Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Arizona
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Chapter Nineteen – People Can Change
"There is no way you can beat me."
"Yes I can, daddy! Just watch me."
Shane sat his elbow on top of the table and grabbed hold of Hayley's tiny hand.
"Ready?" The little girl nodded, a huge smile on her face. "One, two…three!"
Shane grunted and groaned dramatically as Hayley pushed his hand down toward the tabletop. When Shane's hand didn't go down as easily as she had hoped, she placed her other hand on top of his and pushed down with all of her might. When the back of his hand hit the table, she stood up in the chair happily.
"I told you I could beat you!" She shouted cheerfully.
"You're just way too strong for me, kid." Shane said dejectedly. "But at least I'm still strong enough to pick you up!"
Shane lunged forward and flung the little girl over his shoulder. He carried her all the way into his bedroom where Mitchie was, still in bed.
He let Hayley down gently on the bed. She crawled up and laid next to Mitchie who rolled over to look at Shane.
"What's wrong, babe?" He asked. "You've been in bed all morning. Are you feeling okay?"
"Not really. I think I have a cold or something." She replied. It was obvious by the sound of her voice that she had a stuffy nose.
Shane reached out and placed his hand on her forehead. "Yeah, you have a little fever. Look, don't worry. You stay in bed, Hayley and I will go pick you up some medicine and some soup, alright?"
"Yeah, mommy. You know how you take care of me when I'm sick? Daddy and I will take care of you!" Hayley announced proudly.
"I think Nate left to go to the studio. Are you okay being here alone?" He asked as Hayley crawled off of the bed and stood next to him, grabbing on to his hand.
"Yeah I think I'll be fine." Mitchie watched the two of them walk out of the bedroom hand-in-hand. She couldn't help but smile to herself. Even with everything that was going on with Ken, she wasn't going to let it bring her down. She had total faith that she and Shane would come out on top in the situation.
About ten minutes after Shane and Hayley left for the store, Mitchie heard a knock at the door. She guessed it was Shane probably coming back for something he had forgotten.
She got out of bed and went to open the door. When it swung open, she felt herself instantly tense at the sight of who was standing in front of her.
"You shouldn't be here, Ken." She managed to squeak out.
"There's a lot of things I shouldn't be," Ken said smugly pushing past her and entering the house. "Wow, this is a really nice house. Much better than our place back in Phoenix."
Mitchie stood behind him, staring at him while he looked around. She didn't know what to say to him. She didn't know if there was even anything to say to him.
"So how are things with Mr. Rock Star?" He spun around quickly to face her when she didn't answer. "Cat got your tongue or something?"
"Why are you here?" She asked gaining a bit more confidence in his presence.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked closer to her. "I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I'm sorry for the way I treated Hayley. I guess you could say I'm sorry for everything, basically."
Mitchie looked at him skeptically. It wasn't like him to be apologetic or to admit his mistakes.
"It's fine, you don't have to accept my apology." He said when she didn't verbally respond to him. "It's just something my therapist told me to do, apologize to people you love who you have hurt."
"Love?" She repeated.
He bowed his head sheepishly. "Yeah, listen, I know I wasn't the perfect fiancée. It was always work first, family second. And I should have never laid a hand on you; I wasn't raised that way. I would say it was the pressure of work and stuff but there's no excuse for how I treated you. And you know even though Hayley's not mine, I still miss her."
Mitchie couldn't believe what she was hearing. It sounded like Ken was remorseful? She wanted to believe him but she couldn't help but get this feeling he was only doing this considering their upcoming custody battle.
"Well listen, if you're not busy tomorrow, we should meet for coffee. Starbucks at six?"
Mitchie didn't move or make a sound. She didn't want to agree to meet him but then again, for some reason, she didn't want to disagree either.
Seeing that their conversation was pretty much over, Ken lamely waved goodbye before exiting the house, leaving Mitchie alone.
"You aren't going to go are you?"
Mitchie jumped and turned around at the sound of Nate's voice.
"Jesus, Nate, you scared the crap out of me." She exclaimed clutching her chest. "What are you even doing here? Shane said you left a while ago."
"You didn't answer me." Nate walked from out of the downstairs guest room where he stayed and out into the living room where Mitchie was standing. "Are you going to go see that guy tomorrow?"
She sighed and shrugged. "I shouldn't but–"
"But nothing. Mitchie, Shane gave up a lot for you. If you go to see that guy tomorrow, it'll be like a big middle finger to Shane."
"You're not going to tell him, are you?" She asked hesitantly.
Nate shook his head, his curly locks bouncing up and down. "Just as long as you promise me you won't go see that Ken guy. You and Shane are good together, don't mess that up."
Mitchie nodded and watched Nate leave just as Ken did, leaving her completely alone. She normally hated being alone but she had some thinking to do and all she wanted was to be alone.
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Shane pushed the grocery basket down the soup aisle with one hand and held onto Hayley's with the other. The two had already picked up some medicine for Mitchie and were now doing a little grocery shopping.
"Ah, here we go. Who knew it would be so hard to find chicken soup…" Shane commented out loud.
"Shane," He turned his head down the aisle and saw a familiar face walking toward him.
"Oh, hey Ashley." He said surprised. He hadn't seen her since that day at the flower stand and definitely did not expect to see her here.
She stood awkwardly in front of Shane, her eyes going from him to the little girl at his side. Noticing this, Shane picked up Hayley held her on his hip.
"Uh, Ashley this is my daughter Hayley. Hayley, this is Ashley. She's a good friend of mine."
A smile grew on Ashley's face at the words 'good friend'. Maybe he was finally over the mistake she made.
"Hi there Hayley," She said extending her hand.
The little girl looked at it and then grabbed onto it. "You're pretty!"
"Why thank you! And you are the most adorable little girl I've ever seen!"
Shane, seeing as that they had been introduced, placed Hayley in the little kid seat of the grocery basket. He handed her his iPhone, which was opened to Angry Birds, to keep her busy while he talked to Ashley.
"So," He started shoving his hands in his jean pockets.
"She looks just like you. She's so cute." Ashley gushed.
"I can't take all the credit, you know. She may get her eyebrows from me but she gets pretty much everything else from Mitchie." He pointed out.
"Is Mitchie here with you guys?" She asked.
Shane shook his head. "She's at home sick. Hayley and I were just picking up some stuff for her."
"Aw, that's nice of you. It's really cool to see you being all mature and stuff." She cooed.
"Just trying to be a good fiancée, ya know?"
Ashley licked her lips and smirked. "Yeah I heard about the little engagement party you guys threw. Did my invitation get lost in the mail or was I just not invited?"
Shane felt embarrassed. He totally forgot about the huge engagement party they threw in the heart of downtown L.A.. Everyone he knew he had invited–everyone except Ashley. It was no mistake or accident, either. She had intentionally been left off of the guest list but it was more of a decision on his part to look out for Mitchie. He knew how she felt about Ashley and he didn't want to give her any reason not to enjoy their party. If she didn't have any bad feelings toward Ashley, of course he would have invited her. Ashley was a big part of his life. She was probably the only person besides his brothers who knew him before he really made it big. It was natural that he wanted her there but at the time, Mitchie's feelings were more important than his own.
"About that," He began slowly. He searched for the right words to explain the situation to her but he just couldn't.
"It's okay Shane, you don't have to explain," She assured him.
"No, no, listen. Tomorrow, how about we go out for dinner?" He asked impulsively.
She looked at him doubtfully. "You sure Mitchie won't mind?"
"Its just dinner with a friend. Its not like I'm cheating on her." He said with a nervous laugh. "Look I'll text you the time and place later. I gotta hurry back home but you're up for it, right?"
"Of course. See you tomorrow Shane." Shane nodded in her direction and turned back to Hayley and continued down the aisle, a slight smile on his face.
Truly, he was over the whole James Conway incident. Just because Ashley made a mistake doesn't mean she'd do it again. People can change, right? Shane had full faith that they could and maybe tomorrow night at dinner, he'd be able to see if that was true.
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The Next Day
Mitchie sat at the table in Starbucks ripping the corners off of a napkin that was in front of her. That was something she did whenever she was nervous and there was a napkin in her reach.
She picked a table toward the back, which cut down the chance of anyone seeing her. Even though she wasn't an actress or singer, she was Shane Gray's fiancée and that meant she was just as famous as any actress or singer.
She looked down at her cellphone. The illuminated screen told her it was almost six. They were set up to meet at exactly six but she was a bit early. She was regretting being early, though. Now all she did was sit there, nervous. She knew she shouldn't be there right now, waiting. But there was something in her that, against her better judgment, felt like she had to be there.
Just as she was about to stand up and leave, she spotted Ken rushing toward the table.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. I don't really know my way around Los Angeles." He said removing his coat and placing it on the back of his chair.
"It's okay, I know what you mean. The first time Shane drove me through downtown I was amazed at how fast the city moves." She commented as he sat down in front of her.
"Hey, Phoenix is a pretty big city in it's own right." He said with a laugh. He placed his hands on top of the table, folding them over each other.
"So, why am I here?" Mitchie asked breaking the awkward silence that fell on them.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled. "I don't know Mitchie. Why are you here? Don't you have a fiancée? Call me crazy but I think Shane would be pretty upset if he knew you were here right now."
She frowned confusedly. "I'm only here because you asked me to come and–"
"You didn't have to fulfill my request." He pointed out. "Regardless, what I said yesterday, about apologizing to the one's you love, I want you to know that despite what you think or what Shane tells you or whatever, I do love you."
Mitchie held her hands up trying to somehow pause the whole situation. "So you brought me here to tell me you love me?"
"No I came here to make you see something." He leaned over the table trying to close the gap between them. "You still love me."
"Well if that isn't the biggest bunch of bullshit I've ever heard…" Mitchie was starting to regret coming. She should've known Ken hadn't really changed.
"Think about it Mitchie, if you didn't have some kind of feelings for me you wouldn't have showed up. Yesterday you would've put up more of a fight for me to leave your house." He reached across the table to grab her hand but she snatched it away. "I've changed Mitchie. I know you don't believe me, I get it, but I actually have. Like I said yesterday, I treated you wrong but people can change. All it took was some separation from you and Hayley for me to realize what I had. And what I had was a beautiful, smart, independent fiancée and one heck of a daughter."
The feeling of sincerity she was getting from him was frightening.
"I-I have to go." She said grabbing her bag and heading for the exit. Looking out of the glass storefront window, she could see a few paparazzi. She really hoped Ken wouldn't follow her out because a picture of them together would certainly pop up on every gossip magazine out there.
"Mitchie, wait!" Ken called out behind her.
She turned sharply on her heel and faced him. "Ken, seriously, leave me alone. I'm pretty sure there's some rule against talking to someone you're taking to court and I'm certain there's a rule against telling them you love them."
"But–"
"But nothing! I am happily engaged to Shane so don't think you can just talk me into going back to you, okay?" She yelled. The silence from Ken was soon replaced by the sound of cameras flashing. "Oh great…"
Ken waved to a few of the cameras before turning his attention back to Mitchie. "I completely understand. If you change your mind though, for whatever reason," He pulled out a small piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled something down on it and handed it to her. "That's where I'm staying. I'll see you later, Mitch."
Mitchie, completely aggravated, shoved the paper into her bag and got in her car and furiously drove off. She couldn't have been more sorry about showing up. It was silly of her to think there was even a slight chance Ken had changed.
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Shane looked himself up and down in the mirror. He was dressed in dark jeans, white high-top sneakers and a white t-shirt that had the words 'The Doors' written across the front. He didn't want to dress too fancy since he was just heading out to dinner with Ashley.
Just as he was done, Mitchie stormed into their bedroom, plopping down on the bed.
"Hey you," He said walking over to her.
"This could possibly be the worst day I've had in a long time." She said sitting up to face him.
He chuckled. "Was it really that bad at the Apple Store?"
"What?" She asked slightly annoyed, slightly confused as to what he was talking about.
"The Apple Store. Isn't that where you went?" He folded his arms over his chest, his face scrunching up in a suspicious smirk. "You said you were going to the Apple Store to buy a new charger for your phone."
"Right, uh, yeah the Apple Store was a pain. So many people in there trying to buy iPhones and Macbooks and stuff." She lied running her hand over her flustered face.
"Where's the charger?"
During all the commotion with Ken, she had forgot to actually go pick up an iPhone charger.
"Mitchie, did you lie to me?" He asked bluntly. Her silence was all the answer he needed.
"I'm sorry Shane I just," She stopped her sentence short actually taking the time to look at him. "What are you all dressed up for?"
Now it was Shane's turn to lie. "I'm going out to dinner with a friend."
"Really? Who?" She asked quizzically. "And before you lie, Hayley told me about your pretty friend Ashley."
Shane sighed heavily. "Hey, I'm just going out to grab a bite to eat with a friend. I didn't go out with my ex-fiancée, also known as the prick that used to beat you."
Mitchie gasped. "Did Nate tell you?"
"Of course he did, he's my brother. He doesn't keep secrets from me unlike some people I know."
She scoffed. "Well when were you going to mention you were going out with the girl who nearly caused us to breakup?"
"No, Ashley didn't almost cause us to break up. Pre-existing issues between us is what almost caused us to break up," Shane muttered.
"Pre-existing issues? What issues do we have Shane? I thought everything was peachy keen between us!" She said raising her voice.
"Well how about issue number one; your crazy ex. How can we be a happy engaged couple when he's trying to take my daughter away from me?"
"Away from you? He's trying to take her from me too, if you hadn't noticed…"
"Mitchie, if you really believe he's doing this to get at you then you're fooling yourself. I see right through what he's trying to do. He wants to use his smart lawyer lingo in court, take Hayley away thus gaining you in the process." Shane explained, his voice also rising. "Because, let's face it, if he gets her there's no way you're staying with me. And I'm sure he's going to take you two right back to Phoenix and get some restraining order against me and–"
"Shane, you sound really paranoid right now." She said interrupting him.
"Oh well excuse me for being fearful that my family is going to be snatched right from underneath me. 'Cause you know, I've only left a worldwide tour, halted my career and ruined my already shitty relationship with my father for the two of you. Excuse the hell out of me for not wanting that all to be in vain."
Mitchie shook her head at him. "Is that what this is all about? Have you finally gotten tired of everything not being about you? Is the spoiled rock star inside of you having a fit?"
"How can you even say that? Newsflash Mitchie; people change. I'm more mature than I used to be. People who've known me since I started in this business know that that's true."
"People like Ashley, you mean?"
Shane went silent, rolling his eyes. He hated fighting with her but how could she even try to defend her seeing Ken? That was just plain un-defendable.
"People like me don't understand you, huh?" Her voice had an almost mocking tone to it. "I mean the first time you met me, within a couple hours we were rolling around naked together. How can someone like me ever understand someone like you?"
"Mitchie you know it's not like that. I told you I was sorry about that night–"
She held her hands up, stopping his words. "When I left my parents back in Dallas and moved out to Arizona on my own, my dad told me not to let anyone take advantage of me because, little known fact about myself, I'm kind of naïve. I always want so badly to see the good in people. That's probably why I was with Ken so long. No matter how much or how hard he hit me or how much he was just a general jerk, I still saw the good in him. Maybe I did the same thing with you, Shane. Maybe all this, bringing me to Los Angeles, proposing, maybe all this is your way of dealing with the guilt you feel for sleeping with me and leaving."
"Are you serious right now? You know I love you and for you to think otherwise is utter bullshit."
"Is it Shane? Because even though we're arguing, I can see it in your eyes that you're debating in your mind whether or not it'd be appropriate for you to go out with Ashley."
Shane bowed his head. She was right. Even though the woman he supposedly loved was standing in front of him, questioning their entire relationship, he still had Ashley on his brain.
"I'm not going to stop you Shane. Go ahead, go meet up with her." She said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"So that's it? You're just gonna let me go? You're not even gonna try and convince me to stay?" He asked astonished.
When she didn't answer, he nodded his head and exited the bedroom. He grabbed his car keys on the way out and waiting until he was inside of his car to break down. He was never much of a crier but he had never had such an intense fight with Mitchie before. How could they go from being a happy engaged couple to lying to each other to meet up with people neither one of them should be seeing. He thought about going back inside and talking to her but he thought maybe a little time apart would help them cool down. And maybe after they weren't so pissed, it'd be easy to talk things out rationally.
At least, Shane really hoped so.
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So I had to update with a super long, drama filled chapter to make up for my general lack of updates and to thank you guys for nominating/voting for me in the Indie CR Fiction Awards. So happy to just be nominated!
If you haven't voted, you can vote here: (just take out the dot and replaced with a real dot) ow(dot)ly/5wIre. You should vote for this story, my other story "The Story Of Us" and me as an author! It is very much appreciated. :]
Anyway, don't forget to leave me awesome reviews and like always,
Thanks for reading! :] Oh and forgive me for any errors. I typed this entire thing at like three in the morning! :P