Run by emily_michele
Survivor’s guilt. Nick knew that was what he was feeling that morning as he poured his coffee. Yet, there was something else-- Fear. Fear of thirty-something men with short blonde hair who, according to Madame Alexandra, may or may not be alive. Fear of men in their fifties with blonde or grey hair and blue eyes who somewhat resembled his estranged father. Fear of going to sleep at night…. hence, the never ending coffee.
“Red, blue, or green?”
Nick jumped at the sound of the voice behind him and dropped his coffee mug. “Damnit!”
“Nick?” Annie raced to his side and helped him wipe the hot liquid off his bare legs and feet with a dish towel she grabbed from the back of a kitchen chair. “Are you okay?”
“I-- I’m fine,” Nick stammered, stooping down to pick up the ceramic pieces of broken mug.
“Let me get a cold washcloth-- maybe you won’t burn so bad,” she soothed.
“Annie, I’m fine,” Nick insisted as he stood up and dumped the broken mug into the trash.
“Oh really? Because you’ve practically been jumping out of your skin every time I walk into a room for the past week,” Annie joked as she sat down in a kitchen chair and gestured for Nick to do the same. He did as he was told, and Annie promptly lifted his big feet into her lap as if they didn’t weigh anything and covered them with a cold, wet, dish towel. “So, red, blue, or green?”
“What?” Nick furrowed his brows in confusion.
“Those are the colors I’m trying to decide between for a December wedding. I mean, red seems like the obvious choice for a Christmas wedding. We could have poinsettias and touches of gold. Then, I was thinking maybe a ‘winter wonderland’ type of theme with blues and silvers.” Nick raised an eyebrow. This didn’t sound like Annie at all. Did all women get like this when it came to planning their weddings? He thought they’d decided to go small… Still, though, he’d rather have her chattering away about wedding colors than sinking into the silent solitude he found her in most days. “Then, again, I was thinking a pretty emerald green might be nice…” Annie trailed off and looked at him with wondering eyes.
Nick smiled. “I think we should definitely go with the green, but I don’t think we’ll be able to find a shade as pretty as your eyes.” He winked and reached out for her face, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear so that he could stare into the aforementioned eyes for a moment before leaning in for a kiss.
Drew chose that moment to march into the kitchen holding a well-loved teddy bear under one arm and rubbing his eyes with his fist. “Nick got a boo-boo?” he asked innocently.
“Yes, honey. Nick got a boo-boo,” Annie answered. Despite his best to control it, Nick’s ears burned red with embarrassment.
“Mommy fixes boo-boos!” Drew chirped cheerfully.
“Yeah, buddy, she does,” Nick agreed with a wink in Annie’s direction.
“Drew’s hungry,” the two and a half year old announced to no one in particular.
“How about some strawberries?” Annie asked him cheerfully.
“Mmmm….berries!”
The almost year-round fresh fruit was one of her favorite things about California. Though, she still wasn’t sure she wanted to settle there permanently. The outskirts of Nashville seemed more likely to fit her lifestyle, and if Nick was being honest with himself, he was more suited to the Tennessee lifestyle as well. This was temporary. While Nick finished recording with the guys, Annie planned to stay with him in Los Angeles, possibly finding a recording studio of her own to do some work in. After what they’d been through in the past month, a cross-country relationship was less than appealing. They needed to be together right now.
“Let’s see your feet.” Annie lifted the cool dish towel off of Nick’s feet and lower legs to examine them. They were red, but otherwise didn’t look too bad. “No blisters. That’s good. I’ll get some antibiotic cream to put on them after I get Drew’s breakfast.” She gently pushed his feet out of her lap and stood up. As she was heading for the refrigerator, Nick’s phone rang.
“Yo,” he said as he stood up, only wincing slightly due to the burns on his feet.
“Hey, NIck. It’s Jordan. I’ve had all the papers ready for weeks whenever you want to come by and pick them up. There are some things I’d like to explain to you in person. Otherwise, I’d just mail them. Have you talked to Annie about it yet?”
“No, man, Things have just been, well, a little awkward around here, considering….” Nick trailed off and slipped out of the kitchen into the living room.
“I understand. I can hold onto these for as long as you like, but eventually, I would have to re-petition the Kentucky court system, so…”
“I’ll talk to her about it soon, okay? Maybe she and I can come by your office together sometime to talk about it.”
“Sounds good, Nick. I’ll wait for your call.”
Drew chomped into a big strawberry as Nick waltzed back into the kitchen. Pink juice oozed down the toddler’s chin, and Nick found himself instinctively reaching for a paper towel to dab it off. “Who was that?” Annie asked, perplexed as to why Nick needed to leave the room to take a phone call.
“Jordan,” he replied nonchalantly.
“Keller?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’ve got some legal stuff to take care of before the wedding. That’s all.”
“What kind of legal stuff?”
“Well…” Nick gulped. “My will… and stuff.”
“Oh.” Annie went back to bustling around the kitchen, wiping down the marble countertop with a Clorox wipe. “You know I don’t expect you to change your will, right?”
“Annie-” Nick approached her and placed his hand on the small of her back. “Of course I’m going to change my will. I’m going to have a wife and a step-son.”
Annie bit her lip thoughtfully. “Okay,” she said finally. “But why did you need to walk out of the room to take a call from your lawyer?”
“Go on a date with me?” Nick asked quickly.
Annie eyed him dubiously, taken aback by the sudden change of subject. “We’ll need a babysitter,” she rebutted, playing along. Who was she to judge? She’d been doing a lot of subject-changing herself these days.
Nick smiled. “I’ll call Kevin.”
