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Chapter 14

Claire was just finishing up with her last patient of the morning when Carey stuck her head in again. “Claire? When you finish up in here, there’s someone waiting for you out in the waiting room.”

“What? But my next patient isn’t supposed to get here till 1:30 – it’s only noon!”

Carey grinned. “Oh, it’s not a patient…”

The look on her face gave it away, but Claire had to see for herself. She turned to her patient and said, “Dr. Pantero will be in to see you in a few minutes.” Then she walked out of the room, beckoning Laureen to follow her. “Laureen, could you go find Dr. Pantero and tell him the patient in 3 is ready to be seen. Then come out to the waiting room.”

“Sure,” Laureen nodded and walked in one direction down the hall, while Claire walked in the other, following Carey up to the front of the office. Carey hung a left, heading back to the receptionist’s cubicle, but Claire went straight, flinging open the door to the waiting room.

She saw him instantly. He was hard to miss, standing there awkwardly in the center of the room. He looked up when she opened the door and broke into a smile that melted her heart when he saw her.

“Hey, there you are,” he grinned.

“Nick!” She fought the urge to throw her arms around him, reminding herself that she was at work, and instead grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the waiting room and into the hall. “What are you doing here?” she asked as soon as the door had swung closed, delighted that he had surprised her by showing up.

“I was hoping we could have lunch together,” Nick said. “Do you get to take your break soon?”

“Yep, right now,” she replied. “You have perfect timing.”

He grinned again, obviously pleased with himself. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then stopped, his eyes darkening as he looked at something over her shoulder. She heard footsteps coming up the hall and turned to see Tim heading toward her room, Laureen walking behind him. Tim stopped when he saw her and Nick, hesitated, and then continued on into her room to examine the patient she’d just left. Laureen hung back, and Claire could see her staring at Nick; she’d just recognized him.

“Hey, Laureen, c’mere,” she spoke up, motioning the younger girl over. “Nick, I want you to meet Laureen. She’s starting here new next week and is here observing for the day. Laureen, Nick.”

“Nice meeting you,” Nick said kindly, holding out his hand to her.

Laureen took it, her eyes shining. “Nice meeting you too,” she said with a grin.

“We’re headed to lunch now,” said Claire, “so you can take your lunch break too. Just be back before 1:30.”

“Okay,” Laureen nodded.

Claire looked up at Nick. “I’m going to go get my purse and clock out. Just wait here for me.” She left him long enough to duck back into her room, where Tim was hovered over her patient. He did not look up when she came in, either so engrossed with his work that he did not notice her or ignoring her on purpose. She didn’t really care. She grabbed her purse and hurried out of the room, stopping to punch the clock in the front of the office, and then met up with Nick again. “Let’s go,” she smiled at him, taking his hand, and together, they walked out of the office.

“Ooh, you brought the Jag!” she exclaimed gleefully when she saw his silver beauty of a car gleaming in the parking lot.

“Yep,” he replied with a grin. “You wanna drive?” He held up his keys, jangling them between his thumb and forefinger.

She snatched them eagerly before he could pull them away from her. “You bet I do!”

***

“So where to?” Claire asked as she guided the Jag onto the highway.

“Where’s our favorite place?” Nick shot back from the passenger seat, grinning. “I was thinking we could go there, if you want to…”

“’Course,” she said, knowing exactly the place he meant. “You know I’m always in the mood for pizza.”

Ten minutes later, they were pulling into the parking lot of Leonardi’s, the little pizza parlor that had become “their place.” It was a place that held a lot of history for Claire. It had been around since her mother, who had also grown up in Tampa, had been a child, and during Claire’s childhood, her family had gone there to eat every Friday night – it was tradition. In high school, it had served as a hangout for her and her friends, as well as a good place to get a summer job. She’d never worked there herself, but Dianna had, two summers in a row, and Claire had fond memories of many nights spent tucked in a booth with Jamie, sipping milkshakes while Dianna pretended to wipe down their table so that she could chat with them for a few minutes.

But now when she came here, she thought mostly of Nick. It was she who had introduced him to the place, and she remembered being nervous the first time she’d met him there, afraid he would find it appalling and wondering if she should have picked somewhere more… classy. But the great thing about Nick was that he was not the arrogant snob she’d expected him to be the first time she met him. He really was just a normal guy, a normal guy who also happened to be a rich and famous popstar. He had seen the charm of the shabby little pizza place, and it had become their favorite spot to eat.

When they walked inside the restaurant, they requested their favorite booth, the wrap-around one in the back corner. Within a few minutes, they were sitting there, hardly glancing at the menus that had been placed in front of them. They ordered the same thing every time they came – sausage and pepperoni, extra cheese.

“So, how’s your day been so far?” Nick asked, as they sat waiting for someone to take their order.

“Oh, pretty good… same old, same old,” replied Claire. “How about you? Been up to anything?”

“Not really. Just hanging out around the house,” he said.

She nodded. “Have you finished unpacking yet?”

“Eh…” He shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “I’m workin’ on it.”

She laughed. She had been over at his place the day before, after getting groceries with him, and found his bedroom to be in a state of disarray, clothes foaming out of the two suitcases he’d brought to Hawaii, not to mention scattered all across the floor, as if he’d been marking a trail with them or something. He was almost as bad as Dianna, who had a bad habit of yanking all of the clothes she owned out of her closet in search of something to wear and leaving them haphazardly thrown all over the floor. Claire had mastered the art of finding bare spots of carpet to step on when she navigated her way through her best friend’s bedroom.

“Well, what about you?” Nick shot back. “Have you unpacked?”

“Of course,” answered Claire matter-of-factly. “The last thing I wanted to do was come home from work this afternoon and still have that to do. I did it yesterday morning, before we went grocery shopping.”

“Oh,” he said simply, and shut his mouth. A waitress came up to them then, and once they had ordered their pizza, Nick said, “Hey, I have something for you.”

Claire watched in astonishment as he reached into the pocket of his baggy jeans and produced a small, gift-wrapped box. Wondering how he had managed to stuff that in his pants without her noticing, she laughed and said, “A present? Wasn’t Hawaii enough?”

“Nothing could ever be enough for you,” he replied, batting his eyelashes sweetly at her as he handed her the gift.

She snorted. “Oh puh-lease.”

“Open it,” he urged her, his eyes twinkling with anticipation. Thoroughly mystified, she obediently tugged at the lopsided bow he had obviously tied himself, and took her time folding up the ribbon, much to his annoyance. “Oh come on, just open it!” he insisted, his voice filled with impatience. Laughing, she tore into the brightly-colored wrapping paper and let it fall away to reveal a small box covered in burgundy velvet… like a jewelry box…

Her heart leapt into her throat and started hammering so fast she was sure it would pop right out as her mouth fell open in shock. No way, she thought, staring dazedly at the box. This couldn’t be… he’s not going to…

She lifted her head slowly, raising her eyes to meet his. “Nick…” she murmured.

“Open it!” he repeated more emphatically than ever, prodding the box in her hand. She was still so stunned, she almost dropped it. Regaining her hold on it, she reached out with trembling fingers, her heart still racing, and pried open the lid. The box opened with a soft pop, and she peered inside to find…

A key.

She let her breath out in a soft whoosh, her shoulders slumping, almost in relief. A key… it was just a key.

A key to what?

She plucked the key out of the satin-lined interior of the box and held it up, inspecting it. Her first thought was that it went to a car, but a closer look told her it was not a car key. It was not nearly long enough.

“Nick…” she said again. “What is this for?”

In that very instant, she was slightly afraid he was going to reply, “A key to my heart,” or something equally cheesy, in which case she probably would have had to smack him, because, come on, he knew better than that.

But instead, he answered, “It’s a house key. It’s a key to my house.” She waited, and he cleared his throat and went on, “Um… we’ve been dating for, what, like almost five months now? So I thought maybe you should move in with me.”

“Move in with you,” she repeated, looking back down at the silver key in her hand. She pursed her lips and thought for a moment.

“You don’t want to?” he asked, sounding slightly hurt. She looked back up at him to find his forehead creased, a puzzled expression on his face. She sighed.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, Nick… I just need to think about it. I mean, it’s a big decision.”

“Why is it such a big decision?” he asked, frowning. “You love me, right? And you hang out at my house all the time… you’ve even slept there! And we lived together in Hawaii for a week, and that was great, wasn’t it? So why wouldn’t you want to?”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to,” she repeated, more sharply than she had intended. “I just… well, it is a big decision, Nick! You’re asking me to move out of my apartment, which has been my home for the last three years, and haul all my crap to your place… that in itself is a big thing. And then-“

“Well, you wouldn’t have to haul it; I’d pay someone to do that!” he interrupted.

She shook her head impatiently. He didn’t understand. “It’s not that, Nick,” she said. “It’s just… it’s just the whole idea of it… I’d be losing my home to move into yours, and what if… well, what if we broke up? Then what? Then I’d have to move out again and look for a new place, and it would be really awkward, and-“

“Who says we’re gonna break up?” Nick interrupted again, his voice full of defiance. “I love you, Claire. I don’t want to break up – do you??”

“Of course not!” she cried in exasperation, throwing up her hands. “Jeez, Nick, it’s like you’re missing the whole point of what I’m trying to say! I didn’t say we were going to break up, or that I want to break up, but let’s be realistic here – it could happen someday. Right?”

“I dunno,” he shrugged, staring at the tabletop.

“Well, that’s just it, no one knows. We don’t know how long we’re going to last, Nick… we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. All I know is that I don’t want to move in with you, only to have to move out again in a few months if something happens between us.”

“But nothing’s gonna happen between us… we love each other, don’t we?” He looked up at her, his eyes pleading, as if she were in the middle of breaking up with him right then and there.

She felt like screaming, but instead she said calmly, “Yes, of course we do. But all I’m trying to say is that we don’t know if it’s going to last… you thought you loved Leah too, didn’t you?”

His face darkened. “Don’t bring her up; that’s a totally different story.”

“Not really!” Claire insisted. “You were even going to marry her, and look what happened!”

“Well, good God, you’re not like her!”

“Again, Nick, you’re missing the point. No, I’m not like her, but that just shows how fast a relationship can fall apart. Come on, you’ve had more relationships than me; you know how it is! When I was eighteen, I thought I was going to marry Jamie Turner, and obviously that didn’t happen. Not because either of us were evil, horrible people like that hooker Leah, but because… well, we just didn’t work as a couple. And we dated for over a year before we found that out. So all I’m saying, Nick, is that you never know what’s going to happen, and I don’t know if I’m ready to move in with you. Do you understand that?”

He shrugged, and she thought she might have seen his head bob, but if so, it was so slight that it was hardly noticeable. She rolled her eyes. Why was he giving her such a hard time about this? Her patience was rapidly wearing thin. “Okay, so you don’t understand,” she snapped. “Why would you? You’re used to have women falling at your feet all the time, and I’m sure all your old girlfriends-“

“That’s not true!” he argued, his eyes flashing with anger. “You’re all I’ve got, Claire! Women don’t ‘fall at my feet,’ at least not anymore! I don’t even have two fucking feet to fall at!”

“Oh no, you are not going to do that!” she fired back instantly. “Don’t you dare try to throw yourself a little pity party here and make me feel bad for you because that is not going to happen! I don’t pity you, Nick, and you’re not going to get me to agree to move in with you because I feel sorry for you. You can feel sorry for yourself all you want, but I’m not going to.”

His nostrils flared, and he took a few audible breaths. Then… “Fine,” he growled in a low voice. “Then I hope you don’t expect me to feel sorry for you when I leave you here. Enjoy your pizza.” With that, he slid out of the booth and stalked off across the restaurant.

Is he really leaving? she wondered, watching him carefully. Is he really going to just drive away and leave me stranded here?

Part of her suspected he was just bluffing, but who knew? She considered jumping up and going after him, knowing she could easily beat him to his car – it wasn’t like he could run. But why give him the satisfaction? She didn’t want to get in a car with him anyway; she’d seen firsthand how he drove when he was angry. So she forced herself to tear her eyes away from him, in case he looked back - which, knowing him, he would, wanting to get a reaction from her. She kept her face as blank as possible and played with the little shaker of parmesan cheese instead.

Finally, when she was sure he had to be to his car by now, she chanced a look out the big window at the front of the restaurant. She was just in time to see the silver Jag pulling away, its tires squealing against the pavement.

***