| Chapter 63 Gary walked up to Leighanne's door and hesitated. He checked to make sure his tie was straight, then knocked. "Just a minute!" Leighanne yelled from inside. Gary laughed to himself, she was never ready on time. That was one of the many things that he loved about her. She finally opened the door, and Gary's mouth dropped open. She looked like an angel. She was wearing a white sequenced gown. It came up to a mock turtleneck but it was backless. She had her hair in an updo with two beautiful jeweled combs, and a bracelet to match. "Gary?" she said. "Huh, Oh hi," he said blushing, "You ready to go?" "Yeah, I just gotta find my shoes," she said walking back into the house. Gary looked down, she was barefoot. How sexy is that? he asked himself, then scolded himself for thinking it. He walked into the house and sat down on the couch. Tyke came over and jumped in his lap. "Hey there little fella," Gary said, petting him. Tyke cocked his head to the side and looked at him, then got down to go find Litty. "Found them," Leighanne said, walking back into the living room. Gary stood up and looked at her, "You look beautiful." Leighanne smiled, "Thanks, you look handsome yourself." Gary was wearing your typical black tux. "So, we ready now?" he asked. Leighanne grabbed her bag and headed for the door, but stopped before opening it. "Gary, are you nervous?" she asked. "Extremely, you?" he asked. "Yeah, I don't think I've ever been more nervous than I am right now," she said. Gary walked up to her and took her hand, "Then I guess we'll just be nervous together." Leighanne took a deep breath and smiled, "OK, let's go." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian paced the room, while Tara and Lyn sat next to each other. "Brian, please come sit down, you're gonna wear a hole in the floor," Tara said. Brian stopped and looked at her, "I can't help it. It's been hours since his fever broke, why isn't he waking up?" "Brian, he will when he's ready to," Lyn said. Tara got up and stood next to him, "Honey, it wasn't that long ago that Kevin was saying the same thing about you. We just have to trust that he's gonna be OK when he does wake up." Brian stared at her, "I know, I just wish I could do something. Sitting here is driving me nuts!" Tara and Lyn both laughed at him. "You guys could go back to the house for a while," Lyn suggested. Brian shook his head, "No, I don't want to leave him until I know he's OK." "Lyn, you haven't been home since you brought him in. Why don't you go home and get some rest?" Brian said. Lyn looked at Tara, then to Brian, "I can't. I promised." He looked at Tara, confused. "She promised Nick she wouldn't leave," Tara said. "Well then I guess we're all stuck here," Brian said. "I could think of worse places to be stuck," Lyn said. "Like where?" Brian asked. She looked at him and smiled, "Like on a tour bus, locked in the bathroom for three hours." Brian's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, "How did you know about that?" Lyn laughed. "What's she talking about?" Tara asked. "Right before the end of the tour, I was on my bus, and got stuck in the bathroom. The lock broke, and it took Mark three hours to get me out. I didn't tell anyone, and I threatened Mark with his life if he told," Brian said. Tara began laughing hysterically, "Oh my God, that's funny!" Brian got a hurt look on his face, "Not when it happens to you," he said, then started laughing. Lyn got up and walked over to Brian, "Remember when you asked me on the phone if I could see things?" "Yeah," Brian said. "There's your answer," she said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gary and Leighanne arrived at the theater to find more press than either one of them were expecting. They got out and made their way down the red carpet, stopping for short interviews and photos. When they finally made it inside the theater, they were shown to their seats. "I think I'm gonna be sick," Leighanne said, the butterflies in her stomach working overtime. Gary squeezed her hand, "Just take a deep breath, the worst is over. All we have to do now is watch the movie, and go to the after party." "Yeah, but what if no one likes it?" she asked. He smiled at her, "They will love it, don't worry." Just then the lights went down. Everyone hurried to their seats as the movie started. Leighanne and Gary settled in, watching the audience more than the movie. As the movie ended and the credits started to roll, the audience applauded. Gary looked at Leighanne, she looked relieved. "See, they loved it," he said. "Yeah, they did," she said, feeling happy and relieved at the same time. "Now on to the party," Gary said, standing up and offering her his hand. She took it and together they made their way out of the building and to their car. It was a short drive to the hall where the party was being held. Leighanne checked her makeup and fidgeted. "You aren't still nervous are you?" Gary asked. "A little. You know some press will be at the party, I'm always nervous around them," she said. "Really, I thought you would've been a pro at this by now," Gary said. She looked at him, "Just because I was married to a Backstreet Boy doesn't mean I'm comfortable with the press. Besides, they were never that interested in me, it was Brian they always wanted to talk to." "Well, now it's your turn," Gary said. Leighanne laughed a little. They arrived at the hall, and Gary took her hand. "You ready?" he asked. "Might as well be," she said, taking his hand and getting out of the car. There were a few photographers out front, and she and Gary stopped again for photos. When they got inside, they saw the director, and several of the people that had worked on the movie. They both mingled, but never got to far away from each other. Music was playing and several people were dancing. Leighanne had sat down with a small plate of food, mostly just picking at it, when Gary joined her. "Anne, you gotta try this," he said holding out an or' derve. "What is it?" she asked looking at it skeptically. "I don't know, but it's really good," Gary said, "Come on try it." She opened her mouth and he fed it to her. "That is good," she said wiping her mouth with her finger. They both ate for a few minutes, trying things off each others plates. "You wanna dance?" Gary asked. Leighanne looked out at the dance floor, there were several couples already out there. "Sure," she said. Gary got up and took her hand and led her onto the floor. A slow song was playing, so he held her close as they danced. Leighanne rested her head on his shoulder as they danced across the floor. Gary looked down at her, "Anne, I love you," he whispered. She looked up at him and smiled, "I love you too." Gary leaned down and gently kissed her lips, "You wanna leave?" "Yeah," she said. He took her hand, and together they left, never noticing the camera that followed their every move. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian lay asleep in the chair next to the bed. Lyn was looking out the window when Tara walked up to her. "You know you freaked him out with the bathroom thing," she said smiling. "Yeah, I could tell. I didn't mean to, I don't know why I said it really, it just came out," Lyn said. "How often does that happen?" Tara asked. "I don't know. It's mostly in dreams, and I never know if it's just a dream or if it's really real until something happens to confirm it," Lyn said. Tara looked out the window. The city below was busy, and far in the distance she could see the ocean. "Lyn, this morning when we came in, while Brian was getting the nurse, I saw something," Tara said. Lyn looked at her, "What'd you see?" "I touched Nick's arm, and I got like flashes. Nick in the water, sinking. And there was one of you in the water looking for him," Tara said, "Was I seeing what happened?" Lyn had tears in her eyes, "Yes." Tara leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. "I could feel how distraught he was, his feeling of loneliness and depression. I never thought the decisions we made would've led to that," she said. Lyn looked into Tara's eyes, she could see the guilt Tara was feeling. "But he doesn't feel that way now," Lyn said. "I know, but I can't help but think that I caused him that pain. He went through that because of me," Tara said. "Tara, he went through that because for some reason he needed to. Nothing you could've done would've prevented it," Lyn said. Tara stared out the window for several minutes. "I'm just glad that you two were brought together by this," she finally said. Lyn smiled, "I am too. I never realized how much I had shut people out of my life until I was forced with having to take care of him. He has been as good for me as I have for him." Tara smiled, but never took her eyes from the window. "Tara, what else is bothering you?" Lyn asked. Tara looked at her, "We found one of Nick's bags at the house. It had several letters he'd written in it." "Letters? You mean like goodbye letters?" Lyn asked. Tara nodded her head, "If you wanna call them that, yes." "Did you read them?" Lyn asked. "No, we put them back where we found them. I'm not sure I want to know what's in them," she said. "Yeah, I understand," Lyn said. They both looked at Nick. He was sleeping soundly, unaware of their worry for him. Lyn put her arm around Tara's shoulders, "You know when he wakes up he's gonna need us both." Tara smiled, "Yeah, I'm hoping that will be soon." "Me too," Lyn said as she gave Tara a hug, "Me too." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So where are we going?" Leighanne asked. "Back to my place if you want," Gary said. "Sure, I haven't seen your place here," she said. The drive was short, and as they were pulling into the drive, Leighanne was amazed at the house. "Gary, this house makes your other one look like a shack," she said. He laughed, "The other one is my vacation house. This is where I call home most of the time." They got out and walked inside. "Would you like a drink?" he asked. "Sure," she said following him into the kitchen. He opened the fridge, "OK, what would you like? Wine, soda, water, juice, tea, champagne...." "Wine is good," she said. He grabbed the bottle and two glasses, "You want the grand tour?" he asked as he poured her glass. "OK," she said. He finished pouring his, then proceeded to take Leighanne around the house. They ended up in his bedroom. "This is the master bedroom," he said walking through the door. Leighanne walked in looking around. It was a huge room with a sitting area, a giant king size bed, and a private door to the balcony. "This goes out to the balcony?" she asked. "Yes," Gary said, opening the door and leading the way out. They stood there for a long time, the lights of the city twinkling below them. Gary set his glass down and took her hand in his. She looked into his eyes, and suddenly everything ceased to exist. The only thing that mattered was that they were together. Gary leaned down and kissed her, slowly at first, then increasing with passion. After several minutes they were both breathless. "You want to go inside?" Gary asked. Leighanne nodded her head and walked inside. Gary closed the door, and pulled her to him, kissing his way down her neck. Leighanne pulled the combs from her hair, letting it fall. They were slowing making their way to the bed, fumbling with buttons and clasps. Gary backed her to the bed, then suddenly stopped. "What is it?" Leighanne asked. "It's just that we agreed to take it slow, and here we are already. Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. Leighanne stared at him for a moment, then grabbed him by the arms and pushed him onto the bed. She crawled on top of him, smiling, "Does this answer your question?" she said leaning down and kissing him. Chapter 64 |