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Chapter 13

It was almost six o’clock on Saturday evening when Nick and Claire were finally pulling away from the airport in Tampa, and to Nick, it felt even later. He hadn’t slept well at all on the flight – he rarely could – and was exhausted. Claire didn’t look like she had fared much better. The drive through the city was quiet; after eighteen hours of flying together, they were all talk-ed out.

When he pulled up in front of her apartment building, he stopped the SUV and turned off the engine. Opening his door, he slid out and walked stiffly around to the back. Opening up the hatchback trunk, he hauled out her suitcase. “You need help carrying this up?” he asked, as she came around, her purse and duffel bag slung over one shoulder.

“Nah, I can get it,” she replied.

“You sure?”

“Positive. C’mere.” Letting her bags slide off her shoulder and fall to the ground, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. “Thanks for a wonderful vacation,” she whispered into his ear, her fingers lightly massaging his neck, which was stiff and aching from hours in awkward positions on the plane while he tried to sleep.

“It wouldn’t have been the same without you,” he replied, rubbing her back. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Maybe. I might still be unpacking though… and cleaning… and getting groceries for the week. All that good stuff.”

“Call me. We can get groceries together,” he offered. He hated grocery shopping.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.” She pulled back, stopping to kiss him on the cheek, and then bent to pick up her bags.

“I love you,” he said suddenly, as she rose back up, pushing the straps of her purse and duffel higher onto her shoulder.

She smiled. “I love you too,” she echoed. “’Night, Nick.”

He waited outside the car until she had made it inside the building, and then he slowly walked back around to the driver’s side and climbed in. The drive back to his own house felt strange, even lonely. After a whole week of having Claire at his side nearly 24/7, being alone suddenly seemed odd. And it felt even odder when he slid beneath the covers of his own bed later that night and lay there, all by himself, with no one there to steal the blankets and kick him under the covers as she rolled and thrashed around in her sleep.

He was exhausted, and yet, he lay awake for a long time, contemplating this. “I miss her,” he whispered through the darkness, knowing there was no one there to hear his thoughts. “It’s only been a few hours since I dropped her off, and I already miss her.”

Normally, after a whole week with someone, he was glad to be rid of them. But not her. Somehow, their week together in paradise had just left him longing for more, wishing he could be with her all the time.

As he thought about this, the obvious answer came to him. It was time for her to move in with him. Then they could live together, and be with each other as much as possible. Her face could be the last thing he saw when he went to sleep at night, and the first thing he saw when he woke up beside her in the morning.

He smiled through the darkness. That was it. He was finally ready for the next step in their relationship. Now all he had to do was make sure she was too.

***

By the time Monday morning rolled around, Claire was ready to go back to work. She was practically bombarded by her co-workers the minute she set foot in the office, all swarming around her, welcoming her back and asking about her vacation. She filled the other hygienists in on the very basics of the trip as she walked back to her exam room to stow away her purse.

“… and don’t you love the killer tan I got?” she joked, holding out her arms, which were just as white as always. She hadn’t even gotten a good sunburn.

Laughing, the other hygienists slowly dispersed, heading off to straighten up their own exam rooms before the first patients of the day started arriving. Claire set her purse on the counter in the back of the room and pulled out a small picture frame, which she set on one of the shelves extending from the narrow desk in the corner. Each of the hygienists that worked in Dr. Somers’ office had their own exam room to work in, and they all were allowed to personalize their rooms with pictures and other knick-knacks. Claire’s eyes scanned briefly over the other pictures that decorated the desk. There was an old one of her with a group of friends at their high school graduation – she was in the middle, her arms around Dianna and Jamie, who, coincidentally, were the only two people from high school with whom she was still close. Beside it was one of her with her brother, taken at his wedding, at which she’d been a bridesmaid. The picture had turned out cute, even though she hated how she looked in it. Kyle’s wife Amber had picked light pink for her wedding theme, and so all of the bridesmaid gowns had been light pink – a color Claire despised and also looked horrible in, with her fair skin which looked even more washed out against the pastel pink and her red hair which just plain clashed. The next picture was more recent – one of her and a cluster of colleagues at an office picnic they’d had the previous summer. This had been during her fling with Tim, and she had considered taking the picture home after they had broken up, for she was holding his hand in the photo, but, not wanting to hurt his feelings, she’d left it there. She liked the new picture much better though. Her eyes shifted to it now, and she smiled. It was a picture of her and Nick, fresh from a roll of film she’d gotten developed just the day before, taken on the cruise their very last night in Hawaii. They were standing against the railing at the side of the ship, arms around each other, the sun just beginning to set behind them. They both looked radiant, just the way she’d felt in the moment when the picture had been snapped.

“Hey, Claire.”

The deep voice brought her out of her thoughts, and she quickly looked away from the picture, her eyes flying to the doorway, where Tim Pantero leaned casually.

“Good morning,” she smiled.

“Good to see ya,” he said with a quick smile back, peering at her over the top of his glasses. “How was your vacation?”

“Really nice,” she replied.

“No food poisoning this time, I hope?” He smirked, and she shook her head, remembering the nightmare trip to Hawaii they’d taken together the previous fall.

“Nope, I stayed away from the seafood this time,” she chuckled good-naturedly.

“Good to hear,” he smiled. “Well, I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing; I just wanted to say hey.”

She smiled back and nodded, as he walked on down the hall. Tim was a good guy, she had decided. The perfect ex. The rare type that was able to be “just friends” after a break-up. She wasn’t sure she would really call Tim her “friend,” for they never did anything together anymore, outside of work, but at least he was able to smile and joke around with her, instead of avoiding her like the plague. Awkwardness between the two of them would have made work miserable, and she was glad he had realized that too.

A short knock attracted her attention back to the door, and she turned, expecting to see Tim there again. Instead, it was Dr. Somers, the other dentist that worked in the office. He was somewhat of an old family friend – he knew her father anyway – and it was he who had given her this job three years ago.

She smiled. “Morning, Dr. Somers.”

“Good morning, Claire,” the aging dentist replied with a warm smile. “Welcome back. Did you have a nice vacation?”

“Yeah, it was a blast, really nice,” she answered.

“Well, I know it’s your first day back, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”

“Sure,” said Claire. “What is it?”

“I think I told you before you left that we were hiring a new hygienist?” Dr. Somers asked, raising his eyebrows in question. Claire nodded, remembering him mentioning it. “Well, the new hygienist is coming in today,” continued Dr. Somers, “just to observe before she starts her training later in the week. I was wondering if you could take her under your wing for the day, kind of show her the ropes and let her shadow you?”

“Oh, sure,” Claire replied. “What time is she coming in?”

“Should be here any minute; I told her to come around seven. Her name’s Laureen, Laureen Bincs.”

Claire nodded, repeating the name in her head a few times before she set back to work, pulling up her list of appointments for the day on the computer in the corner of the room. She was just setting up for her first patient when she was interrupted by another knock on the door frame. This time, she looked up to see an unfamiliar face, the face of a young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. She was about the same height as Claire, fairly average, although a little on the short side, and had auburn hair.

“Hi… are you Claire?” the girl asked uncertainly, her hazel eyes questioning.

“Sure am. And you must be Laureen?” Claire replied.

The girl nodded. “Laureen Bincs,” she said, holding out her hand.

“Claire Ryan,” Claire introduced herself, and they shook hands. “Welcome to the office,” Claire said with a smile.

Laureen returned the smile, looking relieved. “Thanks,” she replied. “So, I’m supposed to observe you today?”

“Yep,” said Claire. “We’ll be in here most of the day – this is ‘my’ exam room; we each have our own to see patients in. These rooms are mostly just used for regular dental checks and cleaning; the rooms in the back of the office are the ones for the major procedures, like cavity filling and root canals and all that. I can find out if we have any of those coming in today, and maybe I can get you back there to observe later. But for this morning, it’s just going to be the boring stuff. The first patient I’ve got scheduled for today is a seven-year-old girl, just coming in for her six-month visit. I’m setting up for her right now.” She paused, then asked, “So is this your first hygienist job?”

“Yeah,” Laureen said with a nervous smile. “I’m fresh out of college; just finished classes and got my associate’s degree a couple of weeks ago.”

“Ahh, cool, congratulations,” said Claire sincerely, remembering when she had been in Laureen’s place, coming to work for Dr. Somers right after her last semester of college. “Well, looks like I get to show you everything then, huh?”

She started by showing Laureen how to set up for patients, taking her through how to adjust the dentist’s chair and assemble the right equipment on the tray beside the chair. Then it was just a matter of waiting. Claire perched on a stool in the back of the room while Laureen wandered, looking around the room. She stopped at the computer desk and bent down to look at Claire’s pictures. “High school or college?” she asked, holding up the graduation picture.

“High school,” replied Claire.

“Cool. What class were you?”

“Class of ’98. How about you?”

“’03,” said Laureen, looking at the other pictures. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the newest addition, the picture of Claire and Nick, held within a small frame decorated with seashells. “Is this your boyfriend?” she asked, carefully picking up the frame to look more closely at the photograph.

“Yes,” Claire said, smiling as she watched Laureen. She could almost see the recognition slowly dawning on the younger woman’s face and was not at all surprised when Laureen added, “You know who he looks like?”

“Who?” Claire asked innocently, her smirk oblivious to Laureen.

Laureen giggled. “Well… he looks kinda like Nick Carter. You know, the Backstreet Boy?” Claire tried to keep a straight face, but she could feel her smirk growing into an even broader smile. Laureen glanced over at her before she could sober herself, and at once, it all clicked. “Oh my God… that’s not-… is it??”

Claire laughed. “It is,” she admitted.

Laureen’s jaw dropped in cartoon fashion. “You’re dating Nick Carter?” she asked in disbelief, her voice hushed, as if she knew how saying his name too loud could cause pandemonium in the right situation.

“Yeah…” Claire said carefully, watching Laureen’s face for her reaction. “Are you a fan?” Sad as it was, after that conversation with Nick on the plane, she was slightly wary of his fans.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Laureen admitted, her cheeks growing pink. “I’ve liked the Backstreet Boys since I was just a kid.” She paused, then added quickly, almost defensively, “But I’m not some teenybopper! Just so you know…”

Claire laughed. “No, I didn’t think you were… I was just wondering,” she said with a reassuring smile.

“So… if you don’t mind me asking, how did you meet Nick?”

“Um… long story,” Claire said with a chuckle. “Real long story…”

“Really?” Laureen laughed. “How long have you been dating him? I didn’t know he was seeing anybody.”

“We’ve been good friends for a couple of years, but we’ve only been ‘together’ since New Year’s… so going on five months now. We’ve kept a pretty low profile though… which is fine with me; I’d prefer to just stay out of the limelight,” said Claire.

Laureen nodded. “I understand. So, uh… does he ever drop by the office?” She winked and smiled so adorably Claire couldn’t help but smile back; it was infectious.

“Not usually… but he has before.” She was thinking of April Fool’s Day. Before then, she’d kept quiet about Nick around the office – only the people she was close to knew she was even friends with him, let alone dating him. But after the stunt he’d pulled that day, it was no big secret that she and Nick Carter were an item – by April 2nd, everyone knew. Most people had been happy for her and hadn’t given her too much crap for keeping it mostly to herself, although they teased her good-naturedly every chance they got about her “Backstreet Boy Toy.”

The Nick conversation was cut short by Carey, the receptionist who was working in the office that morning. “Claire, sorry to interrupt, but your patient just got here – Ashley Jones?”

“Oh, thanks, Carey,” said Claire. Turning to Laureen, she added, “Just follow me, and we’ll get started.”

***