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She looked the same, Nick thought. She looked exactly the same as she had all those years ago when he’d first met her. True, he’d seen her over the years, but, in twenty years, she hadn’t changed a bit. Maybe there were tiny wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and she wore glasses all the time now. But Spencer Wilde was still as perfect as always.

And probably just as much of a bitch, Nick reminded himself before his eyes could wander to her always-stellar legs. He’d never come across a pair of legs he’d ever adored more, but he clearly remembered the frigid woman those legs belonged to.

“Well, this is…a surprise,” he said after several moments had passed. “Definitely unexpected.”

“I was just as surprised as you,” Spencer told him. “If I had known I would be staying in this house, I would never have agreed to come.”

“And if I’d known you were coming, I would’ve stopped Sydney from inviting you at all,” Nick replied, his voice conveying his growing anger. His gaze shifted to pin his daughter. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Sydney didn’t flinch at the anger emanating from her father and met his furious blue eyes with her own. “I was thinking that I missed my mom, and I could get to see her this way. Besides, she needed a vacation.”

“A vacation?!” Both Spencer and Nick exploded at the same time.

“This is certainly not a vacation for me, Sydney!” Spencer fought to keep her voice from rising. The last thing she wanted was to sound like a hysterical shrew in front of Nick. “I thought I’d be staying in a hotel and would only see your father for a few moments at the wedding. That’s it. I expected to spend the rest of the time on the beach.”

Sydney smiled innocently. “Mom, the beach is in Dad’s backyard, you know. Besides, now you’ll get to be part of all the wedding prep. Won’t that be fun?”

“Fun?” It was Nick’s turn now. “I don’t think fun is the word I’d use to describe how completely awkward this whole situation is. How do you think Cara’s going to feel when she finds out that your mother, the only other woman I ever proposed to, is staying in my home the week before our wedding? Sydney, did you think of all the consequences at all?”

Spencer let herself remember, for just a moment, the moment Nick had proposed to her nearly twenty-two years ago. Then, she brought herself back to the present. The very real and very ugly present. “Sydney, I know you think you meant well, but this was the worst idea you could’ve ever had.”

“You can say that again,” Nick muttered.

“You know that your father and I do not get along at all. Give it a few minutes, and we’ll be ready to murder each other.” Spencer ignored Nick’s snort. “Seriously, Sydney, I love you, but this is just ridiculous.”

Sydney crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “You two are such babies. Honestly.”

“Excuse me?” Nick’s brows lifted. “We aren’t telling you anything you don’t already know. Name a single time in the past that your mother and I got along without arguing.”

Sydney shrugged. “Obviously, you had to have had sex in order to have me, so you got along then, didn’t you?”

Nick’s mind flashed backwards to the sensation of making love with Spencer. It had been…unique and beautiful. And it was definitely over, he reminded himself. “Look, Sydney, that was a long, long time ago.”

“Plenty of people have sex and have to face the consequences. We did,” Spencer said quietly. “And neither me or your father appreciate being thrown back together again.”

“So, what? I was conceived during a random hook up?” Sydney couldn’t help but pry. Her parents never talked about the past, about anything. All she knew was that they’d once been engaged but had called it off halfway through the pregnancy. She couldn’t believe that there had never been anything between them.

Nick took a deep breath and tried to find the right words that would soothe the uncertainty in Sydney’s eyes. “No, it was not a random hook up. Don’t ever think that. You were and have always been the one thing your mother and I loved together.”

“You were conceived in love,” Spencer added softly. “Sydney, as trite and clichéd as that sounds, it’s the truth. Whatever else that may have happened all those years ago doesn’t change the truth of that moment.”

Nick found himself watching Spencer as she spoke, and, though he told himself he was imagining it, he saw the wistful expression in her eyes. Suddenly, he wanted to know what she was thinking. He scowled at himself at the thought. “As much as we love you, Syd, this is wrong. You should’ve told me that you were inviting your mother as your guest.”

“You told me I could invite anyone, so why would it matter who that someone was?” Sydney asked, disappointed that her parents had stopped talking about the past.

“Because I don’t want to spend the week before my wedding tense and angry!” Nick was slowly turning red. He turned on Spencer. “And what the hell were you thinking taking her up on that offer?! Oh, wait, you probably thought you’d try to ruin my happy moment, right?”

“Oh, gee, Nickolas, that’s just great. I can’t tell you how flattered I am at how mature you think I am,” Spencer shot back sarcastically. “Obviously, I have nothing more important in my life than to find ways to cause you pain.”

Nick told himself to take a deep breath and count to ten, but Spencer always caused his rationality to fly out the window. “I wouldn’t put it past you. You always were a major bitch.”

“Shut up! Both of you!” Sydney stood between them, hands on hips, and glared at them both. “Maybe I was wrong. Obviously, I thought the two of you were adults, that you could deal with each other like normal human beings. It’s crystal clear to me that I was wrong.”

“Sydney,” Spencer began but was cut off.

“Don’t even try to make excuses, Mom! I thought you of all people would act calmly and behave yourself. I can’t even imagine what the people in Nashville would say if they saw you like this!” Sydney shook her head. “This is ridiculous!”

Nick shrugged. “Your mother always was crazy. I’m surprised all of Nashville doesn’t know that their District Attorney is a psychotic bitch.”

Sydney turned on him. “Don’t even get me started on you! Maybe I brought Mom to your house, and maybe I was wrong. But that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t act gracious and adult. Jeez, Dad, the least you could’ve done was treat your guest, no matter what you think of her, with politeness. But, nooo, you just fly off the handle and start calling names. My mother is not a bitch, she is a great woman. And Mom,” she looked over at Spencer, “Dad may sometimes act like a jerk, especially around you, but he’s usually a good guy. Honestly, the two of you are enough to make a kid want to drink.”

“Honey-”

“I know, I’m not going to go running to the nearest bar, but I do wish you guys would grow the hell up!”

Nick frowned. “Don’t curse, young lady.”

“Oh, please. Like you didn’t just spend the last half hour calling Mom a bitch. Give it a rest, the two of you. Dad, you’re getting married next week, and this is supposed to be a happy time for you and Cara. I didn’t think Mom was going to disrupt that at all because she’s usually really well-mannered.” Sydney shot a look at her mother. “It’s obvious that the two of you bring out the worst in each other. I just wish, for once, that my parents could act like my parents, not argue all the damn time, and behave like adults. I can see that wishing for that is way too much to ask.”

She glared at them both for a long moment, and then, she turned and left the kitchen. Moments later, they heard a door slam on the second floor.

For the first time since the day Spencer had given birth to their daughter, she and Nick were actually alone.

Neither of them said a word for several long moments. Neither of them knew what to say, what could be said. Nick used that time to cool his hotheaded temper, knowing that it would be a bad idea to get angry at Spencer with no buffer between them. Spencer just stared at the floor. She was already calm, but she was also nervous.

Finally, Nick cleared his throat. “Wow, I suddenly feel like I’ve flashed back to when she was thirteen.”

Spencer looked up and met his eyes. There was a hint of a smile on his face. “Yeah. I have to admit, I expected her to yell ‘I hate you, Mom and Dad’ before she left.”

“Oh, yeah. A classic. I can’t remember how many times I said that to my parents.” Nick rubbed a hand over the tension headache brewing at the base of skull.

She remembered the arguments with his parents and how the Carters never could get along. “Oh, Nick. Sydney isn’t you, and we are definitely not your parents.”

“Aren’t we?” He turned his head to meet her eyes. “Spence, my parents hated each other, and I swore I’d never repeat that. Now, here I am, almost fifty, and I can so easily get angry at the mother of my child. Tell me, how isn’t that the same as my parents?”

She was stunned to hear the nickname he’d once used to call her. When was the last time she’d heard him call her “Spence”? Twenty-one years ago, she thought ruefully. “Okay, maybe we’re not all that different. But, on the bright side, I haven’t tried to kill you or gotten arrested numerous times.”

“That’s just because you’re you. You’re too, well, good to do any of that.” Nick sneered at the idea of Spencer getting behind the wheel of a car, drunk.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” she replied, not letting her temper rise.

He shrugged. “It’s not. I guess I should be glad that you’re a much better influence than my mother was, and that Sydney will never have to wonder if you love her. You do love her, and I know that’s the only reason you came here. As angry as I might be at the whole situation, I know you didn’t do it to cause trouble.”

“Are you actually apologizing to me?” She couldn’t believe it.

“Take it or leave it because it’s not gonna be offered again,” he shot back.

Spencer stared at him for a long moment. Here he was, nearly fifty years old with gray streaks running through his thick blond hair, and slight wrinkles around his eyes. But he still sounded like he was twenty-eight. “I guess I’ll take it,” she said finally. “And I’ll apologize, too. If you want, I can find another place to stay, and you won’t have to worry about your fiancée finding out or anything.”

Nick shook his head. “Nah. If I kicked you out, Sydney would murder me in my sleep. After all, she’s our daughter.”

Spencer found herself grinning. “I can’t deny that.”

“Of course, you’d probably be sneakier about it, but yeah.” Nick grinned, too.

When they realized they were standing, just feet apart, and actually smiling at each other, they were both surprised. The smiles vanished instantly, and Spencer cleared her throat.

“Uh, I guess I should go talk to Sydney, and then figure out which bedroom is mine.”

“I can show you, and, uh, you can go first on the apologizing to Sydney part.” Nick picked up Spencer’s single piece of luggage. “Is this all you brought?”

She nodded and followed him down the hallway. “Yeah. Why?”

“No reason. It’s a nice change to meet a woman who doesn’t haul around an entire wardrobe for a trip.” Nick remembered that she had never taken more than the absolutely necessary things when she went on a trip. “I guess you haven’t changed, huh?”

Spencer stopped at the top of the stairs, surprised. “Of course, I’ve changed.”

“Not about your practicality,” he replied simply and gestured to the single bag he held. “Seriously, any other woman would have brought three suitcases, but you never did do that.”

“More things to carry. I’m lazy like that.”

He snorted in disbelief. “Puh-lease. The last thing you are is lazy.” He came to a halt outside of one of the bedrooms. “So, this is yours.”

Spencer followed him in and knew immediately that Nick had decorated the room. “It’s changed.”

“Yeah.” He had finally tossed out the furniture Spencer had decorated the room with when they had moved in together for two short months. “The old stuff was going bad, so I had to get new furniture.” He shrugged. “Anyway, it’s yours for the next week. Syd’s room is two doors down, across the hall. Good luck with her.”

When he moved to the door, Spencer called to him. “Nick.” She waited until he turned to look at her. “I’ll stay out of your way as much as possible. Thanks for letting me stay.”

He just nodded and left, walking quickly down the hall, down the stairs, and out the back door towards the beach. He needed to get away from Spencer and everything he felt whenever he was around her. For twenty-one years, he’d avoided being too close to her because he could easily remember everything that had happened between them. She had been the first woman he had really imagined spending the rest of his life with, and he knew that there were still remnants of those feelings he’d had for her somewhere inside him. Mixed with the anger and annoyance, there was still a part of his heart that clearly remembered what they had meant to each other.

But, he was getting married in a week, and he couldn’t afford to let those old feelings strengthen again. Spencer was his past—distant past—and Cara was his future. His forever. It would be smart if he remembered that and kept his distance from Spencer.

Letting the waves lap over his feet, he closed his eyes and tried to think of nothing but Cara and their life together. And, if the errant thought of Spencer snuck in every so often, he fought it off.

Over and done. All that is SO over and done.