Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kaci wakes up to a note on the pillow next to her where Jose slept.
My dearest Jessica,
You know I love you more than anything in the world. I will be thinking of you all day while I am at work and you're with Nick to celebrate your birthday. I have a surprise waiting for you at work, please stop by before you and Nick head out.
Te Quiero Mucho Mi Amor,
Jose
Kaci then looks over to her computer desk to see two dozen red and white roses. She gets up out of bed and goes over to the roses.
Jessica,
Good morning beautiful. One dozen roses are from me and the other dozen are Jose's idea. I look forward to spending the day with you. Get dressed up for some fun in the sun. I will be back at your house to pick you up at ten. Don't be late! Happy Birthday Beautiful!
Love, Nick
*****
"I'm going to kill them two!" Kaci says out loud.
Kaci goes downstairs thinking to herself how there better not be any more surprises. When she gets downstairs, she sees Justin and Angela with Hayley in the living room.
"There's something for you in the kitchen," Justin says.
"What now?" Kaci says frustrated.
Kaci walks into the kitchen and sees two huge balloons and more roses.
"I don't believe it!" Kaci says walking over to the roses looking for a card. "Hey J," Kaci says walking out toward the living room, "who are the balloons and roses from?"
"I don't know Jess, isn't there a card?"
"I didn't see one!"
Justin gets up with Hayley in his arms and goes into the kitchen with Kaci.
"It's right here dumbass," Justin says finding a card and handing it to Kaci.
"Shut up and go back to your girl," Kaci says grabbing the card out of Justin's hand.
Justin leaves the kitchen and Kaci opens the card to find out who got her the balloons and roses. She opens the card and sees that it is in what looks like Justin's handwriting. Without looking at who it's from, the second line of the card gave it away and Kaci starts crying.
My beautiful Jessica,
Every day I wake up to thinking about you and every night I go to sleep thinking about you. Last night made me realize even more the reason I have decided to move back to Florida. You are my everything Jess, the reason I get up every morning. Over the past two years, I have missed you so much. I wondered what you were up to, how you were, who you were dating and the tabloids only made things worse. I would see you in them with Justin and then I would see you in them with Michael. I knew deep down that you still loved me and were trying to get over the way things ended two years ago. I want you Jess, I want you more and more each and every day. I have a surprise for you. I hope you know where I am talking about. Justin needs to take you to the Ritz-Carlton tonight around eight. The surprise will be in room 421. I miss you and I can't wait until I am back in Florida and we are able to see each other. But for now, a phone call will do. Give me a call when you get this so that I can hear your beautiful voice. Happy Birthday my beautiful Jessica Kaci Roman-McLean!
With All My Love, Alex♥
Kaci walks out of the kitchen and starts to go upstairs.
"Who was that from?" Justin asks.
"Don't you know?"
"No! I'm just as curious as you are!"
"Oh, well, here, look for yourself. I have to get dressed, Nick is taking me out for my birthday and said I had to be ready by ten!" Kaci says handing Justin the card and going upstairs.
Kaci goes upstairs and gets a shower and gets dressed. Once she gets dressed, she calls A.J., Jose and Nick.
"Hey this is Alex, leave a message and I'll call you back when I can."
"Hey Alex, it's Jess. I just got your card and the roses. Thank you so much! But what's this surprise? Call me back! Nick's picking me up at ten, call me before then! Love you!"
Kaci flips through her phone book on her phone to find Nick's number.
"Hello?"
"Where you at?"
"I'm on my way to your house. Are you ready to leave?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Where we going?"
"You'll see. I'll be there soon. I'll call you when I get there, alright?"
"Alright. Let me call Jose and let him know so he knows where to reach me at."
"Okay. I'll see you soon."
Kaci hangs up with Nick and calls Jose.
"Hey baby."
"Hey yourself! When did you and Nick get a chance to talk?"
"Oh, um..."
"What's going on Jose?"
"Nothing! We both missed your birthday so we thought that we'd just get your birthday present today."
"Alright, I can see you're now in on Nick's little plan, so I guess you know where to reach me."
"If you insist, but I got to go. I'll see you later."
"Alright fine. I love you too."
"I love you Jess! Gotta go!"
Kaci and Jose hang up with each other and Kaci signs online and puts an away message up, but immediately gets an IM from Staci.
JackieBaby: Hey, I got a new sn
KaciJRoman: Hangin with Nick for my birthday... leave me <3 or hit up my cellie.
KaciJRoman: Hey Staci! Awesome, what is it?
JackieBaby: BabyATS1386
KaciJRoman: Alright, I'll add you to my list.
JackieBaby: OK so what are you and Nick doing?
KaciJRoman: I don't have a clue! It's some kind of surprise. I got another surprise this morning!
JackieBaby: What? From who?
KaciJRoman: Well, Nick and Jose got me a dozen roses each, but when I went into the kitchen there were more roses and a huge Happy Birthday balloon and a huge I <3 U balloon... from Alex!
JackieBaby: Alex? Isn't he in Malibu?
KaciJRoman: Yeah! I don't know how he did it!
Kaci's cell phone rings while she's talking to Staci online.
"Hello?"
"I'm here," Nick says.
"Alright, I'll be down in a minute."
"Hurry it up!"
Kaci and Nick hang up and Kaci goes back to talking to Staci online.
KaciJRoman: I g2g Nick is here. I'll TTYL
JackieBaby: Alright, have fun!
Kaci puts her away message back up and grabs her phone and purse and goes downstairs.
"I'll be back later so I can change and you can take me to the Ritz."
"Alright, see you later."
Kaci leaves and meets Nick down at the end of her driveway.
"Are we going out on the boat?" Kaci asks.
"Probably since I have it."
"So what else, I know just going out on the boat is not the only thing you can come up with!"
"Oh, you'll see! Now, get in and let's go!"
Kaci gets in the truck with Nick and the two leave. Nick drives Kaci down to his house in Miami.
"Okay, why did you go get the boat if you were going to come here anyways?" Kaci asks confused.
"To be honest I had something else planned, but it was canceled on me last minute and so I figured instead of one Carter you could have two since I know how much you love Aaron and you two haven't seen each other in a while. It was all last minute."
"Oh I miss my li'l Aaron! Oh, do you know what Alex is up to?"
"No, why?"
"I got roses from him this morning with a Happy Birthday balloon and an I Love You balloon. And his card said something about a surprise for me in room 421 at the Ritz-Carlton."
"Oh my god!"
"What? Do you know what's going on?"
"No, I promise I don't! That's so like Aje though! I wonder if... no, he couldn't have..."
"Couldn't have what Nick?"
"Forget it. I talked to him this morning and he was going to the studio to work on a solo album. He said something about wanting to finish writing and recording 'Happy'."
"Oh okay," Kaci says looking at Nick, getting the vibe he's keeping something from her.
Kaci gets out of the truck with Nick and they both go into the house and are greeted by Aaron.
"Hey brat!" Kaci says hugging Aaron.
"Hey yourself!"
"I heard you wanted to join us."
"Actually, everyone wants to join you and Nick but he only said yes to me and Kaley."
"Oh, that sounds like someone's trying to play matchmaker!" Kaci says laughing.
Kaci, Nick and Aaron go into the living room and sit down on the couch.
"I thought we were going out on the boat?" Kaci asks confused.
"We are, we're just waiting for Kaley to finish getting ready!"
"Oh okay."
"I'll be right back, you and Aaron can catch up while I go check on Kaley," Nick says getting up.
Nick leaves to go check on Kaley and Kaci catches up with Aaron. Meanwhile, back at the Roman mansion, Justin is getting ready for Kaci's surprise at the Ritz-Carlton.
"So Alex, how's this going to work?"
"I'm getting to the hotel around six and will set everything up. You did book the room under an alias, right Justin?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I booked it just how you told me to. And you have the ballroom from nine until two."
"What about a dress for Jess?"
"I"m meeting you there at the hotel. I'll bring it then. Just call me when you are by Palm Beach Gardens and I'll leave to meet you at the Ritz-Carlton."
"Oh alright. Jess doesn't have any clue that I'm going to be there, does she?"
"Not that I know of. She's with Nick right now."
"Oh alright. He knows I flew into Orlando this morning so hopefully he doesn't blow this!"
"I hope so too! I know she will be so excited to see you! But what about Jose, can he come too?"
"Jess told me that he worked at a hotel so I called there and talked to him. He had plans to go hang out with a friend of his tonight anyways. By the way, do you have the numbers to call her friends?"
"Yeah, how do you want me to get them to you?"
"I'm at my mom's house right now so you can e-mail them to me at AJ_Shadz_Music@yahoo.com and I'll get them."
"Alright, I'll go upstairs now and do that while I got you on the phone."
"Thanks Justin. Oh, did Jess know that you wrote the card?"
"I don't know. She made a comment when I asked who it was from, but I don't think she knows I did it for you."
"Alright good. Hey Justin, my mom and step-dad just got back, do you mind emailing me that info and I'll call you back later?"
"Not at all. Tell Denise we said hello."
"Thanks man. I appreciate you helping me do this for Jess."
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