ATLANTA

For two days, Clay stayed in his apartment and all he did was search for any clues he could find on his daughter. He’d typed in Sutton Chasez numerous times, but no images had surfaced. He’d typed in James Chasez + Sutton and the same article continued to pop up that he’d read previously. He just wanted to see her face. That was all. He told himself as soon as he saw a picture, he’d move on and talk to Peter about how he’d spent the last two days. He sipped a cup of bland coffee and then leaned back in his chair, rubbing the scruff on his chin. An idea suddenly came to him. JC Chasez + daughter. He waited. Soon, he was looking right at a picture that a paparazzo had managed to snap over a year ago. JC walking in downtown Grayson with a little girl attached to his hand. Her hair was wavy and light brown. She wore a white sundress and was looking up at JC, laughing about something with him. Clay’s heart suddenly felt wrenched and he zoomed in as close as he could onto his daughter. She had her mother’s eyes but he could tell, even from how blurred the image was, that she looked like both of them elsewhere. The picture was almost two years old and the caption read “JC Chasez and daughter walk in sync in his new hometown of Grayson, Georgia.”

His daughter. JC’s daughter. Clay knew he couldn’t be upset. He’d given up his rights. But it still didn’t make this new feeling of pain inside of him go away. He wanted to meet her. He wanted to know who she was. But he knew James would never, ever let him set foot anywhere near Sutton. She’d made that clear on the day of the adoption. Clay rubbed his face in his hands and then looked back at the picture. His phone alert went off letting him know he had an AA meeting in thirty minutes. He ignored it and went back to typing in JC’s name over and over again in the search engine. A few more pictures popped up, none of which included Sutton. Clay went back to the first image and saved it to his hard drive. He’d figure out what to do with it later.

GRAYSON

“You won’t believe what I’ve found, doll face!” Chad burst into Brewster’s with Jewel in her stroller and an envelope flying wildly in his hand.

James had been looking over applications for a new assistant manager behind the counter and looked up at her friend, smiling at him. Chad was always exuberant about everything he did and James figured that he’d probably found some unique house plan that he was going to use in his next interior design project. She was thankful for her best friend. If it hadn’t been for him she would have never met JC. She would have also been very lonely living in Grayson with just Sutton a few years ago. Chad had given her a lot and she sometimes couldn’t believe they were still the best of friends after all the years that had passed.

“What?” she asked him, coming around the counter to kiss and hug on Jewel. Jewel Chasez-Wilkes had been adopted from China when she was almost six months old. It had thrilled Sutton that she finally had a cousin and Jewel was the perfect addition for a playmate for Olivia and Landon. She lifted the baby out of her stroller and kissed her cheek. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you and Lane got the cutest baby in all of China, should I?”

“Naturally,” Chad shrugged and winked at her, then waved the envelope around in front of her. “Look what I found digging through some old drawers at my parents’ house! You are going to die!”

James took the envelope from Chad and quizzically looked at him as she opened it. She chuckled and put her hand over her mouth when she saw what was inside. It was a picture taken at the one and only Nsync concert she’d ever been to with Chad. He’d gotten her and a few of her friends from college backstage. James hadn’t really cared back then because she wasn’t a fan of their music, but it had been fun to go back with Chad and meet the guys. She looked at the picture and then back at Chad. There she was sandwiched between JC and Chad. Chad was giving a goofy grin to the camera and James was looking inadvertently at JC while smiling at him. JC looked content with his arm around her and his eye on the camera.

“You’re already gazing at him!” Chad pointed out. “I thought you might want this. You know. Your first picture together and all!”

James smiled at him and looked back at the picture. “Wow. I’m really glad he doesn’t wear that sequined whatever that is he’s got on!” Chad took the picture and laughed at the vest JC was wearing.

“All in the name of being the biggest boy band in the world!” he said, and took Jewel from James, who was trying to grab at the picture. “Anyway, I thought you’d enjoy that.”

“Thanks. I can’t wait to show this to Josh,” she placed the picture back into the envelope, tucking it in the front pocket of her apron. “Hey, do you want a latte before you head out?”

“Can’t, doll. I need to get Jewel to Gymboree and it’s over in Brunswick,” he told her, as he fastened the baby back into her stroller. “I’ll see you later. Enjoy the picture!” he called as he opened the door to leave.

“I will. Have fun!” James waved to Chad as he and Jewel strolled out of the shop and crossed the street to where his BMW was parked. She pulled the picture out again and couldn’t help but grin once more. Who would have thought she’d end up married one day to the random guy she was standing with in that picture?

The door chimed again and James looked up in surprise to see Kaylie, a former employee of hers and now a college student in Savannah, walk in and give a small wave.

“Kaylie!” James greeted her. She went over to hug her, then pulled away upon seeing Kaylie’s grim smile. “What’s wrong, sweetie? And why are you in Grayson today? Are you all on fall break?”

Kaylie shook her head slowly. “No,” she sighed and then looked back at James. “I, um, I lost my scholarship at school.” Kaylie had been awarded an almost full ride academically to Armstrong Atlantic University in Savannah. She was majoring in Education and the last James had heard, she was in a sorority and flourishing at everything she did.

“How did you do that, honey?” James brought her over to an empty table and sat down with her. “Do you want something to drink? You always liked the mocha frappe. Can I get one of those for you?”

Kaylie shook her head. “No, it’s ok. I’m fine,” she tried to smile again, but her face gave away that she wasn’t in the best of spirits. This was quite unusual, James thought, because Kaylie had been the most bubbly teenager she’d ever been around. When JC had moved to Grayson, Kaylie had all but freaked out in front of the entire staff of Brewster’s because she’d been such a huge fan of America’s Best Dance Crew. And when James had officially begun dating JC, Kaylie had been over the moon about it.

Kaylie took a breath and smoothed out her blonde hair, trying once more to force a smile at James as she spoke. “I partied way too hard last year. I had to drop out of my sorority. It was really bad. So the school sent my parents a letter this summer saying that I’d failed all of my classes and was losing my scholarship. My parents can’t afford it so I have to stay home this semester and go to community college on Jekyll Island. My mom said you were hiring for an assistant manager and I wanted to see if I could apply,”

James stood slowly and went behind the counter to retrieve an application. “Here,” she handed it to Kaylie, along with a pen. “Fill this out and we’ll talk tomorrow, okay? I think you’d be great here.” Kaylie genuinely smiled this time and began to fill out her application. James breathed a sigh of relief. No, Kaylie wasn’t like Lesly in the least, but at least she knew her way around the coffee shop. She began to think about how freed up her time would be again and that she might actually get to see Logan take his first steps, unlike the twins’, who’d both been at her mother’s house when that had happened. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell JC later that day.

JC Chasez.

Joshua Scott Chasez.

Born on August 8, 1976.

Spouse – James Elizabeth Chasez

Lives – Grayson, Georgia. Also has a home in West Hollywood, California

Children – Four

Clay furiously typed into his computer the information he’d gathered from various sources on the web. Wikipedia had given him most of the data and then he’d gone onto Google Images to search for pictures of his daughter. He’d found plenty and he wondered if James had been aware of all the paparazzo in and around Grayson and on the family’s recent trip to Disney World. There were pictures of JC picking up Sutton from school, pictures of him going into the coffee shop that James apparently owned now, and one of Sutton on his shoulders at a Fourth of July parade the summer before last. He’d also seen numerous pictures of their trip to Disney World, which he figured must have been recent because Sutton looked older. One picture in particular made him stare at it more than the others. JC was sitting on the curb of Main Street with Sutton on his lap. She was looking at him and giggling, pointing to a fixture of something that wasn’t photographed. The caption had read “JC Chasez and daughter Sutton catch the Princess Parade at Magic Kingdom on a recent family vacation.”  He’d printed that, along with the other pictures, and had them in a neat stack next to his gathered evidence.

Clay’s next find had been an interview done with Lance Bass on a radio talk show the year before. He’d searched for hours for the transcript and had it printed out and had also heard the actual interview itself by going to the radio’s website. A few things had caught his attention:

“JC’s a total family man now,” was Lance’s response to the question about what the other guys in Nsync were doing. “He gave up Hollywood and settled down in Georgia. We don’t talk as much as we used to but he’s got a beautiful wife and three kids….”

One of which is mine, Clay thought every time he read the transcript.

“…his wife owns a coffee shop in the town where they live. I think he’s probably gonna be there the rest of his life…”

“…oldest daughter is a dancer so maybe it runs in the family…”

Clay had cringed at that statement. If it did run in the family, it wasn’t JC’s side that was for damn sure.

“….think that he and Chris are probably the closest of all of us now. Chris is dating JC’s wife’s best friend so they all live down there and are pretty tight-knit…he has his own studio, though. It’s not like people don’t know where to find him…”

Clay had found the website for The JC Chasez Talent Studio very easily. Google gave great links and it had come up on Clay’s first try. There wasn’t much to it. Just a simple black wallpaper, a few testimonials from clients, pictures of JC, and most importantly, the bio:

JC Chasez has been performing professionally since he was fourteen-years-old. He starred in Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club and then went on to worldwide notoriety with the boy band, Nsync. Blah blah blah something about JC’s solo album. Blah Blah he had a stint on some dance show on MTV. JC is married to James and they have four children together. Liar. He had three. He loves spending time with his family and is constantly creating something new for his studio….. It went on to talk about how one could inquire about voice or dance lessons and there had been a form to fill out online for registration, but Clay hadn’t paid that much attention. His next search was more important. His next search was for more information on his daughter.

The local paper in Grayson printed up anything that was thought to be newsworthy. And since it was such a small town, it was easy to get put in the paper. So Clay wasn’t surprised when he typed in Sutton Chasez and pages and pages filled his screen with the information he’d been looking for.

Grayson Elementary announces Honor Roll for 2nd grade. Her name at had been at the top of the list.

Grayson Elementary to put on Christmas play in City Hall Auditorium. She’d had a role listed as “Candy Cane Fairy” in that.

Main Street Ballet presents The Nutcracker. Sutton had been a featured ballerina.

The list went on and on. Clay printed off every single piece of it until there was a stack of paper resting next to him on the coffee table. He looked it over and leaned back into the couch, wondering what he would do with all of this information. Sutton was eight, she was in second grade at Grayson Elementary, and danced in the local ballet studio.  She had three siblings. Her mother owned a coffee shop, her “father” owned a talent studio.  Ok, but what now? He had these figures compiled but didn’t know what to do next. He’d missed three AA meetings in a row because of his insatiable need to find out all he could on the daughter he’d missed out on raising. He’d canceled an appointment with Peter. He’d neglected his medication. But none of it mattered. He needed to see what he could do with what he knew about Sutton Chasez.