Work had been slow all morning. We didn’t have any special guests, really. No celebrities, at least. I sighed and picked up my phone as it ran on my desk, bored out of my mind. “Hi, this is Sarah,” I answered simply.
“Hey, it’s Nick,” I heard him sigh. My eyes immediately shot open. My initial thought was that Nick had Connor. Something had obviously happened. “Before you freak out and think something bad happened, everything’s fine.” He tried to assure me. “Connor just wanted to ask you something so he had me call.”
I frowned. “Alright,” I leaned back in my chair. I usually didn’t have time for Connor’s phone calls – when he first started going to spend time with Nick, he’d call me every thirty minutes or so homesick. But he had gotten over that. I figured with it being a Saturday and Connor being with his Dad, he’d have better things to be doing rather than calling me.
“Momma?” I heard his voice. I loved it when he called me that. Connor wasn’t a Southern boy at all, though my family was. Whenever we visited my parents who had recently moved back to North Carolina, Connor seemed to pick up a slight Southern accent. I thought it was hilarious.
“Hey honey,” I grinned. “What’s up, munchkin?” I asked him as my brow furrowed in curiosity.
“Will you come over after work?” He asked. I heard Nick in the background asking him why he needed me to come over. I was curious myself.
“Do you want to come home?” I asked him strangely. It wasn’t like Connor to want to leave Nick’s place. Connor loved staying over at Nick’s.
“Nooo,” Connor dragged out giggling, as if I didn’t understand or something. “I want you to come over for dinner. Daddy said we could make homemade pizza and I want to make it for you!” He exclaimed. I laughed and shook my head.
“Con, you know Jake’s over at our apartment for dinner tonight…” I frowned, wondering what this smart little kid was up to. “Maybe some other time, okay?” I tried to put it lightly. It seemed like Connor really wanted me to eat with them. But I knew that was bad news. I knew Jake would freak out and wouldn’t understand.
“Mkay,” he mumbled.
“I’m sorry, honey,” I sighed. I knew he was disappointed. “You have fun with your Dad, though. Okay?” I grinned and tried to make light of it all.
“Kay,” he mumbled. “Bye.” I rubbed my temples and hung up my phone.
“Kids these days,” I turned over my shoulder and whispered to Paige. After I had her attention, I sighed and continued. “Can you believe Connor? He wants me to come over and have dinner with him in Nick! It’s absolutely ludicrous!”
“Poor kid just wants to get his parents back together,” Paige shrugged. “When my parents divorced, my brothers and I did everything we possibly could to try and get them back together. It’s not easy on the kids, ya know.” She said. I sighed and nodded.
“Oh, I know,” I muttered. “I vowed to myself I’d never get divorced.” I explained. “That lasted until I married the infamous Nick Carter.” I rolled my eyes. Paige busted out laughing and shook her head.
“You’re too much, girl,” she laughed. “Just too much.”
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“Baby, this dinner is delicious,” Jake reached across the table and held my hand in his. I hadn’t even taken a bite yet. I grinned as I folded my napkin over my lap and picked up my fork. As soon as I was about to dig in, the phone started ringing. “Let the machine get it.” He quickly responded, holding onto my hand as if he didn’t, I’d slip away.
“What if it’s Connor?” I sighed and put my napkin on the table, then reached for the phone. “Hello?” I answered.
“Mom,” Connor said. He sounded really upset.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” My heart immediately dropped in my chest and I thought the worse.
“I don’t feel good. Can you come get me?” He coughed loudly. I closed my eyes and nodded, as if he could see me.
“I’ll be there soon, honey,” I sighed and hurried to grab my purse of the dining room table. I hung up the phone and grabbed my coat off the hook. “Connor’s sick, Jake. I have to go get him from Nick’s.” I explained as I slipped my shoes on.
Jake stood and sighed heavily, following me to the front door with his hands in his pockets. “Why can’t Nick bring him home?” He asked softly as I tied my hair back in a ponytail.
I shrugged. “You know how Nick is,” I tried to lighten the mood; I knew Jake was upset. “I’ll be right back. We’ll get Connor some soup and in bed, then we’ll have our dinner and cuddle.” I winked and kissed him softly. He didn’t kiss back and he definitely wasn’t smiling. “What?” I frowned.
“Connor’s a big boy, Sarah. I’m sure Nick can take care of him for one night if he’s as good a father as he says he is,” Jake raised his eyebrows, questioning what I had mentioned earlier. I was shocked. I definitely wasn’t the kind of girl that could sit back and take crap like that. Not after everything that had happened with Nick.
“Connor is my son and he asked me to come get him, so that’s what I’m going to do,” I said matter-of-factly and opened the front door.
“I’ll walk you to the ferry,” Jake mumbled and threw his shoes and coat on, shoving past me. I sighed and closed the door behind us, locking it on our way out. “You drop everything for that kid, you realize that?” Jake mumbled as we walked together towards the ferry.
“Um, yeah,” I said dumbly. “He’s my son, Jake. What part of that don’t you understand?” I folded my arms over my chest.
“What about me, Sarah? When are you going to start dropping things for me, huh?” He sounded like such a whiney child. I rolled my eyes.
“Are you kidding me, Jake? You know how rough the past few years have been for me and how much trouble I have dealing with the fact that there are some guys out there I can or cannot trust. It’s hard for me!” I was angry, sad, upset. Jake had never had a problem with my lack of commitment before.
“I wanna get married, Sarah,” Jake licked his lips in the cold and turned me towards him. “We’ve been together for a while now. I wanna tie the knot.” He cracked a smile. “Will you marry me?”
It was probably the oddest and most unprepared engagement I could have dreamt up myself. I wasn’t expecting him to propose any time soon. We hardly ever talked about it, besides every once and a while if we’d see a couple getting engaged around town or on TV. I wasn’t sure what my answer would be. “Jake, we haven’t even talked about this.”
“We have,” he nodded. “And we will some more. I know I want to spend forever with you.”
Forever. That was such a long time. At one time, I thought I’d spend forever with Nick. But that turned out to be a very short forever. “Jake…” I sighed. This was all so much.
“Sarah, come on and say yes! I know you love me,” I could see the confusion in his eyes.
“Of course I love you,” I sighed and touched the side of his face. “I’m just not wanting to get married right now. I’m not ready, Jake. I don’t know when I’ll be ready.” I bit my bottom lip as I saw everything fall from his face.
“I want someone that I can marry and have my own children with,” he whispered softly, taking my hands in his. “I know it’s all sudden and you aren’t sure what to do…but is that person you, Sarah? Are you ever going to be ready to get married again and have kids?”
Kids? I had Connor. And Connor was enough for me. “Jake, all this on top of my heart disease…it’s really not the right time.” I swallowed. I knew in my heart it probably wouldn’t ever be the ‘right time’.
He nodded and kissed my forehead softly as the ferry docked behind me. “Bye, Sarah.” He muttered and walked away. I sighed and closed my eyes. But it didn’t hurt. Telling him ‘no’ and having him walk away wasn’t painful. Instead, I continued on to get to my son.
Author's Chapter Notes:
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