Kirsten face went pale. Nick immediately felt the change of atmosphere in the room. “What?” He asked without making a sound. Kirsten nodded “no” to him.

“What happened mom? Is dad ok?” Nick noticed the panic in her voice. He got up from the bed, only wearing his boxers,  and walked to her. Kirsten got her mom on speaker.

“Your father was in an accident at work” Kirsten’s mom’s voice trembled “ he.. eh… went directly to the hospital and the doctors did everything they could” she cried these last three words. “I’m so sorry” she sobbed.

Kirsten was shocked. She was speechless. Nick took her close and held her tight.

“… the funeral is next week on Monday. I need your help baby. I can’t do it alone” her mom cried.

Kirsten didn’t say a word. She couldn’t find the power to speak. Nick took over the conversation.

“Hi miss Harkema, It’s me Nick”. He looked worried at Kirsten.

“Hi Nick” she answered trough her tears.

“I eh… I don’t know what to say really. I’m so terribly sorry about your loss. I’ll get Kirsten on the first possible flight to Amsterdam. She needs to be with you and the rest of the family”. Nick wrapped  both arms around Kirsten and held her even tighter.

“Thank you Nick. You’re an angel” her mom sobbed.

“Kirsten, or I, will call you as soon as the ticket is booked, is that okay?”

“Sure, I have to make some phone calls anyway. I’ll hear from you. Bye Nick, and thank you” and she hung up.

Nick tightened his grip and held Kirsten close to his body while she broke down in tears.

“No….. no…. This is a joke right? Tell me this is a joke!” she cried out loud with tears flooding over her cheeks. Her knees couldn’t hold her weight anymore. 

Nick made sure she didn’t fell. He kissed her face and stroked her hair with his free hand in a desperate attempt to comfort her.  “Shhhhh, shhhhh, it’s okay baby. It’s okay” he whispered with his cheek against hers.

A knock on the door forced Nick let go of Kirsten for a moment. He quickly got into his bathrobe and answered the door. “Good morning” AJ cheered happy “Ready for this beautiful day?” he walked in and looked at Kirsten. “Hey, what happened?” one look at Kirsten made him turn around worried towards Nick.

“Kirsten just got a call from her mom that her father died” Nick said devastated. AJ was visibly shocked.

“F*ck” he mumbled. He took a deep breath “I’m so sorry Kirsten. I don’t know what to say” he walked up to her and gave her a big hug.

“It’s so unreal” she mumbled brushing her tears away with her thumbs . She suddenly felt nauseous. “I’m sorry” she pressed her hand to her mouth and ran to the bedroom leaving AJ and Nick staring at her. She kneeled over the toilet and vomited.  

“Baby are you okay? Do you need a doctor?” Nick stood behind her feeling even more worried.

Kirsten shook her head “No, I’m okay” she shivered. She got up from her knees and turned to the mirror to rinse her mouth.

“Nick, is there anything I can do to help?” AJ appeared in the doorway of the bathroom.

Nick turned around and faced AJ “ Actually, there is something you can do. We need to get Kirsten on the first plane to Amsterdam. Can you book her a ticket? You can use my laptop.”

“Sure, no problem” AJ went back into the room.

Nick looked around the corner of the bathroom “AJ, for her flight back to the States I want you to book an open ticket”. AJ nodded. “Oh, and one last thing, can you arrange for a rental car in the Netherlands?”.

“Sure, for how long? I guess a small vehicle will do right?” AJ was already looking on the internet.

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t know how long she’ll be there. It’s probably too long but I want her to have access to a car. I thing a month will do” Nick tossed his credit card to him.

“Okay ” AJ caught the card and went on typing.

Kirsten came back into the room looking defeated. “I guess I need to pack my stuff” she sighed and the tears rolled over her cheeks again. Nick wanted to comfort her but she nodded “thanks baby, but I really have to pack” she whispered.

“I booked your ticket to Amsterdam, beautiful. You can pick up the rental car at the airport” AJ said from behind the laptop.

“Thank you. What time will it leave?”  her voice trembled.

“This afternoon at 3:45” AJ replied “Nick, I’m going to have breakfast if you don’t mind. I really need to eat 

something” AJ stood up, looked at Nick and stretched out.

“You’re right, we should eat something too Kirsten” Nick got his clothes on in the meanwhile.

“You go, I’m not hungry” Kirsten went on with packing her luggage. She took a big breath and collected the charger of her phone, her Ipod, toiletry bag, make up.

“Alex, you go ahead. I’ll join you in a couple of minutes” Nick said to AJ.

AJ went downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant. Nick closed the door behind him and turned to Kirsten.

“Sweetie” he took her hands and guided her to the bed “come sit down”.

They both sat down on the bed “I’m so gonna miss you. It hurts me to see you in such pain baby” he spoke softly.

Tears came up in her eyes “I wish you could come with me” she sobbed.

“I know baby, I wish I could” he whispered. Nick’s eyes got wet too. Kirsten broke down in tears and Nick also couldn’t hold it back any longer. They hugged each other really tight and stayed that way for a while. 

Kirsten was the first to try to get out of the hug “honey, you have to go downstairs to eat” she whispered.

“You too baby. You really should eat something” Nick cupped her face and looked in her eyes.

“I can’t” Kirsten spoke softly “I’m not hungry”.

“Fine, but at least have a coffee okay. You must have something in your stomach before going on that plane” Nick was worried.

“Okay” she sighed “I think I can do that. Just let me take a look in the mirror before we go ok” she walked into bathroom and was shocked when she looked at herself “oh my god” she mumbled. Her eyes were red and puffy and her skin was pale. She washed her face with water and brushed her teeth. She combed her hair so and put on a little make – up. She pushed out the thoughts of her father. Not now. Again, she took a deep breath. Inspected herself one last time in the mirror and went back to Nick. He took her hand and they went downstairs.

The others were all having breakfast in the restaurant. Once they saw Nick and Kirsten enter the group went silent. Everybody at the table looked at her with empathy.

“Y’all can continue your conversations” Kirsten mumbled embarrassed. It was hard enough to go trough this ordeal without having all the attention pointing out at her.  

“We will but we wanted to let you know how sorry we are” Brian got up and hugged her “we are here when you need us ok”.

“Thank you” she choked. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She tried to bite the tears away but a couple of them managed to escape and rolled down her face.

They sat down and Nick brought her coffee and a plain croissant and some fruit. He then walked back to the breakfast buffet to get his own breakfast. Even though he wasn’t hungry he decided to eat anyway.

“Do you know what happened?” Leighanne looked at Nick.

“All we know is that her dad was in an accident at work. We don’t  know any specific details” Nick answered.

“Wow, that must be so difficult for the family” Leighanne sighed “AJ told us that she’s going home this afternoon”.

“Yes. Her mom tried to stay strong on the phone but I could hear her misery in her voice. Gosh I wish I could stay with her” he sighed and looked at Kirsten who was stirring her coffee. She was far away with her thoughts.