Chapter 91
The sun was
shining in Los Angeles the following morning, and Nick raised his hand to his
brow to shield his eyes from it as he looked up at the impressive Italian
Mediterranean style mansion.
“What do
you think?” asked his realtor eagerly, leaning in closer to him. He tore his eyes away from the house to look
at her briefly. Therese Lester certainly
fit the realtor mold to a T. An attractive
woman in her late thirties, she wore a tapered charcoal gray suit with a skirt
that swished around her calves, drove a polished luxury sedan, and sported a
smile that was just as sparkling against the backdrop of her smooth,
makeup-masked face. A smile that clearly
said, I want to sell you this house!
“Beautiful,”
replied Nick, his gaze returning to the sprawling property. “It’s… big.” He’d told her he wasn’t looking for anything
too grand for his second home. He’d gone
that route before and found that all the space and luxuries in the world didn’t
really make his life that much better.
Something nice, something classy, something simple. That was what he’d had in mind when he’d
hired Therese to scope out real estate for him.
“It is,
but let me assure you, you will appreciate all the space and special features
it has to offer. Let’s go inside for a
look, and I’ll tell you all about them.”
Taking his forearm, Therese guided him up the front walk to the wide
porch. Taking a set of keys out of her
bag, she unlocked the colossal front door and pushed it open, ushering Nick in
first.
Finding
himself in a spacious entryway, Nick nodded his approval as he looked around,
impressed by his surroundings. “Really
nice,” he murmured.
“It was
custom-built by a Hollywood producer who has a physical disability himself, so
I think you’ll find it very accessible.
All of the halls and entryways are wider than the standard, and the
rooms are very open, allowing you to arrange your furniture in a way that makes
it easy to navigate,” Therese explained.
“You see there’s a staircase right here that leads up to the second
story, but right here…” She walked over
to a wide, gold-trimmed door on the other side of the foyer and placed her
index finger on a small, raised button nearly camouflaged against the wall next
to the door. “… you’ll find-“ She pushed the button, and the door slid
open, revealing, “-an elevator.”
Looking
pleased at this trick, the realtor smiled brightly at Nick, who raised his
eyebrows and came closer to look into the small elevator. “Wow.”
“Very
convenient, if I do say so myself. I
know you said you don’t mind stairs, but this would make navigating between
floors even more effortless, wouldn’t you say?
I wish I had one in my house.”
She laughed airily.
As she led
him through the rest of the house, Therese kept up a running commentary,
pointing out all of the usual features and emphasizing the
accessibilities. At first, Nick was
turned off; he hated thinking of himself as ‘handicapped’ and needing special
accommodations because, frankly, most of the time, he did just fine in normal
surroundings. His prosthesis allowed him
to climb stairs, and the only times he relied on crutches were early in the
morning, before he put his leg on, and late at night, after he’d taken it off.
Even so, he
had to admit that the house was filled with conveniences. The master bedroom was huge and contained an
incredible bathroom that had a walk-in shower with handles and a seat built
into the wall and a huge, marble whirlpool tub.
All of the floors were hardwood or granite – no plush carpet to trip
over or slick tiles to slip on. And he
had to admit, that elevator was pretty sweet.
Once he saw
the backyard, with its sprawling patio, gorgeous in-ground pool, and postcard
view of the ocean, he was sold. Pulling
his gaze away from the stunningly turquoise water, he turned to Therese,
smiled, and said, “I’ll take it.”
***
“Will you
take it already?” Claire asked through gritted teeth, keeping the cheesy smile
pasted on her face.
“Cool your
jets; I’m working on it,” insisted her father, squinting at the back of his
digital camera. The camera had been a
Christmas present from her and her brother; now Claire was regretting the
technological gift, as she sat waiting to blow out the twenty-six blazing
candles on the birthday cake in front of her while her dad tried to figure out
how to take a picture on it. At this
rate, her parents’ house would burn down before this happened.
“Here,
Dad,” Kyle said, jumping up and sprinting over to their father. “Right there… there, now just look into this
screen and push the button on top… yeah, that one. Got it?”
Flashing Claire a thumbs up along with an exasperated smile, Kyle darted
back to his seat at the table.
“Alright,
ready, Claire? On three. One… two…”
Claire
heaved in a deep breath and exhaled on ‘three,’ leaning over the cake as she
struggled to blow out all of the candles.
It took her two breaths to do it – jeez, she felt old. And yet, her dad still insisted on getting a
picture of her blowing out her candles, as if she were still a little
girl. She wasn’t complaining
though. God knew she was glad he was
around to take pictures for her birthday.
The day had
been an okay one so far, not her worst birthday to date, but certainly not her
best either. Dianna had taken her out
for a birthday breakfast early that morning, before her friend had to go to
work. Laureen had called during her
lunch break to wish her a happy birthday, and Jamie had called in the
afternoon, not only to wish her a happy birthday, but to make plans with her
for Friday.
Friday was
St. Patrick’s Day, both she and Jamie were Irish, and so now that they lived in
the same city again, it practically went unsaid that they were going to party
together. “It’ll just be you and me,”
Jamie had promised. “Unless you want to
invite anyone else along, that is. But I
know you haven’t had the greatest of experiences with any of my friends, so I
thought I’d leave them out of this one.”
That was just as well with Claire.
Except for Dianna, people Jamie considered ‘friends’ – Greg… Jerr… Stew…
– weren’t high on her list of favorite people.
Claire had
made her weekend plans with Jamie as she rode with Kyle, Amber, and the baby to
Gainesville for her birthday dinner at her parents’ house. It was a usual Ryan family tradition; they
always gathered for dinner on birthdays.
Yet as her mother had hugged her and asked her how her day had been,
Claire had felt a pang of longing.
Last year,
she’d spent her birthday with Nick. And
it had been wonderful. He’d woken her up
before dawn and taken her out on his boat, where he had a picnic breakfast all
ready for her. They’d watched the
sunrise together, in each other’s arms.
They’d been so happy then, both feeling as if, for once, things were
going right for them. Nick had recovered
from life-threatening lung surgery and was back in remission, as was she. And they were still at the dawn of their
relationship.
What happened to us? she wondered sadly. Why couldn’t we have stayed that way? At times like these, she missed him so much. His hugs.
His laugh. His sweetness.
She had not
heard from Nick yet that day and wondered if she was going to. He might still be angry about what had
happened with Jamie the last time he’d been home. She hadn’t seen him the rest of that week, and
he’d left without saying goodbye. She
didn’t blame him for being annoyed at her; she’d kicked him out of her
apartment, after all. But she’d been
annoyed with him too, for practically starting a fight with Jamie. Sure, Jamie had deserved it; Jamie had been
acting like an asshole. But Nick didn’t
have to act like an asshole too. She’d
been exasperated at both of them. Stupid
boys.
“Claire?” Her mother’s voice snapped her out of her
thoughts, and she looked up. “Want me to
cut the cake?” her mom asked, holding up a large knife.
Flexing the
fingers on otherwise useless broken arm, Claire nodded. “Sure.
Thanks.” She watched as her
mother sliced proficiently into the large chocolate cake, which she’d baked
herself, and dole out pieces. Plopping
an extra dollop of frosting on Claire’s piece, she slid the plate in front of
her with a motherly smile and that doting look in her eyes. It was a look Claire had received often in
the months she had spent living at her parents’ house while she recuperated from
her bone marrow transplant.
“I can’t
believe my little girl’s twenty-six,” she murmured, rubbing Claire’s shoulder
affectionately. “Goodness, time
flies. I feel so old.”
So do I, thought Claire. Twenty-six.
Jeez. Twenty-five hadn’t seemed so
bad, but now that she was on the other side of it, she was struck by a sudden
sense of urgency. Time was flying, and
her life, which had seemed to stand still for months at a time during her bouts
with leukemia, was steaming full ahead again.
Or at least, it should have been.
It was, in the sense that the days were chugging by, but she didn’t feel
as if she were going anywhere.
Last year,
she had been. Maybe that was why turning
twenty-five had been no sweat. She’d
been head over heels in love with Nick, just a few months away from being
engaged. A year ago, she never would
have guessed that their life together would end before it ever really had a
chance to begin. And she certainly
couldn’t have fathomed being the one who ended it.
But she
had, and now she seemed to go going nowhere again. She was back to living alone in a modest
apartment building, with no significant other, and no hope of starting a family
anytime soon. It was a little
depressing. Her mother had married
before she left college and was three years younger than Claire was now when
she’d gotten pregnant with Kyle. Of
course, times were a little different then, but still… Claire had always hoped
to be a wife and a mother by the time she turned thirty. Now that milestone was only four years away,
and four years wasn’t that long. She’d
spent the last three years developing a relationship with Nick, only to have it
end in failure. They could still be friends,
but eventually, she wanted more than another friend. She wanted a man she could spend the rest of
her life with. But as her engagement to
Nick had attested, finding the perfect one for her was easier said than done.
She
couldn’t stop thinking about it as she rode home with her brother and his wife
that night. Sitting in the back with
Kamden, who was sound asleep in his car seat, she listened to Kyle and Amber
talking in the front. Occasionally, her
brother would reach over and put his hand on top of Amber’s or gently massage
the back of her neck, his fingers toying with her hair. Later, she would do the same, rubbing his
shoulder or resting her hand on his thigh.
Watching their sweet, subtle gestures of love towards each other, Claire
was struck with a sudden wistfulness. As
much as her independent nature didn’t want her to admit it, she missed the
companionship and affection that went along with having a significant other.
But that,
she realized, was exactly what had been missing from her relationship with Nick
right before she ended it. She’d missed
his touch and his company even before she’d left him, because he’d left
her. She wanted someone who was going to
be around… and he hadn’t been.
Still, now
she had no one, and she wasn’t sure it was much of an improvement. She didn’t need a man in her life… but
she couldn’t deny that she was starting to want one again. Yet the thought of actually being with anyone
other than Nick made her uncomfortable.
It still felt too soon.
“Want me to
walk you upstairs?” Kyle offered as he pulled his SUV into the parking lot of
her apartment complex a while later.
“Nah, you
don’t have to. You guys should get home…
it’s getting late, and it’s a school night,” Claire replied, flashing a teasing
smile at her brother, who taught history at one of the local high schools.
“Yeah, tell
me about it,” Kyle groaned and yawned exaggeratedly. “I’m not used to being out this late
anymore.”
“Ya old
fart,” Claire jested him.
Amber
laughed, and Kyle turned around in his seat, smiling back at her
good-naturedly. “Yeah, yeah, you say
that now… all I can say is enjoy the rest of your twenties, sis, cause once you
hit thirty, it all goes downhill from there,” he said with a chuckle. “So go out, have fun, have a life while you
still can.”
“I am. Jamie and I are gonna hit the bars on Friday,
for St. Patty’s Day.”
“Ah,
yeah? Well, have fun then. Be careful.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Kyle winked, but she knew he was only half-kidding. It didn’t matter how old she got; he would
still play the protective big brother role.
“Yeah,
yeah,” Claire grumbled with a grin. As
she reached for her door handle, she added, “Thanks for the ride to Mom and
Dad’s.”
Kyle
laughed. “You’re the whole reason we
went. Happy birthday, Claire-Bear.”
Grimacing
at the nickname, Claire told them goodbye and got out of the car. She waved once with her good arm as she
walked up to her building and then went inside.
As she trudged up the stairs, her cell phone started to ring, its
ringtone muffled from inside her purse.
She stopped on the landing to dig it out and glanced briefly at the
front to see who was calling. Her
stomach gave a little jerk as she saw his name, but she answered quickly. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s
the birthday girl!” sang Nick’s voice, sounding surprisingly jovial. She was relieved; apparently he’d gotten over
his annoyance with her.
“Hey,
Nick!” she replied.
“Hey
yourself – happy birthday!”
“Thanks!”
“How’s it
been going?”
“Fine. Just got back from Gainesville – we had
dinner over at my parents’ house.”
“Yum. How was that?”
“Good. Nothin’ too fancy, but it was nice,” she
said, as she finally reached her floor.
“So how’s your week been?”
“Pretty
good. Me and the fellas finished laying
down some tracks for a few new songs we been workin’ on… I bought a house…”
Claire came
to a halt in the middle of the empty hallway.
She forced a cough and said, “Wait, you what?” He bought a house?? Where?!
Nick
chuckled, and she could tell he was smiling when he repeated, “I bought a
house. It’s right near the coast –
perfect view of the ocean.”
“Wait, what
ocean? You mean the Pacific Ocean?”
“No, the
Arctic Ocean. Yeah the Pacific Ocean,”
he laughed, as if it should have been obvious.
“So you’re
moving to LA?” she asked, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. Inside, she was reeling. He bought a place in California? He’s just going to stay there? When will I ever see him if he’s living clear
on the other side of the country?
“Well… sort
of. I mean, I’ve been living here the
last few months anyway, so the only ‘moving’ I’m really doing is out of D’s
house and into my own place.”
“You mean
you’re not selling your house here?” Her
voice rose with hope on the last few words; she didn’t want him to leave Tampa
for good.
“Nah… I
gotta have a place to live in Florida. Cali’s great, but the Sunshine State’s my
home. With all the work we still have
left to do on the album and then hopefully a tour, though, I’m gonna have to be
spending a lot of time in LA anyway, so I just figured it’d be a good idea to
get my own place out here, so I don’t have to impose on Howie anymore. He and Bri have houses on both coasts, so it
makes sense, you know?”
“Sure,” she
said lightly, awed by how casual he was about owning two homes, just like
that. She didn’t even own one! And knowing him, his new house in LA was
every bit as nice as the one in Tampa.
“So, the house – what’s it look like?”
She wanted to know.
“Oh, it’s
awesome… it’s more than I was looking for, honestly, but it was so nice, I
couldn’t pass it up. D, like, freaked out
on me when I came home and told him I got the place on the same day I walked
through it, but even he had to agree with me when he saw the place.” Claire could hear the excitement in Nick’s
voice as he described the house to her; he sounded like a little kid on
Christmas. “I gotta fly you out to see
it sometime, Claire.”
“I’d love
to, sometime,” she replied, but she knew that wouldn’t be happening any time
soon. She’d be back at work by the time
he moved in, and after missing so many days because her broken arm and eye
surgeries, there was no way she could ask for vacation time… especially not go
see her ex-fiancée.
“Well,
anytime – you just say the word, and I’ll hook you up,” Nick promised.
On the
other end of the line, Claire smiled. A
sad smile. Nick was moving on with his
life, and she was happy for him. She
just wished she could settle on a path for her own life to take and move on as
well.
***