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Chapter 10

Clare glanced at her watch as she watched her mother and father get into the car. Her mother was going to be spending the next few days with her parents and that left them pleanty of oppertunities to get the guys into the house without her knowing. She sighed. She had told Howie to drop by at noon and it was now eleven fourty-five. Erin had been running late and now she was worried that she might run into her plan.

Clare nervously looked out of the window once again to see that her parents had pulled out of the driveway and there car was no longer visible. Grace and Christian were spending the day with Brad. It took some convincing to get them to leave without her but she was finally able to pursuade them. Clare grabbed the scrunchie sitting on the kitchen counter and pulled her hair back just as the door bell rang. Quickly running down the hall she opened the door.

"Hey Clare," Howie greeted. "These guys are Kevin, Brian and Alex."

"Hey, nice to meet you guys," Clare replied. "Come inside. My dad's not home right now. He had to take my mom to my grandparents and they left like fifteen minutes ago and it might be a while before he can get out because I know grandma, she can really talk."

"You're Nicks' daughter?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, one of 'em. My brother and sister are out with my fiance."

"You're engaged?"

"Yeah, but dad doesn't like him. But isn't that the way that it always goes?"

"I was kind of looking foward to meeting the entire family," Kevin stated. Clare looked at him. He looked much older than the man that she had seen on the CD cover. His hair was nearly completely gray and he didn't have that youthful look behind his eyes.

"Well that's going to be a little bit of a problem..."

"Why?" Brian asked.

"My mom really doesn't want him to be looking for you guys so she doesn't know about this. That's why I said today was okay because I knew that she was going to see my grandparents. If my brother and sister were here, they would tell my mom because they don't know how dad's been feeling. To be honest, I don't even know why he told me."

"Why doesn't she want him to talk to us?" Howie asked. "Nick really didn't explain to me what happened when I talked to him the other day."

"Basically he was just supposed to act like nothing in his past ever happened. Apparently he found some shit in the attic and it tripped him out. At first I didn't think that what he found was I problem.. I thought it was my engagement. Then he explained to me what happened.Then that kinda got everything rolling and that's why we're all here now."

"Clare have you seen..." Brad called as he walked into the livingroom.

"Brad you're not supposed to be here right now. I thought I told you that," Clare stated.

"Hey we're not married yet... don't boss me around," he joked.

"Seriously. I asked you to take out Chris and Grace for a reason."

"Hey I'm Brad," Brad said, speaking towards the guys in the living room. "Clare's fiance."

"We're friends of her dads," Alex stated. Brad nodded then looked towards Clare.

"Oh I thought your dad was staying at your grandparents," Brad commented.

"No, he's just dropping my mom off. He's coming right back now get back into your car and get the hell out of here before Grace and Chris get all crazy and come in here," Clare ordered.

"Geez chill. I just came in to grab my wallet. I forgot it on the way out," he said as he gradded his wallet off of one of the tables.

"Okay you got it now leave," Clare said pushing Brad towards the door.

"Love you too Clare," he laughed as he walked out of the door shutting it behind him.

"I'm sorry about that. He wasn't supposed to be here. But he's hard headed and I'm marrying him.." she said with a laugh.

"Hey I wouldn't have minded him staying," Brian replied.

"Neither would I, but it's my brother and sister that I don't want around. If he stayed they'd come inside to find out why and they would get all involved and tell my mother. Which is the last thing that we want right now."

"You are so much like Nick when he was younger," Kevin replied as he smiled at Clare.

"Yeah, that DNA'll get ya everytime," she joked. "Everyone says were a lot alike and I guess we are. Maybe that's why we talk so well."
"How is your mom?" Brian asked.

"She's fine. I haven't talked to her a lot because I've got school and work so I'm never around to give her a call. I'm only here for the holidays then I have to head back and start my life again. But we don't talk too much. Maybe she sees how much me and dad are alike too."

"What's so wrong with that?"

"A lot I guess. If my dad and I had been less a like we probably wouldn't all be here right now. She must have always known that once I found out more about my dad that I would want to help and she was right. He's been so...I don't know.. out of it lately. This seemed like the right thing to do. I'm sorry if it's not but I can't do nothing, ya know? I really think that this is what he needs."

"Me too," Alex replied. "I don't know if he told you that him and I talked after I saw him. He called me really late and we just ended up meeting in the park and talking. It was pretty cool actually. It was great just to talk about the past. It was a great time."

"He never mentioned that to me," Clare stated. "But I know what night you're talking about. He and mom got into a fight about Brad being here. Next thing I know he slammed the door and was gone."

"Nick, I'm sorry," Erin said. Clare looked down the hallway to see her parents standing there. Nick had a worried expression on his face.

"Shit... my mom's back," Clare said as she left the room. "Hey guys what happened?"

"Your grandmother called my cell phone and told us that she didn't need me there and told me to go home," she answered.

"You should have went anyway. It would have been nice just to see her right?"

"Yeah but you know your grandmother. The moment I'd get there she'd go on and on."

"Clare.." Brad called as he walked into the house. "I got a flat, we had to come back." Clare pulled her eyes shut. This was not happening. It was going to be an interesting day to say the least.

"I'm going upstairs," Erin said as she began to walk down the hall. Clare braced herself. She knew that there was no way that she was going to miss the four guys in the livingroom. "Hello.." Erin said softly and shot an angry glance at Clare and Nick. They looked at each other then back at Erin. "I'll be upstairs. Nick I want to talk to you. Clare, you too." They nodded and Erin disappeared up the stairs.

"They here?" Nick whispered into her ear.

"What do you think? Mom wasn't pissed 'cause the living room was empty was she?"

"Go talk to your mother for me, please. I need to talk to these guys. I'll be up in a little while."