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Before: Leaving Boston


Ashley

I felt like I was going to throw up. Nick scrambled for his boxers, yanked them up his legs. "What did Patrick say?" he demanded.

"He said there was a guy outside ringing all the buzzers on the building asking for me," I replied, "He said after the guy rang his buzzer, he looked out over his balcony railing and the guy was short, with dark hair, and he got into a rental car that's parked across the street." Nick grabbed his jeans and started dancing them onto his body. "Nick, how did he find out where we were?" I asked, panic rift in my voice.

"I dunno," he replied. He grabbed his belt and started threading it through the belt loops.

I grabbed my jacket. "Nick, what do we do? Zoey's there. We have to go get Zoey. I'm scared."

Nick was buckling the belt. He thought for a moment. "Ashley, call Patrick back. Ask him if he can meet us at the airport."

"What?"

"Ask Patrick to meet us at the airport with Zoey. Tell him to just put her in the walker and casually as possible just walk her down and bring her to the airport. We can get our stuff later. Just tell him to meet us at the airport."

"But Chris is right there!" I wailed, "What if he tries to steal her away or he - he shoots Patrick or --" I felt tears welling in my eyes. "Nick --"

Nick took two quick steps over. He cupped my face in his hands. "Ashley," he said thickly, "He doesn't know Patrick, and he wasn't even in the delivery room long enough to know if it was a boy or a girl you had. What Chris is gonna see is a random dude leaving an apartment building with a random baby. If Patrick just acts as normal as possible, Chris will have no idea. He's waiting to see one of us walk out of the building, not Patrick."

I could barely breathe. "But my baby... my Zoey..."

"Baby, Zoey is safer right now if neither one of us is anywhere near her," Nick said and I heard the hurt in his voice even as he said the words. He bent down and picked my phone up from the floor. "Here." He said, "You call him. I'm gonna get us a flight out of here. We need to coordinate this so he's getting to the airport just before the plane leaves. Just in case."

My throat ached. "Nick, where are we going to go? If he found us here in Boston, where are we safe?"

"We'll go to my place in Nashville," Nick said.

"But he knows where you live there," I argued, "If he found us in this random place here in Boston, where there's no reason for him to ever look for us, what would keep him from looking in Nashville where he knows you could be?"

"I don't know, but if we get on the plane there's no way he can get there before us. He'd have to wait for the next flight. If we time it right, that'll buy us at least a couple hours to figure out what to do next and how he's finding us," Nick said. "It'll give me time to think."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Trust me, baby," Nick said. He pulled me closer. "I'm gonna keep you safe."

I nodded.

"You and Zoey mean more to me than anything else," he said quietly. He kissed my forehead. "He's not going to hurt either of you. He would have to kill me to get to you."

What Nick didn't understand was that was exactly what I was afraid of.




Nick

Ashley was a nervous wreck.

We stood at the airport, waiting for Patrick to show up with Zoey. We were going to have a thirty minute window between when Patrick pulled up to the front doors of the airport with Zoey and when the three of us boarded a plane. This, I hoped, would be just enough to get through security and up to our gate.

"Where is he?" Ashley groaned, wringing her hands. She was pacing, her face pale under her hair. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a tee that we'd gotten at a souviner booth. Both said Boston on them in big bold letters. She looked like a walking ad for the tourism council.

But at least she wasn't running around in lingerie under her jacket anymore.

I wasn't able to think straight with her in that frilly little whatever she'd had on back at the hotel. I really hoped she'd wear it again for me sometime. I would've liked to stay laying in that hotel room staring at the way it hugged her curves, the way her boobs looked in it. Damn Chris for interrupting that. Add it to the list of things he'd stolen from me.

Patrick was running late. I glanced at my watch nervously. I should've left more time for the window, I thought, just in case of things like traffic.

"Nick, what if something happened?" Ashley whimpered.

"Nothing happened, it's probably traffic," I replied. Though I was starting to feel a creeping fear of the same thing. What if something had happened? I wondered. I mean, even if it was a non-Chris related something. But I didn't dare look nervous, even though I was, because the tension poured off of Ashley already, thick and nearly tangible.

Suddenly a cab pulled up and Patrick sprang from it. The driver got out and circled back to the trunk, pulling it open and withdrawing the stroller and two bags. Patrick bent back into the cab and undid Zoey's carseat from the back. Ashley ran forward out of the doors of the airport. "Zozozozo!" she cried, running over, arms out stretched.

Patrick turned and Ashley scooped Zoey up out of the car seat and clutched her to her chest as I arrived to their sides. Patrick looked up, "I think he was a little suspicious, but I don't think he followed me. Just in case, I had the cabbie take the scenic route. That's why we're late." He handed off the bags, including Zoey's diaper bag, to me. I shouldered them quickly. "I packed as much as I could into two of my duffle bags," he said, "I didn't know if he'd recognize your bags."

"Good point, he might've," I said. I looked at Ashley, who was clinging to Zoey like she might disappear. "You ready baby?"

She looked up at Patrick, "I'm sorry," she said. "Thank you for taking care of my baby."

"You're welcome," Patrick replied. He reached over and pulled her into his arms, being careful not to squash Zoey, who was caught up in the middle of the two of them. "Please take care of my baby," he said. He kissed her forehead. "And come back as soon as you can. I haven't had enough of you just yet."

Ashley's eyes were full of tears. "Thank you," she said.

Patrick patted her back, then . He turned to me, held out his hand. I shook. "Bring her back sometime, ya hear?" he said.

"I will," I promised.

Patrick pulled me into him and patted my back. "She's somethin' special," he said. "Treat her good. Keep her safe."

"I will."

Patrick smiled and waved and watched while we rode the escalators up to the security checkpoint, Ashley clinging to Zoey, me carrying our bags. Ashley stopped at the top and took Zoey's little hand and waved it. Patrick waved back. "Thank you!" he yelled, "For coming!"

Ashley stood there, making Zoey wave. "I'm afraid to turn away," she said.

"What?"

"Last time we waved to someone at the airport," she said, "They almost got killed by Chris."

I looked back at Patrick. Then I held out my hand to Ashley. "C'mon, baby."