chapter thirty
chapter list
chapter thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-One
Cat woke up early the next morning thinking of her encounters with the Backstreet Boys. She smiled at the thought of AJ. He was very sweet and polite. He said he would pick her up for lunch. 'I guess I could get up, shower, and get ready.'
She was ready in 45 minutes, 15 minutes early, a miracle.
AJ arrived right on time, and they left for lunch.
~<3~<3~<3~
"Nope never." He shook his head as he ate another french fry.
"You and my sister lived together and never dated?"
"We lived together like brother and sister. My mother lived there too. It wasn't anything like that." Cat nodded.
"What about the other guys? I missed out on a lot living in Indiana. Did she date any of them?"
"Well, you know about Nick and Kevin. She never dated Howie. I'm actually really surprised that she never dated Brian. They've managed to stay best friends without ever taking it beyond that. Honestly though, I know they had wanted to before. They must have."
"But now she's married, so we'll never know."
"Exactly. What about you, Cat? Husband, significant other, or anyone else in your life?"
"Nope. I have a dog. That's about it. High school was too busy for me to date. I haven't had time since graduation with packing and getting ready to move down here." AJ nodded and smiled. "What?"
"I was just enjoying your company and thinking of how happy I am that you're moving to Florida." She smiled and blushed. 'This is definitely going to be fun.'
~<3~<3~<3~
"AJ, I really enjoyed today. Nik's going to be upset that I didn't visit her at all today though. She probably left messages."
"It's ok. I'll talk to her. I have to stop by there on my way home. She left me a voicemail saying she needed to talk to me. Probably some kind of warning about you." Cat smiled.
"Well, will I see you tomorrow then?"
"Yeah, definitely. Good night." He kissed her hand and watched her go into her hotel room.
~<3~<3~<3~
"I'll be back soon, Kev." He rolled over in the bed.
"Where are you going?"
"Someone's knocking."
"Oh, I'll get it." He began to get out of the bed.
"No, I know who it is. I'll be back soon." He looked confused. "It's ok, really. Go back to sleep." I went to the front door to find AJ.
"Damn, Nikki. Were you sleeping? I didn't mean to wake you." He looked at his watch. "It's only 11. You're only 21 years old." He laughed.
"When you have a small child and a couple on the way, you take advantage of time. Come on in."
"You said you needed to talk to me."
"Yeah, I just need to wake up. Give me a sec. Do you want something to drink?"
"Just water, thanks." I got us each a cup of water as I thought about how I would tell him about Hailey.
"Oh, by the way, it's my fault that Cat didn't call you today." I sat next to him on the couch and raised an eyebrow.
"Not how you're thinking. We spent the say together. We had a lot of fun. We're doing something tomorrow too."
"As happy as I am that you two got together, being one of my best friends and my sister, I need to spend time with her too."
"Why don't you, Kev, and Hailey come along too. Maybe we could take Hailey to the zoo." He paused, waiting for my response. "We can see the elephants."
"Hailey will love that." I smiled and he laughed.
"You're such a sucker for those elephants. So, what did you need to talk to me about?"
"Damn, this is going to be hard. Do you remember that one time a few years ago when you and I...when we...we..."
"Made love?" I blushed.
"Yes."
"I remember like it was yesterday." If it was possible, I blushed even more. "Well, it ended up being a lot more important than I made it out to be."
"What do you mean? That was 4 years ago."
"I don't know a good way to say this, so I'm going to just say it. When Hailey was in the hospital, they did a blood test. Nick's not the father. It would be bilogically impossible. You're her father." His jaw dropped.
"Oh my God. Does Nick know?"
"I told him yesterday. Are you upset?"
"With you?" I nodded. "No, of course not. I wish I knew sooner though. Nick must be crushed. Hailey will be so confused. I'll do whatever you want me to, Nikki. If you want me to pay child support, I will. If you want me to behave like her daddy, I will. If you want me to step back and let Nick continue the father role, I will. I just want you and Hailey to be happy."
"This will make your relationship with Cat a little weird. Dating your daughter's aunt."
"And to think that I told her today that you and I never dated, and we only lived together as brother and sister. This makes it very unbrotherly." He lauged, but when I looked him in the face, he was crying.
I hugged him. "You called her my daughter. I just realized that. My daughter."
"She is your daughter."
"I have a daughter." He smiled through his tears. "Does anyone else know?"
"No."
"Maybe we should postpone the zoo and all meet for lunch. Somewhere private, like my house. So, Kevin doesn't even know?"
"He does now." Kevin walked out from around the corner. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was checking to make sure everything was ok when Nikki didn't come back."
"I'm sorry, Kev. I just thought that Nick and AJ should know first."
"So what happens now?"
~<3~<3~<3~
Nick and AJ had agreed to share the fathering responsibilities. We told Hailey that she now had two daddies and a step-daddy. We didn't even try to explain it to her yet. She's only four, but she'll understand someday.
She seemed very excited to now have three fathers, a new aunt, two little babies on the way, and still her uncles Brian and Howie. The day was too much for her and she fell asleep for her nap very quickly.
When she was asleep, Brian, Howie, AJ, Kevin, and Nick all went downstairs to the studio Kevin had built in the basement to finish the final things on the new CD the were supposed to be releasing in November.
Cat and I talked some more. We talked about her and AJ's date and how AJ was Hailey's daughter.
She had a mischievous look on her face. "What?"
"Brother and sister relationship, my ass." We both laughed.
chapter thirty
chapter list
chapter thirty-two
