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When Joanna woke up the next morning she knew the sun was shining, without even opening her eyes. A slow breeze moved a strand of hair, tickling her face. Alex was still lying next to her, his arm around her. Something had woken her up, but she didn’t know what. Then she heard it again. A giggle. Another one. Slowly she opened her eyes. Next to the blanket stood... everyone.

“We thought we should wake you guys up. Brunch is served.” Lina said, trying to keep a straight face.

The talking seemed to wake Alex up, and he muttered “God, no privacy here huh?”

“Well, first off, it’s my house. Second, you’re lying like five feet away from the table where we were going to eat.” Brian laughed. “Now get up and get some food.”

Jo and Alex untangled themselves from the blanket and got to their feet. As they walked into the kitchen to fill their plates, they heard laughter break loose out on the patio. Alex took Jo’s hand, and they smiled at each other.

“She’s never going to stop bugging me about this.”

“Heh, you’re one to talk. You’ve got one. I’ve got four.”

“Aaaw, poor Alex” Jo laughed and kissed him lightly.


Brunch was nice, as all of the meals with the gang had been. Alex and Jo were the targets of most of the jokes, but noone of them minded. Then Kevin and Kristin left for the airport and brought Howie, whose flight would leave about an hour after theirs. The others remained sitting around the table, drinking coffee and talking.

“So, when are you leaving, Nick?” Lina asked, trying to sound casual.

“Well... I was kinda thinking about staying around for awhile. Don’t worry Bri, I’ll move to that hotel where Kev and Kris stayed. You don’t have to deal with both me and Alex at the same time. Guess we’ll have enough time for that on tour.” He smiled at his friend, then laid his arm around Lina.

“You know you’re welcome to stay here, man.” Brian said.

“Yeah, but in the hotel, I don’t have to clean up after me.” Nick laughed, and so did everyone else.


Jo was happy, both for Lina, and for herself. Life went on, week by week, and her relationship to Alex continued to develop. They cared more deeply about each other every day, spent every waken hour when Jo wasn’t working together, and every night in either his or her bed. They hadn’t had sex yet, because she wanted to wait until she felt she could fully trust him. Lina was more and more absent, at work during the days and at Nick’s hotel in the evenings. She’d practically moved out of the Littrell’s house. There were only a couple of weeks left before the tour, and the boys were all going to New York to rehearse in just a few days. Leighanne and Baylee were going too, meaning that Jo had to be there. And she was happy about that. She didn’t want to be apart from Alex for an hour, much less for two weeks.


It was another sunny day, and Baylee was playing in the backyard as he usually did after his nap. Jo was sitting on a blanket watching him and Alex run around with a football. Brian was at the studio recording a song for his solo album, and Leighanne had jumped on a flight to Hollywood a week ago to be on set for a movie she had a small part in. The phone rang, and Jo answered it, never taking her eyes off of the boys. It was her mother. After the usual questions, like “How are you doing” and “How’s the job” she sighed and said: “Jo, I talked to Andy a couple of days ago. He’s still devastated. I think he might be coming to visit you... To win you back.”

“What? Are you serious? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Alex had heard her upset tone of voice and came strolling towards were she was sitting.

“I thought you were missing him.”

“I was, but mum, I’m over him. I have been done with him since I came here.”

“But...”

Jo heard the guilty tone of her mother’s voice. “You didn’t tell him to come, did you?”

“Well...”

“No, mum. I’m sorry, but he’s never going to be a part of my life again. Not in the way you want him to be.”

“But honey...”

“No, mum, don’t honey me. I’m serious. Tell him to stay home. Now.”

“I... I’m sorry Jo. He left for Atlanta three hours ago. We gave him a ride to the airport.”

Jo flipped the phone shut and threw it across the blanket. “Fucking CRAP!”

“Are you ok, Jo?” Alex asked, looking worried.

“No! Andy’s coming here. My mum just told me she’d given him a ride to the airport. Wouldn’t be surprised if she’d paid for the ticket as well.”

“Ok. You haven’t told her about me?”

“I hadn’t talked to her in a couple of weeks. They’ve been on vacation. And a couple of weeks ago, we weren’t together.”

“It’s ok, Jo. We’ll work through this.”

“I know. I want to be with you.”

“Then we will be together.” He smiled at her.


The rest of the day was like a blur to Jo. She needed to talk to Lina so badly, but she didn’t answer her phone, and she wasn’t in Nick’s hotel room either. And Leighanne wasn’t home. She would have known what to do. They had developed a really close friendship over the short time they’d known each other. After Brian had put Baylee to sleep, they watched a movie, then they went to bed. Alex and Jo snuggled up in her bed and talked about Andy. After awhile both of them fell asleep.


The next day went on as most of the days did, chores, and taking care of Baylee, while trying to get Alex to stop whispering dirty little suggestions in her ear as soon as he saw her. His favourite was to sneak up behind her while she was doing the dishes, grab her butt and say something that would have been offending, had it come from anyone else but him. Jo was vacuuming the kitchen, when her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number, but answered anyway. It felt as she’d got an electric shock when she heard Andy’s voice. They hadn’t talked since she’d left him behind at the airport, and she’d forgotten what his voice alone could do to her. Her knees went weak, and she felt as if someone had released a thousand butterflies in her stomach.


“Hey Joanna! How are you doing?”

“Ehhh... Hi Andy. I’m... fine. Where are you calling from?”

“I’m in a hotel in Atlanta.”

“Why are you here?”

“Joanna... I need to see you. We need to talk.”

“Why? I’ve told you what I’ve got to say.”

“Meet me tonight. You can come by my hotel.”

Powerless against him, she agreed. He gave her the address, and told her to be there at seven.


“Alex. We need to talk.” He looked up from the stuffed Picachu-toy he was teasing Baylee with.

“Sure.” He gave the toy back to the child, and they walked out of the room, leaving the door a bit open so they could talk out in the hallway.

“Andy called. I’m meeting him tonight. To tell him... to tell him to go back home.”

“Sure baby. You need a ride?”

“Nah, I’ll take the car myself.”

“Ok.” He pulled her close. “It will be fine, I promise.” His insides were a knot of jealousy, but he kept that to himself. He didn’t want to scare her away, into the arms of Andy.


“I’m leaving now, babe!” Jo shouted into the living room. Alex came out of it, Brian next to him.

“Sure babe, be careful.” Brian joked, and got a slap on top of his head by Alex.

“You’ve got your ‘babe’ already. This one’s mine. Take care now, darling. And as this clown said, be careful.” He kissed her softly, just as a reminder of where she belonged. She kissed him back, then smiled and said: “You know I will be. And don’t worry.”

“I won’t.” he said as she closed the door behind her on her way out.

“Yeah right, bro. You won’t worry, and my name is Howard Dorough.” Brian laughed. “Come on, let’s play some video games to get your mind off of it.”

“Yeah.” Alex sighed. “But just so you know, Howard, I’ll kick your ass.”


Jo pulled up at the hotel, parked her car, and walked in. There, in the foyer, stood Andy, all blonde and gorgeous. When had she stopped realizing how handsome he was? During the last years of their relationship, she hadn’t paid much attention to his looks at all. He gave her a hug, then led her into the restaurant. They ordered, ate and talked about home. When they got the desserts they’d ordered, he looked her in the eyes and whispered: “Joanna. Come back home with me. I love you. I can’t live without you. Please. Come back home. Marry me.” He pulled the black box out of his pocket again.
Jo’s heart was breaking. She loved him. She did. But not the kind of love he was talking about. That part of her heart belonged to someone else now, she realized.

“I can’t. I don’t love you like that anymore. I’ve met someone, and I think I’m falling for him.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and she got up from the table to leave.

Andy grabbed her hand. “Don’t say that. We will be happy. You know we belong together. Marry me.” He got to his feet, pulled her close. Jo thought that he wanted a farewell hug, so she put her arms around him. But he gently grabbed her face and kissed her.