Chapter 20
"I miss ye so fuckin' much Caitlyn." Nolan said into the phone a week later. Laying in her bed listening to him she knew exactly what he meant. They had spent hours talking to each other, and sent hundreds of texts back and forth. As good as hearing his voice on the other line was she needed to touch him, feel his arms wrap around her body.
"Me too Nol." She said softly into the phone staring over at the frame she had put on her nightstand. It was the picture of Nolan she had impulsively snapped in the elevator at The Westbury. He was looking at her, his ocean eyes smiling, stuck in that moment just before the grin spread on to the rest of his face. Looking at it now she couldn't believe she had ever been able to walk away from that man. She could see all of his heart glimmering inside of the blue depths of his eyes.
"Have ye got yer son's this coming weekend?" Nolan asked.
"No, this is the weekend they go to Bryan's. Why?" Caitlyn asked sitting herself up in bed, hope surging through her.
"It just so happens I have a bit of a break from work this weekend. I'm supposed to be in Chicago, not too far from ye. I can hop a flight up." Nolan said hopefully.
"Chicago is less than an hour flight from here!" Caitlyn exclaimed.
"That's nothing at all, and I need to see ye." Nolan's laugh rumbled into her ear.
"Won't you cause a bit of a scene though?" Caitlyn asked picturing him getting mobbed by excited fans at the airport.
"Not always." Nolan said, the mirth gone from his voice. The lack of freedom was his least favorite part of his job. Everything else was great, but he had told her sometimes he just wanted to be a regular guy and not a brand.
"What if I came to down there to you instead?" Caitlyn said thinking it would just be easier all around that way.
"I'd like that." He said.
"I would too." Caitlyn said with a smile, thinking about how good it would be.
"First thing in the morning, I'll have Mags, me assistant, get on it." She could hear rustling around and knew that he had to get ready to go. He was shooting the video for the new single overseas right now. It was hours later over there, and he should have been asleep awhile ago.
"I can get it." She said.
"Let me take care of it. I'll text ye the details as soon as I get em. Talk to you tomorrow love." He said sleepily.
"Night Nol." She whispered before hanging up. Plugging her phone into the charger she made sure the alarm was set. Hugging a pillow to her chest she drifted off to sleep happily in Nolan's shirt.
Amid the morning chaos her phone dinged letting her know she had a text. It was Nolan telling her good morning, and letting her know what time to be at the airport Friday. She told him to have a good day on set, and drove the boys to their schools. Back home she spent a while going back and forth with her editor deciding on a cover model for her book. Spending her morning looking through a dozen pictures of male models wasn't much of a hardship though. She had used a few of them on previous books, and it was always interesting to Caitlyn to see the new tattoos, or hairstyle changes as they grew and evolved. Narrowing it down to her favorite one they sent them off to design the artwork. It would take a few more days until she had to pick which she liked best.
After hanging up with her editor she sat down at the counter and opened a new document on her laptop. Taking a deep breath in, she flung herself into another story. This one was rooted in all of the ideas she had purged while she was in Ireland, and Caitlyn got lost in her work for hours. The alarm on her phone pulled her out of her imaginary world reminding her she had to pick Wyatt and Mason up from school. Meticulously saving her progress, and backing it up she closed her computer. Looking at her phone she noticed a handful of texts from Nolan. He was sending her pictures from the set, showing her behind the scenes stuff he thought was cool. She texted him back as she was slipping her feet into shoes.
"Hey babe, cool pictures. Looks like a lot of fun! Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I was writing." She tossed her phone into the depths of her purse pulled on a jacket and walked out to her car. His response came while she was waiting in the pickup line at Mason's school.
"No worries. I get that my woman is busy. You're not always sitting around waiting on me to call. You got your own shit going. I like that." His text read. She was smiling like a loon when Mason climbed into the car.
"He Mom, can we have take out for dinner tonight?" Mason asked as he settled in the back seat.
"Chinese?" Caitlyn laughed knowing her son.
"Oh yeah!" Came his excited answer. When Wyatt plopped down in the front passenger seat Mason leaned forward letting his brother know their dinner plans.
"Cool." Wyatt said before pulling his phone out to text his girlfriend.
"Oh, hey guys, I'm going to make a quick trip down to Chicago this weekend while you're at Dad's house." She said as they drove towards home.
"To see Nolan?" Mason immediately asked from the back.
"Yeah, as you have probably noticed we've been talking. But I'd like to see him, and Chicago is pretty close to Michigan." Caitlyn said glancing back at her son in the rear view mirror.
"So, are you guys back together now?" Wyatt asked turning in his seat to watch her.
"Yeah, I think so. Is that alright with you guys? I know I haven't really dated since the divorce, I don't want you to be upset about it." She said suddenly worried.
"I think its cool Mom." Mason said as the got out of the car.
"As long as your happy Mom, that's all that matters." Wyatt said bumping his shoulder affectionately into hers as the walked in the house. "But I would like to meet him, since he is so important to you then we should get to know him. Right?" He added making a beeline for the refrigerator to find something to hold him over until dinner time.
"Well he is pretty busy right now gearing up to bring out his new album, but I'm sure he will make time somewhere. I'll bring it up to him this weekend." She said happy that her boys were taking this so well, hoping that it stayed that way.
Walking in to her room Caitlyn dialed Bryan. He picked up on the second ring. "Hey," he said.
"Hi, so I'm going out of town this weekend when you've got the boys." She said looking through her closet picking out what to pack even though it was only Tuesday.
"Where?" He asked.
"Just to Chicago. But if you could keep them Sunday night and get them to school Monday morning I would appreciate it." She said absentmindedly.
"A book thing?"
"Ahh, no." Caitlyn said realizing she was going to have to tell him about Nolan.
"So why are you driving down to Chicago for the weekend?" He said sounding annoyed.
"First of all, I'm flying down to see a friend. Secondly what I do with my time while you have the kids isn't really your business, that's what it means to be divorced. If you can't keep them an extra night just let me know." She said sitting on the foot of her bed, running a hand through her hair in frustration.
"Are you seeing someone Caitlyn?" Bryan asked in a tight voice.
"What happened to the whole 'what your mother does is none of our business' line you told the kids in June before I left for Ireland?"
"I don't know. Its just strange I guess. We were married for a long time." Bryan said sounding a little lost.
"I know, but we have been divorced for a while now. You can't expect me to stay single for the rest of my life Bryan. I'm only thirty five, I've got a lot of living left to do. I don't ask you about your love life." Caitlyn said sighing.
"Have Wyatt and Mason met him?" Bryan asked stubbornly. But she noticed he ignored the comment about him dating. Go figure.
"No, they haven't. Its still fairly new. But they know about him. Whats it gonna be Bryan? Can you keep them an extra night or not?" Caitlyn asked feeling over having this conversation.
"Yeah, I'll get them to school Monday." She could still hear that he wasn't happy about it in his voice.
"Thanks. I'll let them know." She said ending the phone call before it turned into an argument. Caitlyn wondered why Bryan was suddenly so concerned with what she did with her time. He hadn't begged her not to divorce him, or anything like that. And she knew he had been dating for awhile. Shaking her head she stood up determinedly not allowing his attitude to tarnish the shining excitement of her upcoming weekend she walked out to the living room to order the previously requested Chinese take out.
She told the boys while they sat around the table munching on egg rolls, crab Rangoon, sweet and sour chicken, and lo mien noodles. Neither of them seemed to be bothered by an additional night at their fathers house. It helped soothe the remnants of her annoyance with Bryan. He could think what he wanted, like she said it wasn't his business, and it was pretty late now to start being jealous. After dinner Mason got his homework started, and Wyatt went to his room to face-time his girlfriend since he didn't have any homework tonight. Her phone rang while she was sitting down about to turn the television on. Seeing it was Nolan she sat in the living room talking to him while Mason finished his homework up at the table. He was happy with the footage they had shot that day, but he sounded completely exhausted. There was one more day left to shoot, then he had an appearance to make in London Thursday before flying back to the states. He would arrive in Chicago a few hours before she would get there. She let him go, telling him to get some sleep after only a half an hour of talking.
Caitlyn stayed up until the wee hours writing. Wednesday and Thursday she spent furiously working, trying to get a running start before she took a break for the weekend. She was too excited to see Nolan to kid herself that she would actually make time for writing. The months since she had seen him last felt more like years. She was up before her alarm Friday morning, unable to sleep. There was time to take a shower and pack the rest of her bathroom supplies into her suitcase before she woke the kids up for school. Caitlyn let them know she would be staying at The Peninsula Chicago, and would let them know the room number once she got there. Mason gave her a big hug before climbing into the car. Wyatt joked on the way to school that he hoped she didn't end up splashed across the front page of gossip magazines. Poking him in the ribs before he got out Caitlyn laughed.
The information Nolan had sent her via his assistant Mags told her that she was due to fly out at noon. Caitlyn was going to leave her car parked at the airport, and drive herself. It was only a weekend, she didn't want to bother her Dad for that. Parking her car in one of the lots meant specifically for travelers she walked into the airport with a bounce in her step. Being the end of September it was quite chilly, and it would probably be even more so with the wind in Chicago. She had on a thin plum sweater, dark skinny jeans tucked into cognac colored riding boots with her moss green military style utility jacket. Her auburn curls flying wild and free. A few heads turned appreciatively as she passed by, but she never noticed that kind of thing.
This was Caitlyn's first time on a private jet, and she felt fancy as all get out. Along with the pilots there was a single flight attendant. But after getting her settled in, and offering her champagne, which she declined, he made himself scarce. Which she considered quite the talent since the plane wasn't very big. She took pictures to send her boys once they got out of school. And one shameless selfie, after all it was a pretty damn cool mode of travel. They were landing in Chicago before she knew it. Disembarking when she was the only passenger was a whole new experience for her. No impatient people pushing as they jostled slowly off the crowded airplane.
Nolan's assistant Mags was waiting for her. She was a petite woman somewhere around forty. Her dark hair was worn in incredibly flattering pixie cut, that set off her liquid brown eyes to perfection. She was a ball of harnessed energy and efficiency. Caitlyn liked her immediately. Mags was responding to emails on a tablet next to her in the backseat of the car on the ride to the hotel.
"How long have you worked with Nolan?" Caitlyn asked.
"Almost from the beginning." Mags said while typing.
Caitlyn nodded her head wondering how much Nolan shared with his assistant. "From what I understand you two have a somewhat complicated history, but you should know that you're the first woman he has ever flown out to see him. Way I figure, that means something. His family doesn't count." She added.
"The whole week I've been so excited, but now that he is so close I'm nervous as hell. I didn't know about all of this" Caitlyn gestured with her hand encompassing everything, "before."
"He's the same person he has always been from the moment I met him, I don't think you have anything to worry about. He's been buzzing about seeing you too." Mags said putting the tablet away. "I'll be here in town in case he needs me, but Nolan is officially off work until Monday afternoon." She winked at Caitlyn.