Grace slept late the next morning and woke up with a smile on her face. Nick was coming home today! She tried to sort out her feelings for him. He was sweet and charming, not the big egotistical pop star, but just a kind-hearted...she stopped herself from saying 'kid'. She knew that Nick was in awe of her job and her lifestyle. He thought she was so much in control of her life. She shook her head at that. And just because she liked to read, he thought she knew everything. She shook her head at that too.
Grace crawled out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. She looked around the big room at the five vases of flowers that were sitting there. Matt had sent her one every day this week with a note of apology for his behavior last Friday. He had called four times and left voice mail messages ranging from flat apology to pleading to barely-contained anger. She had not had to speak to him.
She had also not told Nick about the flowers and she wasn't sure she had made the right decision there. She didn't want to bother him with something like that while he was on the other side of the country, but he might not see it that way. He might think she was hiding something from him, that she was still involved with Matt.
Matt had enlisted her parents on his side and that had been three painful moments of the past week. She had patiently explained to her mother, then her father, and then her mother again, that she did not want to marry Matt, that she was not in love with Matt, and that she was not even sure she liked him very much any more. In answer to the question, are you in love with this other guy, this...Backstreet Boy, she said nothing. Because she didn't know what to say. Was she in love with Nick? She didn't know what love was. She knew that now. Maybe she could find out with Nick. Maybe not.
Grace got dressed and made coffee. She made her way over to the computer and powered it up. She set herself to her first task - checking her email. This used to be one of her favorite parts of the day - but no longer. Not since she had been publicly identified as 'Nick's girl'. Her email address had been published on a number of message boards along with details about her business and a listing of the websites she had designed. She had gotten some compliments about her work from it, but that didn't begin to compensate for the hundreds of emails she received from Nick's fans. Most were friendly, wishing her good luck, telling her to take care of him, oh, they wished it could be them. But a few had a more belligerent tone - you're not good enough for him, why don't you find someone your own age? you had better not hurt him. And there were a couple that she had saved in a special file - nasty, threatening missives calling both her character and her ancestry into question.
She had not replied to any of them and she had not told Nick about them.
After finishing with the email, she planned her next campaign. Throwing out five vases of flowers when you are on crutches is a big production. And she still had two to go when the phone sounded. It was Jermaine, announcing Nick's arrival. Shit, she thought. What time did his flight leave New York?
Nick had come straight to Grace's from the airport. He left his bags with Jermaine and hurried to the elevator. Jermaine smiled as he watched Nick punch the button four times impatiently within a space of ten seconds.
Nick knocked on the door. He heard Grace yell, "It's open." He pushed the door open.
"Grace, how many times have I told you to lock this door when you're in here alone?" he scolded. He stopped when he saw her by the counter. A warm feeling spread through him. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," she whispered and felt her stomach flip flop as he swept her into his arms and kissed her. When he set her back down, several minutes later, she said, "But not when you nag me, Mr. Bossy Boots. The door was open because I was taking stuff to the garbage chute."
"Okay, okay," he laughed. "I'm just saying...wow, where did you get those?" He pointed at the two floral arrangements sitting behind her on the counter.
"Oh, Matt wanted to apologize for his behavior last weekend," she waved her hand through the air as if the flowers meant nothing.
Nick felt bad that he hadn't thought to send her flowers from New York. He changed his guilt into anger as he so often did. "And how many times did he apologize?" he asked with an edge to his voice.
"Five," said Grace airily. She shrugged.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Nick was still upset, although Grace didn't seem to be.
"Because I was afraid you would react just the way you are doing right now. And I wouldn't be in New York and be able to calm you down. Like this..." She slipped her arms around him and hugged him, running her fingers over his back and kissing his shirtfront. Nick allowed her to do that for a moment, and then he set her away.
"And because they mean nothing to me, Nick. He can send me flowers every day. It means nothing to me. He can call and leave messages and have my parents phone and beg on his behalf, it means nothing."
"And did he do all that too?" Nick really wanted to hurt this guy.
"Yes, he did, but I haven't spoken to him and I don't intend to."
Nick let it go for the moment, but he wanted to discuss it further. He felt that he didn't understand a relationship that Matt couldn't let go of, and that Grace had tossed off so easily.
"How come he only sent five?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.
"What?" asked Grace. Now he didn't think there were enough flowers!?
"Well, his boorish behavior was last Friday and that was seven days ago. How come he only sent five arrangements?"
Grace laughed. "Because he has his secretary send them. And she only works Monday to Friday. You see, Nick, he didn't make any effort himself, just said to Janice, send flowers to Grace."
Nick nodded. Good point, he thought, but he made a mental note to send Grace flowers at the first special occasion he could think of.
"Anyway, I'm back. I brought you a present."
"Yes, you did, but could I have another one please?" she said, referring to his kiss. She tilted her face up to him and he obliged to the extent that she felt she was having an out-of-body experience.
“I have something for you too,” whispered Grace, breathlessly. “It’s sort of a present. Maybe.”
"What is it?" he grinned. He loved surprises as long as they weren't named Matt.
"You have to drive me somewhere first," she said.
"Okay, let's do this" Nick suggested that they take a cab to his place, dump his bags and get his car. Then he would drive her wherever she wanted to go. He didn't want to let her out of his sight. She acquiesced happily. She didn't want to let him go either.
She grabbed her stuff and hobbled to the door. As they were locking the door, Nick pointed back at the flowers. Don't throw them away yet, he said. They are pretty.
******************************During the ride to Nick's house, they held hands and whispered how much they missed each other. They were too smart to display any public passion in the cab, but were barely inside the door of Nick's apartment when they started in again. "When does that cast come off?" he demanded.
"I go in on Monday for an x-ray. It could be then or I could have to wait. The doctor says he thinks one more week at least."
"Grrrrr," growled Nick. Grace laughed and rumpled his hair. Nick announced that he wanted to take a quick shower. He took Grace out onto the balcony of his condo, which had a magnificent view of the ocean. She leaned on the railing and breathed in the air. Nick's apartment was a reflection of the man. There was barely any furniture in the living room, where a long leather sofa faced a large TV. It was attached to a sophisticated video game set-up with speakers. There was a DVD player and VCR also rigged to it. It was the focus of the living room. There was a fireplace that had never been used, and along the mantel was a series of Oriental jade figures. The only painting that had been hung on the wall also had an Oriental theme. Several other paintings were leaning up against another wall, waiting to be hung. They had been there since Nick moved in, over a year ago. A couple of side tables held souvenirs from his travels and gifts from fans.
The housekeeper had been in while Nick was in New York, but if she hadn't been, Grace would have seen stuff everywhere. Clothes, scuba gear, CDs. When Nick finished with something, he dropped it wherever he happened to be. His occasional clothes shopping forays were usually due to the fact that he didn't have anything clean left hanging up. He loved being on tour. There were people there to take care of stuff like that for him.
The kitchen cupboards were full of dishes that had been provided by his Mom, but he hardly used any of them, other than glasses. The bedroom had a king-sized bed. Nick slept in it corner to corner when he was alone. He rarely had a girl spend the night with him. He much preferred going to her place. It was easier to get rid of her. He could just get up and go. And she wouldn't have his address. Grace didn't know it but she was the first girl in several months to see the inside of his place.
Nick finished with his shower and they headed off up the coast. In answer to Grace’s question, he said that he had eaten on the plane and wasn’t hungry. They could stop for something to eat whenever she wanted. They chatted easily about lots of things, but Grace turned aside every effort Nick made to find out what she was up to.
Eventually, she said, pull in here. Nick stopped at the side of the road. He looked around. There was a deserted fruit stand by the road and a ramshackle cabin further up a rutted dirt lane. Why were they here, he wondered. He got out and came around to help Grace get out of the car.
"What is this place?" he asked.
"It's your dream house, if you want it to be," she replied. He looked at her questioningly.
Grace pointed at the highway and explained. "That is the Pacific Coast highway. Along this stretch of it, there is only a narrow portion between the highway and the ocean. And that land all belongs to the government. It is high cliffs and they don't want anybody trying to build on it."
"The Cove!" he said.
"Yes," she said. "The Cove is right down there. But you can't buy the land. You can, however, buy this land." Grace pointed at the shack.
"And why would I want to do that?" asked Nick. "So that I could be right here beside the spot I wanted to be, but couldn't be?" He shook his head. That didn't sound right, but she knew what he meant.
“So that you could have access to that.” Grace pointed across the road again. Then she explained. An old law said that even though the government owned the land, they had to allow access to the ocean to the landowners on the other side of the road. So the person who owned the fruit stand was the only one who could have access to the ocean from the beach in The Cove.
"But you can't get to The Cove from up here," said Nick.
Exactly, she said. So there would never be any trespassers. And access to the ocean from the beach was no different than access to the beach from the ocean.
"So if I buy the land this shack is on, I'm buying exclusive rights to The Cove."
She nodded. "And would you like to know how much that will cost you? I made inquiries, not in your name, of course." She quoted him a figure that was so low it was laughable.
"You're kidding," he said.
"Nope. Don't you see, Nick, the very reasons that you want this place are the reasons that nobody else does. It's deserted. No one stops here. They go through here on their way to someplace else."
Nick picked her up in his arms and twirled her around. "You're wonderful. I love you for this." Grace's brain froze solid at his words. She didn't think he was even aware of what he had said and she decided to ignore it.
"My pleasure," she whispered as he set her on the ground. He kissed her and then threw his head back and shouted for joy.
"The Cove. I'm going to get The Cove." He looked at the little shack. "It's weird. I'm going to buy a piece of land that I never want to see, because any time I'm in this area, I want to be down there."
Grace fished the realtor's card out of her waist pack and handed it to him. "Welcome home."
"This is the best present. And now you get yours."
"Oh, good. More kissing," she said.
Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a little box. Inside was a small gold chain. It was beautiful. Nick shifted from one foot to the other. He wasn't good at this stuff.
"It's an ankle bracelet. For your ankle." Jeez, ya think?! "It's for when you get your cast off. So you'll always remember me. How we met."
"It's beautiful," she said. "You're beautiful. Let's go back, so you can buy your property.
On the way back, she fingered the bracelet as he drove. "You know," she said. "Maybe I need to get a bunch of these for remembering other things."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I keep forgetting where I've put things. I guess I just concentrated so hard on work this week that I lost track of things, but stuff keeps turning up missing and then when I find it, it's not where I thought it would be."
"Maybe it's old age," he joked. He was more comfortable with their age difference than he had been.
"Listen up, sonny," she said in an old lady voice, "I can still run rings around you, you young whippersnapper. Well, maybe not..." eying her cast, "but I can still out...out..." she searched for something she could outdo him in. "...outread you," she settled on. "My God, I am old."
