Nick
“Okay, burner… on.” I turned one of the knobs on the front of Kevin’s stove to light the burner. When I saw the flame spring to life, I set the griddle down on top of it to warm up while I mixed the pancake batter.
It was Saturday morning, one week after my latest one-night stand had left both Kevin and Mason stuck in bed. In an effort to make up for my past mistakes, I had woken up early that day and decided to prepare a batch of pancakes for breakfast. I’d never cooked pancakes before but figured it couldn’t be too difficult. I didn’t even have to make them from scratch because I’d found a box of pancake mix in Kevin’s cupboard.
“Place mix and water in bowl. Stir until large lumps break up.” I read the directions on the back of the box aloud, talking myself through each step of the process. I dug through the cupboards and drawers until I found a mixing bowl and measuring cup. After measuring the ingredients, I dumped them into the bowl and stirred them with a long, wooden spoon. “Pour slightly less than ¼ cup batter for each pancake onto hot griddle.” I used the measuring cup to scoop out the batter and pour it onto the griddle, smiling when I heard it start to sizzle. “Yeah… here we go, baby!” I said, turning to talk to Mason in his high chair. “Hot pancakes coming right up!” I never knew how much he understood what I said to him, but he squealed and slapped his tray like he was looking forward to breakfast. That made me smile.
After three weeks of living with Kevin and his son, I was starting to get the hang of being domestic. I had lived on my own for most of the last decade, but I had never been responsible for another human being before. That definitely brought a new dynamic to my lifestyle. I missed my days of sleeping in and doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but I had to admit, it felt good to have a reason to get up in the morning.
As I was getting ready to flip the pancakes, the doorbell rang. Mason craned his neck, looking curiously in the direction of the front door. “I bet that’s your dad’s new caregiver,” I said, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was ten till nine. “Be right back, buddy.” I quickly wiped my hands on a towel before I went to answer the door.
I opened the heavy, wooden door to find a young woman standing on the front porch. Even though I had been expecting her, her appearance caught me by surprise. With her short blue hair, rainbow tie-dyed scrubs, and sunshine yellow Crocs, she looked like the sky in a little kid’s drawing. “Hi!” she said, smiling as she extended her hand to me. Behind the big, red glasses that dominated her round face, she had beautiful brown eyes. “I’m Sam. I’m here to help Kevin.”
I recovered quickly and remembered my manners. “Hey. I’m Nick.” I shook her hand before I stepped back to let her inside. “Come on in.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Nick,” she said, setting her purse down on the bench in the foyer. As a woman in her early twenties, she must have known who I was, but she didn’t acknowledge me as a Backstreet Boy or mention my music.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I replied, closing the door behind her. “Thanks for coming. Kevin’s room is right upstairs.” I gestured toward the staircase, motioning for her to go first. As I followed her up the stairs, I couldn’t help but admire the way her ass looked in her scrub pants. Beneath the colorful print, she had a nice body – petite, but with curves in all the right places.
At the top of the stairs, she stopped and turned around, giving me a questioning look.
“It’s to the left,” I said, going ahead of her. I knocked on Kevin’s door at the end of the hall, then opened it a crack and poked my head in. “Yo, Kev, you awake?” I called. “Sam’s here.”
“Yeah, come on in,” I heard him call back. I pushed the door all the way open, flipped on the lights, and led Sam inside.
Kevin was lying on his left side in the same position I’d put him in three hours ago, the comforter still pulled up to his neck. He always slept shirtless to avoid potential pressure sores from his pajamas bunching up under his body, but he got cold easily. “Hey, Sam,” he said, flashing her an awkward smile as he freed his right arm and pushed back the covers. “Thanks for coming over.”
“Hey, thanks for hiring me!” Sam smiled back at him. “You ready to get up?”
I wondered how she was going to handle Kevin’s morning routine by herself. She was a head shorter than me and at least fifty pounds lighter than him. I couldn’t imagine her being strong enough to lift him out of bed and into his chair, even with his help. “Want me to show you the ropes?” I asked her.
“Sure, or Kevin can,” she replied with a shrug.
He nodded. “I’ll talk you through everything. Thanks, Nick – I think we’ve got it from here.” In other words: “Thanks, Nick – now go away.”
Was I that bad at this before, I wondered, or did he just want to be alone with the cute girl he’d hired to help him? I couldn’t blame him either way – I would probably prefer a woman’s touch, too. “Okay… um, holler if you need anything,” I said, turning to walk out. As I went back downstairs, it occurred to me that Kevin might still be embarrassed about last Saturday and didn’t want to put me in that position again. Maybe it was easier for him to accept help from a stranger in scrubs than someone he considered to be his little brother. I could understand that, too.
As I came back into the kitchen, I smelled something burning. That was when I remembered my pancakes.
“Shit!” I hissed, rushing over to the stove. Smoke was rising from the griddle. I wedged a spatula under one of the pancakes and flipped it over. The bottom was completely black. I sighed. “Well, these are ruined,” I told Mason, taking the entire griddle off the burner and tipping it over the trash can.
But I was too late. The smoke detector went off, its high-pitched alarm wailing through the house. I grabbed a towel and waved it around in front of the device, trying to waft the smoke away so it would shut up. Meanwhile, Mason shrieked with terror, holding his hands over his ears.
“Is everything okay down there?” I heard Sam call as the smoke detector finally fell silent.
“Yeah!” I shouted back. Scooping Mason out of his high chair, I went into the foyer to see her standing at the top of the stairs. “Sorry, my bad – just making breakfast.”
She laughed. “Sounds like you could use some help, too.”
“Nah, I’m good.” I felt my face flush. “Lesson learned: Don’t leave pancakes on the griddle too long. I guess we’re having cereal for breakfast.”
“Good plan!” She gave me a thumbs up. “You can’t burn down the kitchen fixing cereal.”
I forced a laugh, but as I carried the sniffling baby back into the kitchen, my mind raced with terrifying thoughts of what could have been. What if the stove had actually caught fire while I was still upstairs? Mason would have been strapped into his high chair a few feet away from the flames, and Kevin would have been stuck in his bed on the second floor of the house. I shuddered to think about it. “Sorry, kiddo,” I said to Mason, holding him on my hip as I put the hot griddle in the sink and rinsed it with cold water. “Uncle Nick really needs to start being more responsible.”
“There’s an understatement,” said a voice behind me. I turned around as AJ walked into the kitchen, sniffing the air like a dog. “Where’s the fire?”
“No fire,” I said quickly. “Just some smoke. So much for trying to make breakfast.”
AJ raised his eyebrows. “Kevin’s gonna kill you when he finds out you were using the stove unsupervised.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a kid anymore. I know how to cook… kinda.”
“Clearly.” AJ smirked, then glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just now nine. “So did Kev’s new caregiver come yet?”
“Yeah, she’s up there with him now. You must have just missed her.”
AJ chucked Mason under the chin, getting a slobbery grin out of him. “Is she hot?”
I shrugged. “She’s cute. She dresses like a clown, though.”
“Like a sexy clown?”
I gave him a weird look. “Is there such a thing as a sexy clown?”
“There is if you have a clown fetish.”
“Well, I don’t.” I left the slightly steaming griddle in the sink and put Mason back in his high chair. After sprinkling a small pile of Cheerios onto his tray, I poured full bowls of Frosted Flakes for both myself and AJ.
We were sitting at the kitchen table, crunching away, when Howie called. “Howie D!” I answered my phone. “How’s it goin’, dude?”
“Hey, Nicky!” I was relieved to hear Howie sounding like his usual, cheerful self. Hopefully that meant he wasn’t calling with bad news. “It’s going okay.”
“Good! AJ’s sitting here, too, so I’ma put you on speaker, alright?” I took the phone away from my ear long enough to press the speaker button.
“What are you two up to?” Howie’s voice blared out of my phone as I set it down on the table.
“Eating breakfast,” AJ answered through a mouthful of Frosted Flakes. “How about you?”
“Not much. Just hanging out while Leigh makes us some lunch.”
I’d almost forgotten he was three hours ahead of us in Florida. “How’s your dad doing?” I asked him, setting down my spoon.
“He’s hanging in there,” Howie replied. “The treatments make him tired, but they’ve helped to relieve some of the other symptoms he was having, so at least he’s been feeling better lately.”
“Glad to hear that, man. So do you think you’ll make it out for the anniversary party next weekend?”
“Yeah, Leigh and I are planning to be there.”
“Great!” I glanced at AJ and saw him grin. “Now if we could just convince Kevin to come, too.”
“I hope he will. Is he there with you, too?”
“Nah, he’s still upstairs getting ready for the day. He had to hire a new girl to help him after the last guy flaked on him last weekend. It’s her first day.”
“Oh man… Well, I hope this one works out better for him,” said Howie. “How’s he been this week?”
“Not too bad. The weather warmed up, so we got him into the pool for the first time yesterday. I think he had fun floating around.”
“Yeah, I bet that felt nice. I’m glad you guys are there with him. He must be so lonely without Kristin.”
AJ and I exchanged glances. “Yeah… it’s been a long, hard road for him,” I replied, remembering the conversations I’d had with Kevin about how much he missed Kristin and wished he could be with her. “I dunno what he’s gonna do when we go back on tour.”
“Well, in a weird way, I guess the timing of all this worked out, huh?” said Howie with a sigh. “Kevin’s injury, Kristin’s death, my dad’s illness… When it rains, it pours.”
What’s next? I wondered, feeling a nervous pit in my stomach.
“Life sucks sometimes,” AJ agreed. “But it’ll be good to get together and celebrate the good stuff next weekend. I know Kev will be glad to see you and Rok again.”
“Keep working on him,” Howie encouraged. “It won’t be a true fifteenth anniversary celebration without him there.”
I nodded. “We’ll tell him you said so.”
“Alright, well, I’d better let you go. Leigh says lunch is ready.”
“Aww, look at you, D – got the little wifey making you breakfast, lunch, and dinner just like you always wanted.” AJ snickered. “It’s like a dream come true for you!”
Howie laughed, too. “I’m living the dream, for sure.”
“Tell Leigh we said hi,” I added. “Talk to you later, bro.”
“Will do. See you next weekend!”
After we hung up with Howie, AJ and I finished eating breakfast. Then I fed Mason a jar of baby food while AJ cleaned up the kitchen. “Sorry my pancakes didn’t turn out, buddy,” I said as I spooned pureed pear into Mason’s mouth. “Maybe we’ll try again tomorrow.”
As he swallowed the last of the jar, Kevin came into the kitchen, accompanied by Sam. He was fully dressed, his hair still damp from his shower, so she must have managed without me. “Morning, y’all,” he said, making a beeline for Mason’s high chair. “Hi there, baby boy.” He leaned in to kiss his son on the cheek. “You enjoyin’ your breakfast?”
Mason beamed at him and babbled something back.
Standing beside Kevin, Sam smiled, too. “This must be your son.”
He nodded. “Yep, this is my pride and joy, Mason. Mason, this is Sam.”
“Hi, Mason!” Sam said brightly, waving at him. Then she looked at me sheepishly. “This is embarrassing, but when I saw you with him before, Nick, I assumed he was your baby. All that blond hair…”
Before Kevin and I could burst out laughing, AJ cleared his throat. “Well, biologically, he is Nick’s,” he said as he came over to the table. “See, Kevin’s little swimmers couldn’t seem to get the job done, so Nick here kindly donated his sperm. Mason was conceived in a lab.”
“O-oh!” Sam’s eyes widened, her face turning red. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”
I rolled my eyes. “This is AJ,” I told her, “and he’s full of shit. Mason’s not mine. AJ’s just messing with you.”
“Oh my god! I thought I just stuck my foot in my mouth. Wouldn’t be the first time,” she said with an awkward giggle.
“Same. I say stupid shit all the freaking time, if you couldn’t tell,” said AJ, grinning at her. “Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Sam.”
“For the record, Mason has his momma’s coloring,” Kevin added, frowning at AJ before he focused his attention back on Sam. “My wife Kristin had blonde hair.”
“He has your bone structure,” Sam said, smiling. “I see it in his face. He looks a lot like you.”
I couldn’t help but chime in. “We just hope he didn’t inherit Kevin’s eyebrows – poor kid.”
Kevin shook his head. “What is this, Shit All Over Kevin Day?”
“No, that was last Saturday,” I muttered before I could stop myself. I immediately regretted my words when I saw Kevin’s face turn beet red. Worried I had taken the teasing a step too far, I started to stammer an apology, but stopped when I noticed a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He may have been embarrassed, but he was also at least a little bit amused.
Thankfully, AJ changed the subject. “You wanna stay for some breakfast, Sam?” he asked. “Nick burnt the pancakes, but we have cereal.” He held up the box of Frosted Flakes.
“Oh, no, thanks,” she replied politely. “I should get going, but maybe some other time.”
“Well, can I at least get your number before you go?” AJ persisted. “I know Kevin probably has it already, but it might be good for me to have it, too, just in case of an emergency or something.”
Bullshit, I thought, watching incredulously as he handed her his phone so she could add herself to his contacts. I couldn’t believe he was hitting on Kevin’s caregiver. Actually, I could – AJ would hit on anyone with a pussy and a pulse.
“Dude, you are shameless,” I said to him after Sam left.
“What? You said it yourself: she’s cute!”
“She’s also Kevin’s employee.”
“So? She’s Kevin’s employee, not mine! Kev doesn’t care – do you, bro?”
Kevin shrugged. “Do what you want, AJ. Just don’t break her heart and make things awkward, alright? I don’t need any more drama with these damn caregivers.”
AJ didn’t miss a beat. “Dude, I’m a Backstreet Boy. I’ll never break her heart,” he replied earnestly, causing both Kevin and me to burst out laughing.
Mason didn’t understand the joke, but he started laughing along, making all three of us smile.
***