The kids sit in back seats, asleep. After the jet from California, the two of them were lulled to sleep from the humming of the car against the pavement. I smile, every time I see them I think about how much I resisted it and then how much seeing them for the first time changed everything. How everyone can tell you how much you fall in love with your kids, but until you've experienced it you have no idea.

The windows are rolled down and Justin hangs his arm out slightly. He's got a pair of aviators on and the radio lightly plays in the background. For a moment I feel like the average person, perfectly pacified by the normalcy of this moment, "Do you want to stop for lunch?" Justin asks, turning his head to me.

"How much longer is it to the house?"

Justin looks at the time, "About forty- five minutes."

"Let's just take a drive through Starbucks and grab a coffee, I don't want to wake the girls."

"Cool," he says, turning up the radio. The stations have changed over and now, where rap music and Lady Gaga once ruled the station, is now replaced with country music. It may not be Justin's favorite, but I've always had a fondness for it. It also doesn't hurt that I worked for Keith Urban.

He grins like the Cheshire Cat, joining in for the song, "There's a warm wind coming in from off of the ocean, making its way past the hotel walls to fill the street, Mary is holding both of her shoes in her hand, said she likes to feel the sand beneath her feet."

I snort, "You're going to wake the girls and Hannah is done being trapped in the car seat."

Ignoring me, he leans over slightly so he's closer as he sings, "And in the morning I'm leaving, making my way back to Cleveland, so tonight I hope that I will do just fine, and I don't see how you could ever be anything but mine."

"Ok, I get it, you can sing."

Justin pulls off the exist as the highway advertises signs for Starbucks, "It's one of your favorites. I just like to make sure you get the full experience."

"Correction, it's my favorite Kenny Chesney song. You should let him sing it."

He bites the bottom of his lip, shooting me a look that means he's willing to play, but now he's going to dish it out, "Don't make me pull over and make you walk."

Justin has great qualities. He's good with the kids, a pretty calm human being, he doesn't overact like I tend to, and he's incredibly romantic. However, he has his weaknesses too. The biggest? That would be jealousy. He doesn't like to be compared to other singers and he doesn't like my being attracted to other men. The first time I mentioned how good looking one of his guitarists were, it set off a week of insecurities and a few comments of whether Katie was actually his. I smacked him over the back of the head and told him to grow a pair. 

"You make me walk and you better sleep with one eye open."

Justin pulls into the drive through, "What do you want?"

"Uh, a venti iced coffee with milk."

A voice bellow through the speaker, "Hi, welcome to Starbucks. Can I take your order?"

"Yeah, can I have a venti iced coffee with milk and a mocho frappuccino."

"Sure, please drive up."

Justin steers us to the window as the girl holds out or drinks. He reaches for them, but before he can get a hold on the cups, she drops them into the ground below and starts screaming, "Oh my GOD you're Justin Timberlake!"

And here we go.

Justin smiles that winning grin, "Nice to meet you."

The girl is practically hyperventilating, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry about your coffee, I'll be right back with two new ones!"

He leans back against the seat, slightly annoyed but clearly pleased by her reaction, "Should I leave her a tip?"

"Absolutely. When serving your customers, it is best not to drop their order."

Justin laughs, "You are ever so funny."

"Well somebody has to be."

The girl comes back with our drinks, "Here you go, and if you don't mind, can you sign this napkin?," her hands shaking.

"Sure," he says, swiping the pen over the napkin and handing it back to her.

"Um... can I have Bethany's autograph too?" she asks timidly.

Justin looks over to me and I nod, taking the pen and signing my John Hancock next to his and handing it over.

"Thank you both so much, I just love you guys."

We pull out of the drive through and Justin chuckles. I shake my head, "That was fun."

"Hey, how many times do we sign things together?"

"Yeah, the perks of being with you just keep adding up."

"Baby, I am the only perk you'll ever need."

 ____________________________________________________________________

We pull up to the house and Justin gets out of the car, opening the door to the house before we wake the girls. He comes back out and sticks his head in the car, "We are all set, the air conditioning has been on so it's nice and cool in there."

Justin opens the back of the car and extracts Hannah, gently waking her up. I shake Katie a little, "Kat, we're here."

Katie sleepily opens her eyes and when she realizes where we are, she smiles, jumping out of the car and running into the house with Justin. I get out of the car and stretch my legs. I breathe in the salt air of the beach, following them into the gated house.

I walk in and am greeted with huge glass windows lining the walls as the sun pours into the great room. The beach is one a hundred feet away and looks incredibly inviting. Katie comes racing around the corner, "Mom, it's sooo pretty here!"

"Did you find your room baby?"

She nods, "And it's pink."

Justin hands me Hannah, "Gia did a nice job making sure everything was in order."

"That's G for you."

"Dad, can we go down to the beach now?"

Justin swings the French doors open, "Of course Kat, let's go."

Katie takes off running down the beach and we follow her, planting ourselves a few feet from the water as Katie wets her feet in the water. Hannah sits down in the sand and starts to play in it and I slip my shoes off, "It's beautiful. The beach is perfect for the summer."

He rubs my shoulder gently, "I'm really happy you came with me. Six months would just have been too long."

I lean against him, "I can't imagine being apart for that long either."

Justin kisses the side of my head, leaning down towards my ear, "We'll have to go skinny dipping later."

"Yeah right. The only place you'll see me naked in water would be the shower."

"Where is your sense of adventure?" he kids.

"It died the day I got photographed tanning topless."

"At least all they saw was your back."

"That's not the point," I argue.

"You always had nice assets."

"So everyone noted since you gave that lovely article to Rolling Stone back in the day. Even though you got my name wrong they eventually put it together."

"I can only apologize so many times for that."

"I'm not saying you have to, I'm just saying I don't want a photograph of me frolicking in the buff with you," I respond, tipping my head up to smile at him.

"Oh lighten up."

"Hey," I point my finger at him, "There are shark and fish and... other things in there. I am not getting naked in the ocean."

"And you think that my getting naked that the sharks are more likely to eat you than with a bikini on?"

I frown, "Shut up and stop being logical." 

He licks his lips, pulling his wallet out of his pocket, "I bet you one hundred dollars by the end of summer I can get you to skinny dip with me."

"You really want to make this bet interesting?" I taunt.

Justin's eyes sparkle, "Absolutely."

"Winner gets to do whatever they want for twenty four hours and the other has to do it with them."

"What did you have in mind if you win?"

I shrug nonchalant, "I guess you'll be finding out won't we?"

He looks over at Katie, running and jumping over the water lapping the beach, "We'll see who wins this war. And believe me, I will be planning my twenty-four hours, right up here," he says, tapping his head.

"God knows there isn't a whole lot going on up there now."

__________________________________________________________________

I step on set to the new drama and it's milling with people going every which way with no real direction, simply trying to figure out where they should be. We're supposed to be starting to film today and everyone seems pretty welcoming. The film we're shooting is about a spiraling band that had gained success but was now pissing it away on the standard rock and roll lifestyle. I play the guitarist and given my history it will help create buzz for the film. I'm not stupid, clearly I wasn't requested because I could string the musical instruments. Dean Griffin comes over to me, holding his hand out, "Justin, finally nice to meet you."

I shake his hand heartily. He's an up-and-coming actor who critics say is the one to watch. When I heard he had signed on to be the other lead I knew this movie was going to at least be worth filming. His natural good looks haven't hurt to get him the part either, "Nice to meet you too."

"I heard you moved here to film this, did you have too much trouble relocating?"

"No, just happy to be here. The house we're renting here is by the beach so my kids are pretty happy."

"Good man," he says, patting me on the back, "After we get rolling you should bring them around. My girlfriend's coming to visit in a few weeks, maybe we could all go out and grab a bite to eat."

"Sounds like a plan."

A red head comes around the corner like she's on fire, her high heels clicking the ground like a woodpecker at a tree trunk, "Dean, they want you on set."

Dean motions for her, "Come here for a second, I want you to meet Justin."

She smiles and walks over, "Hi, I'm Elle."

"Elle is the assistant director for the film."

"Really nice to meet you," I saw, shaking her hands.

Her red hair flips over her shoulder as the wind whips it around her face, "It's great to have you a part of this picture Justin. The cast is all going out for drinks after the film as a get to know you sort of thing, you should come," she says energetically.

"How could I say no to an invitation like that?"

Elle smiles, her teeth like tiny pearls against her pink lips, "That's great. It's always a help when the two leads join us. It makes us feel like a real family."

Maybe this film will be just what I need.

Dean nods, "Alright, I will see you later Justin."

Dean and Elle walk off towards the set and I flip my phone open, calling Beth. We had plans for dinner but I definitely want to get off to a good start on this film.

"Hey babe, I was just thinking about you. How is it going?"

"Great. I just got on set but everyone seems cool and I met Dean who seems pretty chill."

"That's so great. I'm really happy for you."

"Well, the reason that I'm calling is that the assistant director is having the entire cast out for dinner and drinks to get to know one another. I know we had dinner plans tonight but do you mind if we put it off one night?"

"Of course not. You go, the girls and I will have pizza."

"You're sure?"

"Go, I'll see you tonight."

"Great, thanks so much. I love you."

"Love you too."

I hang up as someone grabs me form behind, "Hey buddy, long time no see."

I turn to see Trace looking tanner than he should for someone who was supposed to be getting our clothing lines into various upscale retail stores, "Buddy, where have you been."

Trace throws up his hands, "Where haven't I been? The line's doing great so I thought I would come back and see you."

What he means by that is he recently broke up with one of the girls he was dating slash sleeping with. Oh, and she was one of our buyers. He quickly left Florida last week and said he would be joining Beth and me for a little while. We'll see how that one goes. Beth will only tolerate so much with the girls around and Trace hasn't quite mellowed as much as I have.

"Well glad to see all that work hasn't stopped you from paying us a visit."

Trace grins, "I thought it was time I checked back in to see how you're doing."

"Working," I say, gesturing to the noise all around us.

"And how are the girls?"

"Good, Beth is taking them for the night so I can do a work thing."

"Sounds exciting."

I nod slowly, "So I kind of can't have you here. It's my first day and all and I don't want to be known as having an entourage. You visiting is cool and all, but it's going to have to wait."

Trace nods, "No problem, I'll just go drop in on Beth."

"Sounds like a plan, just call and let her know you're coming."

Elle appears from around the corner, "Justin we need you!"

"Coming," I call out, turning back to Trace, "So I guess I'll see you later?"

Trace doesn't even bother looking at me, "Do you think her carpet matches the drapes?"

I point at the door, "Get out."

_____________________________________________________________________

A ring of the doorbell stops my perfectly quiet moment of trying to nap while both girls are out on a walk with Gia. The asshole on the other side keeps ringing not once, not twice, but is now on their third ring.

I swing the door open to see Trace standing on my front door, "Was that necessary?"

"I was just making sure you heard me."

"The whole neighborhood heard you."

"Miss me?"

I close the door behind him as he steps in the hallway, "That's a loaded question."

He grins, "I brought some stuffed animals for the girls," holding up a bag labeled FAO Schwartz.

"They are both out with Tyson and Gia for a walk. They should be back soon."

"Justin told me you were alone for the night so I volunteered to keep you company."

Yeah. Right.

"It's always nice to have a second pair of hands. You want something to drink?"

"A beer would be great."

I move to the fridge, grabbing a Sam Adams and handing it to him, "Will you be staying with us tonight Trace?"

He takes a swig, "If you don't mind."

"Of course not."

"Let me just go up and make your bed for you. I just got some new sheets."

I move to go up the stairs when Trace's voice stops me, "Hey Beth?"

I turn back, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for not stating the obvious."

"What do you mean?"

He looks straight out the window, "That I really have no other place to go."

"You always have a bed here Trace. You're like family."

He takes another sip of beer as the unspoken words hang in the air. Like me, his career hangs on Justin. He left school, never went to college and is now at the mercy of whatever venture Justin decides to pursue. He may like the lifestyle while on the road. But when you some home, who do you actually have waiting for you? In his case, it would be us.