Even with Chris and his mates keeping their mouths shut, the media got wind of Chris’s split from Allison Matthews soon enough. At least the details weren’t as explicit as they would have been otherwise. Most mentions of Chris and Allie in print went no farther than the mere fact that they were no longer a couple, and people expressed a great deal of puzzlement as to the reason why. Some even seemed disappointed that so little was being said about the matter, that Chris didn’t appear more upset. Chris got a perverse pleasure out of making his fans’ heads spin, of knowing how much they yearned for a much more sensational story.

Chris focused the bulk of his time and energy on his work. When he wasn’t working with *NSYNC, he worked out—lifting weights until he couldn’t lift his arms, jogging until his legs screamed for mercy, swimming in the luxurious pool on the penthouse roof until he practically grew gills. In a different situation, the other guys would have made cracks about Chris’s sudden, somewhat overzealous dedication to exercise, but they all let him be. Sometimes they even joined him.

Once in a while, Chris would rent a motorcycle and go for a cruise around town. He never had a particular destination in mind, but he reveled in the speed, the wind in his face, the ability to make the cycle go as fast or as slow as he pleased.

Though he avoided any form of contact with Allie, he must have received a thousand messages on his voicemail from her alone. She cried, cajoled, even threatened him a little. It reached the point where he would simply delete the message the second he heard her voice, and he once grumbled to his mates at breakfast, “I’m gonna need a new number.”

JC shook his head in pity before taking a swig of coffee. “Girl just can’t take a hint, can she?” He and the others refrained from actually saying Allie’s name whenever possible, although Chris knew whom they meant anyway.

“There’s irony for you,” said Joey as he drizzled steaming syrup over his waffles and sausages. “She didn’t need you so much before. Now that you’ve cut her out of your life, all at once she cares.”

Chris snorted and jabbed his fork all the way through his own stack of waffles, so that the tines struck the plate underneath. “It’s her cushy little status as my girlfriend that she cares about. Saving her pretty little face from the public’s scrutiny, all that money and all those ritzy presents I showered her with—that’s what matters to her more than anything else.”

“Maybe you were a little too generous with her, Chris,” said Lance gently.

Justin took a sizeable bite of sausage and said between chews, “Hopefully the next lady in line will be a little less money-oriented.”

“There will be no fear of that,” Chris said. “I’m not doing this anymore, guys.”

Joey’s fork fell to the table with a clang, and Justin choked on his sausage and had to take several large gulps of milk. When Justin could talk, he asked incredulously, “Say what?”

Chris replied coolly, “I’m done courting women, that’s what I say. I’m never dating anyone, ever again.”

“You mean, never again?” asked Joey, furrowing his brow.

“Never.”

After an awkward minute or two, JC commented, “Well, that’s a bit drastic, isn’t it?”

“No, it isn’t. Not for me.”

“Gee, Chris,” said Justin, “just because you met a few ladies who fell short of the bill doesn’t mean all ladies are like that.”

“No need to wage a vendetta against the opposite sex for the rest of your life,” said Joey.

Chris could feel his face heating up, but Lance came to his rescue. “Leave him alone, guys. He’s been dealt an extremely painful blow, and it’s only natural that he’s still smarting. Give him time to recover, and whether he finds someone else or not, that’s his business. Not ours.”

“Thank you, Lance,” Chris murmured.

They finished their breakfast in silence, and after Chris wiped his mouth and pushed back his chair, he announced, “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the pool.”

“What’s this, J? You’ve actually got a phone in your hand?”

With a lopsided smile, Jamie answered, “It’s now or never, Nat.”  

Nat also smiled and gave a little wink as she disappeared into the kitchen. “Good luck!”

“Yeah, I’ll need it.” Returning her gaze to the white receiver, Jamie sucked in a long breath and let it out slowly through puckered lips. In her lap rested the paper containing Chris’s number.

No matter how many times she ordered herself to stay calm, her nerves simply wouldn’t stop jangling. The phone shook in her hand, and her feet felt cold despite wearing her favorite purple socks and having both feet tucked beneath her. Her fingers were hardly steady enough to punch in the appropriate numbers, but those numbers got punched in. While she listened to the rings, she prayed, Please answer, Chris. I may never find the courage to do this again.

When she heard Chris’s voice at last, she almost jumped off the sofa, only to droop like a wilted flower upon realizing it was just his voicemail.

“Hey, this is Chris! Sorry I missed your call, but if you leave me a message, I’ll get back to you A-S-A-P! Thanks a lot, and bye-bye-bye!”

At the sound of the beep, Jamie started to hang up—but then she found herself leaving a message after all.

“Hi, Chris, it’s Jamie Miller. We ran into each other at the movies a couple of weeks back, and you were nice enough to leave me with your number. So today, I decided to take you up on your offer, if it’s still open. Hope I’m not being a pest. Please call me back as soon as it’s convenient for you. Thank you, Chris. Goodbye.”