“Sir, he’s in a meeting right now. He’ll meet with you after.”
“No. He’ll meet with me now.”
“Sir, he’s busy.”
“And I have a depressed best friend at home because of this company. He will see me now.” Brent waited impatiently as the receptionist got the manager.
The manager, a short heavy set man with a receding hairline came out of the conference room leaving the door open behind him. The look on his face was not a pleasant one. He was visibly angry, but not even this stuffy businessman’s anger could surpass Brent’s anger. The manager looked at Brent with a look of disgust. “I’m Roger DeVull and you must be the inconsiderate customer who pulled me out of a very important meeting.”
“If you want to talk inconsiderate, then you are looking at the wrong man. You should be looking in a mirror.”
“Excuse me.”
“You’re the fucking inconsiderate one.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh yes you do. Do you know what the word CANCELLATION means?”
“I really don’t know what you are getting at.” Mr. DeVull was losing his patience.
Brent lost his patience before he even stepped foot in the office. “Well, since you don’t seem to understand that word, let me tell you. When someone cancels an order, it means that order is not to be fulfilled. But yet, you didn’t listen a few months back when there was a cancellation of wedding invitations. And because of your inconsiderateness, my best friend has been reduced to a sobbing mess.”
“You need to understand that we don’t stop orders once they are ordered. You see, we get tons of cancellations, and nine times out of ten, the couple gets over their disagreement and get back together, and then want the invitations again.”
“Well then you better learn how to fucking ASK why the order is being cancelled.”
Mr. DeVull yawned in boredom. “What is the big deal? The order was cancelled, we filled it anyway, it’s not my fault your best friend and his betrothed didn’t rekindle their love.”
“There is nothing left to rekindle. My best friend and his betrothed didn’t part ways after a disagreement. My best friend’s betrothed was FUCKING MURDERED.” Brent smiled in sick satisfaction as the color drained from Mr. DeVull’s face. But he continued anyway. “You are the greediest man alive, because not only did you send wedding invitations to a groom-to-be who lost his bride, you sent the invitations to a father-to-be who lost his unborn child in the same day. All you cared about was the money you would be receiving from the order and not about how receiving those invitations would affect the man you sent them too. Learn to ask why the invitations are being cancelled.” Satisfied, Brent turned around and started out of the building.
“I’m sorry. I’ll send an apology card to your friend. What’s his name and address so we can apologize correctly?”
Brent turned around. “You will send him nothing. However, his lawyer will send you a nice big lawsuit. Oh wait, that’s right, I already saw Nick’s lawyer and I have the lawsuit papers right here.” Holds the papers in the air and waves them slightly. Walks defiantly to Mr. DeVull and slams the lawsuit papers into Mr. DeVull’s chest. “Consider yourself served.” He turns to walk out. He screams back over his shoulder. “I hope you have a decent retirement fund, because after what you did, you will for sure lose your company. Oh what am I saying, I don’t hope you have a decent retirement fund, I hope you burn in hell. Tata.” Smirking, he leaves the office. He turns back to face Mr. DeVull. “You might want to pick your jaw up off the floor.” With that last comment, he slams the door behind him and makes his way back to Nick’s house.
Brent pulled his rental car into Nick’s driveway. He got out of the car and walked to the front door to enter the house. He didn’t notice the missing car. He stepped into the house and his sense of sound was assaulted by the sound of screaming. He walked further into the house. Not seeing Nick in the living room, or in any other room for that matter, he angrily stomped back to the kitchen door where Brian and Casey were a step away from a physical cat fight. “BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP.” Brian, Abby, and Casey looked to Brent in shock. Brent lowered his voice slightly. “Where’s Nick?”
“What do you mean, where’s Nick?”
“Well, BRIAN. Nick is not in this house, nor is he anywhere AROUND the house.” The room fell silent. Brent found himself growing impatient again. “Well, where is he?”
Brian looked to the floor with a sheepish look on his face. “I don’t know. I left him in the living room.”
Brent gave Brian a hard stare. “And you call him your little brother.” He pivots quickly and stalks to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go find Nick; since you were too busy bitching at the girls to be paying attention to the fact that he’s upset.” He turns away again. Then turns back to Brian. “You better be gone by the time I return with him.” Looks at the girls, “and you two…I guess I can’t kick you out of here because you have nowhere else to go. You two need to make yourselves sparse until he’s feeling better.” He turned one final time and stalked out the door.
When Nick snuck out of the house, he had no clue where he was going to go. All he knew was that he couldn’t stay in that house any longer. He drove around aimlessly for an hour before finally pulling into a parking lot and killing the engine. He got out of his car and walked around with his head hung low. He was wearing a hat to cover his limp blond hair. He was wearing dark sunglasses to cover his bloodshot eyes. He walked along the sidewalk of the park he ended up at.
He made a sudden stop when he realized where he was. It was THE park. The park where his beloved was cold heartedly murdered. He looked around to realize that he was standing in the same spot he was on that fateful day back in November. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the murder perfectly clear, as if it happened yesterday. He could still hear the blast of the gun, over and over and the painful scream that erupted from his Katie as she was shot and fell to the ground. He could still remember begging bystanders to help him. He could still feel the pain he felt when he thought he had lost her and the fear that engulfed him when he realized she was still alive, but barely. He could still hear her weak “I love you” before she passed out.
He couldn’t take it anymore. He bolted from his position back to his car. He jumped in and started driving again. This time, he drove to the cemetery. He parked his car and walked straight to the familiar grave. His legs gave out from under him and he landed with a soft thud on the grass, next to her headstone. Reaching out with his right hand, he traced the lettering gently.
Beloved daughter, friend.
Soon to be wife and mother
Born: May 20, 1981
Died: November 11, 2004
He felt the familiar feeling of tears running down his cheeks. In a shaky voice he said, “God Katie, I miss you. Why’d you have to leave me? It would have been hard but I would have been able to deal with it if I had only lost the baby and not you as well.” He stopped to try in vain to wipe away his tears. “I love you Katie.”
Nick heard a twig snap behind him. His public persona took over again and he dried his eyes. Then he turned around to be face to face with Brent.
“I had a feeling I’d find you here.” Brent sat next to Nick. He placed his arm around Nick’s shoulders. Nick willingly leaned into his best friend’s comforting embrace. Brent soothingly rubbed Nick’s upper arm. “Come on man. Let’s go home.”
Nick starred at Katie’s grave with unseeing eyes. Finally, after several minutes of silence, he nodded his head.
Brent, who went searching for Nick in a cab, put his hand out. Nick, knowing that he would never win the argument, dropped his car keys into Brent’s outstretched hand.
Brent drove them back to Nick’s house in silence. Once back at the house, Brent was pleased to see that Brian, Abby and Casey heeded his order. He led Nick to the couch. Nick simply followed him like a lost puppy.
Nick looked tired as he spoke quietly with Brent. Brent was trying to get Nick to fall asleep. When Nick did finally fall asleep, Brent repositioned Nick so he’d be more comfortable and went upstairs to let Nick rest. Brent made sure to tell the girls not to bother Nick. Meaning, Brent wanted them no where near the living room.
*Nick walked out of the bathroom. He stopped in the doorway and admired the beautiful vision in front of him. Katie, his girlfriend soon to be fiancée, hopefully, was curled up on the bed watching Runaway Bride.
Katie felt Nick’s gaze. “Well, are you gonna join me, or are you gonna stand in the bathroom doorway starring at me.”
Nick smiled and went to the bed. He climbed in and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you.”
Katie snuggled into Nick’s chest. She looked into his eyes. “And I love you.” She kissed him and then laid her head on his chest and turned back to the movie.
Nick was playing with a chain that Katie wasn’t aware of. Runaway Bride just ended. “Katie.” Nick whispered.
“Yeah?”
Without Katie seeing, he took the chain off his neck. He held the charm in his hand and dropped his chain on the table beside his bed. He played with the charm in his hand. “Marry me?”
Katie gasped. Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes watered. She looked at Nick with a look of pure love. “Yes.” Her voice was breathy as the tears in her eyes ran down her face. Nick smiled and didn’t bother holding back his own tears. He grabbed her hand and gently slid the ring that he was playing with onto her left ring finger. “Oh Nick. It’s beautiful.”
“Like you.”
Katie smiled. She shut the TV and turned in Nick’s comfortable embrace. A passionate kiss started that night’s celebration.
One day, about a year and a half later, Katie bounced happily into the house. “Nick? Are you here? Nick?”
Nick left his study when he heard her calling him. She saw him and ran into his arms. She couldn’t help it she started crying. Nick pulled back. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Nick looked at her. “If nothing’s wrong then why are you crying?”
“I’m just really happy.” Nick looked at her weirdly. Katie chuckled and pulled him to the couch. She gently pushed him onto the couch then climbed onto his lap. She kissed him gently and pulled back. “I’m pregnant.”
“We’re having a baby?” Katie nodded softly. He stood up and picked Katie up. He spun her around. He stopped and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She was giggling and he kissed her.
“Are you happy about the baby?”
“Nothing could make me happier.”
Another couple months have passed. Nick and Katie were taking a nice walk in the park on a gorgeous day in November. They were approached a few times by Nick’s fans but beside that, the day was going real well.
Nick saw a fan start to approach him and stop. Nick found this a little puzzling but kept on with his leisurely walk with Katie. The fan stopped in their path. Nick and Katie stopped. There was something not right with this girl.
Nick, not feeling entirely comfortable started to back away from this girl, pulling Katie with him. They saw her lift the gun and they started to run away from her. Nick stopped and turned when he heard gunshots. He saw Katie’s body jerk when the bullets hit her. She screamed in pain and started to collapse. “Katie.” He ran to her side and caught her before she hit the ground. “Oh god. Katie.” He looked around at the bystanders. He smiled gratefully at a bystander who was on his cell phone obviously calling 911. He turned back to Katie. He tried to hold his tears back because he didn’t want to be seen crying in public. He couldn’t do it. He gave up the fight and let the tears make their way down his cheeks.
The fan who held the gun stood in shock as she watched the seen in front of her. She watched Nick start to cry as he held Katie. She couldn’t take it anymore. She held the gun up to her temple and pulled the trigger, killing herself instantly.
Nick watched as Katie’s eyes started to close. “No. Katie, don’t close your eyes. Stay with me Katie. Help is on the way. You’re going to be ok.” Nick’s tears fell onto Katie’s face, mixing with her tears.
“I’m so cold.” Nick sighed in relief as he heard the unmistakable sound of sirens approaching.
“Help will be here soon. Hold on baby. Hold on.”
“I love you Nicky.”
“No, you aren’t saying goodbye yet.”
Katie’s eyes closed as the paramedic arrived with a stretcher. They loaded her into the ambulance. Nick rode in the ambulance with Katie.
Once in the waiting room he started fidgeting nervously. He couldn’t stay still. He didn’t want to be alone either. He left the waiting room and called Kevin.
An hour had passed and he heard no news on Katie. The waiting room door opened and Kevin ran into the room. He saw Nick and rushed to his side, pulling the younger man into a comforting hug. Nick broke down on Kevin’s shoulder.
Kevin led Nick to sit down when AJ, Brian and Howie burst into the room. They spotted Nick and Kevin and all rushed forward to surround Nick and attempt to comfort him.
Another hour passed and a doctor entered the waiting room and approached Nick. “You came in with Ms. Kielson, right?”
Nick nodded. He didn’t like the somber look on the doctor’s face. “How’s Katie?”
The doctor took a deep breath, this wasn’t going to be easy. “Katie, is still alive. Barely, but still alive. She’s still being worked on. Actually, I came out here for another reason.”
Thoughts of the baby filled Nick’s mind. Tentatively, he said, “what?”
“One of the bullets went right through her uterus.” Nick gasped and held his breath. “It didn’t hit the baby. Instead, it tore through the placenta. There was only a small chance that the baby would survive.” The doctor took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. We’ve lost the baby.”
That hit Nick like a ton of bricks. His baby was gone. He cried for his lost baby. Soon after he stopped crying. At the moment, Katie was still alive. He could have other children.
Resting his head on Kevin’s shoulder, he fell into a restless sleep. While Nick was sleeping, the doctor came back out. Kevin nudged Nick’s shoulder and he woke up.
Nick fearfully looked up at the doctor’s face. Another somber expression. Nick took a deep breath and held it as the doctor started to speak. “We were able to get all the bullets, a total of seven, out of her, but she suffered a lot of internal bleeding. We couldn’t stop it. There was nothing left we could do. She didn’t make it. I’m sorry.”
Nick dropped his head in his hands as violent sobs racked his body. He slid off the chair and onto the floor and was quickly surround by his friends. Kevin pulled Nick to him as he cried. Kevin, Brian, Howie and AJ all had tears in their eyes. They always liked Katie, but their tears were mainly for the pain that Nick was suffering.*
Nick was still asleep on the couch. Tossing and turning as the nightmare played on. He woke up when he landed with a heavy thud on the floor.
Brent was reading in the guest room that would be his during his stay. He kept his door open so he could hear Nick if he had to. Brent heard a crash from the living room. “Nick.” He dropped his book, not caring that he lost his place and ran at full speed into the living room.
He found Nick sitting on the floor. His knees drawn up to his chest. Brent ran around to him. He knelt down in front of him. “Why did this happen?” His voice was small.
“I can’t answer that.” He moved so that he was sitting beside Nick. He placed his hand on Nick’s back. Nick repositioned himself; he was now sitting pretzel style with his back against the couch.
Abby and Casey entered the living room. Casey sat in Nick’s lap and hugged him. Abby sat next to Nick and rested her head on his shoulder.
Nick stiffened when he saw the girls enter the living room. He didn’t know what to expect. He was slightly shocked when the Casey sat on his lap and hugged him. He had expected that from Abby, not Casey. He didn’t say anything. He was surprisingly comforted by the contact that Abby and Casey made with him.
