Dawn and I spent most of the next day preparing for our trip to London while Natalie played with Mason, keeping him occupied and out of our hair so we could finish packing. We left a mountain of luggage piled by the front door when we went to bed that night. One of the bags belonged to Dawn. The rest of them were mine.
“You didn’t decide to move to London and forget to tell me, did you?” my mom joked as she helped Dawn load it all into my van the next morning. The trunk wasn’t big enough to hold everything, so they had to wait until I was strapped into the back to pile the rest in around me.
“Trust me, Ma – I wish we didn’t have to take all this stuff with us,” I said dryly, glancing down at the carrying case that contained my portable shower chair. I had packed my transfer board and other adaptive equipment in one bag, while another held three weeks’ worth of medication and supplies for my bladder and bowel care. A third suitcase contained clothes and toiletries, the typical things people take on trips. “But we’re gonna be gone almost a month.”
“Is that a long time?” I heard Mason ask, sounding worried. He and Natalie were already buckled into the back seat while Dawn would be riding up front with my mom, who was driving us to the airport.
“Not too long, buddy,” I tried to reassure him, wishing I could turn my head far enough to see him sitting behind me. “We’ll be back before you know it. You’re gonna have so much fun at Mammaw’s house, you won’t even miss us.”
“I’ve got a calendar we can use to count down the days until Daddy and Dawn come back home,” my mom added, smiling at Mason before she closed the back door and slid behind the wheel.
“I need a ‘Days Until I Can See Kevin’ countdown calendar, too,” Natalie spoke up from the back seat. “Long-distance relationships aren’t easy, y’all.”
“At least we’ve got a couple more days to spend together,” I said, glancing back at her with a smile. I was looking forward to our overnight layover in Atlanta. After the last few days, I felt closer to her than ever. But I knew that would make it even harder for us to be apart.
When we arrived at the airport, my mom pulled into one of the unloading zones in front of the entrance. She started pulling bags out of the back while Dawn ran inside to grab a luggage cart. It didn’t take long for them to load everything onto the cart, clearing a path so Natalie and Mason could climb out of the back of the van before they lowered the ramp for me to roll out.
“Well,” I heard my mom say as my wheels hit the pavement, “I suppose we’d better say our goodbyes here and get out of the way, unless you want me to park the van so we can go inside with y’all.”
“There’s no point in doing that,” Dawn replied with a shrug. “You can’t go past the security checkpoint and walk us to our gate anymore, so we might as well just get it over with now.” She knelt in front of Mason and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sure gonna miss you, kiddo! You be good for your grandma.”
“I will.” I heard Mason’s muffled reply as he buried his face in her shoulder. Watching the two of them together, I felt my throat tighten. For the past few years, Dawn had been the closest thing he’d had to a mother, and now I was taking her away from him. I knew he was in good hands with my mom, but I felt guilty for going on this work trip and needing his nanny to go with me.
As Dawn finished saying goodbye to Mason, my mom leaned in to hug me. “Have a safe flight and a wonderful time in London, honey,” she said. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Ma. Thanks for everything, but especially for taking care of Mason while I’m gone.” I swallowed hard, tears threatening. “We’re both so lucky to have you in our lives.”
“Not a problem at all,” she replied as she finally released me and straightened up, beaming. “You know how happy I am to have you living here again.”
I nodded, flashing her a rueful smile in return. Despite how reluctant I had been to move back to Lexington, I knew now that I’d made the right decision. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Natalie stepped forward, stopping alongside me. “It was so nice to meet you, Miss Ann,” she said, opening her arms to offer a hug.
“It was lovely to meet you, too, dear,” my mom replied as they embraced each other. “I’m glad you could spend the Fourth with us.”
“Me too. I’m glad I got to meet you, too, Mason,” Natalie added, smiling as he wandered over to us. “Thanks for letting me come celebrate your birthday; I had so much fun! I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.” She gave him a little side hug, then stepped back out of the way, giving me the space to say goodbye.
Tears started in my eyes as I turned my chair toward my son. “C’mere, buddy.” I patted my knee. When Mason climbed into my lap, I couldn’t help but cry, hugging him tightly as he clung to my chest. “I’m gonna miss you so much,” I murmured, my voice thick with emotion. “I’m gonna be busy working with Brian and the Boys, but I’ll call you whenever I can, okay? And you and Mammaw can call me anytime.”
Mason nodded. “I know.”
“I love you, son.” I kissed the top of his head and gave him one last hug before he got down, wishing I never had to let him go. But I knew the longer I drew out my goodbyes, the harder they would be for both of us.
When Mason climbed down from my lap, my mom took his hand. “C’mon, Mason. We’d better get going so they can get checked in,” I heard her tell him as she steered him toward the van.
I wanted to stay and wave goodbye as they drove away, but I forced myself to turn and wheel the other way, following Dawn and Natalie as they took our luggage into the airport. I tried not to think about the fact that I wouldn’t be able to hug my little boy for another three weeks, reminding myself that there was a time when I hadn’t been able to hug him at all. At least, this time, I would be separated from him for a good reason.
“Are you okay?” Natalie asked once we were inside, offering me a sympathetic smile when she saw the tears on my cheeks.
I nodded, wiping my eyes with my knuckles. “It’s just hard leaving him like this. I know I’ll have to get used to it at some point, but I’m not there yet.”
“Understandable. I’m not a parent yet, but I’m sure it’s hard.” She put her hand on my shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly.
Dawn was waiting by the luggage cart. “Ready?” she asked as I rolled toward her.
“Yeah. Let’s go get in line.”
Keith met up with us as we were waiting to check in. “How’s it goin’, man?” he asked, giving me a fist bump. “You ready to do this?”
“I hope so,” I replied with a nervous chuckle. “How you feelin’?”
“Like I have deja vu.” Keith looked around, frowning. “Didn’t we just do this a few months ago?”
I laughed. “It does feel that way, doesn’t it?”
“I’m just glad I get to tag along this time,” Dawn said, smiling.
Keith nodded. “Me too, Dawn. Me too. Trust me.” He slung his arm around my shoulders. “I love this guy like a brother, but I’m more than happy to let you help him change his underwear.”
I snorted and shook my head, my face heating up as I remembered the rocky start to our last London trip. “I’m sure Nick and Brian would agree with you,” I told him. “Let’s hope this trip goes better than the last one.”
“Your last trip wasn’t that bad, was it?” Natalie asked, batting her eyelashes as she looked at me. “At least you got to meet me.”
I smiled back at her. “You were the best thing that happened to me on that trip. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Well, aren’t you two cute?” Keith teased. “Nice to see you again, Natalie.”
“You too,” she said, smiling. “I hope you don’t mind me tagging along, too.”
“Not at all. The more the merrier.”
It was nice having Natalie with us, especially when we landed in Atlanta. She knew the world’s busiest airport like the back of her hand and helped us navigate it with ease. As we made the long trek through the large terminal, she suddenly cried, “Hey, hold up a second! Kevin, c’mere!”
Confused, I followed her to a random gate, where a young black woman was working behind the counter. When she looked up and saw us, the gate agent grinned. “Hey, girl!” she cried. “Did y’all just land?”
Natalie nodded. “I wanted to introduce you real quick in case we don’t see you back at the apartment later. This is Kevin. Kevin, this is my roommate, Sarah.”
“Ah, so you’re the one who watches the cat while Natalie’s away,” I said, smiling up at her. I hated how short I felt sitting in a wheelchair; I could barely see over the top of the counter. “It’s nice to meet you, Sarah.”
“You too, Kevin! I told Nat she better not let you fly off to London without meeting me first,” Sarah replied, beaming back at me. “Still can’t believe my girl’s dating a Backstreet Boy. Y’all were the soundtrack of so many sleepovers when I was in middle school.”
I forced a laugh, inwardly cringing as I imagined Natalie and her having pillow fights while I was attending album release parties.
As if she could sense my discomfort over our age difference, Natalie added, “Sarah’s a few years younger than me. It was high school for me.”
“That still doesn’t change the fact that I’d be a sex offender if I had dated you back then,” I said, raising my eyebrows at her.
“Good thing we didn’t meet until I was grown up,” she replied with a grin.
“Y’all are too cute,” said Sarah. “So, what’s on your agenda for the rest of the day?”
“We’re gonna grab some lunch and go to the aquarium,” Natalie said, glancing over at me. “We’ll stop by the apartment at some point so Kevin can meet Colby, but I don’t think we’ll be there long. He has a hotel room, so I’ll probably just sleep there tonight.”
“No worries. I’ve got a date tonight with that air traffic controller I’ve been talking to, so I won’t be around much either.”
“So he finally asked you out, huh? It’s about time!” Natalie exclaimed. “Good luck; I hope it goes well!”
“Thanks.” Sarah grinned. “If I don’t see you before you leave for London, have a great trip,” she told Natalie before turning her attention back to me. “Nice meeting you, Kevin. Enjoy your time in Atlanta.”
“Thanks, Sarah,” I said with a nod. “It was great to meet you, too.”
We made our way to baggage claim to collect our mountain of luggage and meet the accessible taxi I had arranged to take us to the hotel. Natalie followed us there in her own car, which she had parked at the airport. After dropping everything off, we went to a cafe down the street for lunch, then continued on to the Georgia Aquarium, where the cool, dark galleries provided a welcomed relief from the summer heat outside.
“This is so cool,” I said as I rolled up to a huge tank full of tropical fish swimming around a real coral reef. The tank took up the entire wall, stretching from the floor to the ceiling and curving over our heads.
“Wait till we get to the Ocean Voyager exhibit. It’s even more impressive,” said Natalie as she stood next to me. “But this sure is beautiful, too.”
“Look… I found Nemo!” Dawn pointed out a clownfish darting between the colorful coral and anemones.
A lump rose in my throat as I looked at the little orange fish. Finding Nemo was one of Mason’s favorite movies. The first time I’d watched it with him, I had cried through both the opening and closing credits, struck by the obvious similarities between the film’s storyline and my real life. I’d never imagined I would identify so closely with a cartoon fish, but the struggles Nemo’s dad faced as a widowed father of a young son were very relatable. Even Mason had made the connection. “They’re just like us,” he’d told me once when we were watching it together. “I’m Nemo… you’re Marlin… and Dawn is Dory!” It was a perfect comparison, which was probably a big part of why he liked the movie so much. He could relate to it, too.
“Mason would love this place,” I said, swallowing hard. It had only been a few hours since we’d said goodbye at the airport, and I already missed him so much, it hurt.
“You’ll have to bring him with you next time,” Natalie inserted, smiling at me. “I love coming here with my nephew.”
“You should bring him, too, so he and Mason could meet,” I suggested.
She nodded. “That would be nice.”
We continued through the aquarium, saving the Cold Water Quest for last. After watching polar animals like penguins and beluga whales swimming in the icy water of their exhibits, it was a shock to go back outside, where the temperature was in the nineties. By the time we made it back to the hotel, the top half of my body was drenched with sweat.
“Are you sure you don’t mind hanging out with Keith tonight?” I asked Dawn as she helped me change out of my damp clothes and into a nicer outfit. After spending the whole day with her and Keith, Natalie and I were heading to her apartment and then out to dinner. I was looking forward to spending some time together, just the two of us, before my trip to London. I knew Keith would be fine with that, but I felt bad leaving Dawn to fend for herself in a different city. She wasn’t well-traveled like I was, and I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable.
“Kevin. Please.” Dawn paused to give me a look before she continued pulling my pants up my legs. “I don’t mind, but if I did, I could just order room service and hang out here by myself. I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. I just feel bad for ditching you.”
“I didn’t expect to be a third wheel to you and Natalie all night,” said Dawn with a shrug. “Don’t get me wrong – she’s great, but y’all need some time to yourselves, too. Isn’t that the whole reason you got us all separate rooms?”
I nodded. Normally, I would have shared a hotel room with her or Keith so I would have someone to turn me in the middle of the night and take care of me in case of an emergency, but this time, I had reserved three rooms, assuming Natalie would want to come back to the hotel and sleep with me that night.
“Well, there you go.” Dawn rolled me onto my side so she could pull my pants up over my hips. “Have a great time tonight, and don’t worry about me.” She turned me the other direction, grunting and tugging until the waistband was in place, then put me on my back while she fastened the button in front. “Just remember,” she added as she sat me up on the bed, “I’ll be sleeping right on the other side of this wall, so don’t be rocking the headboard too hard, or I’ll hear it.”
I laughed. “Here I thought you were gonna say, ‘Holler if you need anything.’”
She shrugged again and grinned. “That too, I guess – although I doubt you’ll need me. Your girl Natalie’s getting pretty good with the night routine.”
“She’s been great,” I replied, nodding, “but I’ll still need your help in the morning. There’s no way in hell I’m talking her through my bowel program. She’s been cool about everything else, but that’s too much to ask of her at this stage in our relationship. I don’t want it to be a dealbreaker.”
“It may be a little early in the relationship for that,” Dawn agreed, patting my shoulder. “Just text me when you’re ready, and I’ll be right over to take care of it.”
“Thanks, Dawn.”
“No problem.” She handed me my shirt and helped me button it up before transferring me back to my chair.
“You look nice,” Natalie said with a smile when I met up with her in the lobby.
“Thanks. You ready to go?”
She nodded. “I can’t wait to get home and change out of these clothes.”
I followed her out to the parking deck, my transfer board balanced across my knees. Our plan was to put both me and my chair in her car so she could drive us to her apartment.
“Why don’t you wait here while I pull the car around?” she suggested as we exited the elevator. “We won’t have room to get you in if anyone’s parked next to me.”
“I should have brought my placard to put in your car so you could park in a handicapped spot,” I said, frowning. “Sorry I didn’t think of it.”
“No problem,” she replied, smiling. “‘I’ll be right back.”
I sat on the curb until she pulled up in a white Camry. She hopped out of the car and came around to the passenger side, opening the door as wide as it would go and sliding the seat back to give me plenty of legroom. I removed my armrest and side guard and parked my chair as close to the opening as I could get, hoping I could scoot into the car without too much trouble. I was used to transferring into my ATV at home, but every vehicle was different.
“Okay… now, how are we gonna do this?” Natalie asked, biting down on her bottom lip as she looked from the car to me. “Can you do it by yourself, or do you need help?”
I surveyed the passenger seat, asking myself the same questions. It sat lower than my ATV, and there wasn’t as much head room. The door was longer and didn’t open as wide, which made it impossible for me to position my chair flush against the opening. It was going to be a challenge to get across the gap between my chair and the car without clunking my head or banging my knees.
“I may need some help,” I decided, admitting defeat. As much as I hated relying on other people, there were times when efficiency mattered more to me than independence. This was one of those times. “I’ve only transferred into a car like this a few times since I got hurt. I’ve always had a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, so I usually don’t have to.”
“No problem,” she replied. “You know I’m happy to help. Just tell me what you want me to do.”
“I think I can scoot my top half over once I’m in the right position, but you may have to help with the bottom half.” I didn’t know how well I would be able to lift my heavy legs. After wheeling myself all the way from the aquarium to the hotel in the heat, my arms felt like Jell-O. “First, we need to put the transfer board under my butt.”
This was easier said than done. It took some trial and error to find the best position for Natalie to be able to assist me without getting in the way. The problem was that there was no room for her to get in front of me; the door was right where she needed to be. “How am I supposed to reach from back here?” she said as she stood behind me. “I can barely see what I’m doing.”
Sometimes, I took for granted the fact that most of the people who’d helped me with transfers were tall with long arms. Everyone tended to look tall to me when they were standing next to my wheelchair, so I’d forgotten that Natalie was half a foot shorter than Dawn, Keith, or Nick. “Can you come next to me and reach across my lap?” I asked her.
“I don’t think so; the door’s in the way.” She paused as another car approached. The woman behind the wheel slowed down to gawk at us as she drove past but didn’t stop to ask if we needed help. Behind me, I heard Natalie sigh. “I guess I could crawl through from the other side…”
I watched enviously as she flitted around to the driver’s side and climbed across the front seat with relative ease. From the passenger seat, she was able to wedge one end of the transfer board under my left thigh and wrangle my spasming legs into the car. Then she climbed back out and came around behind me again to help guide my hips as I hauled my upper body across the board and into the seat. It wasn’t pretty, but somehow, we managed. “Nailed it,” I said with a grin, holding up my hand for a fist bump.
Natalie laughed as she tapped her knuckles against mine. “I don’t know about that, but hey, you made it into the car without ending up on the ground. We’ll take the win.”
Next, I talked her through how to pop the wheels off my chair so she could fit it in her back seat, which turned out to be a far easier process than getting me into the front. Still, by the time she slipped behind the wheel, her skin was dewy with perspiration. She turned the air conditioning on full blast, tilting the vents toward our faces before she put the car into drive.
Once we were on the road, it was worth the trouble. Buckled into the passenger seat next to Natalie with a pop station playing on the radio and my wheelchair tucked out of sight, I felt just like any other guy riding home with his girlfriend.
Natalie lived in an apartment complex just south of the city limits, not far from the airport. “This looks like a nice place,” I commented as she pulled through the entrance gates and drove down a winding, tree-lined path that led us past clusters of cookie-cutter, three-story buildings.
She shrugged. “It’s not bad. We pay more in rent than I’d like, but at least it has a pool and a gym – and it allows pets.”
“That’s the most important thing. Gotta have a place where Colby can live, too.” I paused, looking out my window at the stairwells in the center of each building. “Y’all do live on the ground level, don’t you?”
Natalie laughed as she hung a left into one of the parking lots. “Yes – I wouldn’t have brought you here if we didn’t. The buildings don’t have elevators, but you won’t have to go up any steps to get into my apartment.”
“Good,” I replied, relaxing.
“Do you think it’s okay if I park in an accessible spot while we get you out?” she asked, putting on her brakes in front of one of the buildings. “I can move the car right after.”
“Yeah, go for it. No one’s gonna give you crap when they see you with a guy in a wheelchair.”
“Okay…” She pulled into the parking space, which had a striped access aisle with room for me to maneuver my chair.
Getting out of the car proved to be easier than getting in. It only took a few minutes for Natalie to put the wheels back on my chair and help me transfer into it. She was paranoid about getting a parking ticket or having her car towed if she left it in the handicapped spot too long, so I waited on the sidewalk while she moved it.
“Ready?” she asked as she walked toward me with her keys in hand, wheeling her carry-on bag behind her.
I nodded. “Lead the way.”
I followed her up the sidewalk and into the stairwell, where the door to each unit was located. Natalie’s front door featured a summery wreath made of flip-flops and a doormat with pawprints on it that said, Wipe your paws.
“Cute,” I said, smiling down at it. “Did you make the wreath?”
“Oh, no, that was all Sarah. She’s the Pinterest queen,” Natalie replied as she unlocked the door. “I’m not that crafty.” She pushed the door open and went in first, holding it for me as I followed. “Welcome to our humble abode.”
A blast of cool air hit my face as I wheeled myself across the threshold. “Wow… this is a lot nicer than the last apartment I lived in,” I said, looking around while Natalie closed the door behind me. Her apartment was more spacious than she had made it sound. The open-concept floor plan and laminate floors, which looked like hardwood, made it fairly easy for me to maneuver my chair through the main living space, which contained a small kitchen, dining area, and living room.
“Really? Where was that?”
“Orlando, back in the early nineties.” I pictured the crappy apartment I’d shared with Brian and Howie in the Backstreet Boys’ early years, before we made enough money for me to buy my first house. “I loved it at the time, but it looked like a slum compared to this place.”
Natalie laughed. “Yeah, I can’t complain; I could have done a lot worse,” she replied, running her hand over the gray laminate countertop. “I was living in Midtown with Derek before we broke up. After I left him, I had to find somewhere else to live fast. Luckily, Sarah and I had a mutual friend from work who put us in touch with each other. She was looking for a new roommate at the time, so it worked out perfectly for both of us.” As she talked, Natalie took her bag over to a closed door off the kitchen. “This is my bedroom.”
Once she opened the door, I understood why she had suggested I get a hotel room. The bedroom had carpet, which was harder for me to roll over. It was just big enough for a double bed, nightstand, and dresser, so there was barely any room for me to turn my chair around. The adjoining bathroom was even more cramped, with an alcove tub I wouldn’t have been able to get in and out of if I’d wanted to shower.
But, still, it was nice to see where Natalie slept when she wasn’t sleeping next to me. Her bedroom was tastefully decorated with a neutral color palette that included soft, feminine shades of blush pink, gray, and ivory. “It’s beautiful,” I said, parking my chair by the foot of her bed, which was covered with a fluffy down comforter and a pile of plush throw pillows. “Fit for a princess. But where’s the king of the castle?”
“You mean Colby?” She giggled. “Probably hiding under the bed. He can get pretty skittish around strangers.” She clicked her tongue and called, “Colby! Where are you?” We both paused, waiting for the cat to make an appearance. “Colby!” she called again, making kissy noises. “C’mere, baby!” But Colby still didn’t come.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I know how temperamental cats can be. He’ll come out when he feels more comfortable.”
“Or when he wants to eat,” she added with a grin. “Come with me.” I followed her back out to the kitchen, where she took a can of wet cat food out of a cupboard. “Watch this.”
As soon as she pulled the tab to pop open the top, I heard the sound of paws padding across the floor and turned to see a fluffy, orange tabby cat tear into the kitchen.
“Well, there you are,” Natalie said as Colby Jack rubbed against her ankles, mewing softly. “I knew you’d come running when you heard your food. Are you hungry? Here’s your dinner…” She set the can down on the kitchen floor.
I smiled as I watched the cat start scarfing down whatever was in that can. (It smelled like tuna.) “He’s cute.”
“Thanks!” Natalie beamed. “I may be biased, but I think so, too.” She tossed the lid into the trash can, then turned on the TV. “Here, make yourself at home,” she said, placing the remote in my hand. “I just need a few minutes to repack my bag for my next flight, and then we can figure out a plan for dinner.”
“No problem.” I set the remote in my lap as I rolled into the living room. “You know, we don’t even have to go out to eat!” I called back to the bedroom, where I could hear her rummaging around. “We could just order a pizza or something and hang out here if your roommate’s not gonna be around.”
“Sure, that’s fine – whatever you wanna do!” Natalie replied. “Sarah said she had a date, so she probably won’t be back for a few more hours.”
“Perfect.” Even before I got hurt, I had preferred casual nights in to fancy nights out. When we lived in L.A., Kristin and I would often order takeout and eat at home just to avoid fans asking for autographs or paparazzi taking pictures without permission while we tried to enjoy a meal. No matter how hard I’d worked to regain the confidence I’d lost when I became paralyzed, I still felt more comfortable in a private place, far from the staring eyes I encountered in public. I enjoyed being able to eat without worrying about who was watching me or how much of a mess I was making. “That way, we won’t have to do another car transfer until it’s time to head back to the hotel,” I added as I flipped through channels on her TV.
“True, although I thought we did pretty well with transferring today!”
“Yeah, but it’s still a pain in the ass,” I replied. “You don’t have to sugarcoat stuff around me; I know how high-maintenance I am.”
I heard her laugh. “Maybe you are, but I don’t mind. Honestly!”
“Well, I do. It wears me out, ya know? Especially in this heat.” I tilted my chair back onto its anti-tip bars to take some of the pressure off my sitting bones.
Natalie popped her head out her bedroom door. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking at me with concern.
I nodded. “I’m just tired,” I said, flashing her a quick smile. “It’s been a busy few days, and it’s only gonna get busier once I get to London. I guess I just need a quiet night in.”
She smiled back. “Sounds good to me. Give me a couple more minutes, and then we can order pizza.”
While she finished packing, I looked around the living room. The wall above the couch was decorated with framed prints of photos from different world cities. I recognized the New York skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a red London telephone booth, a Venetian canal, the Acropolis in Athens, the Sensoji temple in Tokyo, and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. “These are cool pictures,” I commented. “Did you take them yourself?”
“Yep!” Natalie called back. “I know I’m not the best photographer, but it’s hard to take a bad picture when the subjects are so beautiful.”
“Very true.” I smiled, thinking of all the selfies she’d sent me over the past three months. “I think they’re great!”
“Thanks!”
The next thing to catch my eye was the bookcase beside the TV, which boasted a large collection of DVDs. Rocking forward onto my front wheels, I rolled closer so I could read the titles. There were a lot of romantic comedies and the kind of TV shows most women seemed to watch, like Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But the contents of one shelf stood out to me.
“Who’s the Bond fan?” I asked, raising my eyebrows as I realized they had every James Bond movie arranged in their order of release.
“Me,” said Natalie, smiling as she came out of the bedroom. “I grew up watching 007 movies with my dad. He’s always been a big fan. That was one way we bonded when I was a kid – no pun intended.”
I chuckled. “I didn’t expect you to be a Bond girl.”
“Why not?” she asked, perching on the arm of the couch. “Clearly, I have a thing for tall, dark, and handsome men.”
I snorted at her insinuation that I looked like James Bond. “Isn’t Bond blond now?”
“Well, yes, but I’m a traditionalist,” she replied, crossing one leg over the other. “Personally, I prefer Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig.”
I was about to argue that no one could beat Sean Connery when I felt something soft brush my arm. Looking down, I saw that Colby Jack had jumped into my lap. “Well, hey there, buddy,” I said with surprise.
“See?” said Natalie, smiling as she slid off the couch and walked into the kitchen. “Colby agrees with me. He likes tall, dark, and handsome men, too.”
I laughed as I lightly stroked the cat’s back, wishing I could feel his soft fur with my fingertips and his warm weight on my legs. “Well, I guess you and Colby have good taste, then.”
“Yes, we do. Speaking of taste, what kind of pizza do you like?” she asked, pulling her phone out of her purse.
I shrugged. “I’m not picky. What do you want?”
“Hm… how about pineapple? And… anchovies?” She arched an eyebrow, smirking as she waited for my reaction.
“Sounds great,” I replied casually, calling her bluff.
“On second thought… are you okay with supreme?”
I smiled. “I told you I’m not picky.”
I listened while she called to place an order for delivery from a local pizzeria. “They said it’ll be about an hour,” she said after she hung up, plopping down on the couch again.
“An hour?” I shook my head. “Man, when I worked at Pizza Hut, we tried to make our deliveries in under half an hour. Had to compete with Domino’s, ya know, even in rural Kentucky.”
She laughed. “You worked at Pizza Hut?”
I nodded. “Yeah, in high school.”
“Wow! I wish I’d known; we could have made homemade pizza right here.”
“It might be a little harder for me now, but I knew how to ‘make it great’ back in the day,” I replied with a grin. “When I worked there, we still made our own dough fresh from scratch – not like the frozen crap they use now – and we had a seasoning called ‘fairy dust’ that we would sprinkle on top.”
“Fairy dust?” She giggled.
“Yeah. It was just a mixture of parmesan cheese and oregano, but it really did add to the flavor.” I paused, reminiscing on the days when I would come home covered in grease and reeking of garlic. “But, hey, if you like homemade pizza, I’ll have to take you to my cousin Brian’s house in Alpharetta sometime. He and his wife had an authentic pizza oven installed when they remodeled their kitchen, so they make their own pizza all the time. It’s pretty tasty, too – Leighanne’s a great cook.”
“Maybe she can teach me her ways,” Natalie said, smiling back. “I told you, I’m hopeless in the kitchen. Did you like to cook before you got hurt?”
“Not really.” I shrugged. “Kristin did most of the cooking in our house. Now I have Dawn, thank god. I try to help her as much as I can, but sometimes I think she’d rather just do it herself so she doesn’t have to clean up after me. I’m even messier than Mason.”
Natalie laughed. “Well, maybe we can take a cooking class together sometime. It would be cool if we could find one for interabled couples.”
I looked at her for a moment, marveling over the sweet, lovely soul that sat before me. In that moment, it struck me how fortunate I was to have found someone like Natalie, who was just as beautiful inside as she was on the outside. It may have been her outward appearance that had attracted me to her in the first place, but it was her kind heart that kept me coming back for more. “How did I get so lucky?” I said softly.
“Lucky?” she repeated, raising her eyebrows. To her, I probably didn’t look very lucky sitting in a wheelchair, but for the first time since the accident that had landed me there, I truly felt like I was.
“Lucky to have met you, I mean.” I tried to explain. “My late wife, Kristin, was one in a million. When I lost her, I lost my soulmate – and I never even dreamed I would ever find another woman like her. Someone who’s both beautiful and kind… and intelligent, too. But here you are. Two in a million.”
Natalie blushed. “Well, aren’t you sweet? But I could say the same about you. I dodged a bullet when I broke up with Derek… because, clearly, he wasn’t my soulmate. But I believe everything happens for a reason. Maybe that relationship didn’t work out because I was supposed to be with you.”
Her words reminded me of what I’d said in my toast at AJ’s wedding. The notion that everything happened for a reason seemed true in his case. But ever since the accident, I had struggled to apply that saying to my own situation. What possible reason could there be for a woman to get behind the wheel drunk, cause a car crash that killed a young mother and crippled her husband, and walk away unscathed? Maybe, I’d thought bitterly, the reason had nothing to do with me or my family. Maybe it was meant to be a wake-up call to the woman who had hit us. But while I certainly hoped she had learned her lesson, I hated the idea of God sacrificing my wife and my old way of life to teach it to her.
Then again, maybe it wasn’t God so much as fate that had forever changed the course of my life, first for the worst and then for the better. “I guess I was meant to be on that flight to London that day,” I said, looking at Natalie. “You know, that was a last-minute trip for me. The guys talked me into going with them less than two weeks before we left.”
“Really?” She raised her eyebrows. “Wanna know something weird? I wasn’t originally supposed to be on that flight either. I was filling in for my friend Jared so he could go to a bachelor party. He was so pissed when he found out I met a couple of Backstreet Boys on the plane.”
I laughed and shook my head in disbelief. “So it really was fate or good fortune that brought us together, huh?”
“Don’t forget your broken necklace,” Natalie added, flashing me a crooked smile.
“No, I could never forget that.” A lump rose in my throat as I pictured the infinity pendant currently locked in my safe back in Kentucky. I hadn’t worn it since my wedding anniversary almost three weeks ago. Thinking of it now, I couldn’t help but wonder if Kristin had also played a role. I pictured her the way Mason drew her, watching over us from the clouds with a golden halo above her head. Could she have somehow caused the clasp of my necklace to break, knowing Natalie would find it and bring it back to me? It was a silly, childish fantasy, imagining my dead wife as some sort of guardian angel with the power to influence events on Earth, but I wanted to believe she would approve of my new relationship.
Swallowing hard, I said, “You know, I have a type, too. Tall or short, blonde or brunette – none of that matters to me, but I’ve always had a thing for brown-eyed girls. That was one of the first things I noticed about you.”
Beaming, Natalie batted her eyelashes as she stood up and walked over to me. When she bent down to kiss my lips, Colby Jack jumped off my lap.
“Uh-oh… I think somebody’s jealous,” I said, laughing.
“Of you or me?” she asked as she climbed onto my lap, taking the cat’s spot. “Either way, he needs to learn he’s not the only man in my life anymore. Better now than later, right?” She leaned in closer and kissed me again, brushing her lips over mine before slipping her tongue into my mouth.
We made out for a few minutes before transferring to the couch, where we managed to pass the time until our pizza came. Hurriedly adjusting her clothes, Natalie answered the door and paid the pizza guy, giving him a generous tip that I’d insisted she take out of my wallet. “Delivering pizza’s hard work,” I told her with a grin. “Especially on a Friday night.”
“Ooh, I almost forgot it was Friday night. That means a new Dateline’s on tonight!” she said, her eyes lighting up.
“Dateline?” I laughed. “You like true crime?”
“Love it. It’s my guilty pleasure,” she replied, giggling.
“Well, this has certainly been an enlightening visit,” I said, smiling at her. “Between Bond and Dateline, I’ve learned so many new things about you.”
She grinned. “Back at ya, pizza boy.”
The smell of garlic and cheese permeated through the apartment when she brought the pizza inside, making my mouth water.
“What do you want to drink?” Natalie called from the kitchen as she took two plates out of the cupboard. “I don’t have any beer, but I do have wine… and Diet Pepsi.”
“Diet Pepsi’s fine. I only drink wine with pizza in Italy.”
She laughed. “Would you like a cup with ice, or do you wanna drink it from the can?”
“Cans are easier for me, unless you have a cup with a lid.” I looked down at her couch and imagined myself spilling dark cola all over the dove gray suede. “Maybe I should move back to my chair and eat at the table. I don’t wanna make a mess on your couch.”
“Oh, it’s okay; Sarah and I eat on the couch all the time,” Natalie said casually, cracking open two cans of Diet Pepsi.
“Yeah, but you have working hands.”
“I’m not worried.” She poured one can into a Tervis tumbler filled with ice and popped on a lid with a bendable plastic straw. “I like being close to you,” she said, smiling as she brought it over to me on a wooden tray, which also contained a plate with two pieces of pizza and a pile of napkins. I guess she did know me pretty well by that point.
“If you insist.” I smiled back at her as she balanced the tray on my lap, hoping my legs wouldn’t spasm and knock it off. I spread some of the napkins around me to catch anything I dropped before I picked up a slice of pizza as carefully as I could and raised it to my mouth. “Mm,” I said as I swallowed the first bite. “This is really good. Would’ve been better with pineapple and anchovies, though.”
She giggled as she sat down next to me. “Did anyone actually order anchovies on their pizza when you worked at the Hut?”
I chewed my next bite thoughtfully. “Not many, but once in a while.”
She shook her head disapprovingly. “I thought I was a fairly adventurous eater, but salty fish on pizza is apparently where I draw the line.”
I shrugged. “Don’t knock it till you try it.”
“Maybe next time. I guess if I don’t like it, I can always pick the anchovies off and give ‘em to Colby,” she said, smiling.
I laughed. “There you go.”
By some miracle, I managed to make it through dinner without spilling a drop of soda or pizza sauce in Natalie’s living room. After we finished eating, she helped me transfer back to my chair, and I helped her clean up the kitchen before we left the apartment to head back to my hotel. Getting me into her car was easier the second time around, as was getting me out again when we arrived at the hotel.
As Natalie helped me get ready for bed, I realized Dawn was right. Not only was she getting good at my night routine, but she had also gotten better at anticipating my needs without me having to ask for help or talk her through everything. I appreciated her willingness to listen and learn. The last few days had really brought the two of us closer together and given us both a glimpse of what it might be like to live with each other. I didn’t know about Natalie, but I liked what I saw.
By nine o’clock, we were lying in bed next to each other like an old married couple, the TV tuned to NBC so we could watch the new episode of her beloved Dateline. “I hope it’s Keith Morrison reporting tonight,” she said giddily as the host, Lester Holt, introduced the first case. “He’s my favorite.”
I laughed. “You have a favorite Dateline reporter?”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
To Natalie’s disappointment, the first case featured Dennis Murphy instead, but she was delighted when Keith Morrison turned up to narrate a new case in the second half of the two-hour episode.
“Why are all of these stories about people murdering their spouses?” I asked during one of the commercial breaks. “I would have done anything to prevent my wife’s death, including take her place. But then you’ve got assholes like this guy who decide to kill their wives instead of just divorcing them. I don’t get it.”
“I don’t either,” said Natalie, shaking her head. “I would never wish death on anyone, let alone commit murder. What happened to your wife was awful, but, for the record, I’m glad you weren’t the one who died. If you had, we wouldn’t have met.”
I glanced over to find her giving me the same crooked smile she had in her apartment. “I wish Kristin wasn’t dead, but I am glad to be alive,” I admitted. “I didn’t always feel that way, but over time, it’s gotten easier to appreciate my life the way it is instead of grieving over what I lost. I’m glad we met. And I’m glad we’re together now. I’m gonna miss you when you leave London.”
“Me too,” she said softly, curling her body closer to my side. “But let’s not think about that now. We’ve still got all night and tomorrow to be together.”
I nodded, knowing full well I wasn’t going to be able to stay awake much longer. Between the airport and the aquarium, it had been a busy day, and I was exhausted. By the time the show came back from its commercial break, I could feel my eyelids getting heavy.
I didn’t even make it to the end of the episode. By the time the husband was sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife, I was sound asleep.
***