.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“That’s what you said three days ago when you stopped at Foot Locker and lost track of time,” Kevin reminded me.

I grinned. “But look at the cool shoes I got.” I stuck my right foot out.

Kevin wasn’t amused. He hadn’t been in a good mood since the wedding. Of course, I couldn’t really blame him. As Liv and I had flown the friendly skies to Australia for our honeymoon, Kevin had prepared an elaborate proposal for Addy only to be turned down.

“She just thought I was rushing into it,” he said sadly as he recounted the incident to us on the first day of recording.

“Well, your divorce was finalized not too long ago,” Howie pointed out.

“Yeah, but when it’s love it’s love,” Kevin said.

I knew exactly how he felt. Luckily for me Liv didn’t turn me down.

“Well, she didn’t say she’d never marry you,” Brian said helpfully.

“I’m not giving up,” Kevin had said. “I’ve never backed down from a challenge. Eventually she’ll say yes.”

Staring at his current tense face, I almost wished he would back down every now and then. I grinned in an attempt to calm the waters.

“Well, I’m here and ready to go.”

The studio was wall to wall people. It looked like every single wife had decided to come for the day. Liv had stopped in the bathroom to change Brooke’s diaper and pee for about the tenth time.

“Hey, catch!”

I turned around just as Brian hurled a headset through the air. I leapt up and caught it.

Leighanne and Baylee clapped. Kayleigh was asleep in a portable bassinet.

I followed Brian and Kevin into the recording booth. AJ and Howie were huddled over some sheet music. Howie was armed with a pen taking notes.

“It’s about time you showed up,” AJ said with a smirk. I smiled.

“Sorry. What did I miss?”

“I’m tweaking the parts a little bit,” Howie explained. “I think your falsetto would sound better here rather than mine.”

We settled down in a circle and went through our parts. My back was to the glass. I was singing quietly through my part when Brian hit my arm. Hard.

“Dude!”

I looked up. “What? Am I off key?”

Brian was looking past my shoulder at the window. He looked surprised. I turned around and followed his gaze. Liv was standing there with Brooklyn in her arms. She was turned to the side in profile. She seemed to be facing a firing squad of questions from Leigh and Leighanne.

“Is that Liv?” Kevin asked.

“Who else would it be?” AJ said.

Four pairs of eyes landed on me.

“I was wondering why Liv was wearing that crappy Bucs shirt last week,” Brian said with a smile.

“My jersey is not crap,” I said defensively. No one messed with my Buccaneers.

“How the hell did you knock her up again so fast?” AJ asked.

I explained my theory about having bull sperm. Kevin kept glancing at the emergency exit as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.

“When’s she due?” Howie asked.

“February.”

”February?”

“Wasn’t Brooklyn born in March?” Brian asked.

“Yep.”

AJ glanced past me back at the girls. Without a word, he got up and headed out of the booth. I turned around just in time to see Rochelle walking quickly out into the hall. AJ was right on her heels. I looked over at Liv. She was staring at the door Rochelle had just walked out of looking concerned.

“Is that even safe?”

I turned back to look at Howie.

“What?”

“Two kids in one year. Is that even safe?”

“Well, there’s some risks. That’s why we waited to tell everyone.”

“If you waited any longer the baby would already be here,” Brian said. He leaned over the back of his chair. “So whatcha having?”

“I don’t know. We find out tomorrow.” I glanced over at Kevin.

“Oh yeah. I’m going to be late tomorrow.”

Kevin tried hard but he failed to hide a smile. “What else is new?”

“My vote’s on a boy,” Brian said.

Kevin started to laugh. “Man having two babies under the age of one is going to be a nightmare. What the hell were you thinking?”

“There wasn’t a lot of thinking going on at the time,” I explained.

“Obviously,” Howie said. “Geesh, I knew you couldn’t keep it in your pants, but c’mon.”

“Oh, leave him alone,” Brian said with a smile. “Congratulations. Babies are a blessing.”

As Howie and Kevin rolled their eyes, Bri and I did our Frick ‘n’ Frack handshake.

We went back to working on our individual parts. After about ten minutes, AJ’s absence was hard to ignore.

Just as Kevin was about ready to go track him down, he headed back into the room. His eyes were suspiciously red rimmed.

“Everything okay?” I asked. AJ nodded.

“Yeah. Where were we?”

Before we launched back into our parts, I glanced back out into the sitting area. Rochelle still hadn’t returned. Livvy was sitting next to Leighanne with Brooklyn perched on her lap.

“Where’s Addy?”

“She was going stir crazy just sitting around. She’s volunteering at Reins of Life today.”

“Is she getting tired of you being a diva?”

Kevin gave me one of his penetrating looks.

“I’m not the one that’s a diva. Now let’s get going before we get nothing accomplished today.”

I wasn’t going to push my luck. No play and all work made for a happy Kev.

You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.