::Scenes from upcoming story called 'Faded Away'::
There is nothing more fascinating than watching how people act at night. There's the homeless man carrying his bag on his back with his dog walking beside them as they look for a place to lay their head tonight. My eyes float to the exhausted looking mom who was walking out of the pharmacy, with the unmistakable box of children's Tylenol, and to her car were her husband sat with their sick child. The laughter of the young woman making her way out of the building across from my hotel, as her boyfriend followed grinning. And finally my gaze settles on the old couple coming out of the restaurant on the corner. The man opens the car door for his wife and with sweet kiss, he helps her into the car.
The hotel door opening and closing caught my attention. "Enjoying the view?" His Scottish accent floated into my ears
I turned to look at him, keeping a hand on the window, "Always do." I smiled softly
His eyes floated over my body and took in my appearance. I was wearing the white button down shirt he had worn today, with it buttoned were it stopped at my hips and cleavage and only my panties underneath. I didn't bother putting my hair up knowing he loved when I wore it down, so it cascaded down my shoulders in the wavy style I had done for today's occasion.
"I leave you alone for five minutes and you've gone and put a shirt on." Gerard smiled as he placed the bucket of ice down and walked towards me
"You knew the risk of leaving me alone for a few minutes." I playfully said with a smile
As soon as he got close, he placed a hand on my waist before pulling me into him, "I can't complain too much seeing as my shirt looks good on you." He grinned as his free hand fingered the button at my cleavage "Do you know where it'll look better at Mrs. Butler?"
I smiled and my heart fluttered being called that. I was now officially Mrs. Gerard Butler. I placed my hand on his chest and looked up at him, "Where would that be Mr. Butler?" I asked even though I knew his answer
With a smirk and wink, he answered "The floor." And then his lips were on mine causing those familiar sparks to travel through me, the shirt was ripped open and I was pressed against our hotel room window with my legs wrapped around his waist.
I awoke with a start. Sighing I sat up and rubbed my eyes before slipping out of bed and walking down to the kitchen. Once again, I dreamt of my honeymoon with my ex-husband. It was a wonderful time, a time I missed and wished I could go back to. Who knew 11 years later I would still dream of him. It was no secret that I still had feelings for him but I never acted on them nor did I fight hard enough to keep him.
"Mom?" I looked up to see my 11 year old son, Declan. "What are you doing up?" He asked turning on the light and grabbing a glass
"Couldn't sleep." I softly said as I set my empty glass in the sink
"Nightmare?" He asked taking a sip of his water
I gave him a small smile, "No, it was a nice dream." I ruffled his hair as I walked by him, "Get back to bed, we have a big day tomorrow."
::::
"Welcome back." Katie smiled at the camera then turned to me, "Before the brake we discussed your career." I nodded, "Now, let's talk about your personal life. How's your love life?"
I gave a small laugh, "There's not much to talk about there."
"You mean there's no special man to talk about?" She smiled
I shook my head with a small smile, "No there's no one special like that. It's hard for me to get out there and date when I have kids waiting for me at home. And it doesn't help that I haven't been on an actual date in over 12 years."
Her eyes widened, "Oh wow, that's what.... before you had your oldest son?"
I nodded, "It was his father, my ex-husband, who my last actual date was with."
"How old is your kids?"
"Declan is 11 now and the twins, Greyer and Atlas, just turned 6." I smiled thinking of my kids
"I'm a little confused." She said, "Do they have the same father?" I shook my head and she continued, "So Declan is your ex-husband's and the twins are....." She trailed off
"From a one night stand." I answered honestly "He's not in the picture. Never has been."
Katie looked at me then at the cards and took a deep breath, "I'm sure you can guess the next question." She said looking at me and I nodded knowing what was coming. "You've kept your personal life private and occasionally you give us an inside look at your life." She glanced at the cards again, hesitating on asking, she looked me in the eyes. "We all knew when you started dating your ex, we knew when you got engaged and when you got married. You shared those moments with us but you have kept tight lipped about who he is... Who is the mysterious ex-husband?"
It's now or never.
Taking a deep breath, I sat up straighter. "Gerard Butler."
::::
"I think this is the longest you have been M.I.A from social media." Gerard said taking a seat next to me at the edge of the pool
"Yeah, well you saw the interview. You know what happened." I said slowly moving my feet around in the cool water, "Aren't you supposed to be on the beach playing volleyball with Declan and your girlfriend?" I slightly turned my head to look at him
He looked ahead before looking at me, "I needed a break." He said and then nudged my shoulder with his, "Besides, I could tell you needed a stiff drink." He grabbed a glass, that I didn't know he had, from the other side of him and handed it to me.
I raised my eyebrow at him, "Is it the kind I like?"
He grinned, "It is." I took the drink from him and took a long drink from it, "How could I forget the drink my girl likes? It was after all the drink you had on our first date and every date after."
"So you remember that...." I set the drink beside me and looked at him
"I'd never want to forget." He whispered looking at me, "You were and still are the greatest thing to have walked into my life." He searched my eyes, "I never stopped loving you Nikki. You are always on my mind just like the memories of us always play at night in my dreams." He gently cupped my face, "I was a fool to let you go then and now... Now I'm never letting you go again."
And just like that our lips found each other and those sparks I felt all those years ago... They were still there. Stronger than ever.
