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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey all! I know it's been a long time but I finally got inspired to write this again. Donnie Wahlberg is going to be making a guest appearance in this chapter so I hope you enjoy. I can't figure out how to add him under characters. But any feedback is appreciated!
Nick played with some knobs on the control panel in his home studio, working on a mix of the track he was currently doing. The vocals were coming together great and he was getting happy with the result. He'd been working on a new album without telling anyone and jotted don't lyrics when he thought of them.

“Hey, Nick….it's me.” he heard Howie’s voice over the intercom. Nick thought this was strange, Howie usually never came to the house.

“Sure I'll buzz you in.” he said, clicking the button off.

Howie entered with a young girl, she was very good looking with brown curly hair that fell in ringlets.

“You brought Savannah with you.”

“Well yes. I told you I would bring her by, don't you remember?” Howie said, noticing that Nick was not entirely pleased with her presence.

Amanda was home and Nick worried that she would think something was going on, and he had no idea that he was correct. She began questioning him as soon as he entered the kitchen.



“Who's car is that in the driveway?” Amanda asked, noticing the strange vehicle parked next to Nick's.

“Oh, it was only Howie.”

“He never comes to the house. You should have invited him in for dinner….I haven't seen him in ages.”

Amanda went on to chopping up tomatoes while Nick helped set the table.

“He just came by for a bit to talk about a couple of things.” Nick said. Amanda stopped cutting and looked at him skeptically as his phone started to ring.

“Hello? Uh…can I talk to you a bit later? I'm helping my wife with dinner. Uh huh. Yeah. Sounds great. Okay. Bye.”

“Who was that?”

Nick smiled at her and put his phone away. It had been Donnie Wahlberg, who had horrible timing. He had wanted to discuss the surprise. Obviously Nick couldn't do this when she was in the room so he immediately thought of a lie.

“Oh, that was JC. He wanted to ask me if I got the song lyrics he emailed me this morning for something we are working on for the new album. I was gonna tell you during dinner and surprise you but I've been working on new music.” he said. This wasn't a complete lie but he thought it would hold Amanda over for now. He was relieved when she came over to kiss him.

“That's so great you're working on new music, baby. I can't wait to hear it.” she replied. Nick nodded, it had definitely been a long time since he'd worked on anything new, not since Tracy had passed away after their wedding. He'd been writing some songs and feeling inspired in the studio. Experimenting with new sound and writing made him feel at peace. He just didn't want Amanda to know about Savannah because he knew what she'd say. Hating himself for thinking about the girl again, he went to chopping some carrots to stop thinking about it.


***********

“Thanks for meeting me here, Donnie. Sorry I cut you off earlier on the phone….my wife was in the room and I didn't want to spoil anything.”

Donnie Walhberg smiled at him from where he sat at the bar. They'd gone out for a couple of beers after Nick finished dinner and putting the kids to bed. He told Amanda he was meeting Howie and she believed it. He didn't like to lie to his wife but he wanted to have this surprise for her birthday.

“No problem, Nick. So what did you have in mind?”

Nick smiled and sipped at his beer. He couldn't wait for his wife to see what he'd been planning.




Amanda had just finished putting Celine to bed and was picking up some toys on the floor when the house phone began to ring. She left the kids room and went to answer it, surprised that someone would call that late.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Amanda it's Howie.”

Her eyes narrowed, now suspicious because Nick had told her he was going out with Howie.

“Why are you looking for Nick, isn't he with you?” she asked.

“No, he's not with me. I'm at the office…I was just seeing if he would come by in the morning to go over some promo stuff for the shoot we did last week.”

“He's not home, he's out but I'll tell him that you called.” Amanda promised. She hung up the phone and continued with what she was doing. Nick finally came home about an hour later, kissing her on the cheek.

“Want to run a bath before bed? I've hardly seen you today.” he whispered into her ear. She returned the kiss. Amanda reasoned that she had no reason to think Nick was cheating on her, but he was definitely up to something though.

“Sure, baby. The kids are in bed already. Hope you had a good time out.”

“I did. Just went over a few things.”

They undressed and poured some wine, and got into the large bathtub in the bathroom. Nick dimmed the lights. The hot water was very relaxing.

“Are you okay? You seem tense.”

Amanda stopped sipping at her wine and thought for a moment, how did he always know when something was bothering her? She was usually the one trying to get him to open up about his feelings and now it was his turn.

“Just thinking about some things with the club.” she lied.

Nick began to kiss her on the neck, in the corner where her neck and shoulder met.

“Well, whatever it is I'm sure it will work out. Just need to relax baby. It's almost your birthday.”

He moved up her neck, to her ear and made her shudder with pleasure. Amanda hated that he turned her on so much sometimes, she had completely forgotten what she wanted to talk to him about. The gentle kisses soon turned into a full on makeout session, lasting until the bubbles in the tub had long ago faded. Amanda left the tub feeling very relaxed indeed. She realized what he had done and shook her head, smiling at his naked body.

“How do you do that?” she asked, watching Nick putting on his underwear from across the room. He looked up at her quizzically.

“Do what?”

Nick put on a white tank top and climbed into bed, kissing her on the cheek before throwing the sheet over himself.

“Make me forget whatever is bothering me.”

Nick smiled and chuckled.

“Just talented, I guess.”

They both went to bed, Amanda thinking how she was going to find out the truth about what her husband was up to.

The truth would eventually come to light.