Standing By

The Fan That Wouldn't Leave

(Tim)

"Sooo," I murmured, staring at the phone and feeling dejected. I'd actually missed my flight. How the hell'd that happen? I rarely miss flights, maybe two in my life. Well, make that three now. Shit. And of course I had to do it on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Ugh. "Please, Luke, work your magic. Get me on a flight home."

"Please," Chance begged, scrolling through his phone and nudging me. "Look. There's nothing here."

"Shit," Adam cursed as Avi, Scott, Mitch, Kirstie, and Kevin ran out the door, probably to check on their flights.

"Nothing?" Rob bemoaned, looking over Chance's shoulder. "Luuuke! Hellllp!"

Luke sighed. "I'll see what I can do. Please don't make this a habit."

"This is the first time in, what, seven years?" I pointed out. "Clearly, we don't make this a habit."

"2009," Adam said confidently. "I remember it clearly. July 5th show, all headed to Toronto. Every single one of us overslept for a 7:00 AM flight." He held a finger up. "That was the last time we ever had a flight scheduled before 8:00. Traffic put us there right at 6:45. Keep in mind, this was for an international flight. Chris got held up at security because he'd forgotten and left his pocketknife in his pocket. He ended up throwing it away and getting frisked before any one of us could go on. Then Elliott stupidly had a cantaloupe of all things in his carry-on and got stopped at customs. We we racing down the concourse to make it. I fell over Matt's roll-along carry-on and busted my lip. Yeah." Adam rolled his eyes. "We missed that flight. But seriously, Luke, twice in eight years is pretty damn good."

"Damn, you got a good memory," Rob remarked. "I just remember the Chris at security part and Elliott and the damn cantaloupe."

Chance and I were cackling away.

"Cantaloupe?" he laughed, rolling over on his back. "Lord!"

"I'm curious. Why a cantaloupe?" I snorted. "You know, you can buy those anywhere."

Rob shrugged. "They were the juiciest and sweetest melons I've ever eaten, but come on, dude, use your brain!"

"Chris was pissed about losing that knife," Adam recollected as Pentatonix came back in. "Got it in Switzerland."

"An actual Swiss knife?" Chance asked. "Sweet."

"Yep, and he made us schedule another European tour starting in Switzerland to replace it." Adam snorted. "Don't mess with Chris and his pocketknives. I swear he collects them but he claims he doesn't collect anything but dust."

I giggled. "He still have that cowboy one I gave him that year?"

"Absolutely." Adam nodded at me. "Only time I ever saw him discard one was at the airport that day."

"4:20. We're OK," Mitch breathed, eyes wide.

"If we get our butts in gear," Kirstie added, now in house shoes. "No time to waste."

"Running, running, running," Avi panted, twisting his hair into a bun.

"Now I want a fucking cantaloupe," Rob wailed, eyeing Austin's luggage.

"I am pretty sure Austin didn't pack a cantaloupe," I laughed at him as Austin ran out of the bathroom in his underwear, wet hair dripping water everywhere.

"Pack a what?" he asked, digging his jeans out and pulling them on. "We got transportation to the airport or we doing our own? When are your flights?"

"Your own," Luke told him, clicking away in the background. "You guys picked a bad day to do this."

"Well, we didn't plan on it," Chance grumbled.

"Do not let Austin miss his flight," Luke warned us as Pentatonix all started to issue us their goodbyes.

Scott gave me a big hug. "It was great working with you, Tim," he told me. "See you on the 28th?"

"Yep," I told him, trying to keep my tone light. I was not happy with the super quick turnaround. Jenika would be pissed too. Barely any time to relax and enjoy the holiday. I could tell Avi was pretty upset about it too. The way his face fell, the resentment in his voice. He—and Pentatonix—had agreed to it though.

Avi wrapped his arms around me. "I can't keep going on like this," he muttered softly.

"It'll be OK," I said reassuringly. "I know it's sudden and unexpected, but everything will be OK."

"Yeah," he whispered, then sighed. "It is what it is. See you on the 28th."

"See you. Take care," I added, sensing his unhappiness.

Avi grinned at me. "You too." He squeezed my arm. "Thanks. I'll be OK."

"Merry Christmas, Tim!" Kevin said joyfully, pulling Avi off of me.

"You too!" I told him, eyes not leaving Avi. I was pretty sure there was something going on there. I hoped he wasn't just saying he'd be OK.

"All right, hope you guys didn't think you were getting anywhere direct," Luke broke in. "I can get all four of you on a 4:00 to Annapolis, Maryland. Adam and Rob can take that to Cleveland, Ohio, and then go to Minneapolis, Minnesota."

"Thank you!" Rob exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"

"You are a miracle worker!" Adam agreed.

"Tim and Chance can go from Maryland to Fort Lauderdale, Florida."

"Awesome!" I crowed, giving Chance a high five. "Beaaach!"

"Don't get too excited there. Tim, you're there for thirty minutes before you head over to Nashville, Tennessee. Chance has forty minutes of fun in the sun before a flight to Huntsville, Alabama."

"Thank you, Luke," Chance told him.

"Couldn't have done it without you. You are a lifesaver," I told him, feeling extremely grateful even if it was two layovers. He'd gotten us all booked.

"Do not miss these flights," Luke warned us. "I'm going to hang up so you can get your butts moving. Austin still there or is he out?"

"Austin is on his way out," Austin said, giving us all hugs quickly and moving to zip up his hastily-packed suitcase.

"What the hell is that?" Rob demanded, pointing to a smallish, round brown package stuffed on top of his dirty clothes.

"If it's a cantaloupe, I'mma lose my shit," Adam remarked, making Rob, Chance, and me laugh as Kirstie and Mitch hugged me at the same time.

"What is it with y'all and cantaloupes?" Austin demanded, sitting on his suitcase to make it close. "I don't get it. They are not in season, but if you really want, I can bring y'all a couple from Georgia."

This made all four of us burst out laughing. And Chance and I hadn't even been privy to this alleged Elliott cantaloupe incident. The whole situation of him (who I'd only met once or twice in my life) with a cantaloupe, Chris and a Swiss army knife, and Rob, Adam, and Matt making a clumsy run for it down the concourse was just too funny.

"No—no canta... hahaha!" Adam could barely talk at this point. "No canta...heeheehee! Canta...hahaha! Canta..."

"You can't-a bring canta-loupes!" I joked, rubbing at my eyes.

"Say cantaloupe one more time!" Chance guffawed. "Say cantaloupe one more time!"

"Cantaloupe! Cantaloupe! Cantaloupe!" Rob cawed out before surrendering to laughter again.

"Y'all have done lost it." Kirstie shook her head at us.

"I don't know what the deal is either," Austin said, standing up with the suitcase and pulling it around. "And Rob, it's a Piggly-Wiggly bag with toiletries because my toiletry bag bit the dust two days before I was coming up here."

"What the hell is a Piggy-Wiggy?" Rob squinted at him.

"Grocery store!" Austin, Chance, Mitch, Scott, and I all answered at once.

"It's not a Piggy-Wiggy, it's Piggly-Wiggly!" Kirstie corrected him.

Rob rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I never heard of it."

"Me either," Adam added before tripping over Austin's suitcase and falling awkwardly on his side. "Damn it, Matt, watch it!"

"Matt?!" Austin exclaimed. "I ain't Matt. The hell's wrong with you?"

Having just caught my breath from imagining a pissed off Chris throwing his knife away and a hungry and sad Elliott parting with his beloved cantaloupe, I lost it again, collapsing into a giggling heap with Rob and Chance.

"I never heard of a Piggly-Wiggly either," Kevin admitted, turning to Avi. "Have you?"

"No, can't say that I have." He glanced at us and shrugged. "Must be a Southern thing. I'm a California boy."

Adam crawled to his feet, rubbing on his hip. "Long story, and you gotta go. And we got to get cleaned up."

"Okayyy," Austin mumbled, giving him a long look before turning to the door and calling to us to have a merry Christmas over his shoulder. We all told him to have a good one himself, then took one look at each other before kicking it into high gear.

"Twenty minutes, you guys!" Adam yelled. "Back right here in the hall in twenty minutes! I'm going to literally throw everything into my suitcase and call a cab for us. Tim, Chance, Rob, you guys smell like you're sweating alcohol. Go take a shower, 'cuz I ain't sitting next to on a plane all the way down to Maryland. Or Ohio. Or Minnesota."

I lifted an arm and sniffed at my inner elbow. It didn't smell like alcohol to me, but it didn't smell good either. Yeah, a shower was definitely in order.

Getting into my room, I took care of that as quickly as possible, then made a run around the room, tossing clothes, shoes, shampoo and conditioner, shaving equipment, and everything haphazardly in my bags and suitcase. I glanced around, making sure I had everything and nothing was left. I grabbed my glasses case (empty—I'd decided contacts were too much to deal with right now) and shoved it in my carry-on. Yep, think I got it all. I thumbed through my email on my phone to look at the information Luke had sent to me. OK, so we got a 4:35 out... it's, um... 3:20 now. Yiii. Tickets, check. Suitcase, check. Phone, check. Carry-on, check. Me, check. I stepped on out into the hallway, where Adam and Rob were already out there, waiting on us. Both were playing on their phones. Rob didn't even look up. Adam glanced up at me though.

"Ready?" he asked me.

"Yep." I started to text Jenika to let her know we'd missed our flights just as Chance opened his door, hauling his suitcase behind him.

"OK, I'm good. Let's roll," he said.

"Rolling," Adam confirmed, texting as he walked. I didn't think I was that coordinated, so I waited until we were successfully loaded into the cab.

'Hey, Jenika, we missed our flights, so we're running behind. We've got a 4:35 to MD, then I'll be on a 6:00 to FL, then a 7:45 to Nashville. Should be home by 9:00.'

Rob leaned over. "How's she taking it? Kelsey's kinda annoyed."

I watched as her message switched from delivered to read. " 'Bout to find out." I tapped my foot. It seemed to be taking her a long time to answer. Was she typing out a novel? I was super annoyed when five minutes later, I just got a simple 'moron'. Ah, ya little bitch, it could happen to anyone. I sent her an angry face emoji, which immediately provoked another series of dots so I knew she was responding. I watched it warily, wondering what she was coming up with. I was pretty sure it would not be lovey-dovey. Finally, I got it—'look, don't be giving me that. You're the one that messed up and missed his flight, not me.' Hmm. Somewhere between pissed off and forgiving. It wasn't as bad as I was afraid of. "Rob," I said, jabbing him in the side.

He looked up from his Twitter feed. "What?"

"Whataya make of this?" I pushed my phone at him.

He took it and read it, considering for a minute. "Hmm. You were perfectly nice at first, very matter-of-fact, and she called you a name. Not cool." He winced as we bumped over a pothole. "Then you sent her a mad emoji. Understandable, but not sure it was the best move."

I shrugged. "She called me a moron. Seemed appropriate at the time."

"Ericha just told me to get there when I can," Adam said, having found a game to amuse himself with. "That, and to be safe."

"I didn't get that," Rob admitted. "I got a 'Rob, it's Christmas Eve! I'd appreciate it if you'd make it home at a halfway decent hour!', accompanied by a shocked cat emoji."

"And I," Chance began, "got a 'whatever, dude, call me when you're on your last leg and I'll meet you there.' "

"Who's picking you up?" Adam asked, leaning forward to look at him.

"Friend of mine," he answered. "He is very easy-going."

"Must be nice," I remarked, re-reading her text. "Should I answer that?"

"Yeah, say 'I'm sorry'," Rob told me and I moved my finger to hit the 'S' key for 'sorry', making him shake his head. "Just like that. 'I'm sorry'."

I looked up. "You're sorry?"

"No, you're sorry. You write 'I'm sorry'," he corrected.

"Heh?" I squinted at him, then down at the phone. "You want me to say that you are sorry?"

"No!" Rob looked aggravated. "Write 'I', 'am', 'sorry'. OK?"

"Sooo...," I muttered, still frowning at the phone. "I say 'Rob is sorry'?"

"No, Tim, stick with me here." Rob rubbed at his face. "I, Rob, want you, Tim, to write that Tim is sorry. Rob stays out of the text message."

" 'Tim is sorry'." I moved my finger over to the 'T'.

" 'I am sorry'," he corrected, making me blow out an exasperated breath.

"How about I just say 'sorry'?"

" 'Sorry' alone sounds too flippant. She won't take that well. Use the pronoun 'I'; you can use the contraction 'I'm' or your can just use the verb 'am' after the pronoun 'I'. Then, the adjective 'sorry'," he tried to explain.

"Ya need him to completely diagram that sentence for ya?" Adam remarked wryly.

"Think I got it now," I muttered, now moving my finger to the 'i' and typing out 'I'm sorry'. I handed it to Rob for grading. "Howzzis?"

He glanced at it. "Perfect. A+."

"Yay!" I sent the message on its way. I was rewarded in a minute with an 'OK', then in another minute, 'I can't pick you up at 9:00. I'm going to be at the Clarks' already. Can you get someone else to pick you up?'

Gee, thanks. I knew we were supposed to meet them for dinner and gifts at 7:00, but she couldn't wait for me, or leave and come back? Thank you so much, dear. Enjoy your party without me. I jabbed Rob again. "Hey. Relationship guru. Now what?"

"I ain't no guru," he said, taking the phone from me. "Who're the Clarks?"

I swallowed. "Friends of ours. We were supposed to be having a Christmas Eve party and dinner at 7:00. She's going to that instead of picking me up at the airport."

Rb rolled his eyes. "She's going to a party rather than picking up her own husband?"

"Apparently," I groused as the driver pulled up to the drop-off area.

"American Airlines, here you go," the cabbie said in heavily accented English.

"Thank you," Chance said as Adam pulled the corporate credit card out of his wallet and took care of the charges.

"That's so messed up," Rob told me, pulling his, then my, suitcases out of the trunk and putting them on the curb. "Kelsey's pissed at me, but she's not skipping out on me to go to some damn party."

Chance accepted a couple of airport luggage tags and started putting them on our bags. He looked at me sympathetically. "Got anyone else that can help you out?"

"Well, my second choice would have been one of the Clarks," I grumbled, showing our confirmation numbers to the airport guy.

"Better hurry," he remarked, clicking on his computer. "Gate twelve."

"Gate twelve, guys!" I told the others.

Chance snorted. "Call 'em. Let them know what she's doing."

"No, no, that'll cause discord," Rob said, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Ya think?" I grunted, stepping through the double doors, then grinned. "OK, y'all. Cantaloupe check." They burst out laughing at that.

"I had mine pre-shipped," Adam joked as we made our way to the ticket line. "All my cantaloupes are good to go."

"Pocketknife check?" I added, sliding beside Adam in line and glancing up at the seemingly twenty million people ahead of us and groaned. Shiiit.

Chance's eyes got huge. "Oh shit." He started digging through his pockets.

"You got yours?" Rob admonished him, pausing his his step. "Oh Lord, here we go again, Adam."

Chance breathed a sigh of relief as he just pulled out a receipt and his inhaler. "Whew. I was smarter than I gave myself credit for and stuck it in my checked luggage."

" 'Scuse me, pardon me!" Adam was pushing his way through the crowd. "We got business class VIP, guys. Luke is really taking care of us today."

"Sweet," I said, stepping out of line and into another, much shorter, line. I saw Adam have to pull out his driver's license and went ahead and pulled mine out to be ready. The ticket lady was a quick mover and had all four of our boarding passes printed out within just a few minutes.

Rob glanced down at his watch. "We have twenty minutes to get to, ah... gate twelve."

"And get through security," I added, stepping around a group of people that had decided to stop in the walkway and ogle us.

"Need I even add how hungry I am?" Chance looked longingly at a Subway.

"First things first, Chance," Adam told him, edging past a security line to the expedited line. "Excuse me. We're business class VIP."

"Let me see your tickets," the security guy said, holding out a hand. Adam handed his over and the rest of us followed suit. The guy studied them each carefully. "OK. Put the contents of your pockets in the bowls, your carry-ons on the belt, and walk through the scanner one at a time please—your shoes are fine," he added as Chance and I had already reached down to take ours off.

"Belts?" I asked, hands flying to my clunky belt buckle.

He eyed it. "Should be OK. If the scanner goes off, we'll just use the hand wand. No worries. This is supposed to be hassle-free for our business class VIP customers."

"Thank you," Adam murmured as we all dumped our pocket contents into the bowls. He waved Adam through, then Rob, then me. I had had a sneaky feeling my belt would cause issues and it did, the scanner squawking angrily at me. I knew I should've worn the other one.

"Craaap, Tim," Rob groaned at me, glancing at his watch.

"It's my belt!" I said indignantly, holding my arms out to let the security guy pull the wand over me. He held it over the belt buckle and it dinged. "I volunteered to take it off."

"You're fine, sir," he told me, then gestured to Chance. He stepped through it and also set it off.

"Craaap, Chance!" Rob groaned, checking his watch again.

"I don't know!" Chance exclaimed, throwing his arms out to be manually scanned.

The security guy tapped his watch. "Your watch. Take it off."

"Oh, whoops." He tossed it in a bowl for the conveyer belt and stepped back through it when he was motioned through.

"Beeeep!" it flagged him and I checked my watch.

"Lemme see." The security guy stepped forward with his wand. "Don't see nothing that would set it off. Let me just use the manual." He ran the wand over Chance's body quickly and it started sounding as it rolled over his pocket. "Leave something in your pocket, sir?"

"Didn't think so," he muttered.

I leaned over and hissed to Rob, "Hope his pocketknife isn't in there after all."

"Oh Lord," he grunted.

"Ah, he'd just have to throw it away," Adam said flippantly. "Like Chris did."

Chance plunged his hand in his pocket and dug around in it a minute before extracting his inhaler. The small metallic bottle with the medicine immediately fell out of the handheld mouthpiece and rolled across the floor and into the next security line. Chance and our security guy followed it with their eyes.

The second security guy, who hadn't seen where it came from, took one look at it and leapt up, smacking a button on the side of the X-ray machine and setting off an alarm. My hands flew to my ears as poor Chance shoved the inhaler mouthpiece into our security guy's hand.

"Unidentified suspicious container!" the second security guy was yelling, making a herd of other security guys appear from the woodwork and converge on the medicine.

"It's my albuterol!" Chance yelled, looking embarrassed. "For my asthma!"

"Reed," our security guy said calmly, holding out the mouthpiece to him. He waved the other security guys off, poor Chance slinking to the wall. He looked like he was half expecting to be either frisked or taken away on the spot for having the audacity of wanting to control his asthma should he have issues on the plane. Thank God I didn't bring any of my epipens with me on this trip. Most of the time, they don't cause issues, but if albuterol can set off alarm bells, I could only imagine what long-ass sharp needles would do.

"False alarm," our security guy said easily. "Reed. Look at the container before sounding the alarm."

Reed looked down at it. "I can't read that teeny-tiny writing."

Our security guy snatched it up. "Albuterol. It's a business class VIP customer's asthma medicine." He shoved the bottle into place, accidentally squirting a dose out. "Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to spray it."

"I—I didn't see the actual inhaler part," Reed admitted.

"I did! And I'm more intelligent than a turnip!"

I snorted at that. "Can we go? Are we free to go to our gate? Is Chance cleared now?"

"Five minutes!" Adam yelled, looking at both his watch and his iPhone for confirmation of the time. "We're gonna miss our flights!"

"Gate twelve!" Rob announced, spinning around like a top looking for it. "Shit, this is gave sixty-two!"

Our security guy picked up his radio. "Guest services to security B, please. Business class VIP customers five minutes from missing flight."

I looked at him gratefully. "Can you help us?"

"Absolutely," he assured me. "You all will be on that flight. You have priority with your ticket type and we know who you are."

A golf cart pulled up to us and a perky-looking guy popped his head out. "Where to, guys? What flight number?"

"Gate twelve," Rob relayed, climbing in.

I jumped up next to him. "American Airlines, flight 799."

As Chance and Adam got on, he radioed ahead. "Business class VIP customers to AA799. Please hold plane."

"Oh my God, thank you!" Adam gushed. "Thank you! You all are saving our butts!"

"I am so sorry, guys," Chance apologized, balancing his carry-on on his knees. "I thought I had emptied my pockets out."

"Not your fault the Reed guy is an idiot," I told him, holding on to the framing as we zoomed around a corner and up a concourse.

"And they're actually holding the plane for us," Rob said, waving to us as they saw us zipping past. "They've never done that before."

"We weren't business class VIPs before," Adam pointed out. "Luke really got us set nicely with these tickets. Hate to imagine the cost."

"Ergh." Chance shook his head.

"And we weren't as big a name back then," Adam added as we approached gates numbered in the twenties and started to slow down. Our extremely kind golf cart driver deposited us right in front of gate twelve, were a single boarding agent was manning (womanning?) the door. She picked up her radio.

"Yes, the VIPs are here. Sending them on right now," she said, waving us by without even asking for our tickets.

"Where we at?" I asked Adam, pulling my ticket out to check.

"2A," he said, reading his own.

"Slow down!" Rob huffed, bringing up the rear as usual.

"Can't, Rob, entire plane is waiting on us!" Adam snapped.

"You can use my suspicious inhaler when we get on the plane!" Chance grumbled, pulling his ticket out of his pocket as we entered the plane. "I'm 5C."

"1B," I reported, finding my seat and throwing myself in it. I let out a huge breath. Whew. We made it.

My seat mate in 1A looked at me. "Oh. That's why they held the plane."

"I can't believe they held it for us," I commented, hurriedly pulling my seatbelt on. "I thought for sure we were about to miss the second flight of the day."

"Well, you didn't," she said, smiling at me. "Loved your performance last night. I saw it on TV."

"Aw, thanks!" I told her as the flight attendant started in on her safety briefing. Seat cushions, seatbelts, emergency exits, blah blah blah. Heard it a million times.

She glanced at the attendant and then looked back at me. "I'm Tina."

"Nice to meet you, Tina," I told her. "I'm Tim."

"I know," she laughed, twisting around to look at the other business class VIP passengers. We were among a small group of about sixteen people. I wondered what they did for a living and if we were amongst other musicians or actors. If we were, I didn't recognize them.

"Oh, there's Adam," Tina remarked, turned around 180 degrees. Damn. Middle aged woman had better back flexibility than I did in my thirties. "Hi Adam!"

"Hi there," Adam greeted her, his own seat mate gawking at the two of us.

"Why aren't you all sitting together?" Tina asked us curiously.

"Emergency flight," I explained. "We missed our flights out of New York, so it sent us scrambling to get a flight out."

"Where the hell is your lead singer?" Adam's seat mate asked. "The, uh, redheaded guy."

"He managed to catch his flight," Adam said, gesturing to her. "This is Denise, by the way."

"Tina," Tina introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you, Tina. And Tim," Denise told us.

"Tim-ma," I cracked, making myself laugh. She giggled along with me.

"So we took what we could get." Adam shrugged. Got a layover in Maryland. Then Rob and I are catching a flight to Cleveland that we'll take to Minneapolis."

"That sounds complicated." Denise made a face. "Hope you have better luck with these flights."

"Us too," Adam groaned a she started taxiing down the runway. He stuck his fingers in his ears. "Tim, you got gum? Anybody got gum? Or lozenges?"

"Lemme see." I grabbed my carry-on and started digging around in it, startling when something slapped me upside the head. "Hey! Whazzat?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to hit you in the head!" Rob called from across the aisle and three rows back. "It's truly a miracle it made it as far as it did."

I laughed, leaning over to pick up the pack of Trident. "Thanks! Just what I was looking for!"

"No problem, bud!" he told me. Chance leaned forward to tell him something. I popped a piece out and into my mouth then handed it to Adam.

"Thanks." He extracted two pieces before hurling it across the aisle to Rob who managed to catch it mid-bubble.

"Anybody got any snacks?" Chance called up to us. "Tim? Adam? I got nothing."

"Lemme see." I grabbed my carry-on again, chewing frantically on my gum.

"Don't worry—we got, ehh, Sally, what we got today?" a flight attendant asked her colleague.

Sally peered over a cart. "Looks like pretzels and nuts for economy and an assortment of soups and sandwiches for business class. Mmm, that chowder smells good."

"Didn't know they served meals on flights anymore," Adam remarked.

"Business class does." Tina looked at him. "Don't tell me you don't always fly business class."

"Usually, we take the tour bus," I said, wincing as my ears popped despite the gum. "Flights only occasionally." I twisted around to look at Adam, my back protesting the whole way. "Hey, Adam with the elephant memory, when was the last time we flew?"

He thought a minute. "When we had to go from Seattle to New York in less than twelve hours, 'member? That was when Rob got sick 'cuz he ate that giant barbecue sandwich right before getting on."

"Oh yeah," I muttered, mainly remembering my desire to get away from him while he puked his guts up.

"Hey, err, flight attendants? Can we get up? I really gotta go to the bathroom," Rob called out.

Sally glanced out the window. "Captain ought to be turning the stay seated light out any minute."

"Tell him to hurry," Rob groaned, looking miserable.

She looked amused, watching him. "Please be patient. It's not really an arbitrary rule just for kicks. It's for everyone's safety."

"I know," he moaned, burying his face in his hands.

Having been promised soup and sandwiches, I eyed the carts. "When do we get food?"

"Soon as we level out," Sally's colleague said.

Tina laughed at me. "Pretty hungry there, Tim?"

"Starving," I said, pulling a Kleenex out of my carry-on and spitting my gum into it. It was making me even hungrier, if possible.

"We've been on the run, literally, all afternoon," Adam explained as the seatbelt light dinged off and Rob immediately made a run for it, stepping on his seat mate's feet, who glared at him.

"Sorry!" Rob called over his shoulder.

"Stupid entitled celebrity," the guy grumbled, glaring at him and rubbing at his feet pointedly. "World don't revolve around you."

I glared at him. "He had to use the bathroom."

"He have to step on my foot?" he shot right back.

"Hey," Chance said from behind him. "Chill. Tim, you too."

"You shut up," the guy ordered him.

Chance ignored him. "Hey, Adam, you got the battery-powered charger? My phone is sitting on six percent."

"Yeah, let me get it." Adam leaned over to pull his bag out from under the seat in front of him. "Oh. Shit."

Denise was standing up. "Hey, you four want to sit together? I could move back to Rob or Chance's seat."

"Really?" I asked her, grinning. "You'd do that for us?"

"Absolutely," she told me, Adam still whimpering as he leaned over and pawed for his bags. She put a hand on his back. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"Me too," Tina said, standing up. "I'll take Rob's seat. That OK, Sally and uh... June?"

June shrugged, pulling the refreshment cart out. "Fine with me. Sally, you got objections to moving two people around so Pentatonix can sit together?"

"Home Free," I corrected her, briefly wondering how their flight was going. "We're Home Free."

"Home Free, sorry 'bout that," she said, checking her drawers and starting down the aisle.

"I don't care," Sally said, fiddling with a coffee maker.

"Please. Anyone besides entitled celebrities next to me. I got kids to get home to in Maryland," Rob's former seat mate grumbled.

"You got a bad attitude," I remarked as Tina frowned at him when she took her new seat.

"Who is more important—us or you?" he retorted. "Holding a whole plane up because you can't get your asses to your flight on time?"

"Drop it," Chance advised, standing up to exchange seats with Denise. "Thank you, ma'am, we really appreciate it."

"You're so welcome," Tina told him happily. "We'll keep Grumpy-pants company back here."

"Ah, shut up," Grumpy-pants ordered crossly, pulling his cap down over his eyes.

Rob stepped out of the bathroom and paused, looking at June and Sally with the refreshment cart, Denise and Tina changing seats, Grumpy-pants crossing his arms, and Adam still moaning desolately for some reason. "Um, what are we doing?"

"Musical chairs," I told him. "Ya sit when the music ends." I started humming a few bars of Pop! Goes the Weasel.

"Adam," Chance said, settling down next to him. "What the hell is wrong?"

"He's gonna killll meee," Adam groaned. "Killll meee."

"Nobody is going to kill you, Adam," Rob said, sitting next to me.

"He who?" I asked. "And why do you think you're fixing to be a goner?"

"Ohhh Goooood," Adam moaned. He finally stood up and somehow or another managed to completely fold his body over in the space between his seat and Rob's like a frantic gopher.

Rob popped right back out of it. "Adam, what the hell? What're you looking for?"

"Iiii can't fiiiind iiit,"Adam wailed, his head, shoulders, and three-fourths of his torso under Rob's seat.

"Find what?" I demanded.

"Soup and sandwiches?" Sally chirped at us.

"Yes, please," Rob requested. "All of us."

"Look, Adam, if you can't find the charger right now, it's OK. It'll turn up," Chance tried to reassure him.

"Drinks?" she asked, extracting a tray and handing it to me.

"I can't eat," Adam groaned. "Not hungry anymore."

"Bud, of course you are," Rob told him, accepting his own tray and pulling his table down.

"Forget it, Adam," Chance tried to tell him.

"Two sweet teas for me and him." I gestured to Chance. "And two Cokes for them."

"Sir?" Sally leaned over to Adam, who was now making a bit of a scene. "Can I, uh, help you?"

"No." Adam sat up on the floor looking distressed. "I'm beyond help."

I reached an arm back and smacked at him. "Quit being a drama queen. What is your major malfunction here?"

He looked up at me, Chance now trying to balance both his and Adam's meals on his table. "Did maybe one of you pick it up?"

"Pick what up?" Rob asked around a huge bite of deli sandwich. "Thish sho good."

"My bag," Adam said heavily. "Please tell me one of you grabbed it for me or I'm royally screwed."

"I only got mine," I said, crumbling crackers in my soup.

"Me too," Chance said, rubbing at his wrist. "I did, however, leave my watch at the security checkpoint, damn it."

"Leave a good description of it and we can send it to you," Sally told him. "We'll get it to you. You too." She nodded at Adam.

Rob finally swallowed. "Calm down, Adam, it'll be OK. Like she said, leave a description of it and she'll have it shipped."

"Absolutely," Sally promised. "Anything invaluable in it?"

"What was in it?" I asked, slurping off my spoon. Mmm. Chicken noodle. "Medicine, toiletries, change of underwear?"

"Yes," Adam told Sally, then glanced at me. "Not my personal bag, Tim; I got that right here." He patted at it before sinking down into his seat heavily. "My Home Free bag. All of our arrangements, all of our music, all of our work."

My eyes bugged out. "What?"

"You left that bag?!" Rob exclaimed, dropping his sandwich on his plate but barely noticing. "Adam!"

"I knooow!" he wailed, looking absolutely miserable. "I was in such a hurry to not miss the flight. God. Luke is gonna kill me!"

"Leave a good description of it and we'll get it shipped to you as soon as possible," Sally assured him. "It'll be OK. I presume it was in a locked bag?"

Adam picked up his spoon and started playing with it absentmindedly. "No," he whispered. "I've been so careless."

"It's not locked?" Chance asked incredulously.

"No, Chance, it's not. You know I've been using the brown and orange canvas bag, not the stupid industrial-looking briefcase." Adam sighed. "All of our work. God. I hate myself."

"Brown and orange canvas bag," Sally repeated. "Any other identifying markings?"

"Says Home Free, picture of a boot, rope handles," I reported, putting my spoon down.

"Don't say that," Chance told him, putting a hand on his back. "You hate something that you did, by accident. You do not hate yourself."

"Calm down. It'll be OK," Sally told him. "You know everything that's in it, right?"

"Yes," Adam groaned, closing his eyes. "What is Luke gonna say?"

"He'll be upset, but he won't kill you," I told him, trying to sound calmer than I felt. I sincerely prayed no one's curiosity got the better of them and started to paw through proprietary music. I know the canvas bag is a lot easier for him to carry around than the briefcase, but the briefcase would at least have kept our private work private.

"Can't believe I did that," he bemoaned, staring into his soup.

"It happens," Chance said reassuringly, nibbling on his sandwich and trimming off the extra wide meat with his teeth. "Don't beat yourself up over it now."

"Too late," Rob remarked, watching Adam take a small sip of his Coke looking pretty damn upset at himself.

Sally touched June's arm. "I'm going to put the call in for the missing bag. You OK with the refreshments?"

"I'm good," she told her, pouring a glass of orange juice for Grumpy-pants.

"You lost your bag?" Tina asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes," Adam admitted, finally starting to eat. "You can be looking for a new beatboxer to replace me in a few days."

"Awww," I half laughed, half pitied. "You know that won't happen."

"He'll yell at you for a few minutes, then he'll settle down," Rob predicted. "That's all. Worse things have happened."

"Mmf," he grunted, nose in his soup. "I've been so careless with it. Flinging it around like it was a pair of cheap sunglasses. Sixteen years worth of music. Lord!" He finally looked up. "If Luke doesn't kill me, Chris will! A good portion of it is his work too—that he entrusted me with!"

"Chris is not going to kill you," I said calmly, adding more crackers to my soup. I like it good and thick. "He might be a little upset, but not homicidal."

"Either way, it will not be a good Christmas when either one of them finds out. And I'm gonna be with Chris all day tomorrow, so believe me, he'll find out what his stupid little brother did." Adam shoved his sandwich into his mouth.

"Adam," Chance said again. "It will be OK. Listen to me. Take a breath. Try to relax. And..." He reached forward and removed a large portion of the sandwich from Adam's mouth. "Try not to choke yourself. That would be a bad way to go."

"Is your music in the bag?" someone across the aisle asked unbelievingly. I nodded at her and she got wide-eyed. "Holy crap, Holly, can you imagine? Someone somewhere is going to find their music!" She nudged her travel mate, who looked non-plussed.

"I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. I. Don't. Like. Country. Music."

"Still be a hell of a find though," her third friend remarked from behind her. "Their arrangements, their stuff, their raw work in various stages of development. It'd be worth some serious money if you could get your hands on it and market it."

I lifted cool eyes to her. "Proprietary, trademarked, and copyrighted. All of it. Don't go getting no ideas."

"Our management would come down on anyone that tried that so hard you wouldn't believe it," Chance said coolly. "You can't steal recording artists' work."

"Adam, please," Rob began lightly. "Take better care of our stuff."

"I will." Adam sighed. "I'm so sorry, guys."

We finished our meals silently. I was hoping Adam would feel better about the whole ordeal after he had something to eat. Instead, he just submerged himself into a game on his phone and refused to talk to anyone, ignoring Chance's attempts to pull him out of his self-imposed shell. Finally, Chance gave up and pulled a book out of his bag. I pulled my earbuds out of mine and pulled my playlist up to listen to some music. Rob seemed busy with his own as well. As we prepared to land, Sally tapped us on the shoulder.

"Guys?"

I looked up, half asleep again. "Hmm?"

"Do you have any idea which security checkpoint you were at in LaGuardia?"

"Shit, I have no idea," Rob muttered, looking at me. "Do you?"

I squeezed an eye shut. "Eh... I know we were way far away from gate twelve."

Adam looked up from his phone. "It was near gate sixty-two, if the helps."

Sally nodded. "Yep, it does." She picked her radio up. "Security checkpoint B."

"Good job remembering that," Chance told him, grinning.

Adam shrugged. "I usually have a pretty good memory."

"Tray tables up, please!" June instructed everyone, then tapped Denise on the shoulder. "Ma'am? Tray table up, please."

Denise rubbed a sleepy eye. "Oh." She pushed it up and latched it.

Rob supplied us with gum again as we landed and taxied down the runway to the gate. I stood up as soon as the light went off. One good thing about flying business class VIP was being one of the first off—no waiting behind idiots that take forever to get up, get their stuff, and get off the plane.

Sally ran up to us as Rob stood up. "Guys! They found your bag!"

"Whew!" Adam breathed, looking relieved. "Thank God!"

"All intact?" I asked. "Not having been gone through? All of it is there?"

"I can guarantee that, as an abandoned bag, it will have been gone through," she said and I made a face. "By security, for security reasons. But nobody will have taken anything from it. Your company's—band's—work is safe."

"Thank God," Rob breathed.

"See? I told you it'd be OK, Adam," Chance told him with knowing look on his face.

"Maybe I'll live to see the new year after all," he remarked.

"Oh, and they found a gold and silver watch they think might be yours," she added.

"Wonderful!" Chance exclaimed, eyes bright. "It's mine. I forgot to pick it back up."

"We will get it to you. Talk to customer service between concourses A and B and we'll overnight the bag and watch," Sally told us as somebody behind us yelled at us to get off the plane already.

"A and B," Chance noted, nodding. "Got it."

"Thank you so much, Sally. You are a life saver," Adam told her, hugging her.

"Oh, you're welcome," she said happy.

"It's the damn celebrities taking forever again," Grumpy-Pants scoffed. "Get off the plane! Who the hell are you anyway? I want to be sure I never listen to your music or support you in any way!"

"Honestly, I could care less! I snapped, throwing my bag over my shoulder. "We're Grammy-award CMA-winning artists. One person is not going to kill us!"

"Tim, don't take the bait, just go," Chance ordered, a hand on my back. "You and I got to be at gate four in thirty-five minutes and we got to stop to get the bag shipped to Adam and the watch to me."

"So, scoot!" Rob summarized.

I scooted right off the plane and into the gate. Gate twenty-one. OK, we can manage this.

"Where we at?" Adam asked, head spinning around like it was on a swivel stick.

Chance pointed to a sign on the wall. "Concourse B."

"OK, so we're headed to customer service between concourses A and B," Adam directed, patting at his backside. " 'Cuz I kinda like my ass and don't want it kicked or chewed out."

I snorted. "You'll be OK."

Naturally, when we found customer service, there was a line of about ten people. Adam checked his watch.

"Think we can pull the business class VIP card again?" Rob muttered, peeking over a guy's shoulder.

Chance shrugged. "Worth a try." He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, we're business class VIP and in a bit of a time crunch. Is there any way we can please get some assistance real quick?"

"Sure!" The guy in front of us turned around. "You can stand in line with the rest of us!"

"Yay," I intoned dryly, rolling my eyes.

The guy did a double-take at me. "Damn, you have a deep voice!"

"Uh-huh," I said, checking first my watch, then the clock behind the counter, and groaning inwardly as it seemed time only sped up when we needed it to slow down.

The woman in front of him turned around, looking at each of us in turn. "Whoa, the guys from the Christmas show last night."

"We left a bag at the New York airport and we got to get it back," Adam whined, trying to catch the customer service representative's eye. "Sir! Please!"

"Help us!" Rob added.

"It's very important," I pleaded. "Utmost importance!"

"Business class VIP!" Chance added, waving his ticket in the air.

"You can go ahead of me," the woman volunteered.

"Me too," the guy finally agreed.

"I can take you know." The customer service representative waved us to the side. "You say you left a bag in New York?"

"Yes, a brown and orange canvas bag, top handles, says Home Free on the front, and has a picture of a boot on it," Adam described. "I need it overnighted to me in Shakopee, Minnesota."

"Overnighted?" The guy looked up at him. "Sir, it's Christmas Eve. Nothing is delivering tonight."

"Please," he begged. "I need it ASAP."

"It's sixteen years' worth of work," Rob wheedled. "Everything we've ever done."

The guy sighed, clicking on his computer. I reached out and picked up his name plate. Jim. "It's super important, Jim, can't you do anything?"

"I'm seeing what I can do," he said mildly. "OK, I found the bag. And a watch."

"Watch isn't nearly as important as the bag," Chance told him.

"Hmm, I have an idea," Jim murmured. "Forget overnighting. How about we do it as checked luggage and send it on the, ahh, next flight to Minneapolis? We can have it meet you there."

"Oh my God, yes, please, that'd be perfect!" Adam exclaimed. "I will be eternally grateful to you!"

"Absolutely!" I agreed. "Thank you!"

Jim grinned as Rob and Chance did an impromptu happy dance. "Gimme a shoutout on Twitter. James Alexander Schmidt. Schmidt."

Adam tapped it out on his phone. "James Alexander Schmidt. I will definitely do that."

"Times four," I volunteered, ducking out of the way of Rob's enthusiastic dancing. I jotted the handle down myself.

"OK, so I got this going under Adam Rupp's name to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Watch the same?"

"No, Adam Chance, Huntsville, Alabama flight," Chance corrected him.

"It's really kind of small to be considered checked luggage," Jim mused. "We can try... we can have it hand-delivered by an employee and held for you."

"That works," Chance said, nodding. "I really appreciate it. I feel kinda lost without it; keep looking at my wrist for the time."

"Well, it's a quarter past that freckle there," I began, poking at a large brown one. "And you and I got to get a move on."

"You have totally saved my butt," Adam told him. "Our manager would have chewed it out and my brother would have kicked it into next Tuesday." Jim snorted at that.

"Where are y'all leaving from?" I asked them as we meandered the concourses again. "We're leaving from gate four."

Rob checked his ticket. "Gate twenty-two. Which is, um..." He looked back and forth, studying signs.

"That way," Adam concluded, pointing to concourse B.

"Concourse A," Chance told me, then glanced at Rob and Adam. "Reckon this is where we part ways."

"Have a great Christmas, guys," Rob told us, digging through his bag and pulling out a couple of brightly-wrapped presents. He handed us each one.

"Aww, thanks, Rob," I told him, wrapping him in a hug. "I got little gifts for y'all too. It's not much, but it's something." I reached into my bag and promptly pulled out Austin's. Guess he'll be getting a New Year's gift then. "Didn't get a chance to give Austin his, he left in such a hurry." I handed Adam a small package with a glitzy musical keyring I knew he'd like , and Rob a medium-sized package with a picture frame with a poem about family. He'd like it, I was sure. He's forever taking pictures.

"Thanks, Tim. I appreciate it," he told me as Adam hugged me and gave me a medium-sized present.

"Call me if you need anything. Do what you need to do with Jenika. Follow your heart."

"Thanks. Love you more than words," I told him, hugging him tight. I already kind of had an idea of what to do. If Jenika can't take me for who I am, then she'd just have to let me go. A singer, a performer; it is ingrained in me, as deep as my love for my parents, for my family. I love Jenika—at least, I loved the woman she was before we started on this massive fight. And this child... I would, without a doubt, do everything I could to care for it and raise it well, but if Jenika couldn't love me for who I am, then so be it. We can raise a child separated. Lots of kids have divorced parents. Hell, my own parents split and I turned out more or less OK.

"I love you too, Tim," Adam said, finally letting me go.

I turned to Chance, who was doling out his own gifts. He gave me a half-grin. "You get yours in Fort Lauderdale."

"Likewise," I told him.

"And we're off to the races again," Rob laughed. "Love ya, see ya, byeee!" He and Adam took off running down concourse B.

I held out a hand to Chance. "Let's go."

He grabbed my elbow and we both ran down to gate four with just a few minutes to spare. We showed our tickets to the boarding agent, who let us get right on. 6C... 6C... I was looking for 6C. I meandered all the way through the business class VIP seats but not finding mine. Turning around when I reached economy in row ten, I called out for Chance, who'd completely disappeared.

"Chance?" I called, looking around. "Chance?"

A lady nudged her friend and pointed to me. "Look!"

OK, not back here. I gave the lady a lazy wave and stuck my head back in business VIP class. "Chance?"

"Sir, please find your seat and sit down," a prim uptight-looking flight attendant told me.

"I lost my travel mate," I explained lamely.

A hand lifted in the air near the very front. "I'm right here, Tim."

Oh, there he was. I stepped forward between aisle seven seat C, and looked down at seat 6C. There was a man sitting in it.

He looked up at me. "Uh, hello."

"Hello." I looked down at my ticket to make sure I was not making a mistake. Yep, clear as day, without a doubt, I was supposed to sit in seat 6C. "I think we have a slight issue." I showed the man my ticket.

"Hold on," he aid, reaching into his carry-on. He slid a pair of glasses on. "Uh-oh."

"Yeah....," I murmured as he produced his ticket from the side pocket of his bag..

"Here's mine," he volunteered.

I looked down at it. Sure enough, seat 6C was double-booked. Oh Lord. Michael J. McMinn, 6C.

The prim flight attendant made her way to the two of us. "Is there a problem? Sir." She placed her hand gently on my back. "I need you to find your seat and sit down."

"Well," I began, pushing my glasses up my nose. "I found my seat but I'm kind of unable to sit in it."

"I think the seat is double-booked," Michael said, showing her his ticket. I handed her mine as well.

She frowned at them. "Yep, this is a problem," she confirmed.

"No kidding," I remarked. "I think we knew that."

Michael laughed at that. "Now it's an official problem."

"Thank God we got an official ruling on its degree of problematic issues."

Michael's seat mate looked up at me and nudged him. "Michael. What's the issue?"

"Timothy here and I are double-booked in seat 6C," he explained as the flight attendant took both our tickets up to the front. "We both have 6C on our tickets."

The seat mate licked his lips and stared at me. "Whatever you do, do not give up your seat. I heard them say the flight is at capacity."

"Chill, Bruce, it'll work out," Michael said confidently as Bruce continued to stare at me. I turned my own eyes to stare right back. I was glad it wasn't 6D that was double-booked. Michael seemed much more easygoing than this Bruce guy.

"Tim!" Chance stood up and gestured to me. "What's going on?"

"Seat's double-booked," I told him, finally breaking the gaze with Bruce.

"Oh no," Chance groaned, glancing up at the flight attendants who were having a meeting around a computer at the front of the plane. "What're they gonna do? We can't miss our flight out of Fort Lauderdale."

"I dunno." I shrugged, looking at Michael.

"They'll ask someone to give up their seat and try to offer incentives," Bruce told me. "Neither Michael nor I will do so."

Our prim flight attendant jogged up to us. "There is one seat available in economy. We will reimburse either one of you the difference."

"Michael is not moving," Bruce said decisively, glaring at me. "Put this Timothy guy back there."

"Hell, I don't really particularly care." I hitched my carry-on back up my shoulder where it was threatening to slide down my arm. "Where am I going?"

"Right here," an entirely different voice piped up from the front of the plane. An elderly lady next to Chance stood up. "Tim can have my seat and sit next to his travel partner. I have no problem whatsoever sitting in economy."

My eyes widened. That poor old lady had to be at least eighty years old. I couldn't take a little old lady's seat. "Ma'am, no, I am just fine sitting in economy. You can stay where you are."

"Don't be ridiculous. You have to be at least six foot five. I'm four foot ten." The lady, rather agile, stepped over Chance.

"Mary—," he started, reaching a hand out to help her.

"I insist," Mary said, grabbing her purse and carry-on and stepping into the aisle.

I ran up to her. "Are you sure? I seriously have no problem sitting in—"

"I am one hundred percent positive," she said, smiling at me. "It's Christmas. No need to stress out on Christmas. Miss? Where am I going to, please?"

"19B," the flight attendant told her. "We will get your information and reimburse you the difference."

"OK, no worries," Mary said lightly, nimbly making her way down the aisle. "Adam, Tim, have a good flight, and a very merry Christmas."

"You too," I told her, somewhat guiltily sitting in her seat next to Chance. "Feel kind of bad taking an eighty year-old's seat."

"Mary is the sweetest old lady," Chance said, unearthing the seatbelt for me. "I sat down and she greeted me like an old friend."

"That was so nice of her," I said, pulling the belt firmly around my waist and snapping it into place.

"She just had her eighty-fifth birthday," he said, both of us ignoring the prim flight attendant's safety speech.

"Wow," I murmured. "She moved pretty good for eighty-five."

"Right?" He chuckled. "Hope I'm as good off as she is at eighty-five."

"Me too. Hey, you got gum?" I asked. He leaned over and started rooting around in his bag, extracting a pack of Wrigley's. "Thanks." I popped a piece in my mouth. For some reason, chewing gum did not work and my ears popped painfully as we took off. I pawed at an ear gently. Ugh. Gum was supposed to help. Glancing at Chance, I didn't think it had helped him either, because he was also playing with his ear and tugging at it. "Didja pop?"

"Yeah," he groaned, sticking a finger in it. "Now I feel like I'm in a bucket here."

"Same," I reported. "A painful bucket."

Leveling out, we both pulled our phones out. I remembered my promise to Jim and popped into my Twitter and gave him a shoutout. "Don't forget to give that shoutout to Jim."

"Huh?" He looked up at me from his three percent battery. "Who's Jim?"

"The guy sending Adam our bag and you your watch," I reminded him. "AKA, the guy saving Adam's ass and salvaging sixteen years' worth of work."

"Well, my battery is kind of kaput," he pointed out. "Besides, only Adam promised it."

"Yeah, but I said it, times four. Besides." I shrugged. "It's got some of my originals. And you've got a years' worth of work invested in it. And its your watch."

"I'm not super concerned about that watch." Chance poked at buttons and pulled his app up just in time to watch his battery die. "Welp, there you have it."

I snorted. "Got a charger?"

He extracted a long cord from his bag. "Got a USB cable, but nothing to plug into." He made a face, watching the end swing back and forth. "That's why I needed Adam's battery charger."

"Refreshments?" the flight attendant asked us. "We have Pepsi products, juices, water, and assortment of beers and wine."

"I'll take a Pepsi," I said as Chance held up two fingers to double my request.

"Tetrazzini?" she asked, making me snap my head up. Tetrazzini? Huh?

"Pepsi," I said slowly.

"OK, Pepsi. Would you like a turkey tetrazzini as well?" The lady pulled out a drawer in her cart to display a tray of steaming plates of delicious smelling food.

"Well, ah..." I glanced at Chance, mouthing that we kind of already ate.

"Sure," Chance told her, then poked me in the side. "Don't ever turn down food when you're traveling. You never know when you'll get another opportunity to eat."

"Good point." I gestured for a turkey tetrazzini. She handed us both plates and we started in on it.

"You ever get someone to pick you up?" he asked, a noodle hanging out of his mouth.

I sighed, toying with my own noodles. "Not yet. Problem is, most of my friends will be at the Clarks' party."

"I know your family is mostly in Texas," he mused slowly.

"Yep," I muttered. Awful long way to go to pick someone up at a Nashville airport. I tried to rack my brain for someone who might not be going to the party. Clarks, naturally, would be there. I knew Lee would be there with his girlfriend. Abbie and Davis would be there as would the Chapmans. I was friendly with the neighbors, but picking someone up on Christmas Eve would be a lot to ask for. Why the hell couldn't Jenika get off her high horse and pick me up like she had promised? Awful nice to know she thought the party was more important than me. Still sucking on noodles, I glanced down at my wedding ring. Promises, promises. 'Do you, Tim, take this woman, Jenika, to be your lawfully-wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for rich and for poor, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?' I had said yes and I had slid the ring on her finger. 'Do you, Jenika, take this man, Tim, to be your lawfully-wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for rich and for poor, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?' And she'd looked in my eyes with those sweet blue eyes of hers and whispered that yes, she would, and she had placed the ring on my finger. The preacher had pronounced us husband and wife and told me I could kiss my bride. If I closed my eyes, even now, I could still feel her lips on mine that day.

I let the noodles slide from my mouth with a noisy splat and I leaned forward in my seat, practically dragging my chin in my supper like a big fat slob. I didn't really care at that point as I could feel myself sliding into a depression.

"You OK, Tim?" Chance asked me, putting a hand on my back.

I shrugged. What the hell was I going home to this Christmas Eve? An empty house, with a wife away at a party? Without me, without any thought to me? Did she even miss me? Or was I just a hindrance to her? Someone who might be nice to have around but only when she wanted me there?

My plate and tray fell off the table, making a mess. I looked down at it, trying to work up the energy to even care. I found I couldn't.

"Tim," Chance said again, leaning forward to look at me. "What's going on? You are not OK. Don't lie to me."

I pushed my glasses up my forehead and wiped at my eyes with a napkin. "Just... I dunno. Starting to feel a little depressed."

"That's what I was afraid of," he told me, hand still on my back. "What're you thinking? What's going on in your head?"

I shrugged again. "Just... no one. No one to pick me up at the airport. Jenika..." I bit back a sob. "...going to the party. I know it was planned. I know I fucked everything up by missing the 11:30 flight, but still, by God..." I stopped, balling the napkin to my eyes. "It hurts."

Chance's hands moved down and he quickly undid his seatbelt before pushing the armrest up and wrapping me in a tight hug. "I know. I'm sure it does. I absolutely hate it that she's doing this to you. You deserve so much better."

I know his words were supposed to make me feel better, but they were only making me cry harder. I was aware that I—and we—were starting to draw attention and I tried desperately to put a stop to my tears. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to replace my depressing thoughts with sports scores, and bit my lip hard. Ow. Damn, I have strong jaws.

"I wish to God there was some way I could help you," he told me, his head buried in my shoulder. "Do you want me to see if I can switch to a Nashville flight maybe? I hate to think of you going home to an empty house."

I lifted my eyes. "God. You must have brought a crystal ball or something." I finally pulled away from him, ignoring the other passengers' stares. " 'Cuz I swear I thought the same thing."

"No harm in asking," Chance decided, trying to wave the flight attendant over.

I shook my head slowly. As much as I would have loved to have him fly home with me, I knew it wouldn't be an option. "Chance." I put my hand on his forearm. "There's no way. Not at this point." I took a ragged breath. "I'll be OK."

"Doesn't hurt to ask," he insisted as the attendant came over, frowning at the two of us. "Ma'am, could you do me a huge favor and look to see if there's any way I could change from a Huntsville flight to a Nashville flight?"

Her eyes got huge. "Sir, at this point in time, that is virtually impossible. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Chance," I told him, trying to plug up continuously leaking eyes. "I'll be OK."

He shifted distressed green eyes to me, biting his lip and looking at me seriously, then to the flight attendant, who was shaking her head and apologizing.

I waved my phone at him. "I have your number. I can call you if I need to."

He nodded slowly, accepting this. God. Why couldn't Jenika be more like Chance? Hell, maybe I should have married him instead of her. He's more concerned about me than my own wife is.

"Promise?" he whispered.

"Promise," I confirmed, finally letting out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

We spent a good twenty minutes just flying in silence, his presence calming me. When we finally landed, I reached out to him. This was where we'd have to go our separate ways.

"Come on," he said lightly, helping me to my feet.

With a huge sigh, I stood, then laughed at myself.

Chance turned to me and grinned. "Whatcha laughing at?"

"Myself," I admitted, grabbing my bag and making my way into the gate. Gate eight. And judging from my ticket, I had to get to gate thirty. "What gate you at?"

"Lord, I don't know." Chance tried to grab his pass from the side pocket of his bag only to have it fall off his arm and distribute its entire contents on the floor. Nobody seemed to pay it any mind, just stepping over or around it, except for one guy who stepped right on his pack of gum without saying a word. "Shit."

I knelt down to help him pick stuff up, starting to grab magazines and books. "Smooth move there, Chance."

"Right?" he remarked, snagging a pair of boxers before the whole world could see them. "Just shove everything in there anywhere. I really could care less about organization right now."

I grabbed the squished gum and started to shove it in but he shook his head at me.

"Toss it. I don't need or want gum someone's stomped on."

"Good point." I took aim at a nearby trash can and actually managed to hit it. "Wow."

He snorted at me, stuffing his toothbrush container in the bag. "Now for the one thing that didn't fall out." He pulled out his boarding pass. "Gate thirty-two."

"I'm at thirty. Walk with me."

"Course," Chance said easily. He glanced at my watch. "Hallelujah, for once we're not running."

"Thank God," I agreed, walking past people as best I could. Half were little old people with white hair and the other half seemed to be touristy families. Some stopped to gawk at us as though they'd never seen two guys walk to their gates together before. One woman pulled something out of her bag and took a good ten steps in our direction only to freeze in her tracks, then start right back up again. I glanced at her and waved, making Chance turn to see who I was waving at. The woman grinned but stopped again.

"Who's that?" Chance asked me quietly.

"I don't know." I was pretty sure that was one of our CDs in her hand—thought I recognized the cover of Country Evolution. Poor thing seemed scared to death to approach us. "Fan. How late you think we'd be if we stopped to sign a few things?"

He studied my watch, then gauged our location. "We should be OK for a few minutes. For that lady?"

I nodded and we both paused, almost immediately getting trampled as a couple of hellbent travelers ran into us.

"Dumbass! Don't stop in the middle of the damn concourse!" one of the guys scolded.

Chance grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the side, next to a newspaper stand. "Well, is she coming over to us or what?"

I looked at her, the path now clear. "Think she's scared."

"Of us?" he asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I dunno, intimidated?" I waved her over. "Come on, we don't bite!"

"Intimidated of us?" Chance asked again, so I jabbed him in the side.

Her eyes getting huge, she started back over to us somewhat hesitantly, gripping the CD tightly.

"Yes, Chance. How would you feel if your favorite music artist just meandered past us right now?"

He shrugged. "Well, I dunno, but I wouldn't gawk at them like I was a big-mouthed bass or something."

OK, now that deserved a smack upside the head. I gave him a quick one as she stood two feet from us. I decided to take the initiative and stepped towards her. "Hi. I promise you, we don't bite, unless you are a powdered doughnut."

She giggled but Chance just groaned. "Oh God, I am so freaking full right now, between the soup and sandwich on the way to Maryland, and the turkey pterodactyl or whatever it was on the way to Florida."

Both the lady and I cracked up at that.

"Tetrazzini, Chance, it was turkey tetrazzini," I corrected him. "A pterodactyl is a dinosaur."

He shrugged. "Sound similar."

She stood there shyly for a few seconds, just staring at her feet. I glanced down and was horrified to see a bit of the pterodactyl tetrazzini on my toe. "Oh God," I groaned, trying to kick it off. "We, ahh, had a bit of a tossed pterodactyl tetrazzini incident on the plane."

She moved her head and started giggling as Chance looked down and started rubbing at a spot on his jeans.

"I didn't even see that there," he muttered.

"And it's not moving," I laughed, finally leaning on the wall and using the other foot to knock it off. It slid onto the floor but left a white spot on my grey tennis shoe. "Oh well." I nodded to her CD, which was definitely Country Evolution. "Do you want us to sign that for you?"

Her eyes lift up. "Would you? Would you really?" she asked eagerly, a few more people pausing to look at us and starting to pull at their bags as though they'd like us to sign for them too.

"Only if you really really want." I grinned. "I won't force you to take something you don't want."

She blushed. "Course I want it." She held out the CD to me shyly. I took it and quickly came to the realization that I had nothing to sign with. Not a sharpie, not a pen. Nothing

"Eh, Chance, when you started throwing your bag around like a basketball, a couple of pens came flying out. Can you get one for me, please?"

"I wasn't throwing it. It fell off my arm," he said, holding a hand up to a small crowd of fans that had developed nearby. "We only have a few minutes. We can't miss our flights."

"We can sign until our flights are announced," I said, starting to dig around in his bag myself.

"What happened to your arm, Chance?" someone called out nosily.

He blushed, throwing his left arm down and stuffing his hand into his pocket. "Carpal tunnel surgery."

"Ow," he remarked. "That sounds painful."

"Nobody's business but yours," I whispered to him, shaking my head slightly.

He shrugged. "I did kind of throw it up there for the world to see."

"Still," I began, pulling a Bic out of the side pocket. "Your call though." I started to pop open the case to get to the insert, then glanced at her. "Is it OK if I take it out here? I don't have the greatest pen for signing here."

"Oh, do whatever you need to," she assured me, patting me on the arm.

I grinned at her. "Want me to say merry Christmas or happy holidays or anything?"

"Merry Christmas would be great," she said, still patting on my arm. "I love your voice."

"Thank you," I said smiling. "I'm glad you enjoy our music."

"Never would have imagined I'd run into you and Chance at the airport," she continued.

"Well, yep, we're trying to get home too," I chuckled, signing another lady's CD. "We tried sprouting wings, but it didn't work."

She laughed, still holding onto my arm lightly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I said, signing several more CDs, a bag, and a book before my flight was called.

I finished the one I was on, then handed it back. "Thank you all! I appreciate y'all!" Most people got the hint and stepped away, waving at us and thanking us for our time, but one of the first ladies was still standing right beside me and had of yet to leave. I'd let her just stand there holding my elbow, but now it was time to let go. "Um, ma'am?"

"Mmm?" she murmured, hand still firmly in place.

I glanced at it. "You can let go of me now, please."

She blinked. "Why? Am I hurting you?"

"No, nothing like that," I assured her. "But my flight was called. It's time for me to go."

"You're going to Nashville, Tennessee, right?" she asked me expectantly.

"Uh, well, yeah," I admitted. I guess it's really no secret that I live in Nashville.

"Great news! Me too!" she said enthusiastically.

Okayyy.... "Well, time to get on." I gestured her along, but she didn't budge.

"We can walk on together!" she told me.

I tried to shake her off. "You go ahead. I'm going to say goodbye to Chance here."

"I'll say goodbye to him too," she decided.

I rolled my eyes, patience starting to wear thin. "Give us a few minutes, OK?"

Chance eyed her warily, digging in his bag and pulling out a small gift. "Ma'am, please let us have a few minutes to ourselves."

"Why?" she asked, fingers tightening around my elbow. "I won't interfere. Have I, Tim?"

"Not up until now," I said pointedly, trying to pull my arm away, her hand tightening around me again. "Please let go of me."

"We want to say goodbye to each other," Chance told her, an edge in his voice. "And you don't need to be right there when we say goodbye and exchange Christmas gifts."

"Come on, let go of me," I groaned, yanking my arm back. She just stood there, so he and I stepped around the corner. I rolled my eyes. "Good Lord."

He shook his head. "Some people are clueless. I wanted to give you my Christmas gift."

"Aww, thanks, Chance," I said, accepting it and starting to reach into my bag for his. I turned my head just in time to see the lady come around the corner and position herself next to us again. I groaned inwardly. Sheesh. Give us our space! How'd you like it if we followed you around? I grabbed Chance's arm and pulled him a few feet away. "Sorry about that, I'm trying to—"

"I know, no worries," he assured me, watching her as she crept closer to us. "Ma'am! Stop! Please leave us alone!"

"We gave you autographs and talked to you a little. It's time to move on," I added, extracting Chance's gift from my bag and presenting it to him rather unceremoniously.

Somehow, Chance managed to look both happy and appreciative of my thoughtfulness and annoyed with this lady at the same time. "Thank you, Tim."

I glanced up at the lady, inching her way over to us again, and, spying a men's room across the hall, pulled Chance across the way and into it. "There!" I said triumphantly as the door closed behind us.

"She's kind of creeping me out," he muttered, straightening the puffy green bow. "Watch out for yourself on this flight, OK?"

"I think she'll be OK. A little starstruck and pushy, but not dangerous," I reassured him. "Don't worry."

"I'll try not to," Chance said slowly. "But please, Tim, call me, if you need anything. Or even just to talk."

"Thank you, Chance. I appreciate you more than you'll ever know," I told him, trying to distract myself from crying. For the first time in a long time, I did not want to go home. I didn't even know how I was going to get home at this point. I guess I could always call a cab. The thought depressed me and I ended up just grabbing Chance and hugging him, burying my face in his shoulder. Oh Lord, Jenika, how could you? Please! Why won't you just come get me? Like you said you would? Why can't you keep your promises? Did she love me? Did she even love me?

We just stood there, hugging for a minute. He was going home to his mother, brother, and friends. I couldn't let him get distracted from that. I wouldn't. I was going home—my second home, really; Texas always would be my first home. It's where I was raised, where I made memories, where my family was. My mom, my brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins. My father moved out of Nederland but he was still in Texas. In Nashville, I had a wife who apparently didn't think a lot of me, and a few friends. I'd moved to Nashville to get into the music business. Which I managed to do, though my path had been through Minnesota. No way in hell I'm ever moving north. I hate cold weather and detest snow. Wonder if Chance would want to be neighbors in Alabama, or even Austin in Georgia. My southern ass will never relocate up north.

"Final boarding call to Nashville, Tennessee, American Airlines flight 616," the PA announced.

God. It was time to go. My heart was tearing as I pulled off Chance. I swallowed thickly. "Love you, Chance. Have a good Christmas."

"You too, Tim," he said seriously. "In both regards. I love you and want you to have a good Christmas. Call me. Never ever hesitate to call me."

"I won't." Sniffling, I grabbed a handful of tissue and shoved it in my face before stepping out.

Ah, shit. That woman. OK, avoid eye contact, go straight to plane, pretend she doesn't exist. I hurried to the gate.

"Tim!" she called, jogging after me. "Tim!"

Ignoring her, I showed my ticket to the boarding agent, who waved me on. Seat 3B. Hopefully there won't be anyone already in that seat. Nope, it was empty. I tossed my bag under the seat in front of me and sat down in it. God. I was so tired of all this traveling.

"Tim!" the woman greeted me again on the plane as she walked down the aisle. I couldn't lose her! Just my freaking luck! "Tim!" she said again when I paid her no mind. She grabbed my elbow.

"Look," I began crossly, finally lifting my eyes to her. "I gave you a good fifteen minutes of my time. I signed your CD and I talked to you. Please let me be now." I hoped that was firm but not unkind. What I really had wanted to say was 'fuck off and leave me alone', but for once in my life, I censored myself.

My seat mate, a woman dressed smartly in a blue pantsuit, looked at me. "Who're you?"

"No one important," I assured her as a flight attendant ordered my semi-stalker to sit down.

She actually started to cry and reached out, patting my shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be back."

"Well, I wasn't worried, but now I am," I muttered under my breath. I was very happy to see her disappear into economy seating.

"Who was that?" my seat mate asked me, also watching her walk away.

"Dunno," I grunted, wishing I'd had the foresight to buy a pack of gum or beg an extra piece off of Chance or Rob. Or Adam. Then again, Chance's had been flattened when he dumped his bag out.

"Just a random person crying over you?" she pressed.

"Apparently." I buckled my seatbelt up, only half paying attention to the third safety speech of the day.

Now my seat mate was watching me. "You somebody famous?"

"Nope," I said shortly, then added after a minute, "I'm a teacher."

"Really," she said unbelievingly, still staring at me. "Why's a teacher signing autographs then? On a CD at that?"

I sighed. So much for that story. "Look, I've had a long hard day of traveling. No offense, but I really don't want to start a conversation."

She studied me silently for a minute, probably trying to figure out of she could recognize me. Guess she couldn't, because she finally just shrugged. "OK." She pulled her phone out to amuse herself.

I pulled mine out as well and started a texting brigade. The Clarks. Lee and his girlfriend. Abbie and Davis. The Chapmans. The neighbors. Anyone. I did not want to take a cab home on Christmas Eve.

The flight attendant started with refreshments and this time, I took a beer. I needed something stronger than a Coke. She actually carded me, which made me laugh. I hadn't been carded in years. I did, however, ignore Chance's earlier advice and declined the grilled chicken they offered.

"Tim!" the annoying woman called out, stepping back in business class. "Tim! Tim! Tim! Tim! Tim! Tim!"

I decided my name was not Tim anymore and adjusted my coat to hide under it.

The guy in front of me turned around to look at her. "Will you shut up?"

"Seriously," another man remarked.

"Who the hell is Tim?" a third guy demanded. "Because he needs to talk to this here woman!"

"Not me," I denied as she ran up next to me.

"Tim!" she said for the fortieth time. "Didn't you hear me?"

"How could he not?" the woman across the aisle from me grumbled. "You've been yelling his name."

"I was trying to ignore you," I muttered.

"Don't blame you," my seat mate remarked.

"Well, that's not very nice of you," my hanger-on informed me. "I'm not going away."

I tossed my phone down on my tray table. "What do you want from me? I gave you an autograph. We talked for a few minutes. You didn't want a picture because you thought you looked atrocious."

"Who is that?" the guy in front of me asked his friend, who twisted around to look at me only to shrug his shoulders.

"He looks sort of familiar, but I'm not really sure."

Having a large portion of business class now staring at me like a bug under a microscope and not really feeling at my prime, I slunk under my coat again and pulled the hood up even though it was warm on the plane. No one had bugged us earlier, when we were all together. Then again, Chance and I had kind of opened ourselves up by signing a few autographs. But still. Didn't these people have anything better to look at than little old me?

"I know I know him from somewhere," someone mused.

"Yeah..."

"He a singer? Actor?"

"Isn't he—no, can't be."

"Yesss, he is!"

"Well, he's going to Nashville, so odds are, he's a singer."

"Shit, the Christmas special last night!"

"Tim Foust, he's Tim Foust!"

"Who?"

"Tim Foust. Home Free. The band."

"Ohhh yeahhh!"

"Saw them last night! They were good!"

"Who's Home Free?"

"Is it really him?"

"Which one?"

"CMA winning band, you idiot!"

"The one with the really deep voice!"

"Damn! Him! The O Come All Ye Faithful guy!"
"The cute little bearded guy?"

"No, the other one."

"The, whataya call it, baritone is it?"

"No, the deep guy!"

"Yeah, isn't that a baritone?"

"Lord, I dunno!"

Ugh. I bent over and pinched the bridge of my nose. I hadn't had any gum, so my ears had popped as we ascended, and now these idiots carrying on like I was Garth Brooks or something. Pretty sure he'd have a personal plane though. I'm not that lucky. Wonder exactly which award we'd have to win for management to spring for that. Pretty sure it'd have to be something big, like group of the year or entertainer of the year or something like that. All we've gotten is awards for arrangements and writing, mainly due to Adam's genius. Two of my originals have won some awards. I really need to get to writing again. Originals tend to do best. Maybe I'll start on that over the holidays here. Lord knows I've got the material for a good ol' country song now.

I sighed, the general hubbub still going on around me. The lady across the aisle reached over and started patting on me like the first crazy lady had. First things first. I put a hand up. "Look—hey! People!" I actually had to raise my voice to be heard. "Y'all!"

A few of them stopped running their mouths and turned their attention to me, then tried to get the others to hush for me.

Finally, they were all—more or less—quiet and I could speak rationally. "Yes, I'm a singer, yes, I was on TV last night, thank you all for tuning in, by the way." I gave them my best 'it's all good' grin. "Now I'm going home for the holidays. I'm tired, I've been traveling all day, I have a headache, and I have an earache." I paused to rub at it. "I would really like to be left alone, please."

My seat mate nudged me. "Would you like some Tylenol?"

Hmm. I looked at her. "Actually, I'd love some, thank you."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling. "I'm Karen, by the way. I'll let you be, though."

"Can we get an autograph?" a young woman called out hopefully, only to be thwacked by her travel companion.

"What part of 'I would really like to be left alone, please' did you not understand?" he scolded her.

Karen extracted a large bottle of arthritis-strength Tylenol from her purse. "You can have as many as you need."

"Thank you." I shook a couple out into my palm and handed it back to her, washing them down with large swallow of beer. My phone dinged at me and I pulled it out. Lee.

'Hey, Tim, whassup? You home yet?'

I typed out a 'no. Missed my 11:30 out of NY.'

'Oh, that sucks,' he answered.

'Royally. Hey, I got a huge favor to'. I jumped as Blake Clark sent a message and it dinged in my hand. I finished my sentence to Lee before jumping over to Blake's message. 'Hey, man. You coming over tonight?'

'Maybe, if I can get there.'

Oh, here Lee came back with 'Sure, what do you need?' Then, on top of those two, Abbie texted me with a 'welcome home!'

Ugh. Fixing to get confused, I sent her a quick 'hey, not quite home yet', then went back to Lee. 'Would you please please pretty please'

'What do you mean? Aren't you coming over with Jenika?'

Then Davis piped in. 'Hey, man!'

Lee texted, 'Please what? Lol.'

I navigated back to Lee. 'I need a ride from the airport. Can you pick me up?' To Blake, I sent, 'Not home yet', and to Davis, I sent 'Hey, almost home'.

Abbie answered first. 'Not home yet? Why?'

Blake chimed in with 'Flight delays?' as Davis said, 'See you at the Clarks?'

I answered Blake first. 'Missed first flight, had to scramble fo find another', then copy and pasted the response to Abbie.

Lee dinged in. 'Jenika OK?

Pulling up Davis' text, I typed out, 'Maybe. I'll try to be there.' Back to Lee. 'She's fine, we're just running on different schedules here'.

Blake answered with 'That sucks. You are coming here, aren't you?', then Abbie issued her condolences for missing the first flight.

Lee dinged in again. 'Don't get me wrong. I'd be happy to pick you up. I just don't understand how running on different schedules would preclude her from picking you up.'

I blinked quickly. He was more astute than I'd have ever given him credit for. I finished my beer in one quick swallow. 'Should be landing in about half an hour. Sorry about the late notice.'

He answered immediately. 'On my way.'

'Thank you so so so much Lee!'

'No problem, man.'

Davis dinged in with a cheery 'See ya!!!', then Abbie came in with 'Hope to see you there!' I moved to Blake's message screen and told him I'd try to make it.

I sat back, now at least situated with a friendly ride when i got there. Couldn't help but wonder if Lee would give me the third degree about Jenika though. Jason Chapman finally dinged in wanting to know what was up, so I gave in an abridged version and then sank back, hugely relieved. Aware I was still a prime source of entertainment in the cabin (the lady behind me was providing a running commentary on everything I was doing, every time I wiggled a finger practically, and the others had kept giving me sidelong glances when they thought I wasn't looking), I plugged my headphones in to entertain myself for the rest of the flight. I started dozing off to some Martina McBride only to be jabbed by Karen seemingly seconds later.

I sat up, rubbed tired eyes, and gave her a dirty look. "What?"

She pointed to the aisle then the window. "We landed... thought you might want to get off the plane."

Oh! I startled then peered out the window. Sure enough, I found myself looking at the familiar dreary Nashville airport. Yay. Nothing like a steady drizzle on Christmas Eve. How the hell I'd managed to sleep through landing, I had no clue.

"Thank you," I told her, standing up to grab my bag and starting to make my way off the plane.

"You sleep with your mouth open," the woman from across the aisle informed me.

I blinked. I did? I never knew that. Jenika had never mentioned it. "Did I snore?"

"No, not really," she said, jostling past the first couple of aisles. "Little bit of heavy breathing but that was all. It was cute."

My breathing was cute? OK, that was a new one on me. "Okayyy," I said slowly, angling my hips to squeeze out between aisles and out the plane. I went directly to the baggage claim area where I had to wait for first the carousel number to be announced, then the bags to start arriving. Most people at this point were in too much of a hurry or were just too tired to care who I was, so I was a bit startled to hear my name shouted across the room.

"Tim! Turn around, dude, it's me!"

Oh! Lee! Duhhh! I whipped around to find my friend standing there and couldn't help but smile at him. "Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate it." I gave him a quick hug.

"No problem," he told me, glancing at the bags as they started tumbling one by one onto the carousel. "Need help with your bags?"

"I just got one suitcase—ahh!" I actually squealed when I felt cold fingers fall on my forearm. I turned to look and found that crazy lady. "Oh good God."

"What? What's wrong?" Lee frowned at the lady. "Who're you?"

"I'm Jane!" she said brightly, still holding my arm. "I'm Tim's friend!"

"You are?" he asked her, squinting. "Well, I'm L—"

"No, she's not," I corrected her quickly. "She's a fan who has attached herself to me like a barnacle." I tried to peel her fingers off of me. "I can't get rid of her."

Now Lee crossed his arms. "She harassing you?"

"I am not harassing. I am being friendly," she informed him.

I pulled away from her. "You stopped being friendly two hours ago and have crossed into being a bother." I saw my bag and reached for it, grasping the handle firmly. "Move or your liable to get hit when I pull my bag off the carousel."

As nutty as she was, she didn't seem to want to be knocked over with luggage. Miraculously, she moved and I hefted my suitcase up. "You got plans for tonight?"

"Party," I said shortly, adjusting my carry-on on my shoulder. "Come on, Lee, let's get out of here."

He slid an arm protectively around my shoulder. "You don't have to tell her anything."

"Yeah," I agreed, nodding as we made our way to short-term parking. "You're right." I tried to walk faster, the lady still on our tail. She was quickly moving up from being a bother to a creep that was starting to freak me out a little.

"Where do you live?" Jane asked, panting a little in the effort to keep up with us and haul her suitcase along.

"None of your business!" Lee and I both snapped at her. His arm still around as though he thought I might actually be in danger, he lead me to his car, where we quickly tossed my bags in and climbed into the seats. As I was pulling my seatbelt on, I heard a nearby car start up and I glanced around. Where was it coming from? Surely not the Jane woman!

I slammed the car door shut and said quietly, "Lee, go. I'm seriously getting freaked out here."

"Don't blame ya." He sniffled as though he was getting a cold and threw the car into gear. We quickly pulled out of the garage and off the airport premises. I finally relaxed once we were on I24. He shook his head. "People."

"Right," I agreed, glaring out the front window at the rain.

"Sooo," Lee drawled, giving me a sideways look. "What's up with Jenika?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. She's at the party. That started..." I looked at my watch. "Half hour ago. Oh, is Grace coming to the party?"

"Yeah, I told her I'd meet her there," he said, switching lanes carefully. "I swear, Nashville sees something fall from the sky and forgets how to drive."

I snorted at that. "You're not kidding."

"I'm going to the party too," Lee said seriously. "Why couldn't Jenika? Just pick you up and drive you straight there. She could've done the same thing I'm doing."

"Drop it, Lee," I said tiredly.

"Y'all fighting?" he asked me.

"Well, yeah," I admitted. "She's a little pissed I missed my 11:30 flight."

"It happens," he said, reaching out and adjusting the heat in the car. "No reason to be mad at you. Or not pick you up."

I shrugged again. "Dunno. Maybe she didn't want to be late."

"So be late! It's no biggie! It's Blake and Kelly for crying out loud! They won't care!"

"She's... got a lot going on," I said slowly, staring out the window at the blasted rain. "We started arguing a couple of days ago and haven't really stopped."

"Ohhh, I see," he said, switching lanes again and looking over his shoulder. "That sucks, man. God. This blue SUV needs to get off my ass."

I turned around to look at it, watching as Lee moved back to the right lane and the blue SUV followed suit. I frowned. What the hell? "It's still on you."

"Yeah, I know," he said grimly, switching lanes again and cursing when the blue SUV followed. He slapped at the steering wheel. "What. The fuck?"

"Is it following us?" I asked incredulously, eyes peeled on it.

"Oh God." Lee started a number of lane changes trying to shake them off. Sure enough, every time we changed lanes, so did they. I grasped the seat.

"They're definitely following us," I said quietly, my heart starting to pound. I was seriously creeped out. First the lady at the airport, now this idiot. Unless it was one and the same person. Which was an even scarier thought. I licked my lips. "Lee—you don't think..."

He read my mind. "Crossed my mind. Could be. I don't really know."

"Oh God," I whispered, strain ing to see through the rain and into the SUV. "Don't—don't take me home."

"Oh, I sure as hell am not," Lee assured me. "I'm even hesitant to drive to the Clarks' right now."

"What're we supposed to do? Can—can you lose them? Safely?" They were majorly creeping me out, but I didn't really want to end up dead in a car accident. Dying by being followed home on Christmas Eve would really dampen the holiday.

Lee sniffled again. "I'mma try." He pulled off the interstate (it was the exit we needed anyway) and started driving down Franklin Road, to Church Street, to Nolensville Pike, and back onto Old Hickory Boulevard. He pulled that wide circle three times, me starting to smile as we went down Nolensville Pike. "How's this working?"

I twisted around and didn't see the blue SUV. "Think we're good. Don't see it." Wait! Was that it? I leaned forward to get a better look at a nearby vehicle. No, totally different model SUV.

"Hallelujah." Lee turned the steering wheel hard to the right and we headed onto the Clarks' house.

I opened the car door slowly and started towards the front toor. Lee paused on the sidewalk. "Come on, Tim! Put some zing into it!"

"Zing?" I snorted. Yeah, seemed to have left my zing in Maryland with Chance, Rob, and Adam. Nevertheless, I plastered a somewhat fake smile on my face and tried to find some zing to work with.

We walked right in, not even bothering with the doorbell, and followed the sounds of conversation and laughter into their bonus room.

"Helloooo everybody!" Lee called out, slinging the double doors open wide. "I present to you....Tim!"

I laughed as the others cheered my grand entrance. "Thank you! Thank you so much, Lee!"

"You needed great fanfare," he agreed, grinning.

Abbie grabbed me in a giant hug, then passed me to Davis. I quickly hugged Blake and his wife Kelly, then Jason and Becky Chapman. Grace, who I didn't know as well—she was just Lee's current girlfriend— greeted me cheerfully and shook my hand. Then I found myself face to face with... Jenika. I could help but feel hurt that she'd prioritized getting to the party instead of me and angry that she'd refused to come get me like she'd promised. On top of all the other crap she'd put me through earlier this week. I hesitantly lifted my eyes to her face, trying to keep my expression neutral. How was she feeling? Angry, hurt, and conflicted like me? Or was she just continuing to live her happy-go-lucky life that I was able to provide for her? Very aware of the others' eyes on us, I let her pull me into a hug.

"I'm so glad to see you," she told me, pulling my face down to hers. "I've missed you so much."

Bullshit, I thought, as she smushed her mouth onto mine. If you missed me so much, why couldn't you be bothered to come pick me up at the airport like you were supposed to? I winced as she tugged at my hair, then pulled back just enough to hiss at me, "Kiss me! Kiss me like you're happy to see me! God!"

But what if I'm not happy to see you? What if I've been dreading it all day? I let a breath out quietly, trying to pull up my poker face. Finally, I just murmured to her, "We'll talk later" and did my best to 'kiss her like I was happy to see her'.

"About what?" she whispered when we pulled apart.

"Come have some turkey, Tim!" Kelly encouraged. "We have turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cooked apples, peas, beans, peas, carrots, rolls, and pies. Lots of pies."

"Maybe too many pies," Davis joked, his belly pooching out a little.

"Nah, can never have too many pies," Jason laughed.

"Don't mind if I do!" I grinned, making my way to the dining room, Jenika and Kelly following me.

"We kind of already ate," Kelly admitted, issuing a quick glance at Jenika.

"I know—I'm sorry," she said guiltily, snagging a cheese bite with a colorful toothpick. "I was starving. Hadn't eaten all day."

"That's not healthy," I said lightly, loading up my plate with delicious-looking food. The sweet potato pie smelled divine. I made sure to get plenty of the toasted nuts.

"I knew they'd have all this food, so I was saving room," Jenika explained, grabbing another piece of cheese.

"Well, don't do that," I told her, biting into the roll. Mmm. Soft and still warm. I frowned at her. "Your body needs as much nourishment as you can give it."

She flushed. "Tim!"

I froze, nearly dropping the roll. Oh crap. Don't tell me she hadn't told them yet! I glanced at Kelly, who just looked puzzled, and tried to backtrack quickly. "Oh, um... I... just don't want you to be hungry," I ended up saying lamely.

"Jjjenika?" Kelly said slowly, a smile starting across her face. "Do you... have something to tell us?"

"No!" she snapped, slapping at me and poking at my arm with the cheese toothpick. "Can't you ever keep your damn mouth shut?"

"Sorry, sorry!" I actually did feel sorry on that one. "I really am—I thought you would have already, um..." I let the sentenced drop and just stuffed the rest of the roll into my big mouth as Blake, Davis, and Jason came in for soda refills.

"Man, if they don't get their O-line issues resolved...," Davis was saying. He reached for the root beer. "...they gonna be hurtin' for certain."

Blake held out his red solo cup to him, eyeing the three of us. "What's going on? We walk in on a deep, thoughtful conversation here?"

Kelly shrugged, now eyeing Jenika's belly pretty hard. Jenika's hands flew down to it, trying to cover it. Jason, Blake, and Davis drew their attention to it as well.

"Uh, why are we looking at Jenika like this?" Davis wanted to know.

"Quit looking at my stomach!" Jenika wailed, glaring at me.

"I'm sorry, Jenika, I am!" I apologized again.

"Ah, just eat your potatoes," she ordered.

"Tim may have let a cat out of the bag." Kelly grinned at us.

"What cat?" Jason asked, setting his cup down.

"Jenika, are you pregnant?" Kelly asked, helping herself to a couple of crackers.

Jenika opened her mouth, then closed it, looking from me as I tried to avoid her gaze, to Blake and Davis, then to Kelly. Finally, she just nodded.

Kelly cheered. "Yay! I'm so happy for you guys!"

Davis' eyes got huge. "Wow! That's great! Congrats, guys!"

"A little Tim," Blake teased, grinning at me and clasping my shoulder.

"Congratulations!" Jason said cheerfully.

"What's all the cheering for?" Abbie asked as she, Grace, Becky, and Lee came into the dining room to investigate.

Kelly shook her head, still grinning away at us. "Your announcement, not mine."

Jenika swallowed audibly, seemingly nervous, then pulled the chair next to me out and sat in it heavily. I paused, my fork halfway to my mouth. "I—I need a drink," she whispered, her voice wavering.

"Sure, what do you want?" Blake stared picking up liters of soda and rattling off what they had available.

I put my fork down, a bite of turkey still on its tongs. "Jenika?" She was actually trembling, apparently scared to death of letting our friends know that we were expecting. Seeing her like that drew out my instinct to comfort and protect her. I wrapped my arm around her and drew her to me. "Hey. Babe. It's OK. It's going to be OK."

"What's wrong?" Becky asked concernedly as Blake pushed a cup of soda at Jenika.

"I'm just scared, Tim," she whispered, looking up at me with watery blue eyes. "What are we going to do with a child?"

"I don't know, but we'll figure something out," I answered her softly. "I promise." I ran my finger down her cheek, wiping a tear away with the pad of my thumb, then tilted her face up to mine and actually kissed her that time. "It's OK, babe, I promise." She blew a breath out and rested her head on my shoulder. I rubbed her back, looking up at Jason and Becky, and gave a half shrug. I had no idea why she wouldn't say it to them. After about ten seconds, I reached over and gently pulled her face up to have her look at me. "Baby, I'm really sorry. I didn't realize you hadn't said anything about it yet. I'd just assumed you had."

"Guys," I heard Lee start to say. "Let's give them their space. We'll be in the bonus room if you need us."

Jenika shook her head at me. "No, not yet."

"Why?" I asked softly. "Any particular reason?"

"But—," Grace protested. Abbie grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the dining room, giving Jenika and me a few minutes together alone.

Jenika chewed a lip for a minute before looking up at me and just shrugging. "I'm... just scared, Tim. I'm afraid... I won't be a good mom."

My heartstrings pulled a little at that. "Baby, of course you will. I have no doubt about that."

"Thanks," she murmured, gazing off into space.

I wasn't sure if she bought that or not. "It'll work out. It'll be new, we'll struggle to find our way being new parents, but we'll learn. Jenika." I reached out and pulled her wandering gaze back to me. "Listen to me. We will learn."

She nodded slightly, then let her lips pull into a small smile. "This is the Tim I fell in love with. The sweet man with the big heart." She slid her hands up from my shoulders and up the back of my head, pulling our faces together and brushing her lips over mine.

I closed my eyes, pushing all thoughts of hurt feelings and anger aside for now and just giving in to the kiss, letting in nothing but the feeling of her gentle kiss, her lips on mine, the heat, the passion rising in my chest. I held her tight to me, one hand running up and down her back the other in her hair, cupping the back of her head. She felt so good in my arms. Could this really be the same woman who'd spoken so cruelly to me earlier this week? Given me impossible ultimatums? Forcing me to choose between her and the band, the performing, the music that runs in my veins as thick as blood?

No! I shouted at my brain. No! Quit thinking like that! You're kissing your wife! Concentrate on the damn kiss! To compensate for the unwelcome thoughts racing through my brain, I let my jaw fall slack and gently pressed my tongue into her mouth. She let out a soft moan. God, she was turning me on right now. She pressed her body into mine, things starting to wake up inside me, tongues tumbling together.

"God, Tim," Jenika whispered my name, one hand running over my cheek and chin, eyes staring into mine with love and lust. I could feel her other hand pressing to my jeans, which were already starting to feel uncomfortably tight. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to lay her across the dining room table and take her right then and there. If this went on much longer, I wasn't sure I'd be able to stop myself. In the interests of not embarrassing myself by making love to my wife on our best friends' dining room table, I slowly pulled away from her.

Jenika looked hurt. "Tim—why'd you pull away? Don't you like kissing me?"

"Of course I do," I whispered. "Maybe too much." I winked. "I'll show you how much I like kissing you when we get home."

She gave me a half-smile, hitching her dress up to give me a quick peep show. "Show me now."

I picked her hand up in mine, soft delicate fingers in my large and clunky palm, and pressed it to my pants. "That answer your question?"

"Maybe," she teased, quickly and deftly unzipping me before I could stop her. "But I need to be sure."

"Jenika," I told her, trying to get control of my libido. "Not here, not at the Clarks' house, in their dining—ohhh." I let out an involuntary shudder as she manipulated her way through layers of fabric and stroked me, my body reacting the only way it knew how. I closed my eyes, trying to pretend we were at home in the comfort of our own bedroom. "This isn't rally the best place to get it on."

"So?" she asked, giggling a little as she managed to wiggle me free from the confines of my jeans. She dropped down to her knees in front of me.

"Jenika, please. Stop," I said weakly. "I'd dearly love to make love to you, but right now, we're—"

I gasped as she ignored my reasoning and sensibility and opened her mouth, taking me all the way in. Ohhh God. Mind—blown. I literally could think of nothing else—rhyme, reason, or otherwise—as she sucked and licked on me. Ah, fuck it. Literally. I closed my eyes and leaned back, just letting her give me a blow job in our friends' dining room. Oh my God. I'd almost forgotten how good she was at this. Her skills with that tongue of hers, the taboo of getting so hot and heavy where we could so easily get caught, was turning me on in ways I wouldn't have thought it would. I found myself starting to move in and out of her mouth without even thinking about what I was doing, her tongue hitting all of my sweet spots, throwing a hand up to my mouth to muffle the sounds I couldn't help but make as she brought me to the brink.

"Cum for me, Tim," she whispered, reaching a hand back and starting to stroke my balls. She knew that would always get me. It never failed. Most certainly, not tonight.

"Oh God," I said, throwing my head back as I felt myself erupt in her mouth, hard and fast. God, it felt so good. I pushed myself all the way into her mouth, cumming the whole time, finally succeeding in falling totally out of the chair—backwards and into the table. I gasped and not in good way as rolls went flying every which way, the platter of turkey slid to the floor, and my head fell into the bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Shit," I cursed, sitting up quickly and trying to get potatoes out of my hair but only ended up smushing them in even more. It was like I was trying to shampoo my hair in mashed potatoes.

Jenika's eyes got huge and, hearing our friends come thundering through the living room to check and make sure everything was OK, quickly shoved me back into my pants, now fighting with the zipper. I flung her hands away as a carrot slid down my ear. "I'll get it!" I reached down to fix it myself, batted a roll away from my lap, and managed to get my pants closed just as everyone came running into the dining room.

"What was that?" Blake asked frantically.

"Y'all OK?" Becky asked, her foot coming down in the bowl of peas and falling forward into the table herself. The few things I hadn't manage to upend now went flying.

Lee ducked to avoid being beaned with, well, beans. The pintos got Grace instead, who squealed.

"My good plates, Blake, catch them!" Kelly shrieked, jumping for them.

Blake managed to snag one from the air but two fell in front him and clattered, one meeting its sad end. Kelly winced, still holding the one she'd caught. Most of them, at least, had just slid straight down. Unluckily for me, they'd slid onto my face, neck, and chest, along with half of the silverware. I picked up a fork that had jabbed me on the shoulder. It reminded me of Avi, that first night, when we'd all gone to the deli. I wondered what he was doing and if he was OK. He'd seemed so unhappy when I'd seen him last. Tried to put on a brave face but still, he couldn't hide the sadness in his eyes.

Jenika yanked the fork from my hand. "Quit playing with that. We got a huge mess here."

"Yeah, we do," I agreed, pulling myself to my knees and starting to pick up silverware and plates. "Lord have mercy. Blake, Kelly, I am so sorry." I eyed the dainty broken plate she was now picking up. "I'll pay to replace it."

Kelly shook her head. "Nah, you don't have to do that. I'll deal." She pressed the three pieces together, shrugged, and carried it off to the kitchen.

"Um," Davis said, edging away from the mess. "May I ask what happened?"

Jason was helping Becky up. "You OK, hon?"

"Yeah," she said, rubbing her elbow. "Tim, how about you?"

"You have mashed potatoes in your hair," Abbie informed me.

"I know," I groaned, grabbing a napkin and still trying to work with it.

"What'd you do, lay in the taters?" Grace laughed at me.

"Fell in 'em," I said, trying to finger comb chunks out.

"He was leaning backwards in his chair, tilting it over, and it fell out from under him," Jenika improvised, sweeping peas and carrots into her hand and dumping them into a trash can.

"Dangerous move there, dude," Lee remarked to me. "You OK?"

"Yes," I grumbled, not having a whole lot of luck with the potatoes in my hair.

"We'll get the rest of it later," Blake told us, surveying the floor, now mostly picked up but still could use a good sweeping.

"Yeah," Kelly agreed, coming back into the dining room. "We got gifts."

I grinned, finally deciding to just live with my potato head. "We do too. Jenika, did you grab—"

"Course I did!" she snapped. "I'm not stupid!"

Jeesh. I blinked at her. Her mood had sure changed fast. Now I knew pregnancy could do weird things to a woman's body and psyche, but seriously. "I didn't say you were."

"It seemed implied," she said coolly, flouncing out with a toasted nut hanging in her hair.

Jason and Lee were watching her bemusedly and Abbie called out to her about the nut. Either she didn't hear it, or she just ignored it.

"Okayyy," Davis mused.

"What was that about?" Grace whispered, eyeing me. "Were y'all arguing?"

I shrugged helplessly. "No, not really."

"Not really?" Blake raised his eyebrows. "Either you were or were not arguing. There's no in between."

"I'm going to go check on her," Kelly said, following after Jenika.

"OK, let me put it this way," I started, straightening the tablecloth. "We've been arguing all week, but in those ten minutes before I fell into the table, we were not arguing."

"Okayyy," Davis said again.

"What were you arguing about?" Jason asked as Becky smacked at him.

"You don't ask people that!" she scolded him. "How'd you like people to know the ins and outs of our disagreements?"

"Lots of things," I said shortly, then sighed. "Too much to elaborate on. Let's go do gifts. That, clearly, Jenika brought."

We made our way back to the bonus room, Lee clamping a hand on my shoulder. I turned to him.

He regarded me seriously. "I don't know what's going on. And you don't have to tell me. Just, if you need anything—a ride, a friend, a couch to sleep on—I'm here."

"Thanks, man, I told him, grinning at him and taking him into a quick hug. I do have awesome friends.

Up in the bonus room, they'd already had presents divvied out. Jenika patted the loveseat next to her and I sat in it, next to a small pile of gifts.

Abbie clapped her hands excitedly. "Open them! I want to see what people got!"

"No, you want to see what you got," Davis teased her, grinning at her like a wicked elf.

"That too," she giggled, grabbing the gift on top of the pile.

I picked up my first gift, glancing at the card. Chapmans. I peeled off the paper quickly, Jenika frowning at me as she delicately and carefully removed a bow from hers. Mmm. A Hillshire Farms sampler. Now that would be some good snacking! "Jason, Becky, thank you!"

"Oh, you're welcome." He grinned at me, also diving into his gift with gusto. He extracted a large container of macadamia nuts. "Ohhh, my favorite! Thanks, Blake!"

"Welcome, dude!" Blake told him.

Paper now flying as we all tore eagerly into the gifts, people talking excitedly, I grabbed my next gift. I squealed happily as the next gift was small, but turned out to be tickets to my favorite band, from the Clarks. "Blake! Kelly! Oh my God, thank you!"

"You're welcome," Kelly said, balancing a bow on her nose.

"Pssst—don't tell him we won them on the radio," Blake hissed somewhat loudly.

I grinned at him. "Hey, I'm cool with that." I glanced down at the date. February 8th. I'd have to make sure we had nothing going that day. I opened a calendar with dogs in it and spent a good ten minutes annoying everyone demanding they look at the cute doggies, then a quote of the day doggie flip calendar from Lee.

"I love these dogs!" I told hem, chuckling at the March 3rd quote.

"Know you're a sucker for dogs!" he said as Becky hugged me, thanking me for the bracelet I'd gotten for her. Sadly, I remembered nothing about it. Shrugging, I pulled out a glittery rad present, breaking out in a grin when I read Rob's name on it. "Lee, you brought the gifts from the car?"

"Yeah. Saw them poking out of your bag," he confessed. "Hope it was OK."

I shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me." I started to open the gift, sliding a finger under the tape. I wondered how his Christmas was going.

Jenika looked up at me and frowned at it, yanking it from my hands. "Who's this from? Oh. Him." She tucked in her other side, away from me.

"Hey," I protested, trying to reach around her for it. "Whataya doin'? It's mine. Give it back to me."

She looked at me coolly. "Open the gifts from these friends here. Not them." She said 'them' with as much disdain as she could muster. "Be polite. Lord only knows what Rob gave you."

There was so much I could say to that, but I bit my tongue in the efforts to keep the peace on Christmas Eve. Instead, I just picked up the gift from Davis and started unwrapping silently.

Blake looked at me mildly. "I don't mind if he opens gifts from his band friends."

"I do," Jenika maintained, pulling a hummingbird feeder out of its box. "It's rude. I love this! It's so pretty! Thank you, Lee!"

"Whatever," I grunted, finding a copy of a book I'd been looking everywhere for. "Davis! Thank you! Where did you find this?"

He grinned. "I have my sources."

"Awesome, man!" I reached for the next gift and opened the card. Adam. Smiling down at it, I paused, hoping he'd gotten reunited with our bag. And ideally, before Luke (or Chris) found out about its detour.

Jenika grunted exasperatedly at me, yanking it off my lap. "God, Tim. Were you raised in a barn?"

"I wasn't fixing to open it," I snapped at her. "I was just holding it for a second. You don't need to be rude about it. Or throw their gifts around like they're nothing more than trash."

"One. You were holding on to it for an awful long time," she began, counting out my 'offenses' on her fingers. "Two. I'm not being rude—you are, with your so-called friends' gifts. And three, the probably are nothing more than trash."

"They are not!" I said heatedly, my Nashville friends now starting to look uncomfortable as we argued.

Jenika rolled her eyes. "Just give me the last two."

"No." I crossed my arms.

"Don't tell me 'no' like a spoiled child," she said, getting up and confiscating the last two gifts.

I scowled and started counting off on my own fingers. "One. You will give those back once we get home."

She sniffed condescendingly. "Yeah."

"Two. Give me the green Santa one." If nothing else, she ought to let me open that one; it was from Abbie.

"No," Jenika told me. "Wait until we get home."

"Jenika," I started crossly, reaching across her only to be pushed back harshly. Hard to believe that not long ago, those hands had been holding me tenderly. Now she was just a ball of anger.

"Don't Jenika me," she ordered. "You are not opening those gifts here."

"I heard you the first five times!" I snapped, flinging a ribbon at her. "Give me the green Santa one! It's not from my band friends!"

"It's from me," Abbie said quietly, too quietly for Jenika to hear.

"Yes it is!" Jenika argued. "First one was from Rob! The green and red one was from Adam! So these two..." She jabbed a toe at them. "...are from the Chance and Austin!"

"The snowflake one is from Chance. The green Santa one is from Abbie," I corrected her.

She just snorted. "It's from Austin, Tim, don't lie."

"Jenika, I'm not lying!" I yelled, angry she'd accuse me of doing such a thing. "I didn't get one from Austin!"

She snorted again. "Yeah, right. Likely story." She pushed it aside with her foot, making Abbie scowl at her.

"I didn't," I insisted, standing up to go and get the one last gift I was permitted to open. "He left in such a hurry to not miss his flight that we never got a chance to exchange any gifts!" I bent over to pick it up only to get my hand deliberately stepped on. "Ow! Jenika!"

"Jenika, God!" Abbie finally snapped. "That green Santa gift is from me! Quit being such a pain and let Tim open it!"

"Don't yell at her," Kelly said calmly, going over and putting her arm around Jenika. "I know. There's a lot going on inside of you right now; you got hormones going berserk, you're emotional, you're stressed. It's OK. Take a breath."

Finally allowed to open my gift, I unwrapped it. Ooo, new headphones! Nice ones too—no more cheapies that I kept stepping on or breaking blaring music on at top volume. I'd have to be careful with these. "Thank you, Abbie."

"You're welcome, hon." She hugged me, and while her head was near my ear, she whispered, "She's been bitchy off and on all night. Talking real crap about you before you even got here. Even being pregnant is no excuse. Tim, I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but if you need someone to talk to, Davis and I are here."

Despite my anger, I started to smile. "Thanks, Abbie."

After all that, we were kind of subdued. We spent another forty-five minutes just visiting, catching up on things, Jenika glaring at me any time I answered a question that had to do with the band or my career in music, which ended up being fairly often as it was a good portion of what I'd been up to lately. Finally we ended up wishing each other a very merry Christmas.

I turned to Jenika and said something I probably shouldn't have. "I presume I can get a ride home with you?"

She glared at me for the five hundredth time that night. "I probably shouldn't if you're going to be like that!"

"Well, excuse me for questioning a ride that I can't really count on!" I snapped, throwing open the trunk as Lee and I moved my suitcase over.

He rested a hand on my arm. "Merry Christmas!" he said loudly before hugging me. Once I was in his arms, he started whispering to me. "Davis said she's been a real piece of work all night. If you need me, just come on over. I got the spare bedroom upstairs and you can bunk with me for a few days."

"Appreciate you, Lee," I told him.

"Tim!" Jenika yelled from the driver's seat. She honked the horn at me. "You coming or what?"

I rolled my eyes. "The queen calleth. I better get going."

Jenika looked at me out of the corner of her eye, shook her head, put the car into gear, and started to reverse down the driveway. We had a silent couple of minutes before we pulled out on the main road.

"What time are we doing Christmas tomorrow?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Whenever you want to. I need to get my gifts out of hiding."

She snorted. "Tim, I found those back in early December. You are not a good hider."

What? I leaned forward, frowning. "You didn't peek, did you?"

"No," she said, stopping at a stop sign. "Tempted, but didn't. For the record, the top of the utility closet sucks as a hiding spot."

Well, OK then. Guess I'll have to scout out a new hiding spot. Hmm. Maybe under my bathroom sink. She always refers to that as a black hole anyway.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Jenika turned to the left, then scowled. "What's this dumbass doing?"

"I'm just sitting here!" I snapped, pulling my coat to me as I felt chilled.

"Not you!" she snapped right back. "At the moment, you are not being a dumbass."

"Oh, glad to know I'm not." I rolled my eyes.

She turned into our subdivision then pulled in an audible breath, still eyeing the rearview mirror.

"What?" I asked, twisting around to see what she was looking at so hard. All I saw was the Leonards' SUV.

"This stupid car has followed us all the way from Franklin Road," she said, looking a bit frightened.

"It's just the Leonards," I pointed out. "Of course they're going to pull in here. They live down the street from us."

"No, Tim, it's not the Leonards," Jenika whispered, still eyeing the SUV. "The Leonards have the Monroe Carroll sticker on their windshield from when their son was in the NICU."

I squinted at it. "Well, it is dark. You probably just don't see it."

"Tim, listen to me! It's not the Leonards!" she insisted.

"Well, OK, let's see where they turn into," I reasoned as she pulled over to the side of the road.

"I'm going to let them pass," she decided, then let out a small shriek when the SUV did the same thing. I glanced to see where we were. Nowhere near a house. We were in front of the park. OK, seriously, what were they doing?

"That's weird," I said slowly, still twisted around in my seat. "Go, uh, to the next street and stop."

"I swear they're following us," Jenika whispered. Nevertheless, she did as I asked. We pulled over in front of the Donaldson's house. So did the SUV.

"Um, what color is it?" I asked nervously, chewing on my thumb.

"Blue. I think," she said, also turning around. "It's kind of dark out."

My heart was now officially pounding. It seemed just like the one that had followed Lee and me halfway to the Clarks'. Had they followed us all the way there and we just not noticed them around our large circle? Maybe we hadn't actually lost them like we'd thought. Oh my God. Had they sat outside the Clarks' and waited for me? I gripped the seat, white-knuckled. "Jenika, I think I may have an actual stalker." I took a deep breath as she frowned. "See, ahh... Chance and I signed a few autographs in Fort Lauderdale. One of the women stuck onto me like glue. Unfortunately, she and I were on the same flight to Nashville. Flight attendants had to force her back away form me and to her seat. I ran into her again at the baggage claim, then she followed Lee and me to the parking lot. Then we started getting followed by a blue SUV." I swallowed thickly. "He tried to lose them and we thought we had. Now..." I threw a hand at the SUV behind us. "We got this."

"Oh God," Jenika whimpered, her eyes filling with fear now. "Why didn't you tell me about that?'

"Thought we lost them. I really thought we had." I took my glasses off and rubbed at my face. "Now I'm not so sure."

"I don't want to go home now," she groaned. "They don't need to see where we live."

"Drive around," I suggested, trying to sound calmer than I felt. "See if we can lose them."

"If driving in circles didn't work...," she said doubtfully, although she did pull back onto the street. The SUV followed suit and she whimpered.

I reached out a hand and rubbed her arm. "It'll be OK. We'll be all right," I tried to reassure her as she started making random turns up and down streets. Tears started to fall out of her eyes on Dogwood Street when the SUV was still right behind us. I ran my hand down her arm and gave her hand a quick squeeze. "It'll be OK. Let's try exiting the subdivision and try to lose them on Old Hickory Boulevard. It's got lots of little side streets to lose them on."

"OK," she whispered, issuing only a quick pause before we pulled out onto the main road. Luckily, it was late at night and little traffic was out. We weaved in and out of the side streets, making plenty of turns onto roads I wouldn't have normally touched, just trying to lose that SUV. No matter what we did, even violating direct traffic laws, we couldn't lose them. Jenika was crying so hard I had no idea how she could see to drive.

I tapped her elbow. "Turn into that church there. I'll drive."

She nodded, immediately turning into the church parking lot. My chest tightened when the SUV followed us right into the parking lot as well. Jenika sobbed as she got out and ran to the passenger side. I got out and eyed the offending vehicle. I probably should not approach it, but my anger and temper got the better of me as I stepped towards it.

Jenika rolled down the window. "Tim! No! Don't do that! Just get in and drive! Please!"

The SUV engine revved as I approached it, threatening to flee rather than be confronted. I jogged up to it and pounded on the window before it could. Oh holy fuck. It was the Jane woman. She rolled down the window looking frightened as Jenika continued to scream her head off.

"You better knock this the fuck off," I told her through clenched teeth. "What you are doing is illegal and is scaring the shit out of my wife. Give it up and go home. Now."

"Tim," she said petulantly. "I'm not hurting you. I love you. I love your music."

"You're scaring the shit out of my wife," I repeated, eyes narrowed. "And frankly, me too. You need to knock this the hell off."

"I'm not doing anything," Jane argued. "I'm just driving along here."

"You are following us," I snapped, then let my voice drop into a low growl. I was pissed that she was crossing the line here, scaring Jenika and me, and astounded she thought there was nothing wrong with what she was doing. "Did you sit outside the Clarks' and wait for me?"

"I—," she started before breaking off and shifting her gaze downwards. She finally just nodded at me.

"That is creepy, freaky, and acting like a damn stalker," I informed her. "Knock. It. Off."

"Oh, I'm not a stalker," Jane said brightly. "Stalkers want to hurt people. I don't want to hurt you!"

I snorted at that. "Simplistic. Stalkers come in all shapes and forms. If you followed me from the airport to the Clarks', waited for me to leave, then started to follow me home, you are a stalker. And you need to cease and desist. Got it?"

She nodded slowly.

"Now go home," I finished, turning to go back to the car where Jenika was still yelling, now about how I was liable to be killed. I climbed back into the car and she promptly punched me on the upper arm.

"Stupid!" she yelled at me. "Who knows what they could've done! You wanna get killed or shot? Don't you ever do that to me! I thought for sure you were gonna get shot! God, Tim, don't you ever think before you act?"

I pinched my lips shut, just quietly taking her admonishing. Yeah, I knew it'd been stupid. But it was over and done with and I hadn't been hurt or anything. I drove off the parking lot and in the direction of our house. I was halfway up the main road to pull into the subdivision before I glanced up into the rearview mirror, only to have anger boil up inside my chest when I saw her fucking SUV.

I swallowed thickly, then put my hand on Jenika's arm to shut her up. "Did you get the license plate number when we were stopped?"

"So you just need to—what?" she asked, finally getting off of her soap box and looking at me.

"License plate number. Of the SUV," I repeated, circling in front of the Donaldson's again and heading right back onto the main road. This time I had a destination in mind. The police station.

"Uh, no," Jenika admitted.

"Well, that might have been more helpful than just yelling," I remarked, turning the wheel hard to the left.

She turned around and took one look at the SUV before bursting into noisy sobs again.

"I'm going to the police station," I told her, ignoring the stop sign and barreling through. The SUV did the same thing. I pulled onto Old Hickory Boulevard and pressed the gas pedal hard. Jenika jerked forward and quickly slid her belt on.

"Tim, be careful, we don't want an accident," she warned me.

"I will be," I promised, eyes peeled for any other cars. Luckily, there was little traffic out right now. "Keep an eye out for that SUV."

Jenika twisted in her seat. "Still right behind us."

"Wonder what I have to do to get her license plate number," I mused, sliding through a yellow light. Jane ran the red.

Jenika shrugged. "Don't do anything stupid."

I turned Old Hickory Boulevard into a racetrack, zooming down it as fast as I felt I safely could, Jane on my ass the whole way. I saw another car come out of a side street and had to slow down. I switched lanes and passed it, Jane following suit. We both got honked at. I was finally forced to stop at Edmondson Pike where there were multiple cars going both directions. As soon as I was in the clear, I crossed the intersection and quickly switched lanes, succeeding in pissing several other motorists off and getting honked at again. I kind of purposefully cut a grey car off and slid in right in front of them. Jane flew on past at my sudden maneuver.

"45Z 81D! Davidson County!" Jenika shouted out as Jane slowed down and tried to slide in front of the grey car as well. The grey car was having none of it though, now staying close behind me to avoid being cut off again. They honked at her, then the truck behind Jane honked at her. Another car turned off a side street and into our traffic block. The grey car was now laying on the horn, unable to pass me because Jane refused to get in front of me or move over. The new red SUV blared at us, unable to pass on either side. Jane and I were now officially blocking traffic, neither one of us willing to give in. Now with a mild sense of security with the grey car and the red SUV around us, I didn't want to pull off onto a side street. I just rode Old Hickory Boulevard down to the south precinct where I pulled off. Jane stupidly followed me right into the police station. Jenika and I immediately jumped out of the car, quickly finding each other and wrapping arms around one another.

"Tim!" Jane called, hanging halfway out her window. "Tim! Timmm!"

"Leave me alone!" I yelled back at her as something hurtled through the air. Jenika let out a scream as a flashlight hit her on the back.

A police officer walked out the front door. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Jane assured him, starting to pull out. Jenika was still screaming, and I was mad enough I could spit.

"Don't you fucking leave!" I yelled after her as she drove off the parking lot.

"What she hit me with?" Jenika asked, stopping the screaming long enough to bend over and look.

"Flashlight," I reported, kicking at it. I turned to the police officer. "I want to file a report against that woman."

He leaned over to look at the flashlight himself. "She throw that at you?"

"Yes," I said, Jenika nodding along with me. "She's been following me all evening."

The police officer nodded. "Come on in. I'll have someone pick that up as evidence. I'm officer O'Reilly. What're your names?"

"Tim and Jenika Foust," I said as he lead us into his office. I sat gingerly in a seat and gestured her to the second. She elected to sit in my lap instead, curling up and resting her head on my chest.

"Hmm. That name sounds familiar," O'Reilly commented, tapping his pen on his lips.

"I'm in the music business," I explained, rubbing Jenika's arm up and down.

O'Reilly glanced up at me, studying me carefully. "Really. OK, that makes things interesting. Are you on the radio at all?"

"Yes," I answered, nodding. "I'm part of a country music group called Home Free. Got several songs out right now, all on country radio stations."

He nodded. "You said she's been following you all evening? Where did you first encounter her? Have you interacted with her at all?"

"Yes sir, all evening," I said, Jenika finally starting to relax in my arms. "Started back in Fort Lauderdale. We—Adam Chance and I—"

"Fort Lauderdale? Florida?" O'Reilly dropped his pen.

"Yes, sir, in an airport." I nodded as he dropped to all fours to pick up his pen. "Flying home after airing a Christmas special."

"Hold on," he said from under his desk. He popped back up with the pen and a quarter, which he deposited into a plastic dish. Sitting back in his chair, he told me to go on. "Sorry about that. Please continue."

"Chance and I were recognized and this one shy woman wanted to talk to us, so we waved her over and we signed a CD for her. Once we started that, several other people wanted autographs, so Chance and I went along with it, signing for a few minutes. This—"

"Who and you? There were two of you signing autographs?" O'Reilly interrupted me.

"Me and Adam Chance. Also a Home Free member," I clarified, shifting my leg under Jenika. She moved her weight to my other leg.

"He headed in this direction as well?" he asked me.

"No. He was going to Huntsville."

"Gotcha. OK, so you and Adam Chance signed autographs for a few minutes," he prompted.

I nodded. "This lady was one of the first we signed for. She hung out while we signed for other people, then my flight was called. Lo and behold, she was on the same flight I was. She pestered me in business class VIP for a few minutes before flight attendants made her sit in economy where her seat was."

"OK, got that," O'Reilly confirmed.

"Sooo," I murmured, eyes drifting up to the ceiling. "Met my friend Lee in the airport. She pestered us at the baggage carousel. Said her name was Jane. Never got a last name for her."

Jenika grabbed a tissue from O'Reilly's desk and started mopping up her face. "Lee Riley. R-I-L-E-Y."

"Went to Lee's car, Jane following us the whole way. We were going to a party, but he didn't want to go straight to the party because she was freaking us both out."

"Smart move," O'Reilly commented, pen flying across the paper.

"We made a few circles. Um." I paused, sticking my tongue in the corner of my mouth, trying to think. "Franklin Road, Church Street, Nolensville Pike, Old Hickory Boulevard. Three or four times."

"Were you successful in losing her?" O'Reilly asked.

"We thought we were," I said cautiously. "We went to the Clarks' for our party."

"Blake and Kelly Clark," Jenika added before blowing her nose. "Excuse me."

"About an hour and a half later, we headed out and were going home. Jenika was driving. When we hit our subdivision, she realized that she was still behind us."

"Scared the you-know-what out of me," Jenika said. "I tried driving a little around our subdivision, then Tim suggested going out onto the main road. We went up there, then out on Old Hickory Boulevard. I was crying, I was scared, and he told me to pull over in Christ Church and he'd drive."

"Naturally, Jane followed us. Um." I took a deep breath. Confession time. O'Reilly looked up at me expectantly. "I kind of went over to her and told her to stop following us, that she was scaring us. We had a brief discussion about whether or not she was a stalker."

O'Reilly nodded. "How did this discussion go? Raised voices? Cursing? Threats?"

I shrugged. "She didn't think it was stalking because she said she had no intention of hurting me." Jenika snorted at this. "She didn't raise her voice and I didn't raise mine. I was mad and told her so. I—"

"Did you do that thing you do?" Jenika asked me.

"What thing?" I had no clue what she was talking about.

"You know, when you drop your voice real low and you sound like a grizzly bear," she tried to explain.

"Oh. That. Yeah. I probably did." I glanced at O'Reilly. "Unconsciously. Sometimes when I'm really pissed, I do drop my voice. Kind of a defense mechanism, I guess."

He nodded. "Did you threaten her?"

"No," I said honestly. "I told her to knock it off, to cease and desist, and to go home."

"Sounds perfectly reasonable. Could you, ah... demonstrate this voice of yours?" O'Reilly requested curiously.

I blinked, taken aback. "Well, um... OK." I closed my eyes and tried to picture her, consciously dropping my voice. "Go home. Knock it off. Cease and desist."

"Wow." O'Reilly blinked hard. "Yeah. You do sound a little like a bear."

I snorted at that. "Sooo. I drove out onto Old Hickory Boulevard, scooting through several yellow lights. I may have been speeding a little. She ran a few red lights to keep up with me. At Edmondson Pike, I stopped at the red and several cars wound up in front of me. I switched lanes and I cut off a grey car, getting right in front of them. Jane, in her blue SUV—"

"45Z 81D," Jenika recalled.

"Good memory." I smiled down at her.

"Excellent," O'Reilly commended her, immediately typing that into his computer. "While that search runs, go on, please."

"Jane was right next to us, blocking traffic from passing us, matching speed with us. That is when I pulled off into the south precinct here."

"She followed us in here then yelled his name a few times before throwing the flashlight at us," Jenika told him. "It hit me on the back."

"Are you all right, ma'am?" O'Reilly asked, glancing at the computer quickly as he wrote.

She nodded. "Scared me more than anything."

He let out a long breath, toying with the computer. "Found our lady. She look familiar?" He turned the screen to us.

"Yep, that's her," I confirmed, staring at her deer-in-the-headlights face.

"Jane Francis," he reported. "Two other country music artists have reported her as having stalked them as well."

"Really?" Hmm. Seems like I was just the latest of her obsessions. "Who?"

O'Reilly shook his head. "I'm not at liberty to disclose that."

"Oh, OK," I mumbled. Still would be interesting to know.

O'Reilly tapped a few things out on his computer. "OK. Got you and this case report logged into the system. We will work on tracking her down and formally charging her. Can I just get you two to sign this report, verifying its accuracy?"

"Sure," I said, trying to maneuver my right arm free from where Jenika had decided to turn me into a living armchair. I signed the report and gave her the pen, which she used and handed back to him.

"Thank you so much," O'Reilly said, filing the paper into a plastic paper holder. He looked up at us, still just sitting there. "Would you feel safer with a police escort home?"

My eyes lit up as Jenika immediately answered in the affirmative. "Would you? If possible?"

He nodded, picking up his radio. "Hey, this is O'Reilly. Got a high profile couple with a stalker. I'm going to follow them home to ward off the perp and case the area. Over."

"Ten-four. Over," buzzed his answer.

He waved an arm at us. "After you."

"You want me to drive?" I asked Jenika, who quickly nodded. I think the poor thing was traumatized from earlier. I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and dug the keys from my pocket, her latching onto my arm.

"One second," O'Reilly warned us before we got in the car. He gave it a once over before giving us the all clear.

"I like him," Jenika said, pulling on her seatbelt.

"Very competent," I agreed, snapping mine into place and carefully pulling out of the parking lot. Now was not the time for careless driving, since I had a police escort right behind me. I did some of my best driving all the way home, with complete stops, blinkers, hands at ten and two, every driving rule I knew of was followed to a tee. I kept my eyes open for that SUV but evidently the police presence scared her off. I pulled into our garage and let out a sigh of relief. Jenika did as well and quickly wrapped me in her arms. We just held each other for a few minutes, trying to suffocate our fears and comfort each other. Both of us screamed when there was a tap on the window. We looked up frantically. Oh. O'Reilly. I rolled it down.

"Sorry to scare you. And interrupt you," he began.

"It's OK," I muttered, trying to get control of my breathing.

"I looked all around the premises and there are no indications of her or anyone else having entered onto your property. I would say the area is safe for you to enter the house. And lock the doors."

"Oh, we absolutely will," I assured him, Jenika nodding her head like a bobblehead doll.

"Definitely," she added, arms still around my neck.

"Thank you so much, Officer," I said. "We really appreciate it."

"Doing my best to keep you safe," O'Reilly said with a tip of his hat.

"Close the garage door when he leaves," Jenika advised, finally pulling off me. "I want to be behind locked doors."

I watched O'Reilly walk back to his cruiser then pressed the close button. She let out a sigh of relief. "Go unlock the door. I'll carry our stuff in."

She nodded and I busied myself carrying first our gifts in and depositing them on the kitchen table and then my suitcase and carry-on. I really didn't feel like starting another fight, so I just left Rob's, Adam's, and Chance's gifts tucked away for the time being. I hauled my suitcase up to our bedroom and just left it in the closet. I'd deal with it later. I'd just need to repack it in a few days anyway. I elected to just lay down on the bed without even bothering with pajamas.

Jenika laid down beside me, curling up on her side and gazing up at me. "Tired, honey?"

I nodded. "It's been a long day."

"Traveling is exhausting," she agreed. "I don't see how you do it all the time."

"It's not the easiest thing in the world," I acknowledged cautiously. I still wouldn't trade it for anything though. I loved my life. Touring, performing for sold-out crowds, singing the music I loved, the cheers of the audience, the camaraderie. The feeling I got during O Come All Ye Faithful when my heart had truly felt so full. The stage is truly where I belong. I came alive in the spotlight. No matter how tired I may get, it is worth it to me.

Jenika said nothing for a minute, just patting on me. I lifted my hand and started running my hand through her hair.

"Tim," she whispered to me.

"What is it, baby?" I asked, not bothering to open my eyes.

"I want you to know something."

I pulled my eyes open and looked at her. "I'm listening."

"When you went to talk to that woman, in the SUV, I was so scared. I... I was afraid you'd be killed," she whispered, pressing her hand over my chest as if to check that my heart was still beating, that I was still here, that I'd survived the encounter.

I sighed. She was right; I'd paid no mind to anything and just threw myself into harm's way. Had the situation been reversed, there was no way in hell I'd let her do what I'd done. I truly was lucky that Jane didn't really want to hurt me. She could have so easily buried a bullet in my brain and it would have been the end. Of everything. The gravity of my split second decision to confront her was now hitting me like a ton of bricks as I tried to blink away tears. "Jenika, I'm so sorry I scared you like that. That was so stupid of me. I can't imagine how that made you feel."

"Scared me out of my mind," Jenika sniffled, reaching up to my face and running a soft hand down my jaw line. "I don't know if I want to kiss you or slap you right now."

I smiled weakly through my tears. "I wouldn't blame you if you slapped me."

"Might just do both," she decided, and I braced myself for a hard slap. It came quickly, stinging across my face. I deserved it. I didn't even lift a hand to touch it, just let it sit there, hot on my cheek. Then I felt her breath warm my face as she kissed the area she'd just slapped silly, little kisses, all over my cheek, up over my nose, then all around the other cheek. She kissed a trail up over my forehead, moving my glasses to kiss my eyelids before making her way down my chin, which had to be prickly as I hadn't shaved in several days. Finally, she zeroed in on my mouth, kissing my lips lightly, before laying over me, bathing me in sweet kisses as she held the back of my head. She was starting to turn me on again. I dropped my hands to hold her tight to mean let my mouth fall slack at the insistence of her tongue tapping at my lips imploringly. I moaned softly as our tongues touched, dancing in my mouth. I leaned into her, enjoying the tingle I still got when kissing her deeply.

"Tim," Jenika murmured my name, reaching up and brushing my hair aside, caressing my face. "I love you. I really do. I love you."

"I love you too, baby," I whispered, running a finger over her sweet face, touching her delicate features. Her crystal blue eyes, focused intently on me. Her perfect nose. Her pink lips, tenderly resting on mine as we kissed, the passion heating up as she kissed me, lips brushing mine over and over again.

She moaned happily, the sexy moan I loved so much. I slid my hands under her blouse, slowly easing it off of her, and then unhooked her sexy lacy black bra, sending her breasts cascading down, brushing against my chest. Damn shirt. OK, time to take it off. I quickly pulled it off, then let her soft breasts touch my skin. Oh God. I moaned, wanting her so badly as I cupped one beautiful breast, rubbing it. I wet a finger and toyed with her nipple, making her moan in pleasure, then gasp as I parted my lips and took the other one in my mouth, rolling my tongue over its sweetness, making her nipple as hard as I was getting. Once I met that goal, I moved to the other one, slowly lapping at it, making her wriggle in my grasp.

"Fuck, Tim, yes," Jenika whispered, her voice heavy with desire.

"Nice choice of words," I teased, reaching a hand up her skirt and pushing panties to the side. She reached her own hand up and yanked them all the way off, then peeled her skirt off. Oh God. She was so sexy, seeing her lying there, long blonde hair cascading on the bedsheets like a waterfall. I leaned forward and ran my hand over her curves, her breasts, down her tummy, fingers circling over and into her, rubbing her clit and making her shudder with pleasure.

"God. God," she whispered, tugging desperately at my pants. "What're you still doing in those?"

I winked down at her. "You mean you want them off?"

"Absolutely," Jenika murmured, quickly unbuttoning and unzipping them, pulling them down. They got hung up on my shoes, which I sent a good couple of minutes fighting to kick off. Finally, I was able to pull my jeans off. Jenika slid her hand in my boxers, gently stroking me a few times.

"Ohhh," I moaned, closing my eyes and enjoying the feel of her soft fingers working all over me. She touched my balls ever so gently, lightly, quickly, then stopped before I'd go off too soon.

Panting, I rolled my wife over onto her back, her begging for me the whole way. "Tim, Tim! Make love to me! I want to feel you inside me, please, I need you, I—"

I finally shut her up, first by kissing her hard on the mouth, leaving both of us gasping for air, then by rubbing on her for a minute, bringing her near the brink before pushing myself inside of her. My breath caught in my throat as I entered her, slipping easily inside her warmth, her wetness, the curve of her body. Oh God. I pulled partway out then pushed back into her hard for the initial thrill again, then settling into a nice steady rhythm. Slow gentle strokes, her muscles hugging me, her body responding to my every move, her arms around my neck, her eyes intent on mine, my name on her lips, parted in pleasure, breath coming in little gasps. I sped up, feeling her love emanating off her and onto me as I kissed those preciously soft lips, feeling the heat in my chest spurring me harder. I reached down and massaged her clit while I was thrusting inside of her, gently at first, then harder to go with my thrusts, her face contorting when she could take it no longer and gave in to her orgasm, letting out small squeals of ecstasy. Oh God. I could feel her orgasm, feel her clenching me tightly, feel it pulsating, feel her warmth bathe me.

"God, yes," I whispered, close to my own orgasm as she started rocking into me, coming down from her high. Ohhh. I pushed far into her, burying every inch I had deep into her womb, into her body. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt my body spill over, my juices squeezing up and filling her to the brim. I felt my mouth fall slack as fireworks exploded in my brain, my body shaking as I emptied myself into her, finally letting out a ragged breath when my orgasm ebbed away slowly. I leaned forward and felt myself slip out of her in its aftermath. "Oh. My. God. Jenika."

"That was a strong one," she whispered, a little mischievous grin on her face.

I couldn't help but kiss that little grin right off her face. "Yes it was," I agreed, lips still on hers. "And it was all for you."

Jenika sighed happily. "I love you, Tim."

"I love you too, baby," I told her, laying back down on my back.

She promptly curled up next to me, her head back on my chest, nestling her face into me. "I can feel your heart beat."

"Bet it's pounding fast," I chuckled, resting my hand around her slim shoulders.

Jenika smiled. "Yes. But slowing."

I kissed the top of her head as we cuddled, her eyes slowly falling shut in sweet slumber. "Sweet dreams, my love."