Falling Like The Stars (Book 3)

Chapter 22 - Closer

' You look as good as the day I met you
I forget just why I left you,
I was insane
Stay and play that Blink - 182 song
That we beat to death in Tucson
OK

I know it breaks your heart
Moved to the city in a broke-down car
And four years , no call
Now I'm looking pretty in a hotel bar
And I, I, I, I, I can't stop
No, I, I, I, I, I can't stop.'

'Closer' - The Chainsmokers

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James couldn't sleep as he lay there on the hotel couch. So much in his life had just changed in the context of a couple of hours this evening.

He'd seen Emily again, He'd talked to Emily again. Emily was in the room right next door. Lacey had lied to him and prevented him from finding out he was a father. But the biggest and most serious thing was that he had just found out that he was a father and he would finally get to meet his son tomorrow.

Lying there a little while longer, he reached out and picked up his phone that was lying on the coffee table and pressed the 'Home' button and saw that it was currently 3am. He knew by now that sleep was out the window but needed to talk to someone.

He decided to text Rick to see if he was asleep yet and shot him a quick text:

'Bro. Are you awake?'

Whilst he waited for a hopeful reply, he scrolled through his emails and corresponded to a few. If Rick wasn't currently still awake, Jess would be a good next shot. It was currently about 11am back in the UK he'd worked out.

He made an emphatic decision to go and make himself another coffee, and as he made his way over to the kitchenette area, he found himself drawn to the bedroom door. He ached to lie with and hold Emily again, but he wasn't about to try anything without her permission, and he didn't even know if that was what she wanted from him, but yet he found his hand still reaching for the handle and pushed it down opening the door.

Emily was lying with her back to him fast asleep. He could hear her light rhythmical breathing and just stood there in the doorway for a little while, watching her. She was the mother to his child, and he wouldn't want it any other way. She was the woman of his dreams, and one day, he still hoped to make her his wife.

Quietly closing the bedroom door to allow her to once more resume her peaceful sleep, he turned back to the kitchen area when he felt his phone vibrate from his trouser pocket.

Pulling it out, he saw that Rick had replied.

'Yeah, just. What's up?"

'Come to my room, but be quiet.'

There wasn't a response, so James assumed he'd be on his way and proceeded to make coffee for the two of them.

A quiet knock on the door cut through his thoughts and he set the spoon down that he had been holding, crossing over to the door and opening it, finding a slightly disheveled Rick on the other side of it.

"What's the matter?" He questioned, slightly bleary-eyed, and James knew then that the hangover would be very real.

"Look. Come in, and I'll tell you, but we've got to keep our voices down."

Rick raised an eyebrow at his words and walked in as James stood aside to allow him to.

"By the looks and smell of you, I think you could be doing with one of these." He picked up the mug of coffee and crossed to the couch where Rick had slumped himself.

"What the hell is going on, man? You look like a deer in headlights." Rick questioned, reaching out to take his mug of coffee from James as he held it out to him.