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Chapter Twenty-Four


Nick

This one time, I was supposed to meet Lauren at a fancy restaurant for a date for our two year date-iversary. Well that morning, I’d dropped all my suits off at the dry cleaner except for one. Or at least what I thought was one. I realized that night, an hour and a half before I was supposed to be at the restaurant, that I’d kept the top of a black suit and the pants of a dark navy blue suit. I’d had to run out and buy a new pair of black pants to go with the suit and I’d gotten to the restaurant just as she was giving up and walking across the lot to her car. I’d done this whole production of leaping between her and her car door, blocking access to her getaway, wailing about what a dumb fuck-up I was and how she needed to forgive me.

“You are always late,” she’d yelled at me, “Always. And it’s always some stupid excuse like this.”

I’d pouted.

“No, no - pouting is not going to get you out of this, Nick. No.”

“But -- Lauren, baby, I didn’t mean to be late. I never mean to be late, it just happens, babe…” I’d moved forward, putting my hands on her hips. “I love you. I just --”

“You what?” She’d stared up at me.

“I… uh.” I paused. It was the first time I’d said the L-word. “I uh have strong feelings of like for you.”

“Oh hell no, too late, buddy, you just said love. You love me.” She’d smirked.

“See? An instance when being late is good.” I’d grinned.

“Shut up and kiss me, you tardy bastard.”

It’d kinda become a joke between us after that. But I dunno how funny she’d find it if I was late today. Especially after what happened last time.

Particularly since I was about to show up with a $150 ticket for pulling an illegal U-turn.

“What are the odds that she’ll be amused by my lateness and all this? Like in a aww Nick’s so adorable, he’s always late kinda way?” I asked, glancing over at Kevin nervously.

The blue lights of the police car flashed in my rearview mirror as the cop was calling in my license and registration.

“I mean, I’ll have the ticket to prove this happened, plus you got my back, bro, right?”

Kevin was bent forward, head in his hands.

“It’s not like I don’t have a valid reason for being late, right?” I asked.

Kevin sighed.

“I mean, I was tryin’ to get outta the traffic, right, to get back sooner is how this all happened, right?”

He looked over at me. “I’m sorry. This is my fault.”

I stared at him.

“I shouldn’t have tried to follow her.” He leaned back into the seat, looking up at the ceiling.

I didn’t know what to say.

“Fuckin’ U-turn,” Kevin muttered, looking out the window, away from me. I stared at his face in the passenger side rear view mirror.

The cop came back and leaned down to look at me through the window. He ripped the top page from his pad of tickets, handing me a yellow carbon copy, rambling about how he didn’t wanna catch me pullin’ anymore illegal turns and ambled back to his cruiser. The second he’d pulled away from the curb, I pulled off too.

Kevin glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “If we’re going to get there, we’re gonna have to move somewhat fast,” he commented. He looked back at me. “We only got one hour ‘til the wedding starts.”

It was about 45 minutes from LAX to the resort in Malibu without any traffic at all.

My palms instantly broke out into a sweat.

“Okay. Okay. It’s gonna be okay. We just gotta… just gotta do it, gotta get there, is all.” I felt my foot drop heavier on the acceleration. I wondered where the cop had gone, what happened if you got stopped for speeding the same day as you got stopped for making an illegal U-turn. Do they eventually just haul your ass to jail for being a really fuckin’ bad driver or something?

If I was in jail, I’d definitely have an excuse for my lateness, at least, I thought.

We pulled onto the 405. Traffic was moving, but it was thickening as we moved north toward the Pacific Coast Highway. I felt like I should’ve been breathing into a paper sack. Every time a car put on it’s brakes, my heart would leap up into my throat. Time ticked away and I gripped the wheel tighter every minute that passed.

Didn’t help that, since I’d kicked my shoes off in the lobby in my attempt to catch up to Kevin before, I was driving in my socks.

If you’ve never driven in socks or barefoot before I don’t recommend the experience.

We were approaching the 10, which was the bypass that would take us out to the PCH, when suddenly there was a wall of vehicles ahead. I felt every hope I’d had rush out of me, like a balloon deflating. “No,” I choked, “No, no, no, no.”

Kevin was staring out the passenger window.

“Pull into the right shoulder.”

“What?”

“Pull into the shoulder!” he reached over and yanked the wheel, veering us very suddenly into the shoulder. I straightened out only just in time to avoid hitting the barrier.

“What the fuck Kev you tryin’ to get us killed? Dude! This is illegal! You can’t drive on the fuckin’ shoulder!”

“Get off the exit here.”

Somewhere in the middle of the traffic, locked in by other cars, a cruiser’s blue lights blinked on. But there wasn’t shit he could do to get to us. Gridlock. I looked at Kevin. “He’s gonna call ahead,” I wheezed, “We’re gonna get stopped, I’m not gonna make it, Lolo’s gonna break up with me, my whole life’s gonna suck and I’m gonna die alone. Oh God, Kev, I don’t wanna die alone.” My words were coming out garbled as my mind raced.

“GET OFF THE EXIT!” Kevin shouted over my rambling words.

I’d almost missed the turn. I whipped the wheel into the exit at the last possible second and we went flying down the exit faster than anyone ever, ever should. I put my brakes on and the car fought to slow down. There was no way it would stop before the end of the ramp, though, and traffic was flowing on the main road.

“We’re gonna get in a accident, and I’m gonna die on the way to the wedding!” I wheezed.

The light turned green as the words came out of my mouth.

“At least you won’t be dyin’ alone,” Kevin hooted. “Quick! Full sail ahead, Carter! Take a left!”

“Where the fuck we going?”

“Trust me,” he said, “Left!”

I turned left. It felt like the car was on two wheels as we took the turn it was so sharp. But we made it. I looked over at Kevin. “Kev, we’re like the goddamn Dukes of Hazzard up in here.”

“You’re gonna take a right up here,” Kevin pointed ahead, flapping his hand, ignoring my Dukes comment.

I was starting to get the hang of this.

My feet were flying from brake to gas so fast my socks started falling down. I kicked them off and to the side quickly.

“There’s the highway!” Kevin yelled, pointing.

It was like angels were singing. The on ramp for the Pacific Coast Highway loomed into view and I turned onto it and there was considerably less traffic.

“TIME?” I shrieked.

“Five minutes!”

“God damn it god damn it god damn it,” I muttered. And I pressed the gas all the way down. I’ve never literally floored it before, but -- I guess there’s a first for everything. The car shuddered it was going so fast. We were doing almost ninety. In a forty-five.

Kevin clutched the handle over his door.

I wove between the other cars, passing them like they were standing still practically, literally doing twice the speed limit. My heart felt like it, too, was doing twice the speed limit. I was like somethin’ outta the Fast and the Furious, and I was so gonna end up stopped or something. I pictured the news tracking us with a helicopter, a high speed chase to a wedding. I’d say I’d do while being read my rights.

The exit we needed was coming up. I put the brakes on and moved into the shoulder again. I’d done it once, I could do it again, I thought, and the wheels squealed as we got off the exit. We came to a jarring stop at the end of the ramp and moment later and Kevin let go of the handle over his door as I leaned forward to stare at the red light.

“Seriously after all the law breakin’ drivin’ you’ve done in the last hour you’re gonna stop for a friggin’ red light?” Kevin demanded, looking over at me.

I looked both ways. There wasn’t a blessed thing coming. “Good point,” I said, and I gunned it.

We were almost there. But we only had two minutes. I scrambled through my pants pocket for my phone, pressed the Siri button and yelled, “Call Alex!”

It started ringing.

It took five rings, then, in a hushed, anxious whisper, “Nick, where the fuck are you?”

“Alex! STALL. I’m coming. I’m almost there. Please. Stall.”

“Why the fuck would you leave? You are insane.”

“Just stall, Alex, please!”

“You better have a good reason for not being here,” she said.

“I do.”

“Well hurry, I don’t know how long I can stall. Daddy and Lauren are in the lobby already. People are getting anxious outside. He said if you ain’t back in time he’s gonna kick your ass.”

“I’m coming,” I replied.

She hung up.

“Shiiiiiit,” I groaned.

Kevin had his eyes closed. “Please, please, please,” he was whispering. “It’s my fault if you don’t make it there, we gotta make it, I can’t be the reason -- Please.”

I could see the sign for the resort looming up ahead. I cut a left into the driveway and up to the parking lot. Even from the car I could hear the music playing and the hum of anxious people talking. Alex was standing on the front steps of the hall, dancing foot to foot, staring off into the parking lot as we pulled up. I ground to a halt at the very top of the lot, blocking like five or six other people in, leaving the car there, keys in the ignition and everything, and, barefoot, I ran across the lot to Alex, Kevin following me.

“I’m here!” I shouted. People turned around in their chairs off to the right to see what the commotion was about. “I’m here, Alex, I’m here.”

“Thank God, I told them I had to pee and the couldn’t start without me,” she announced. “You only just made it, though, they’re just in the foyer here,” she waved at the door.

Kevin muttered out, “Thank the sweet baby Jesus.”

“Thank you Alex,” I wheezed.

“Hurry, get up to the altar.”

“Thank you,” I repeated, and Kev and I both ran for the altar, right up the middle of the guest chairs. I grabbed Kevin’s arm when he went to sit down, “Aw hell no, you’re comin’ up here with me, you just got a promotion.” I dragged him along.

At the front of the wedding party, the minister stood under the archway of flowers, waiting. He looked relieved to see me. As did everyone in the crowd when I looked back. I pressed a hand to my chest, taking deep breaths, trying to balance my heart rate and get some oxygen in my lungs. I looked back at Kevin, “We made it. We fuckin’ made it,” I whispered.

“You made it,” he nodded.

“Granted, I’m barefoot, but we made it,” I said.

“Nobody’ll notice you’re barefoot.”

“I ain’t never run so hard in my life,” I hissed.

“The irony being that you were running to this wedding instead of away like last time,” Kevin said quietly.

I started to reply, but then I saw her and yeah my breath had been gone before that, but it was gone in a whole other way. She looked like an angel, floating toward me over the grass at Larry’s arm. My stomach dropped about a hundred million feet into the ground and I grabbed onto Kevin to stay stable because I was overwhelmed and I felt like I might pass out or cry or something from the sheer beauty of her.

Everything I felt must’ve been on my face ‘cos Lauren spotted me and a laugh crinkled her nose, making a smile spread across her face, only adding to the radiance that was her.

I didn’t have time to get nervous, but if I had been nervous that smile would’ve cured me. If only I’d made it to this point last time, I thought, then a lot of stuff wouldn’t have had to happen. None of the shit we’d been through recently would’ve happened. Kev wouldn’t be standing there behind me, braving his way through a broken heart.

The music switched from a sweet tune to the wedding march and everyone turned to look at the angel I’d already spotted. A collective ooh went through them all and I grinned with pride. She was gonna be mine in just a few short moments.

Larry led her up the aisle, whispering something to her, which made her smile and lean in to kiss his cheek. He patted her hand, then his eyes swiveled up to meet mine and, even though I kinda expected a bit of an angry expression there, I saw only warmth. I tried to convey the same thing back, but I dunno if my eyes were able to move off Lauren long enough to do it right.

And suddenly they were there and Larry unhooked Lauren’s arm from his and put her hand on mine, smiling, and backed away to his seat.

Lauren stared into my eyes, a smirk playing on her face, “I know,” she whispered.

“Know what?” I whispered back.

“That you just got here,” she replied.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You tardy bastard,” she shook her head, a twitching smirk on her lips.

I wanted to kiss her. I started to lean in to do so, but the minister reached out and stopped me, “Hey now, no rushing ahead,” he said loudly. The audience laughed.

“Well shit, dude, hurry up and get to that part, I wanna kiss her,” I said.

Everyone laughed again.

Lauren’s smile grew.




“So where are you going for your honeymoon?”

We were sitting in the conference-ballroom at a long banquet table having just finished dinner, and everyone was dancing and mingling, enjoying the reception party while Lauren and I sipped champagne together at the table. I had told her about what happened with Kevin and he airport and Caroline and how we raced to get back to the wedding. The story had been punctuated by people coming up to congratulate us and ask us questions about the honeymoon and if Lauren was taking my name and make continued jokes about me always running one way or another at weddings.

One of Lauren’s friends was leaning on the table. “You’re going some place nice I hope?” she asked.

“We’ll be going to Bora Bora in December,” Lauren said, “We’re just gonna do a small thing for now. Nick’s got a tour starting soon and everything. Probably go to Key West, maybe?”

Her friend nodded, “That sounds nice,” she said.

When she’d left a few minute later, I looked at Lauren. “Baby,” I said, “I know we kinda decided we were gonna go to Key West but… I have another idea for a place we could go.”

“Oh yeah?” Lauren asked, reaching up to move a piece of hair that had fallen across my forehead. “Where’s that?”




Igby lay across Lauren’s lap, sleeping. In the backseat, Nacho ran excitedly from one window to the other, smearing dog snot all over the place. I put my hand on Lauren’s hand, my fingers grazing over the two rings on her left hand. I squeezed her hand in mine and she squeezed back. The car rumbled it’s way up the long hill, and finally we came around the corner to see the sign, welcoming us to the camp, the smaller sign pronouncing it to be Down Home Equine Therapy Camp.

“I like that,” Lauren said, looking at the sign as we passed it. She looked back at me, “I can’t believe you’re willingly taking me to see horses.”

“Well, I mean, I did have ulterior motives to this,” I reminded her.

Lauren laughed. “I know, but still.”

We drove up to the house and I parked beside Caroline’s car. Lauren was looking around the property as I put the car into park and cut the engine. “Wow,” she said, looking up at the log cabin. “This is gorgeous.”

“I think Kev said his dad built it,” I said.

“Damn,” she said.

We got out and I put my hand over my eyes, staring off into the field, trying to spot Caroline. Lauren was pulling a couple bags from the backseat, Igby standing lazily at her feet, while Nacho had already run over and started peeing on the bushes that lined the front of the house. I turned and grabbed a couple bags, too, wondering where Caroline was at, and started for the front door. I was just about to the top step of the porch when the door swung open and there she was.

She stood there in the door frame, staring, wide-eyed, at the car behind us. She looked at me. “Is he with you?” she asked, her voice excited.

“No,” I replied.

The light faded from her eyes, “Oh.”

“He was going apartment hunting in LA today,” I said. Which was what Kev had told us that morning when we were checking in for our flight.

“Oh. And also -- hi, by the way,” I added.

“Hey,” she said. “Apartment hunting, huh? Well. I’m glad he’s… doing okay.” Then her eyes moved past me. “Lauren. You must be Lauren.” She smiled, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Lauren laughed, “And I’ve heard a lot about you,” she answered.

Caroline jogged down the steps, past me, and gave Lauren a hug.

“I was hoping you had a vacancy,” I said, “I would’ve called but you never texted me with your number… and, well, Lo and I are on our honeymoon...”

“I’m sorry, it’s been a long weekend,” Caroline explained, “I really was going to text you at some point. I really do want to stay in touch. As for a vacancy, of course I have one… I’d make one for you, you know that. But there happens to be an available guest cabin,” she nodded, “So you have some privacy.”

I pulled out my wallet, “Do you take credit cards?”

“Consider it a wedding gift,” she replied.

I put my wallet away. “Thank you,” I said.

“The least I could do after… you know… the scene I caused.”

I shrugged, “Takes two to fight,” I replied.

“Besides, it wouldn’t have been an authentic event in the Backstreet world without there being girls fighting over one of the Boys anyway,” Lauren chimed in.

Caroline laughed, “Well I’m glad I added to the authenticity of it all.” She hesitated. “Anyways, let me get the keys and I’ll show you the cabin so you can put your things up.” She went inside the house.

“I like her,” Lauren said the moment the door closed behind her.

“I do too,” I said.

Lauren smiled.

Caroline came out a few moments later and led the way to a little golf cart parked ‘round the side of the house. We got the luggage up on it and collected the dogs and climbed aboard. She drove down a trail that Kev hadn’t showed me that went behind the house and into the woods towards the cabins that could only just be seen through the trees from the main house.

“These are cute,” Lauren commented. Then, “So Kevin grew up here, huh?”

“Sure did,” Caroline replied. “I practically did, too, I was here so often.”

Lauren stroked Igby’s head like she was Dr. Evil. “Must not be the same up here without him,” she said, staring down at Igby.

Caroline was quiet. “Not really.”

“Seems a shame,” Lauren commented, “Him having to get an apartment in LA all by himself… when he has a perfectly good home he could come to…”

I looked at Lauren.

My wife was brilliant.

Caroline was chewing her lips.

“But that’s life, I guess,” Lauren added. “It just doesn’t always make sense, does it?”

Caroline came to a stop in front of a cabin. “Here we are,” she said.

We climbed out of the golf cart, Nacho ran for the line of trees. I swear the dog has an unending supply of pee in him. I grabbed the stuff from the back of the cart as Caroline walked up the little path to the door. “There’s a cart parked around the side in the car port, key’s on the hook in the cabin here,” she was saying as she unlocked the door.

Lauren and I followed her in, Igby right at Lauren’s heel. I paused at the door to call Nacho, who came running up the steps, his little claws clicking on the wood as he bolted past us, rushing into the house and leaping onto the couch in one swift motion.

Caroline waved her arms around the cabin, “You’ll want to run down to the Kroger to stock the kitchen, but Nick knows the way there. Feel free to use the cart to explore. There’s a swimmin’ hole down to the right if you stay on that trail we were just riding, and if you go back up the other way it goes up to the north end of the river, there’s some fishin’ up there. We have a canoe, stop by the house and I’ll get you the oars out of the shed if you’re interested, we also have fishin’ gear in that shed up by the north end. And of course there’s the horses. I’m more than happy to bring you out on the horses if you’d like.”

“Thanks,” I answered.

Caroline smiled awkwardly, “I’m glad y’all came to visit. I’ll see y’all up by the house. If you wanna stop by, I’m going to barbecue up some chicken. You’re welcome to have at it, so you don’t have to go to Kroger tonight.”

“That sounds good,” I answered.

“Okay. I’ll see you in a bit then.”

“Okay,” I replied.

Caroline backed out of the cabin and pulled the door shut. Lauren went to the window and watched as she drove away in the golf cart. She turned back to me, “She’s gone,” she said.

“Do you think we kept her busy long enough?” I asked.

“I hope so,” Lauren answered.