“Hi, princess! Did you have a good time?” he asked, standing up and giving her a hug.
“Oh, my gosh, yeah, I did. Mike and I danced the whole time. I think we only sat out during one song. We had so much fun! Oh, and everyone loved my dress! I’m so glad you convinced me to get this one. It’s perfect for me!” she gushed. She smoothed down the tight, baby blue, satin dress and grinned excitedly.
“I’m glad you picked that one, too. It looks really nice on you. It brings out your blue Carter eyes,” he replied. “You look so much like your mother when you smile,” he stated.
“Do I?” Simultaneously they looked over at the picture of Michelle sitting on the dresser.
He nodded. “Absolutely.”
“I’m gonna go to bed. I’m really tired.”
“Okay, good night, princess. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Daddy.” She turned and left the room, her high heels clicking on the wooden floor.
Nick hung his head. God, she was a junior in high school already. Sixteen years old. That meant he was thirty-seven, and Michelle, wherever she was, was thirty-five. He was getting old. And Katelin…she would be off to college in a year and a half. Then he would be living by himself again, for the first time since before Michelle moved in. He would be all alone. That wouldn’t be too bad, but what really scared him was the idea that Katelin, his daughter, would be off on her own. She was gonna be moved out, and he would have no control over her life and what she did. “I’m too overprotective of her,” he muttered to himself.
Again, he looked over at the picture on his dresser. Michelle smiled happily back at him. It had been over fifteen years since she had last seen him and Katelin. Over fifteen years ago, she had walked out that door, never to come back again. Where was she now? On one hand, he would give anything to find out and see her again, but on the other hand, he knew if he did, he would probably strangle her. Because she had left, he had to go through two years of therapy. He had to raise a daughter all by himself. He had to get over his love and get on with life. He had never fallen in love again because most girls were so turned off by the idea that he had a kid, no one wanted to date him. It didn’t matter that he was Nick Carter. What mattered was that he had a daughter, and girls didn’t wanna go near that.
As he stewed over that thought, the doorbell rang. “It’s one o’clock in the morning, people!” he groaned, taking his time standing up. “It is not time to be ringing Nick’s doorbell!”
Nevertheless, he walked downstairs. Maybe Katelin had left her purse in Mike’s car, or maybe one of his friends needed a place to stay, or maybe it was Publisher’s Clearinghouse bringing him a giant check…not that he needed it. He still had a lot of money from the Backstreet Boys. When he had almost reached the door, intuition told him to turn back, but he didn’t listen. The doorbell rang again, and he rushed forward to get it so it wouldn’t wake up his daughter. Still, a nagging feeling told him to turn around. When he opened it, he immediately realized why.