The Big Apple.
“Where are we?” Abby looked out the window, but she couldn’t see anything. They were in a big parking garage or something.
“Madison Square Garden.”
“Omigod.”
“Yeah.” Nick nodded. “Pretty amazing, ain’t it? I never get used to it, the traveling, the arenas...”
Abby looked at the clock and snuggled up against him. “You have to get up now.”
“Five more minutes,” he begged. She didn’t argue with him.
“How did you sleep?” Abby’s hormones had kept her up for awhile and she had tried not to toss and turn. She didn’t want to disturb him.
“Good, eventually,” he said. “That big nap in the afternoon kinda took the edge off. It was hard to settle in.”
There was a knock at the door. “Okay,” called Nick. “I’m awake.” He leaned over and kissed Abby on the nose. “Gotta go to work now, Ba…Mrs. Carter.”
“I’m right behind you,” said Abby.
They pulled on sweatsuits and grabbed their toiletry bags. They were going to shower and get ready in the arena dressing rooms. The Garden had a bunch of them, team rooms for the Knicks, the Rangers and the Liberty and what they called Star Dressing Rooms for performers.
“Did you guys ever play here?” Abby asked Nick, as they walked side by side up the long hallway.
“We did the Concert for New York here in 2001 and we played Radio City Music Hall back in the day, but we’ve never done a concert here, just us.”
They went into Nick’s dressing room. “Want to shower together?” asked Nick.
“Yes,” said Abby, “but not today.”
Nick laughed. “Yeah, I guess we don’t have time, although it should take less time than two separate showers, right?”
“You would think so,” replied Abby with a smile, “but somehow I doubt it.”
“You want to go first?”
“No, you’re the one with the timeline. You go ahead.” Abby waved him to the bathroom.
Nick stood under the water, suddenly glad that Abby hadn’t wanted to shower with him. He was alone. He realized that showers over the past few days was the only time he’d had to himself. He was happy to be with people; he wasn’t good at being alone, but he needed some quiet thinking time. He needed to think about his feelings for Abby. Was it love?
Love…now, there was a word that got tossed around fairly lightly, thought Nick, as he soaped his body. People said it all the time when they didn’t really mean it. They meant ‘like’. I love what you’ve done with the place. Unless you were kissing the throw pillows in delight, that wasn’t really true. That was why Abby had instituted rule number one. Because the word was too easy to say. Nick had been a little uncomfortable during the wedding ceremony when Kevin was doing that reading from the Bible. Shit! Did he say the word ‘love’ enough times? He sure as hell broke rule number one. Nick knew that Leighanne had picked out the readings and that was something she would like.
He smiled as he thought about the wedding and the lunch afterward. Leighanne had done a great job. Abby was unaware of how restrained Leighanne had been. If they had given her free rein, well, she would have given Abby’s mom a good run for her money. But she had come through. They should send her flowers or something. He’d ask Abby about that. No roses, though.
No roses. Leighanne couldn’t get that. What do you mean, no roses? Everyone likes roses. How could…
“Nick!” Terence pounded on the door.
“Coming,” called Nick. He turned off the water and grabbed a towel. As he dried himself off, he realized that his mind had wandered off topic and he hadn’t sorted out his feelings for Abby. In that case, he decided, I’m sticking with the plan, the Friends Forever Plan. I am not bringing this up to her until I know exactly what’s what.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Abby tried to stay in the background at the studio. Kind of hard to do with a big, hulking bodyguard, she thought. Diane Sawyer was going to do the interview. Abby wondered how much she had paid Charlie Gibson for the privilege of sitting down with five such handsome men. When she heard that Abby was in the studio, she asked if they wanted her to be part of the interview. Nick said ‘no’, that was his private life. Diane said she understood perfectly.
“Right after the break, The Backstreet Boys,” said Charlie. They were doing the interview first and then the song later in the show. There had been promo bits before every commercial with a snippet of the video and a few seconds of music.
“Okay, Ma’am, we should go over here,” said Patrick.
Abby gave him a long look.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
“No,” she replied, “I’m just trying to decide what I’m going to do to you if you ever call me Ma’am again.”
Patrick smiled and guided her by the elbow to the side of the studio. “It’s part of the job,” he whispered. “We shouldn’t say the subject’s name in public.”
“Oh, so now I’m a subject?” Abby smiled to show him that she was only teasing.
The Boys came out and sat on two sofas facing each other, Kevin and Nick on one and the other three across from them. There was a low table between them with a bowl of fake flowers on it. Roses, Nick noticed. Diane Sawyer sat in an armchair at the top of the set. Nick was nervous. He knew that he was going to be the focus. He also knew that there were VCRs all over America recording every moment of this. It would be replayed and discussed and rehashed by the fans. He hoped he could get through it without saying something stupid.
“Relax, Kid,” whispered Kevin from beside him.
AJ watched Nick from the other sofa. He was glad that it wasn’t him this time. Something had come along to replace the ‘addiction’ question. This Sawyer woman seemed like a nice lady. AJ remembered that his mom had liked her when she was on the show.
“…and in five, four, three…” The floor director held up two fingers and then one. He pointed at Charlie.
“We’re back. In the studio with us this morning are the five members of the pop group, The Backstreet Boys. They are on tour with their new album and are performing a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden tonight. They’re going to sing for us later on in the show, but right now, they’re going to talk to Diane Sawyer. Diane...”
“Thanks, Charlie…Good morning, Gentlemen. Welcome to New York.”
Variations of good morning and thank you from the five men.
Diane Sawyer opened her mouth to ask Nick about his marriage, but she could tell that he wasn’t ready for it yet, so she went a different route.
“It’s been three years since you recorded an album together and went on tour. During that time, you all did individual projects. What made you come back together? And why now?”
Kevin answered first. “We came back together because we’re the Backstreet Boys. That’s what we’ve always been. There was never any plan to break that up. But we needed some time to ourselves after our last tour. And then the time just seemed to get longer and longer. It was hard to get everyone available at the same time.” He shrugged.
“We’re back now, though,” interjected Howie.
Diane turned to him. “Yes, and the album is selling well.”
“Yes,” continued Howie. “It’s been on the Billboard Top 20 since its release.”
“In fact,” said Diane, referring to her notes, “it’s been number one for the last three weeks.”
The boys smiled. Let her say it. Then it didn’t sound like bragging.
“During that break,” she continued, “I would hardly call it ‘time off’ with the list of things that you accomplished, but during that break, did you ever think about ending it…just going your separate ways and leaving the Backstreet Boys to history?”
AJ fielded that one. “Sure, we did. Each of us thought about it, I’m sure. We’d been together a long time and we didn’t all want to move in the same direction anymore. We wanted to experiment with different kinds of music, do some acting, get into producing…grow a little.”
Brian jumped in. “We’re a family. And just like in any family, there’s change. Kids grow up, move away from home. That doesn’t make you any less a family. And God has blessed us with twelve wonderful years together…”
Over at the desk, Charlie Gibson smiled. He’d just won ten dollars. He’d bet Diane that Brian would find a way to get God into the interview.
“Speaking of changes, I understand there was a big one a couple of days ago. Nick?”
Nick smiled at her and blushed. “Yes, I got married.”
“Congratulations,” said Diane. “I understood that you were engaged and were planning to get married in the fall after the tour was over. What changed your mind?”
“I bet Abby’s mom would like to know the answer to that too,” blurted Nick.
In Chicago, Sharon Fremont leaned forward in her chair. Yes, she would.
“Um…we…just decided that we didn’t want to wait…and we didn’t want a lot of attention and stuff…we just wanted it to be us.”
“You Boys were all there?” asked Diane, knowing that Teenage America was waiting for details.
“Yes,” said Brian. “I was the best man and Howie gave the bride away.”
“Kevin and I did readings during the ceremony,” said AJ, putting luvsdabone’s mind to rest.
“And your new bride, Abby, is along on tour with you for awhile. That seems like kind of an odd honeymoon, going on tour with the Backstreet Boys.”
“She’s going to be with me for a bit and then she’s going back to her…I mean, our home in Chicago. We’ll do a real honeymoon when the tour is over.”
“You can go on a cruise or something,” said AJ.
“Yeah,” said Howie, “or back to that lodge in Michigan where you met.”
In Chicago, Ronni Fenton stood up so quickly that she knocked her cup of coffee over. She ignored it as she stared intently at the television screen, where Nick was shrugging and Diane Sawyer was wrapping up the interview.
Ronni flipped off the TV. She didn’t give a rat’s ass about listening to them sing. She picked up the phone and called her mother-in-law. After a minute or so of polite conversation, Ronni got to the point. She had just been watching Good Morning America, she said. Abigail’s husband was on with his group. She wondered if maybe Abigail would be on too. She had hoped to see her friend.
Jeannette Fenton smiled. Thank goodness, Ronni had started associating with Abigail Fremont. Fremont-Carter, she corrected herself. “Yes,” said Jeannette, “I was watching it as well.” She had been given the heads up by Sharon that it would be on and she wanted to hear exactly what was said. Sharon Fremont had nearly blown a vein in her brain when she got the news that Abigail had eloped and Jeannette had spent the last couple of days calming her down, convincing her that she could still have the big wedding reception. They’d just call it a party now instead. That was what they had done for James and Veronica.
“That’s so romantic,” said Ronni. “That they might have their honeymoon where they met. What did Howie say, a lodge in Michigan?”
“Yes,” said Jeannette, “Brookhaven Lodge. Do you know it?”
“Oh, good old Brookhaven,” said Ronni. “Yes, we vacationed there a couple of times when I was a kid. That’s where I met Abigail for the first time, in fact. She was staying in Rose Cottage.”
“Isn’t that interesting!” said Jeannette, “That was where he was staying this time, Nick, I mean, her husband. He was in Rose Cottage. Abigail was up at the Lodge.”
“And when was this?” inquired Ronni nonchalantly.
“Let me think…well, it was the week that you married James, back in June. I remember it, because Abigail had broken up with Philip Randall and she went to Brookhaven…to get over it, I guess…”
To lick her wounds, thought Ronni spitefully.
“That’s right,” continued Jeannette. “I remember now. I phoned Sharon to tell her the good news about you and James, and she told me that Abigail was at the Lodge and she’d tell her when she got home. So yes, that’s when it was, the first week of June. My goodness, so much has happened so fast. It hasn’t even been a year since they met and now they’re married. I wonder…” No, Jeannette was not going to let that uncharitable thought cross her lips, or even her mind. She banished it.
Ronni had no such compunctions. “Do you think they had to get married?”
“Oh my, oh no. I’m sure they didn’t. Abigail would never…”
“Come on, Mother Fenton, he’s a very handsome man. Abigail might well…”
“I didn’t mean that, Veronica. My goodness, I’m not from the Stone Age. I know what young people do. I just meant that Abigail would never be so irresponsible as to get pregnant.”
“Oh, I agree with you,” said Ronni. But I wonder if the fans will, she thought.
