Nothing in the entire city was more beautiful than my wife. Not the storefronts, not the lights in Time Square, not even Central Park. Nikki glowed everywhere she went. She was like her own little sunbeam of happiness. To know the things she went through with her mom, to know the things she went through with me, and to still radiate that sense of joy never ceases to amaze me. It’s like that old song from the Julie Andrews film “Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.”
I got just as much enjoyment out of watching her window shop and pick out presents for our friends and family as she did. And she included me in the decision making, asked my opinion and really listened to what I thought. If I ever started to ramble too much, she would gently lay her finger on my mouth, which usually stunned me into silence.
“Well, I think that’s a good day’s work,” she said. We were both loaded down with packages as we made our way back down the sidewalk to our hotel so we could freshen up for dinner.
“I can call our car service,” I offered.
“Oh, it’s only a few blocks, and besides, I enjoy walking so I can look at the other stores.”
“Whatever makes you happy. I think we have room on the bus, do you want me to take these with us so you don’t have to worry about taking them on the plane?”
“No, I only put a few things in my suitcase. I did that on purpose knowing we would be shopping. Besides, wrapping all of this will give me something to do for the rest of tour.”
“Need a hand with those bags?” The bellhop asked as we walked in.
“We’re good,” we told him at the same time.
“You really didn’t have to go for something this extravagant,” she said, putting our bags down in one corner of the spacious room.
“You deserve to be spoiled,” I told her.
“You may not say that when you get the credit card bill for all of this.”
“It’s fine. These are presents for the people we love. Besides, we are selling out shows and merchandise sales are going really well, too.”
“But don’t you have to donate part of that back to The Walk? A dollar per person. That will really add up.”
“Yes, but Dad had us put that money aside in a separate account before tour even started. And so far his estimate of the numbers has been right on par with what we saved. If we end up going over, it won’t be by much.”
“That was really smart of him.”
“For sure. He does his research and always steers us the right way.”
“Where did you say we were going to dinner?” she picked a black dress out of her suitcase and shook it to release the wrinkles.
“I said it was surprise.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Do I need to wear my walking shoes?”
“I have car coming to pick us up in about 15 minutes.”
“I guess I’d better hurry, then. Can you zip me up? I need to refresh my makeup.”
“You don’t need makeup,” I kissed the back of her neck after I zipped her dress.
She fastened on the necklace I bought her. The neckline of her dress complemented it perfectly, and the black made the diamond sparkle even more. I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her. “You are stunning.”
She threaded her fingers through mine, “Do you wish you had married Kate?” She said to the mirror.
“What?” That came out of the blue, if anything ever did.
“Some of the fans at the show last night were talking about how you used to date her and that I was your rebound from her. They didn’t know I was right behind them.”
“Katie and I both agreed that we weren’t right for each other. I told you all about that when we dated. Besides our fans don’t know everything about our lives. They think they can read between our lyrics and get the real story, but they are wrong more often than they are right. I love you. So much. I still can’t figure out what I did to deserve you. Look, Kate is family, but she doesn’t hold a candle to you.”
She didn’t say anything for a long time, finally she sighed. “You’re right. I know you are. I know better than to listen to gossip. I don’t know what came over me.”
I kissed her again. “It happens to all of us. I’m glad you told me, though, so we could talk through it.” My phone rang just then.
“The car is here. Are you ready to go to dinner or would you like to stay in and order room service?” I asked her.
“I’m ready to go if you are.”
Offered her my arm. Nikki turned every head in the lobby as we walked through.
It sure was going to be hard to say goodbye to her.