- Present Day, 2008 -
“Connor Nickolas, get downstairs please! Mommy doesn’t have time for this today,” I called up the stairs and sighed heavily as I finished packing my five-year-old son’s lunch. “Remember that today Uncle Howie and Aunt Leigh are picking you up from school, alright?”
“Am I going to Daddy’s?” He asked me curiously. I sighed and knelt down in front of him, staring into those big blue eyes that got me every time. It was hard enough being divorced from Nick and still having to see him wherever we met to drop off Connor or whatever. Now my kid was practically his spitting image.
“Not today, buddy. Maybe this weekend, okay?” I didn’t want to get his hopes up. Nick had promised me he’d be around this weekend to take Connor for a little while, but I never held him to it. Nick hardly ever stopped by when he said he would. “Baby, do you want cookies for your snack today or a brownie?” I asked him as I peered into the pantry to pack up his afternoon snack for his kindergarten class.
“Brownies,” he said as he climbed his way up to the stool so he could watch me pack it up. “Hey momma?” He asked.
“Hmm?” I mumbled, not paying entirely the most attention as I hurried around the kitchen in my business attire, trying to get everything situated and packed up.
“You don’t have to call me baby anymore,” he placed his elbows on the granite counter top and his head in his hands. His words made me stop in my tracks and turn to look at him. “I’m a big boy now. I’m five.” He reminded me, making me chuckle. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him.
“I’m sorry,” I kissed his cheek. “I just can’t believe you’re growing up on me, kid. It feels like just yesterday you were my buddy and you were always home with me. I miss those days.” I felt tears well up in my eyes again. As much as I couldn’t stand being around Nick, I loved Connor more than anything in the world. And part of me appreciate Nick for giving me Connor. “Okay, enough lovey-dovey stuff.” I winked. “Grab your backpack and meet me out front. Do you have your ferry ticket?”
“Yep,” he grinned, showing me his first ever missing tooth gap. I grabbed everything I’d need for the day and followed him out. After everything had gone seriously wrong with Nick, I gave birth to Connor and moved to New Jersey. I had gotten a wonderful opportunity working for ABC with “Good Morning America”. It wasn’t anything too special, though. I researched occurrences all over the country and wrote up pieces on it for the anchors and producers to look over and, possibly, read on air. It all just fell into place. Thankfully for me, Howie and Leigh had ended up buying a home up here only months after I relocated with Connor and have helped me so much through everything.
“Okay kiddo, so tonight Jake’s going to come over for dinner. So Uncle Howie is going to bring you home around five,” I explained as I grasped his glove covered hand with mine and practically pulled him down the sidewalk towards the ferry station. Living in the city was entirely too expensive, so we lived on the other side of the river in New Jersey. We’d take the ferry every morning across the river and then walk to his school. Then I’d catch a taxi to the station.
Connor made a sour expression in my direction. “I don’t want Jake to come over.”
“Connor, Jake is a really nice guy and he really likes you a lot! Please give him a chance? For me?” I pouted playfully towards him, receiving a toothy grin in response. “See. Besides, I would never make you hang out with anyone I didn’t think was nice. He said he’d bring over his football and maybe you two could pass it around in the yard?”
“Really? Even in the snow?” Connor seemed shocked and I laughed. We handed our tickets to the ferry captain and boarded the boat. We went to the front end of the boat where Connor loved to watch as we approached the city. I zipped his winter coat up a bit more and kissed his cheek.
“Yes, even in the snow,” I laughed and watched his excitement come over him. Not only was I letting him do something I never gave into, but we were able to watch the city come to life at 8:00 in the morning. As we sat, I had time to think. I never could understand why Connor disliked my new boyfriend, Jacob Young, so much. Yes, Jacob Young as in the ABC soap opera “All My Children” actor. How I keep getting tangled up in celebrities, I’ll never know. I had met Jake when Connor was about a year and a half old. I had been working for ABC for only six months when he came to the studio.
”Sarah, if you could get a bottle of Evian out of the fridge, Jacob Young is in the green room waiting for his interview,” my boss, Alexia Reynolds, smiled as she popped her head into my cubicle.
“I’m on it,” I grinned back and hurried off to the break room. Usually our assignments, I had noticed, consisted of writing stories all day long, hoping to God that one of them made the on-air segment the next day. So when we had something else to do, we usually jumped on it.
I had only been at the station for six months and I was already dreading the day I’d run into Nick. I knew the day would eventually come around and I’d have to deal with it. So I was strangely excited every day when I found out the celebrity coming in was not my ex husband or one of his former band mates. I grabbed the bottle of Evian and hurried back to the green room.
“Hi Mr. Young, sorry for the wait,” I said politely like we were always instructed to do. “My name’s Sarah James and if there’s anything else I can get for you, please let me know.” I smiled and went to turn out of the room – usually the celebs wanted nothing more to do with us. I was quite used to it.
“Wait. Would that be Miss James? Or Mrs. James?” He winked as I turned around. It took everything inside of me not to step forward and slap him. I had been fooled by a celebrity’s charm once before, and that would be the last time it ever happened again.
“Miss James,” I answered politely. “I have to get back to work. Again, let us know if you need anything.” Before he could say anything else, I hurried out of the room.
Even though Jake had come across as incredibly obnoxious and nothing but arrogant, I had eventually given in to his request – after he asked for the fifth time – and gone out on a date with him. He wasn’t the typical celebrity I was used to. He was genuine and caring. He didn’t care that I had a son and that the media seemed to eat it all up. He seemed to really love Connor. And now we had been together for almost four years.
“Morning Sarah,” one of my best friends and colleagues, Paige Matthews, smiled as I entered the cubicle. She sighed as she continued typing up this morning’s report for the anchors to glance over. All the breaking news stories made the cut.
“Morning,” I took a sip of my coffee and turned on my computer. “How’s Alexia this morning?”
“Cranky, like always,” Paige chuckled as she turned towards me in her computer chair. “How’s Jake?” She raised her eyebrows as if it was some scandalous affair going on. I rolled my eyes and entered my username and password into the computer.
“I didn’t see him last night. Connor and I just stayed in and watched a movie. Jake needed to work on his lines for the filming of AMC today,” I explained as I checked my e-mail and such. “He’s coming over tonight, though. But I’m kinda bummed…Connor still doesn’t seem thrilled about the idea of Jake being over all the time.” I sighed.
“He’s a kid, so what?” Paige muttered. “I know Connor. He’ll adjust fine. Nick’s probably brainwashing him, telling him that Jake’s some kind of monster or something. That’s why the kid hates him so much.”
I rolled my eyes. She was probably right. That sounded like something Nick would do. “See, I’d believe you but Connor hasn’t even seen Nick for almost three months. I mean, I guess Nick could be going on and on about how much he hates Jake. I’m not sure why, it’s not like Nick cares much for me anyway,” I shrugged and turned towards her with a heavy sigh.
“Doubt it. I don’t know about you, but I remember when Nick found out about you and Jake. He wasn’t too thrilled…”
She was right.
I giggled and pulled away from Jake’s captivating gaze. “Don’t get it…let the machine pick up,” he tugged on my hand as I stood up to reach for the phone. He pulled me back down on the couch, but I had grabbed the cordless phone as I had stood up.
“Hello?” I giggled as he tickled my neck with his lips.
“So I see you haven’t given up on celebrities entirely,” his voice sobered me up quickly. I pulled away from Jake and sat up straight, a sharp twinge of anger and hatred shooting through my spine.
“What do you want?” I asked him, careful not to say his name. Jake hated Nick. I didn’t blame him, but at the same time, I was in no way wanting to start an argument between the two of them I could see already boiling just by listening to Nick’s tone and looking back into Jake’s eyes.
“I’m just surprised, that’s all. You’re all over the cover of People magazine,” he informed me, though I had already known. We had actually purchased copies of the magazine; it wasn’t anything bad. It was sweet – the writer had noticed how in love we looked and thought she’d document in. No big deal. “I really hope you aren’t subjecting my son to anything inappropriate.”
That hit a nerve. At this point, I didn’t care what Jake heard. I stood up off the couch and started pacing. “Your son?! Are you serious, Nick? He’s our son, first of all, and second of all, I don’t think I’d be the parent subjecting him to inappropriate things. If I recall, you’re the one with hookers over all the time. Who’s the better parent? Who keeps track of Connor every day and every night? I do. So don’t even start that bullshit with me.”
“He was jealous,” Paige cut in as I sipped my coffee.
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “Nick? Nick doesn’t give a crap about me or my life. He was just angry that I had another man around Connor. He was more jealous of the time Jake was spending with Connor than anything between Jake and me. Nick couldn’t care any less.”
“Oh please,” Paige rolled her eyes. “You just don’t see it, do you? You don’t see the way he feels about you.”
“I see it clearly,” I interjected and turned to face her. “He couldn’t hate me any more than he already does.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for the reviews! Keep 'em coming :]!
Also, the character Jacob Young is a celebrity - he's from All My Children, the ABC Soap Opera. I don't own him or anything, I'm just using him in this story :].
Also, the character Jacob Young is a celebrity - he's from All My Children, the ABC Soap Opera. I don't own him or anything, I'm just using him in this story :].
