Chapter 40
“Wow, this
is old-school,” Nick commented, turning up the volume on the radio until
Eminem’s “Cleaning Out My Closet” blared from the Escalade’s speakers.
Claire
giggled. “I love how three years ago is
‘old-school’ now.”
“Only three
years? Wow…” Nick shook his head; it seemed like so much
longer. Then again, he supposed anything
from three years ago would seem like ancient history, for that was the “before”
time – before he got cancer… before he lost his leg… before Claire was in his
life. Though it had only been
two-and-a-half years, he could hardly remember a time when he had not worried
about his health, living in fear that the cancer would come back… when he had
been able to hop right out of bed in the morning and run effortlessly down the
stairs… when he had not loved Claire.
These last two years had seemed like an eternity and the time before that,
a distant past life.
Nick shook
his head again, forcing himself to focus on the road in front of him and the
music in his ears. “I’m sorry Mama,”
he sang along under his breath, “I never meant to hurt you… I never meant to
make you cry, but tonight I’m cleaning out my closet…” Suddenly, he stopped, reminded of
something. “Brian asked if I was going
to take you to meet my family while we were out here,” he said, adding a
mirthless chuckle, as if the idea were preposterous.
“Oh, that’s
right, your family lives around here, don’t they?” asked Claire.
“Yeah.”
“Well… so
are you?”
“No,” was
Nick’s flat reply.
Claire was
quiet for a moment. Then she said, “I’d
like to meet them sometime. I mean, we are
getting married…”
“So?”
“So…
they’re your family, Nick.
They’ll be my in-laws. Aren’t you
going to invite them to the wedding?”
Nick just
shrugged. He didn’t expect her to
understand. Claire came from a good
family – she had nice parents and a brother who would do anything for her, and
she was very close to all three of them.
There was no way she could understand.
Deep down, he loved his family, he really did… but fame had ruined the
Carters. His parents were still
together, but his family had been broken for years – the music business had
torn them apart. He hardly ever saw his
siblings anymore, he rarely got to talk to his father, and his mother… well, he
hadn’t seen nor spoken to her in almost a year and a half. There was no way he wanted her at his
wedding.
“I’m
sorry,” Claire said softly, when she realized he wasn’t going to answer. “I know about you and your mom. I just thought maybe you’d want to see the
others. Your dad and your sisters… and
Aaron, I didn’t get to meet him when he was in Tampa last year, remember.”
Nick
sighed. “I know…”
“What if
you called first, and we went over when your mom wasn’t there?”
Nick
shrugged, the wheels in his mind slowly turning. It could work… tomorrow was Sunday, and there
were no meetings or anything scheduled, nowhere he had to be. His parents’ house wasn’t too far of a drive
from their hotel. If he could just
assure that his mother wasn’t going to be there, he could drop by, have a quick
visit with the rest of the family, and leave without having to confront her. Hell, he could even pick up the kids and take
them out somewhere for awhile… Jane would never even know until it was too
late.
“Nick?”
Nick
blinked. “Uh… well… yeah, I guess that’s
a possibility. You want to?”
“Sure. But only if you do. I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable
situation, so if you think it’s going to be too awkward-“
“Oh, it’ll
be awkward alright,” said Nick, “but don’t worry about me. I’m more worried about you.”
Claire
laughed, a nervous chuckle. “About me? Why?”
Nick shook
his head. “You don’t know my family.”
***
Claire
nervously smoothed the denim of her jean skirt and checked to make sure it
hadn’t twisted the wrong way on her hips.
She hated wearing skirts, but she’d wanted to look nice when she met
Nick’s family for the first time. He’d
assured her there was no need, but she’d insisted on the skirt anyway, pairing
it with a simple, fitted, light green top and brown leather sandals. She tapped her toes against the soles of her
sandals as Nick reached out and pushed the doorbell. She heard the muffled bell ring inside the
large, showy house and looked over at Nick, sucking in a deep breath. Why am I so nervous? she
wondered. It was not like her to be
this apprehensive about meeting new
people, but she supposed this was different.
Anyone would be nervous about meeting their future in-laws for the first
time, she reasoned. And the way Nick
spoke about his family didn’t make things any easier.
At least his mom won’t be here, she thought with relief. Nick had called his brother Aaron earlier
that morning from the hotel to find out that Jane had taken his sister Leslie
shopping.
“Knowing
them, they’ll be gone all day,” Nick had repeated Aaron’s words.
Claire was
sorry she wouldn’t be meeting Leslie this time, but she couldn’t help but feel
glad that they could drop by without running into Nick’s mother. She’d met Jane Carter once, briefly, over two
years ago, when Nick was in the hospital with pneumonia. All she really remembered about the woman was
the look she’d received from her – a look of disapproval; that was the only
word for it. It was a look that had made
her feel awkward and unworthy, as if this woman did not consider her fit to be
friends with her son. Who knew what she
would think now, two years later, when she found out they were engaged.
According
to Nick, it didn’t matter, and that thought brought her some comfort, though
she couldn’t help but feel sorry that he and his mom were so estranged. She’d always thought it was horrible that he’d
gone through so much on his own, without the support of his family. Then again, their situation was complicated,
and even she did not fully understand it.
Nick didn’t like to talk about it.
She was actually surprised she’d gotten him to agree to this visit.
Even he
seemed a little edgy, she realized, noticing the way he kept licking his lips
and running his hand over his hair as they waited for someone to come to the
door. She didn’t really blame him,
considering he hadn’t seen much of his family in the past year.
Impatient,
Nick reached out and punched the doorbell again, then dropped his hand to his
side, jamming his fingers through the hammer loop on the side of his cargo
shorts. The shorts were an interesting
choice, Claire thought. Nick wore shorts
all the time around the house, but never in public, not even in the sticky
Florida heat. These shorts were baggy
and long, but did not hide his artificial leg.
She wondered if he’d worn them on purpose, for that very reason, but she
hadn’t asked. Maybe he wanted to be
upfront with his family about it; maybe he just didn’t care anymore. Either way, it wasn’t really her business.
They heard
footsteps inside the house at the same time, and Nick reached for her hand just
as the front door flew open. There stood
a lanky, blonde teenager she recognized as Aaron Carter. She’d seen pictures and video clips of him
before, both at Nick’s house and on TV, but he was a lot taller and more
mature-looking than she’d expected. A
wide grin stretched across his thin face, lighting up a pair of large, dark
brown eyes, and he exclaimed a short, “Hey!” before practically pouncing on
Nick, pulling his older brother into a big hug.
Nick’s hand was torn out of Claire’s, but she simply smiled and stepped
back, letting the two brothers have their moment. It was obvious Aaron had missed Nick, and she
knew Nick had missed Aaron too. Seeing
them hug like that made her glad she and Nick had come.
“How’s it
goin’, bro?” Aaron asked as he pulled his face out of Nick’s neck and stepped
back.
“It’s goin’
good,” Nick responded with a nod and a smile in Claire’s direction. “Aaron, I want you to meet Claire Ryan. Claire, my little brother Aaron.”
“Good to
meet ya,” said Aaron in a friendly voice, offering Claire his hand and a
smile. He didn’t look that much like
Nick, although you could tell they were brothers. But when he spoke, his voice sounded just
like Nick’s, and he had all the same mannerisms too.
Cute, she thought, returning his smile.
“You too,” she replied with sincerity and shook his hand warmly. “I was out of town last time you visited Nick
in Florida, so I’m glad I get to finally meet you.”
Aaron
nodded and stepped back inside, holding the door open for them to come in. “Angel’s in her room, probably doing her hair
or something, and dad’s out back cleaning the pool,” Aaron explained as he
followed them into a large foyer, closing the door behind him.
“Did you
tell them we were coming?” asked Nick, while Claire looked around. The interior of the house was
richly-decorated, although slightly cluttered.
You could tell a family lived there – shoes were heaped in a pile near
the door, a stray t-shirt had been draped over the back of a chair, and the
tiled floor seemed to be strewn with a fine layer of sand that gritted beneath
Claire’s sandals. Strains of muffled
rock music drifted from the back of the house, and the familiar smell of dog
permeated the air.
“Yeah, they
know. Probably just no one heard the
doorbell. I’ll go get ‘em.” He trotted off, leaving Nick and Claire
standing alone in the foyer.
“Come on,
let’s go sit down,” said Nick, taking Claire’s hand once again and leading her
into the living room. “Sorry for the
mess,” he added apologetically, making a face as he looked around the
room. Claire followed his line of sight
and noticed the disorderly spread of magazines and tabloids on the coffee
table, the empty glasses and soda cans that occupied nearly every surface, the
dog hair clinging to the furniture…
“Not your mess,”
she replied with a shrug.
“Guess
their cleaning lady hasn’t been by in awhile.”
She could tell he was embarrassed and thought it was sort of funny. After the way he’d gone on about how awkward
this visit was going to be and how she didn’t know his family – making it sound
as if she didn’t want to know his family – he seemed to be more
concerned about the dirty house than his family members themselves.
“It’s
okay,” she said with a chuckle. She
wasn’t the neatest person in the world either – and ironically enough, neither
was he. Nothing to be worried about; a
little mess wasn’t going to scare her away.
“Aaron sounds just like you, you know,” she commented as she took a seat
on the sofa, trying to change to subject.
“Does he sound like you when he sings too?”
Nick smiled
in a proud big brother sort of way.
“Yeah, he’s starting to, now that his voice has changed. The kid’s got talent.”
“You’ll
have to play some of his stuff for me when we get home,” she said, realizing
she didn’t really know any Aaron Carter songs.
She vaguely remembered flipping past some of his music videos on
Nickelodeon or Disney, one of those channels, but she’d never actually listened
to any of his music. Cheesy bubblegum
pop or not, she supposed she should give it a chance, now that he was going to
be her brother-in-law…
Aaron
returned with his father and sister in tow, and Claire sat up straighter,
anxious to meet them. Mr. Carter was
tall, with bleached blonde hair and tan, weathered skin. He only glanced at Claire briefly before
shifting his eyes to Nick. “Nick… hi,”
he said, looking as if he wanted to say so much more.
“Hey, Dad,”
replied Nick and stood up. He crossed
the living room to meet his father, and the two men hugged tightly. When Bob Carter released his son, he looked
him up and down, his eyes lingering on Nick’s silver prosthetic leg. He opened his mouth, closed it again, looked
up, and then asked, “How are you doing, son?”
Standard small talk, but Claire knew it meant so much more than that.
“Good,” was
all Nick said, but the meaningful nod that accompanied his response made that
one word give Bob all the answers he was looking for.
“I’m glad
you decided to drop by. We have a lot to
catch up on.”
Nick nodded
again and glanced at Claire. “Dad, this
is my girlfriend, Claire Ryan.”
Claire rose
to her feet and accepted Bob’s outstretched hand. “Bob Carter,” he introduced himself as he
shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to
meet you too,” Claire echoed. Then she
looked past Bob and Nick to the girl she had assumed to be Angel, who hung back
in the threshold of the room with Aaron.
“Hey, Ang,”
Nick said simply, holding out his arms in anticipation of a hug. Seeming almost reluctant, Angel finally came
forward and hugged Nick gingerly. He
pulled her close to him, wrapping her slender frame into a tight, brotherly
hug. “It’s been awhile, huh kid?” he
said as he let her go.
Angel
smiled wryly. “You can say that again,”
she replied, her eyes taking the familiar plunge to his artificial leg. It was sort of amusing, the way everyone did
that when they saw Nick for the first time since the amputation. Claire had noticed it, and no doubt Nick had
too. She wondered if it annoyed
him. Probably a little, but she figured
he was used to it by now. After all, it
was human nature.
Nick
introduced Claire and Angel, and the two of them exchanged the standard
“hello”s and “nice to meet you”s. Nick’s
youngest sister was beautiful, with a model’s figure and a long mane of shiny,
dark hair that distinguished her from her blonde brothers. She had the same brown eyes as Aaron, but
while Aaron’s were filled with joy at seeing his brother, Angel’s looked
troubled.
“So how ya
been?” Nick asked his sister.
Angel
hesitated before answering and then shook her head. “Can we not do this, please?” she demanded.
“Do what?”
The
teenager rolled her eyes. “Make stupid
small talk. Pretend it hasn’t been,
like, a year since we’ve seen each other.
Pretend nothing major has happened in that year. I mean, seriously!”
Well said, thought Claire, smiling in her
direction. But Angel’s dark eyes were
fixed on her older brother, her forehead creased with frown lines, her jaw set.
Nick
chuckled. “Yeah… sorry. You’re right.
There’s no point in pretending.”
An awkward
silence fell over the estranged family, and suddenly, Claire felt very out of
place, as if she did not belong there.
What had she been thinking, coming with Nick to visit his family? She knew he hadn’t seen most of them since
his last falling out with his mother, in the few days right before he lost his
leg. They had a lot to talk about, a lot
to come to terms with. Nick’s fiancée or
not, this was none of her business.
“Come on,
kids, let’s, uh… let’s all sit down, okay?” Bob spoke up, taking a seat in an
overstuffed chair. Angel reluctantly
took another chair, while Aaron simply plopped down on the lush carpet,
stretching his long legs out in front of him.
Nick returned to the couch, bringing Claire with him.
“I don’t
know if I should be here,” she whispered to him as they sat down side by side.
“You’re
fine,” he murmured quickly, covering her hand with his and lacing his fingers
through hers.
Once everyone was situated, the silence returned. The tension that had filled the room felt
thick enough to cut with a knife, and it seemed no one knew quite what to say
or do. It was driving Claire nuts, but
she kept her mouth shut and waited for someone else to speak first. She was staying out of this one.
***