Until Next Time (The Shooting Stars Series)

by Michelle Maness

  They took her dress to the hotel and then got back out so Adam could show her around town some more.

  “Adam?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do we have to go out this evening? Can we just order in and be together?” she asked him.

  Adam glanced over at her and smiled.

  “We can do that,” he assured her.

  “Thank you,” she smiled in relief.

  They returned to the hotel and Katherine took a few minutes to pack before carrying her bags into Adam’s room; running back and forth between the bedrooms seemed silly. After she had finished moving her things and packing, she joined Adam on the couch.

  “You want to order room service or take out?” he asked her.

  “Either, so long as we can stay in,” she told him.

  They finally agreed on room service and sat down at the dining room table a short time later.

  “Thank you, Adam. It was fun to shop for my dress,” she told him.

  “I’m anxious to get you down the aisle and married to me,” he grinned.

  “I want that too,” she agreed.

  “I made a few calls while I was waiting for you today and have some good leads on getting started with my studio.”

  “Wouldn’t your studio be better out here?” Katherine asked the question that had been nagging at her.

  “Is this where you want to be?” Adam asked her.

  “I want to be where you are,” she informed him.

  “I think Tennessee is more to your liking and mine. Not to say that I won’t bring you here on occasion.”

  “I do prefer Tennessee,” she admitted, “but I want you to succeed.”

  “I will,” he said confidently.

  “I like your can do attitude,” she smiled.

  “I learned it from my fiancée,” he grinned back.

  Katherine’s cell rang and she jumped up to get it.

  “Hello?”

  “You went wedding dress shopping without me?” Julia demanded. “You aren’t planning on eloping are you?”

  “How do you know I bought a wedding dress?”

  “It was on the entertainment news show just now. You and Adam are causing quite the stir.”

  “Oh,” Katherine smiled.

  “They even had footage of Adam carrying your bag out of the store for you.”

  “Adam said the paparazzi could be bad,” Katherine admitted.

  “What time is your flight coming in tomorrow?”

  “Adam, what time will we be back in Nashville tomorrow?”

  “Four their time.”

  “Did he say four?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’ll pick you guys up.”

  “Mom, that’s silly! You’re going to drive two hours there to pick us up when we both live in Nashville and then you’ll have to drive two hours home?”

  “Donna is coming too; we want to celebrate with you guys,” Julia shared.

  “My parents and your mom are picking us up,” Katherine shared.

  “Sounds nice,” he smiled.

  “We’ll see you tomorrow, Mom.”

  “Love you, dear.”

  “Love you too.”

  Katherine laid her phone aside and found Adam smiling at her.

  “What?”

  “I’m just looking forward to life with you.”

  Katherine stood and moved to sit in his lap.

  “I love you, Adam.”

  “I love you too.”

  “Need help packing?”

  “I guess I should,” he grinned.

  Katherine helped him pack; his phone rang as they were working. She watched him smile.

  “Thank you, Joel,” Adam said. “I asked her last night.”

  Adam laughed at whatever was said.

  “Yeah, thanks for the recommendation; I’m having some things shipped to Nashville and I have a broker handling the sale of some of my cars but I was wondering if you could bring my Porsche when you come for the wedding?”

  “You will come right? I was hoping you’d be my best man.”

  “Soon.”

  “I thought the car would be the icing on the cake,” Adam was smiling.

  “Thanks, man; bye.”

  “Joel is going to be your best man?” Katherine asked with a smile.

  “Yep,” Adam nodded. “Now I have to sucker two more men into standing with me or I guess you’re doing three attendants?”

  “Amy, Tessa, and Kristen,” Katherine nodded.

  “It’ll be nice to see Amy again,” Adam mused.

  “It will,” Katherine agreed as she came to stand in front of Adam.

  “I don’t think you have the wedding on your mind right now,” he teased.

  “No, I don’t,” she slid her arms around his neck.

  “We’re kind of jumping the gun on the honeymoon, here,” he teased.

  “We did that almost four years ago,” she smiled, “we’ll just consider it practice.”

  “Good idea, I mean you do have wedding rehearsals, right?”

  Katherine laughed at his silliness; she was going to love living with this man day in and day out.

  After making love they climbed into the large garden tub in Adam’s on suite bath; Katherine added bubbles.

  “What kind of wedding do you want?” Adam’s hands were sandwiching one of hers as he wiped bubbles from her slender fingers only to pile them back on.

  “I’ve been trying to decide that,” she admitted.

  “We’ll figure it out. How many guests do you figure on?”

  “Hmm, I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Do we want a small intimate ceremony or do we want to throw the doors open?”

  “What is your preference? As long as you’re my wife by the end of the day I’m good.”

  “Small and intimate,” she admitted. “Wait! I know where I want to have the wedding!”

  “Where?”

  “I know of this small white chapel, it’s big enough for an intimate ceremony but just. The inside is pristine white with beautiful wide plank floors and rich, dark pews. It’s a single aisle straight from the door to the altar. It isn’t in use for a congregation but I know they lease it for weddings and special events,” she shared.

  “It sounds beautiful,” he told her.

  “It is,” she assured him. “Minimal on the decorations, too much would be over kill for the small space. We’ll have the reception at one of the hotels just after the ceremony.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” he promised.

  ***

  Katherine craned her neck as she looked for their parents in the crowd at the airport the next afternoon. A smile split her face when she finally spotted them.

  “Mom!” she called and waved.

  Julia smiled and waved back. A moment later, Adam released her hand so she could hug her parents and he could hug his mom.

  “Let me see your ring,” her mother ordered.

  “Wow, that’s beautiful!” Julia was holding her hand and studying the way the light played off her ring. “I like that it isn’t a solitaire; I think this suits you better,” Julia admitted.

  “I know; that’s what Adam said too,” Katherine smiled; she loved her ring.

  “I have a matching necklace and earrings too,” she shared, “He gave those to me the night of the premiere; I had no idea he even had this.”

  “Nice,” Donna noted as she leaned over to see the ring.

  “We should probably get our luggage,” Adam was smiling in amusement.

  “You had to know all of us women would be standing over her ring,” Julia smiled at him.

  “I haven’t gotten to see it yet,” her dad teased.

  Katherine extended her hand to her father and he admired the round cut emerald and its ring of smaller diamonds all set in platinum.

  “That’s very pretty,” he noted.

  They moved off to claim their things; Katherine was anxious to make sure her dress had made it safely.

 
; “You took all this with you?” her mom frowned at the garment bag and two suitcases. The large bag her wedding dress was in, her mother knew she hadn’t left with.

  “No! I had to buy a second suitcase and a garment bag to get home with all my stuff,” she admitted. “I’ll show you my dress later,” Katherine smiled at her mom.

  They ran Adam and Kaitlyn’s things to their apartments and then went to eat. When they returned from dinner, Julia helped Katherine into her dress and then allowed everyone but Adam into her bed room.

  “Wow, Kaitlyn, Adam is going to be speechless,” Donna’s brown eyes were wistful as she stared at her. “It seems so odd for my son to be getting married,” she admitted.

  That evening after everyone had left for home Katherine sank onto the couch beside Adam and snuggled close to him.

  “How are we doing this? Am I supposed to kiss you good night and go home?”

  “No!” she protested. “You stay with me.”

  “You won’t get any protests from me,” he assured her. “Just know you’re welcome to stay with me too.”

  “So we’ll stay one place or the other, just so long as we’re together.”

  “Kaitlyn?”

  “What?” she looked at him expectantly.

  “How soon do you want children?”

  “Oh,” she blinked.

  “Too soon?”

  “No, I just figured you would want to wait a bit given everything.”

  “I assumed if you wanted to fill a big house with kids we might want to get started while we’re still young,” he teased.

  “Good point,” she grinned.

  “We can wait if you want but I thought you might go off the birth control when we marry. It’ll probably take a while anyway from what I understand.”

  “Gee, I went to the doctor to go on birth control in August so I could marry one man this Christmas. Now before Thanksgiving even arrives I’m going off it to marry a completely different man. Do you think maybe I should have my head examined?” Katherine was laughing.

  “For marrying me maybe.”

  “No, that is the only thing not crazy about this,” she assured him, “me marrying you makes complete sense,” her green eyes were intense.

  ***

  Katherine felt oddly displaced as she returned work. So much had changed in the space of a week that her head was fairly swimming with it all. Adam was contacting a real estate agent about locating a studio space as well as a house. Katherine was excited about house shopping. She also had a wedding to plan. She sat at her desk, her mind far from on her work as she contemplated all of this.

  “Hey, I heard congratulations are in order,” Diane teased.

  “Yes, thank you,” Katherine smiled.

  “You didn’t waste any time.”

  “No, I guess not,” she admitted. “But then I’ve loved him for years.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  Katherine watched her friend move off and contemplated her meeting with Hank. She was supposed to meet him in a few minutes.

  “Hello, Katherine.”

  Katherine turned at the sound of Derrick’s voice.

  “Hi,” she felt bad for how everything had gone down.

  “Congratulations,” he offered.

  “Thank you and Derrick, I am sorry for…everything. I really didn’t realize or at least admit how I was still feeling about Adam.”

  “I think I’ve come to realize that and to realize you were right. We wouldn’t have worked and I did see you more as a business partner than life partner. I’m glad we didn’t make it to the altar. Neither of us would have been very happy,” he admitted.

  Katherine stared at him for a moment.

  “Wow, thank you, Derrick. I felt bad for hurting you; I’m glad you see what I was talking about. I hope you meet someone who makes you feel so mixed up inside your ordered world comes unglued, Derrick; I really do,” she smiled at him.

  “Perish the thought! I like my ordered world,” he smiled back. “From what I see, Adam certainly set out to sweep you off your feet.”

  “He did,” she nodded.

  “Good; I’m glad. Good luck, Katherine.”

  “Thanks.”

  Katherine shook her head after he had gone; that had been quite unexpected. She stood to go to her meeting with Hank.

  “Come in, Katherine,” Hank greeted. “Have a seat. I would ask how your vacation went but you have been the talk of the office,” the man informed her.

  “So I’m finding out,” she admitted.

  “You’re engaged again?”

  “Yes, sir,” she nodded.

  “Well congratulations; maybe you’ll make it to the altar this time.”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  “Now, on to business matters, David Kingston, one of your last clients before you ran off to California thinks you are the cat’s meow and that makes you a hot commodity.”

  “Thank you, sir,” she smiled.

  “How do you feel about travel?”

  Katherine frowned.

  “I’m not too keen on the idea; I’m getting married soon and house hunting too,” she answered honestly.

  “You better learn to juggle; I have big plans for you,” he grinned.

  “Right,” her stomach clinched. She did not want to leave her husband and be gone all the time. Hank told her to expect to travel a great deal by next spring and seemed very enthused by Katherine’s new promotion; it would come with a pay raise of course

  That evening she returned home to find Adam in her kitchen and spaghetti on the stove. They had exchanged copies of their apartment keys the night before.

  “How was your day?” he asked.

  “I’m getting a promotion at work,” she admitted.

  “And you aren’t even certain you want to continue in advertising,” he noted.

  “No, I’m not. He wanted me to start traveling after the start of the year,” she shared.

  “Oh,” Adam frowned. “Are you really serious about not wanting to continue in the business?”

  “I am,” she sighed.

  “So resign.”

  “Just like that? Adam, you haven’t even got your studio up and running yet,” she protested.

  “Kaitlyn, it’s true that I need to get the studio up and going for the long haul but if we don’t go insane we’re good for some time,” he assured her. “I think I may have a buyer for the house already and unless you’ve developed a new interest in outrageous real estate I should be able to buy a home here outright,” he admitted. “Real estate here, even in nice areas, is nothing compared to California, sweetheart.”

  “I’ll think on it,” Katherine wrapped her arms around him. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he assured her.

  After dinner they went over the real estate flyers and listings together and noted some that looked promising.

  On Saturday morning they met a realtor to start looking at properties. When the realtor kept suggesting newer properties, Adam stopped him.

  “Kaitlyn wants a historic property, if it takes some time so be it but we are not interested in looking at new homes.”

  “Adam, I know I love old houses but…” the look he gave her made her stop short.

  “Right, it’s just with what you have to spend, we have some amazing new estates with less upkeep…”

  “We want an old house,” Adam insisted.

  “Historic properties; we have some of those,” the man assured him.

  They looked at several, the last two of the day catching Katherine’s attention. The first was a small Victorian cottage, smaller than they wanted but charming. The second was a Craftsman. As they were leaving the last one, Katherine paused on the walk to study the house next door.

  “Isn’t it beautiful? Too bad it isn’t for sale,” she admired the Queen Anne Victorian.

  Adam assured the realtor they would think about it and get back with him before escorting his fiancée t
o an appointment to see the church where she wanted to be married. They were thrilled to learn it was available in three weeks’ time when they had decided they wanted to be married. Katherine had already selected her attendants’ dresses and was sending her friends to the local branch of the store she was using. Upon seeing the church, Adam knew decorations were going to be simple. The church its self was beautiful and as Katherine had said; too many decorations would be over kill.

  ***

  Katherine sat in the small house that had once been the parsonage for the church next door. Her hair and makeup were done and she was waiting for the moment she was to cross the yard and become Adam’s wife. The last few weeks had been a whirlwind but Katherine couldn’t say she minded. She was so happy to marry Adam that not much of anything would have disturbed her.

  “It’s time,” her father, entered and extended a hand to her. “Wow, look at you, Kattie. You’re all grown up and quite beautiful,” Walter smiled wistfully at her.

  “Thank you, Daddy,” she stood and kissed his cheek.

  They crossed the yard together, Katherine gathering her dress to keep from dragging it on the ground. A white runner had been laid outside the church where she dropped her dress and arranged the train before mounting the stairs. A moment later her father was escorting her inside. Sunlight poured through the windows and made the room glow brilliantly. The aisle end of each pew held a bow and a small spray of flowers. A white runner lay along the aisle and at the front an arch of flowers framed the pastor. Amy, Tess, and Kristen stood fanned along one side, Tabitha standing like a small end cap. On Adam’s side of the alter Joel, Terrance, a friend Adam had made in rehab, and Sam stood, Katherine’s cousin’s little boy was serving as ring bearer. Katherine noted all this quickly before her gaze settled on Adam.

  Adam, his heart pounding, watched Kaitlyn approach; she was so beautiful. The sun glinted off her copper curls beneath her veil, her green eyes were glowing, and the dress she had chosen made his mouth go dry. She was amazing and she was going to be his in a matter of moments.

  They reached the front, her father handing her off with a kiss when prompted. She listened as the pastor went through the formalities at the start of the service and waited for the moment she could turn to face her groom. The moment finally came, Katherine handed her bouquet off to Amy before taking Adam’s hands. As she looked into his eyes everything else faded.