The actors’ trailers were slowly moving off the lot, and the scene looked considerably less cluttered than it had the day he’d arrived, two weeks earlier. Filming had wrapped up a few weeks ahead of schedule, which meant that everyone was happy to have vacation time, time to relax and forget the grueling work they’d just done.
Everyone, that is, except Autumn.
Since that first night when he’d told her about his encounter with Summer, Autumn had retreated into a shell. She was nothing but friendly towards him, but, whenever he suggested they spend time together, go out somewhere, have a little fun, she’d shut him down. He hadn’t seen her smile, really smile, in weeks. His gut instinct told him that her withdrawal—noticed by others on set, too—wasn’t because of him.
Summer had, he hated to admit, been right. She did know her sister, and she’d gotten to her. Autumn was jumpy, anxious, and snappish. Nick knew it was because she was going to be near her sister again, not knowing when the hovering axe of Summer’s threat would drop.
Now that filming had ended on her movie, all three of them were headed back to LA. Nick to finish up work on the Backstreet album, and Autumn to move her things into their home and unwind from her months of work. She acted as though going back home would kill her. Wishing that he hadn’t told her what had happened, though, wouldn’t change a thing.
Nick hoisted Lily on his hip and carried her around the moving planks of wood from the sound stage and ducked beneath the swinging lamps that had yet to be dismantled. He made his way towards Autumn’s trailer, which was one of the last three remaining. Sticking his head through the door, he saw that all the furniture was gone, and his lovely wife was busily packing up the last of her things while on the phone.
“I know. I know it’s great that we finished early…Yes, they were here the whole time.” Autumn spotted Nick and Lily and gestured them in. “Nick and I were on our best behavior. I promise…Uh huh. Didn’t you see the footage that Access Hollywood had on us?…No, I’m not making fun of you.” She rolled her eyes at Nick and mouthed “management”.
Nick nodded, understanding completely why she looked a little annoyed. Setting Lily down so she roamed around the bare trailer, he leaned against one wall and listened to Autumn’s end of the conversation.
“I thought we weren’t allowed to have interviews…No, that’s what you said.” She began to pace now. “I think that’s going a little overboard, don’t you?…It’s booked already? You’re kidding me. What about down time? Vacation? I might just burn out if I keep going like this…What do you mean tour? I’m not—no way.” Her right foot connected with the wall in a frustrated motion. “Does he know? Do the Boys even know? Then why do I have to stop my work, my life for—I’m sorry. Yes, I understand…Okay. We’ll talk when I get back. Yeah…Bye.” Autumn snapped her cell phone shut and whirled on Nick, one finger pointing accusingly at him. “Is this your idea of a joke? Because it’s not funny.”
He frowned. “What did I do?”
“I have to go on tour with you in a few weeks!” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “I don’t have time to do that. So you’d better come up with a reason why I can’t go with you. Please, Nick.” The anger disappeared and, in its place, was a pleading desperation that showed in her eyes. “I really can’t travel like that. I need time to just settle.”
Considering this was the first he’d heard about definite plans for a Backstreet tour, his frown deepened. “I hadn’t heard anything solid about the tour yet. Who were you just talking to?”
“Liz. She’s been in touch with your management company, who told her what was going on. Nick.” Autumn took his hands in hers. “Please tell me there’s been a huge misunderstanding and there’s really no tour.”
Nick didn’t know what to tell her as the idea of a tour in a few weeks sounded ridiculous when they hadn’t even released a new single yet from their album nor did they even know the name or layout of it. “I-I don’t know,” he admitted. “I thought we were just working on plans for the album right now. That’s probably the next big thing for me.”
She frowned now, too. “There’s no tour for the album is there? I mean, you don’t have to do anything like that, right?”
Shit. “Well, I…”
“Oh, god. Fabulous.” She whirled away, muttering to herself. “I can’t believe this! First, we had to get married, then we had to deal with the media. Hell, we’re still dealing with the media. Now, I have to go on tour with you? Nick, maybe this wasn’t such a great plan after all.”
“Well, it’s a little late to go back and fix it without ruining both of our images. If we got a divorce now, the press would speculate on the reasons behind our marriage in the first place.” He sighed. “We hadn’t been ‘dating’ for that long before we tied the knot, you know. They’ll probably start watching to see if you’re gaining any weight if we split.”
Her brows lifted. “Do you really think people think we got married because I’m pregnant? You can’t be serious.”
“It’s just the way these things work, Autumn.” Nick rested one hand on her shoulder. “I think we just need to play this charade out for a few more months, and then we’re done. I mean, hey, it’s already the end of April, and we haven’t killed each other. Maybe we even like being around each other?”
“Maybe.” But she let one hand lay over the hand he’d left on her shoulder. “I just wish this could all be over, you know? And you’re not going to be thrilled, exactly, when I tell you about the photo interview we have to do with Vanity Fair.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” A photo interview? Who the hell were they turning into? “Isn’t that just a little too Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes?”
“You’re telling me.” She stepped away to grab Lily before the toddler fell out of the trailer. “I tried to explain that neither of us is the type and that the point of us not giving interviews was because management is too afraid of us opening our mouths and wrecking something further. But did anyone listen to me?”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck as a tension headache began to brew at the base of his skull. “This sucks.”
“No kidding.” She sighed heavily. “What, exactly, have we gotten ourselves into here? And why?”
His eyes lifted from the floor to meet hers. “We’re married, and, if things keep going this way, we’ll both be a little more famous and successful at the end.”
“Well.” She bit her lip. “At least we’ve got each other.”
Nick nodded. “Sure, yeah.” After a moment’s pause, he asked, “When’s the interview?”
“The day after tomorrow. At our new home.”
The airport was horrendous. If they’d thought arriving separately in Peru had been bad, the arrival in LAX beat it all to hell. Three times over.
Dozens of paparazzi literally crowded around them and clambered over each other to get the best shots of the IT couple and their child. Though they had three bodyguards surrounding them, Nick still kept an arm around Autumn, holding her against his side with Lily squished between the two of them. When they’d gotten off the plane, Lily had been fast asleep in Autumn’s arms, but, with all the noise from the paparazzi, she’d woken up and now clung to Nick, afraid of the flashes and shouted questions from reporters.
“Is she still crying?” Autumn tried to crane her neck to see Lily’s face, though it was buried against Nick’s neck.
Nick brushed a kiss over Lily’s hair as she tried to cover her eyes. “The damn flashbulbs are freaking her out. Goddamn cameramen.”
Neither dared say anything to the press, though. Making eye contact with any of the hordes around them was bad, but actually acknowledging their presence by asking them to shut the hell up? That would get them the kind of press they didn’t need. So Nick hugged Lily closer and tried to sing softly to calm her down as Autumn watched worriedly.
At long last, they made it out of the terminal and directly into a waiting car. Both of their management teams had decided that it would be best if they were chauffeured home as everyone knew of Nick’s driving record. Neither Nick nor Autumn cared who drove and how, just as long as they could get home in peace.
Peace, though, was not to be had.
Liz sat on the far side of the backseat and waited for them to settle in before she spoke. “Well, you’re certainly beating every other celebrity couple in the polls,” she remarked, studying the reporters that were being held back by security.
Nick made no move towards her. “We’re great, too. How about you?” He rolled his eyes. “At this point, we don’t care if we’re Mr. and Mrs. Nobody. We just want some damn quiet.”
“And you’re not going to get it right now,” Liz replied, watching the way Nick tried to soothe Lily, who was beginning to calm down.
Autumn reached for her daughter. “I can take her, Nick. You’ve quieted her down a lot. I can do the rest.”
“Nah, Lily and I are good. Right, munchkin?” He rubbed his nose against Lily’s, eliciting a gurgling laugh from her.
“Nick!” she squealed, her drying tears now forgotten. “Hug?”
He grinned at Autumn. “Told ya.” He complied with Lily’s wish, and Autumn found the sight of her tiny child wrapped up in Nick’s arms terribly endearing. He probably could have fit three Lily’s in that embrace. Nevertheless, it made her smile when Nick’s eyes met hers.
“Love you,” Lily told him as she leaned back in his arms, and Autumn watched Nick’s eyes darken with emotion.
“I love you, too,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead and holding her closer. “I love you, too.”
For a moment, the three of them sat quietly, taking pleasure from the fact that they were together. Then Liz cleared her throat, and the bubble of joy popped.
“This is a really sweet, Kodak-worthy moment,” she began, “but you should probably save it for the interview tomorrow. The photographer will lap it up.”
Autumn’s jaw dropped. “Liz! I don’t know why you’re so bent on staying angry with us, but it’s getting a little bit ridiculous.”
“You know what’s ridiculous, Autumn? Try working sixteen, seventeen hour days because the press is having a field day with the two of you. Try explaining to the dozens of media sources that call me, asking what the deal is with the two of you. I’ve been picking up your mess for weeks, months, now, and I’m tired of it. So excuse me if I’m getting to be a little bit ridiculous.” Liz yanked open the thick black binder in her lap. “Now, if we could get started going over your schedule for the next several days, that would be just peachy.”
Nick and Autumn exchanged wary glances. He didn’t think Liz was being fair, exactly, when it came to how she was treating Autumn, but he knew exactly why she was being so bitchy with him. He hadn’t exactly made the time to see her during that month between the wedding and his trip to Peru. He’d meant to because he did care about her and had wanted to spend time with her. Unfortunately, he’d had to show up at all the right parties and events and appear to be happy as the man newly married to Hollywood’s next big actress. Between the public appearances and the recording process for the album, he hadn’t been able to talk to her, explain his actions. For that, she was still angry with him.
He could only hope that he hadn’t broken her heart.
