Fated (12 page)

Chapter Eighteen

One year later,

We walk out of the terminal as we make our way down through JFK. I cannot believe we are actually doing this. In the last year some amazing opportunities have opened and we are now about to open our business in New York City. We were able to hire an entire crew in Miami to work it and they are an amazing crew and I trust each one of them.

We open the door to our new apartment and we walk inside. It overlooks Central Park and the view, even though it isn’t of the Atlantic Ocean, is simply breathtaking. I walk into the bathroom and when I look into
the mirror I am still stunned to see myself with my natural platinum blonde hair it hangs down my back. It took them three sessions to get all of the black out of my hair but it’s finally back to normal. I feel like a brand new person and this last year is what I needed to get me back on my feet.

I actually called Joe and cleared things up with him, telling him that I forgave him for everything
that he did. I learned that I needed to let go of grudges that I held. I had to do it for the new person that I am trying to become, and my new role in life.

The next morning we get up, making our morning errands, and walk into the store front that we have set up. We have interviews for employees today, and the first girl that comes in we love, but recently we love everyone. She has dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, which I have always found to be the traits of someone who is completely pure and sweet. We end up hiring her for the job and she is thrilled. She grins at us and the next morning when she comes into work we have three other employees all who are anxious to start working.

Sarah is her name, and she is beyond sweet as I thought that she would be. She is so excited to tell us about her boyfriend’s band that is playing at a bar right around the corner the following week, and asks us if we want to go.

“I’m not sure,” I tell her, “I have a few obligations.” Of course I don’t explain to her what they are just that I have some. I get a text from Mar at lunch time which reads.

I miss you guys too much, I am thinking about trying to transfer up there.

That would be amazing
I tell her and laugh at the fact that it has only been a couple of days and she is already missing us.

We get everything sorted between work and home within the next week Mar quits her job in Miami, sells her house and comes to move with us in New York, I am so thrilled to have her in my life now and with my blonde hair we look more similar than we used to
, although people can still manage to tell us apart. When Sarah comes in this morning beyond excited to be alive, which is really how I come in most of the time now, I have learned that there are so many things to be excited for in life. I love her and think that she is an amazing dynamic for our team.

“Are you guys going to come tonight?” she asks me and I look to Paige.

“I don’t know Sarah; I have a lot of things to do tonight.”

“Come on Soph, you haven’t gone out in over a year, you deserve it, and plus Mar is here and has everything taken care of. I’m sure she won’t mind if you go out tonight for a little bit.”

“Alright, I have to call my sister and make sure she is alright with it.” Sarah squeals and hugs me tightly.

I receive a one word response back almost as soon as I text Mar it reads
GO!

I walk out of my office and look at Sarah sitting behind the desk and smile to her, “Alright, I’m going to come along.”

“Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.” she jumps up and down, “No one in Brandon’s band has any girlfriends so I just end up sitting all by myself in the corner.”

“They’re in a band and they don’t have any girlfriends?” I ask her.

“Yeah it’s weird. The drummer is a real player, the bassist doesn’t really talk to anyone, and the lead singer and other guitarist moved here like a year and a half ago completely broken hearted and has just never moved on.”

“So Brandon plays guitar?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty good actually. They are pretty popular around here.” She smiles and then goes back to her work.

“
What time does it start?”

“Eight.” She squeals at me again and I laugh.
Paige and I go to dinner after work and then go directly from the diner to the bar; it has been over a year since I have had a drink. Life changes so quickly that sometimes you forget what you used to be like.

I pause as I walk up to the bar and I am trying to rack my brain of what I used to drink.

“Grateful Dead,” I hear Paige tell the bartender.

“Thanks, it had been awhile since I have been out.”
She smiles and then becomes serious.

“You know you still have to have fun?”

“I know, it’s just everything is getting settled.”

“Soph, things have been settled for a while now, you are in a really good place and you have been for some time.” We hear the squeal from Sarah coming closer to us and I see a guy that she is towing along behind her. He is probably around twenty-five, and with dark hair and brown eyes. He is tall and skinny and I understand why he and Sarah are together. He looks just as innocent as Sarah does which instantly makes me like him.

“You guys made it,” she hugs me and then introduces us to Brandon.

“Where did you guys move from?”

“Miami.”

“Oh, I’
ll have to introduce you to my singer of the band; he’s from Miami as well.” then he leans over and kisses Sarah saying, “I’ve got to go; we are getting ready to go on stage.” She smiles, kissing him back and he walks to the stage.

“He seems really great.” I tell Sarah as we watch him walk to the backstage area.

“Yeah, I really like him. I didn’t realize that you were from Miami.”

“Well we’re not, we both moved there
a little over a year and a half ago.”

We sit around talking about our lives although I don’t participate in the conversation as I don’t want everyone here knowing
my past and what lies behind me, it’s not that I’m ashamed of it I just don’t want Austin finding out before I tell him, and although I’m not even sure where he is living in the city I know that he is here somewhere. He deserves hearing it from me. I had gone by Jack’s office shortly after Austin had left and tried to find his number, but apparently he hadn’t even left Jack with a number. He told me that he left his inheritance when he left for New York. Jack had told him that it was his money that his mother had left it to him, and I realized then that he never told me about his mother. It broke my heart to find out.

I am sitting in my own thought
s when Paige looks over at me and grins.

“Oh, they are getting ready to go on.” Sarah squeals and we look up just as the lights go down. I hear the beginning of Limp Bizkit’s Faith begins to play and I laugh to myself about a band covering a cover of a song.

When I hear the lead singer start to sing I look up as he turns around and my heart sinks to the ground. It has been a year and a half since I have seen Austin, and here he is standing on the stage staring down on the crowd.

“Sophie,” I hear Paige say and I turn to look at her.

“I need to get some air,” I say getting up and walking outside of the door. I lean against the wall on the outside of the bar and I can’t get out of my thoughts. I have been looking for Austin for months. I had needed to tell him things, to explain things to him, I had been trying to find him but I wasn’t expecting to see him here now. This had completely thrown me off. I pull myself together minutes later and walk back into the bar. When I walk back inside I walk up to the bar and grab another drink as it’s handed to me and I turn around and look to him. He’s a natural performer and I remember sitting in his house and him playing the guitar to me, I remember him singing karaoke all of the time, I should have seen it last year that he was natural performer. I smile when I realize that he is living his dream. That he quit his great job to follow his dream. I can see the sparkle in his eye as he sings along with his written songs. A slow song begins to play through the speakers as I sit back down at the table and Sarah sighs.

“This is one of my favorites. Austin wrote it for the girl that broke his hear
t.” I look down at the ground and Paige looks over to me and whispers.

“He wrote you a song.”

“Sarah, how many songs did he write about this girl?” I hear Paige ask Sarah.

“A lot, that’s what most of his songs are about. They don’t perform them all because most of them are slower and they need more faster paced songs.”

The instrumental breaks and I hear his voice flow through the speakers. I cannot grasp the song, knowing it is about me, until the chorus comes:

I know that we said it ended that night

I thought it would be easier without you in my sight

But girl I couldn’t be more wrong

You fill my dreams all night long

Your laugh still haunts me

Your eyes are burned into me

I can still feel your breath on my neck

And no one can compare to you

You always talked about the story bookending

I will never be able to have that without you

I stop and look at Paige who smiles at me. I feel my eyes filling up with tears as Sarah looks to us confused.

“It’s a beautiful song isn’t it?” she asks us. I don’t say a word and I hear Paige give a half assed answer, and then I hear them go on break. Sarah gets up to walk over to see Brandon and I look to Paige’s wide eyes.

“Paige
, what do I do?” I’m at a loss.

“Go talk to him.”
She tells me.

“No, I can’t, did you just hear that?”
I plead with her.

“Yes
you can, he still loves you.”

“That song could have been written a long time ago.”
I tell her.

“You heard what Sarah said, he hasn’t dated anyone since he has gotten here.”
I know that she is right.

“Yeah and he never dated before me either.”
I challenge her statement.

“Look, Soph, this is what is going to happen you can either go talk to him or I will call him over.”

“Paige,” I whine to her.

“Tough love sweetheart, go talk to the one person who you have never been able to get over,” I get up from the table and slowly walk over to him making my way through the crowd. I see the s
mall group standing around the bar with a handful of girls surrounding them. I see Sarah smile at me as I approach him and I lean in next to him as he leans on the bar.

“Fate
has a funny way of working out, doesn’t it?” is the only thing that I can think to say and the instant the words fall from my mouth I wish that I could take them back. I see the confusion spread onto his face and then he slowly pans his head over to me and I smile, “Hi.”

“Sophie,” his eyes widen and I pull my lip with my teeth. “What are you doing here?” he asks and I can’t seem to determine if he is excited or upset to see me.

“Can we talk somewhere else?” he nods his head and we walk outside. Sarah looks at me confused and I shrug to her. We walk outside and stop at a bench and he sits down facing the street. I sit down and fiddle with my thumbs, I’m unbearably nervous. “I am really nervous.” I’m not sure why I say it.

“Well, it’s been a while since we have seen one another.”
He says matter-of-factly.

“And how am I going to top that song.” He smiles nervously and looks away from me, “No, Austin, it was beautiful.”
I say putting my hand to his arm.

“Thanks, it has helped me. Anyways what are you doing here? Your hair looks good I didn’t
really recognize you at first until you came up to me.”

“Did you see me before I came up to you?”
I wonder out loud.

“Yeah, I saw you walk out and I thought to
myself, ‘Wow, she looks a lot like Soph,’ but the hair threw me off, plus I tend to do that a lot.”

“Do what?”
I ask him.

“Think people are you.” I don’t know how to respond to his confession and we sit on the bench not talking for a moment, “So, what are you doing here?”

“Well the business really flourished in Miami we had a few opportunities to start a branch up here. So we did. I’ve been trying to find you.” the last part is what I was really trying to say. “I went to see your dad. He told me you never gave him your new number.” He shrugs his shoulders. I hear the door open and see Brandon and Sarah walk outside.

“Austin, we have to go back on.” He nods his head to them.

“Soph, I’m sorry but I have to go back in. Will you stick around until after the show ends? I would love to catch up with you.” I nod my head back to him and we walk back inside. He hugs me before he walks up to the stage and I smile. His scent engulfs my senses and so many memories are brought back to me.

Chapter Nineteen

I wake up feeling like hell and not being able to remember anything after Austin when back on stage, I was now a light weight, but I guess that’s what going over a year without drinking will get you. I walk out of my bedroom and Mar is grinning at me like crazy.

“What is that smirk for?” I ask her.

“Well, I see that you ran into Austin last night.”

“How did you know?” I respond quickly to her.

“Because he was the one that got you home last night; Paige wasn’t ready to leave and he made sure to bring you home. He left this for you.” she holds up something in her hand.

“Did he find out?” I ask her.

“No, it was late, everything was cleaned up.” She tells me slightly looking down at the ground.

“Good, I have to be the one that tells him.”

“I know, it’s good to see him. He looks kind of happy.”

“He does,
doesn’t he?” she nods her head and then hands me the piece of paper. I open it and it has his address and number underneath. I punch the number into my phone and start to hear the ringing. I hear a sleepy voice answer the phone.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” I say into the receiver as I walk out onto my patio.

“Technically no, I have been trying to decide for the last half hour if I should get out of bed.” It makes me laugh a bit. “I’m glad that you called.”

“Me to,” I smirk to no one in particular, “Do you want to get breakfast?” Shit, I forgot to ask Mar,
Do you mind
? I whisper to her. And she shakes her head that she doesn’t.

“That sounds good. There is a great diner around the corner fr
om your place. Meet you there in twenty minutes?” he asks me. I can feel the butterflies in my stomach starting to move around.

“Sounds good,
” He gives me the name of the diner and in twenty minutes I am dressed and walking down the stairs heading to go and see him.

When I see him he smiles to me but it seems a little hurt. It breaks my heart I can only hope that I can make him happy again. That he won’t be mad at me when he finds out.

As I approach him his smiles widens.

“This is crazy right?” he smiles at me, wrapping me in a hug and talking loud enough to I can her him as we close the gap between us, “One point six million people in Manhattan and we run into one another the first week that you are here.” I smile at me.

“Three times,” I tell him and he looks at me confused.

“What?” H
e asks somewhat amused.

“Savannah is a mediocre city and I was there for one night we ran into one another, Miami we lived down the street from one another, and now Manhattan.”

“Fate?” he cocks his head to the side and smile to me.

“We’ll see.” We walk over to a table and sit down as a waitress comes up and take our drink order. “Thanks you taking care of me last night.” I say as the drinks
are sat down in front of us, “I actually haven’t drank in a while, so it all caught up to me really fast.” He looks to me and smiles.

“It was not a problem Soph, there was no way I could leave you there like that.” He pauses and looks down to his hands, “What did you mean last night by you were trying to find me?”

“I tried to, but it was like you dropped off the earth.”

“Something
like that,” he says using my infamous line.

“You tried not to be found?” maybe he was still mad at me for everything that happened.

“I believe in fate Soph, I knew that it wouldn’t matter if you knew how to find me or not.”

“Look, Austin, there is something that I really need to tell you.” I say as my phone begins to ring and I see
it’s Mar calling me, “I’m sorry, I have to take this.”

“Hello,”
I speak directly into the phone.

“Hey Soph,
its Kaylee,” I hear her panicked tone in the receiver.

“What about her.” I match her panicking.

“I think that she’s had an allergic reaction. We are almost to the hospital.” She says panicking.

“Alright which one,” I jump up as she tells me that name of the closest hospital, and I see the confused look spread onto Austin’s face.

“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go, do you know where the hospital is?” I ask taking out a couple bills for the drinks and placing it on the table.

“Hospital?
It’s just around the corner.” He stands up with me as I sprint out of the door and he manages to keep up with me. “Soph, what’s going on? Who is in the hospital?” he asks as I slow in front of the doors.

“Austin, this is what I need to tell you. You can either walk in there with me
, and find out or you can wait and find out just like I planned to tell you.” he looks bewildered.

“Sophie, what are you talking about?”
He’s confused.

“Decide, Austin, because if you go in there’s no turning back.”

“I’m going in there with you.” he says and reaches down, lacing his fingers with mine.

“Alright, I didn’t want you to find out this way though.” We walk through the sliding doors and I sprint up the stairs knowing that I could beat the elevator up to the floor that Mar had text me to tell me that they were on.

“Kaylee Tice.” I almost shout to the nurse and she shows me back to the room. I see Mar come out of the curtain and she smiles to me.

“Soph, she’s alright, we got here in just enough time and they gave her a cortisone shot. They are just running some test to make
sure what it was. But she’s fine; you can go and see her.” She smiles to me and then looks up to Austin, with a worried expression.

“Thanks Mar,” I turn looking to Austin and I stumble over my words a few times as I look at him. “Austin, this is what I was trying to tell you.” and I nod into the curtained area and he still looks confused. I open the curtain and his eyes widen and I watch as his lips slightly part open. I know that he is stunned. I had the exact expression when I read that test.

“Sophie,” he gasps my name.

“Austin, this is Kaylee.” He looks stunned as he walks over to the chair on the side of her bed and looks up to me as I walk over to her. “She’s nine months old.”

“That means-,” he lets his sentence fall and I see him trying to figure out the math in his head.

“February,
” He stares at her and I watch as his eyes soften.

“She’s mine?” he looks back up to me still stunned.

“Yes.”