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Amanda’s birthday had come and gone and now things were going back to normal around the Carter house. Aaron was on summer break so he was home more. Celine was talking more. AJ had hired some extra help at the tattoo shop so he was home a bit more too.

“Hey, baby?” Nick called from the living room where he was on his laptop looking up something while he watched television. Amanda walked in with her lunch, and sat down next to him. On the laptop screen was Disney World vacation packages.

“What are you up to?” Amanda asked, smiling because she had a idea already.

“I was kind of thinking maybe we need to take a vacation. We haven’t been on any kind of trips since our honeymoon in Paris and I think we could take a family trip.” Nick said, showing her his laptop. He’d been doing research on resorts at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

“I don’t know, Nick...don’t you think the kids are a little young? They probably won’t even remember any of it. Maybe we should wait until they’re older.”

AJ walked in and sat down across from them, putting is feet up on the coffee table. Nick promptly swatted him with the newspaper as Amanda laughed.

“Amanda, this trip is more for the grown ups than the kids. We could bring Lisa along to help with them because Aaron is also coming. That’s a lot of kids to have with us and we need some alone time.”

“Nick, have you never been to Disney before?” AJ asked.

“No. My mom didn’t let me do anything fun or take me anywhere. I was lucky if I got to go outside during the summer when I wasn’t doing chores.”

“I don’t know, honey.”

Nick led Amanda into the kitchen so that AJ could not hear this part of the conversation, pretending that he wanted to talk about what he was making for dinner. Luckily AJ did not follow them.

“Nick, what is all this about?”

“Brian wants to propose to Lisa.” Nick whispered, making sure she was not in the room. Amanda’s hand flew to her mouth and she gasped, smiling.

“Shut up….really? That’s amazing. When did he tell you that?”

She was going a mile a minute asking questions and Nick shushed her, laughing. He dropped his voice again.

“That’s way he’s kind of pulled away a bit...remember you told me I should talk to him to find out what was going on? We went jogging together and he told me everything. How he was afraid that if he was too affectionate he’d get his heart broken like he did with you.”

“I didn’t mean to break his heart, Nick. I was in love with you.” Amanda said softly, feeling bad. She remembered the look of rejection on his face when she told him she did not love him. She remembered the door closing slowly and feeling horrible, but he eventually bounced back. It was obvious he was truly in love with Lisa so she understood why he was protecting himself just in case.

“He knows you didn’t mean it. He just is afraid of feeling that again. He told me he loves her a lot and wants to marry her, just that he did not know how to propose or where. We’ve been talking and we thought Disney was perfect for them. Lisa loves Disney. We haven’t worked out all the details but the main thing is getting a excuse for her to be there. I figured a family trip is a good way to do that because she is our nanny and she’d have to come.” Nick explained. Amanda agreed this idea was perfect. She had to hand it to her husband for coming up with a lot of this on his own and knew Brian could pull it off. This would be a truly magical trip for everyone.

“Okay, let’s do it.” Amanda smiled, and Nick kissed her cheek.

“I just want Brian to get to give her something amazing. We just haven’t decided when he will propose or where, but I figured we could work that part out later. We still have time. I just needed to book everything in advance.”


The truth was, Nick was really excited to go on his first real vacation and be there with his own family. As a kid he’d often dreamed of visiting all the places he’d seen as a touring artist, but never got much downtime to explore. He never took time off because he liked to work.



“So did you book the hotel?” Brian asked a couple days later when they were playing basketball in Nick’s driveway. Nick bounced the ball to him and he went for a shot, then passed the ball back.

“Yes, we are staying at the Boardwalk Inn. I don’t know much about it but it’s right across the lake from Epcot and the firework show is right there. Should be awesome. I’m so excited about this whole thing, dude. Lisa and the kids are going to love it.”

“I’m excited too, Nick. You got me a room on another floor than yours, right? Because I don’t want Lisa knowing I am there at all until I propose. Then we can spend the rest of the vacation together in my room. I went ring shopping, do you want to see it?” Brian asked, before setting the ball down. Nick walked over, wiping sweat off of his forehead as Brian took out a small box from his pocket. The ring was beautiful, a small diamond with a silver band. The sides of the ring had blue stones and were made to look like a lightsaber.

“This is so cool. She’ll love it.”

“I got it to look like Luke’s lightsaber. It was not cheap but she is worth it. I wanted to do something different that she would not expect. Something original.”

“You should have asked me, I could have helped you out with this.” Nick said, thinking that maybe the ring was too small. Brian put the ring away and smiled, patting Nick on the back and chuckling.

“Nah, it’s perfect. Lisa doesn’t like super flashy jewelry anyway.”

“Have you decided where in the park you’re going to propose?”

“You’ll see. Just make sure she is where I tell you and I will handle the rest. I don’t want anyone to know what I am doing, no offense. You’ll know when it happens.” Brian said with a smile. Nick never saw this side of him before, especially when it came to a girl. Brian was usually very reserved and quiet when it came to dating. He never liked to tell anyone until he was sure it was working out.


“Hey, since you made me best man when you got married to Tracy….would you...I mean…” Brian said suddenly as his ears turned pink.

“Be your best man? Of course. I’m sorry I chose Lance over you for Amanda….I just felt like it would hurt you too much or something. Plus the competition with you and AJ-“

“I get it. That was so dumb. AJ just had me going and I guess sometimes I feel like you like him more than you like me. Cos he lives with you and all. So I guess I got a little….jealous.” Brian confessed, lingering on the last word. Nick was kind of surprised by this revelation because he always thought Brian and AJ were good friends too.

“I thought you and AJ were cool.”

“We are, just in the beginning I felt like you were still upset ove how my parents acted when you lived with us. So I guess that I kind of backed away. I didn’t want to lose my best friend. Kinda what I’ve been doing to Lisa. I pull away so I don’t get hurt.”

Nick nodded, the breeze rustling his hair.

“I can relate to that. I just always put you on this pedestal and thought you were the perfect child. Perfect man. Perfect everything. Everyone liked you. You weren’t a fuck up like I was. I always thought that you’d be married before me because all the girls liked you. You had everything. I’m just glad you finally found someone that you love. You deserve it, dude. For real.”

They both smiled at one another.

Brian looked up at the sun setting in the sky, he could not wait to give the ring in his pocket to Lisa. He just hoped that he was doing the right thing.