Wish You Were Here (11 page)

“
I didn’t have time to get a proper host gift,” she said. “Hope you like candy in the shape of feces.”

He laughed and took it
. “Thanks.”

She smiled.
“What smells so great?”

“
Lamb,” he said.

“
Mmmmm,” she said, a light smile playing on her lips. He stared at them, pink and plump and kissable, and wanted nothing more than to push her up against the wall and—

“
Freya!”

He turned to see Piper at the base of the stairs, her face lighting up as she looked at Freya. She scooted around Nate and threw herself into Freya
’s arms for a hug. Freya glanced up at Nate and their eyes met briefly as they shared a thought.

So much for Piper not getting attached.

But then Freya closed her eyes and hugged Piper hard, and Nate felt gratitude surge through him. He couldn’t protect Piper from everything, and he understood that now. For the moment, Freya was making a huge difference in Piper’s life, and the only thing Nate could do was not be too stupid to appreciate it.

“
Hello, Piper.”

Freya released Piper and they all looked at the hallway entrance into the living room where Nikkie stood stiffly, her eyes not on Piper, but on Freya.

“Hi, Nikkie,” Piper said.

There was a long moment of taut silence, and then Ruby
’s voice called out from the kitchen. “Piper, come help get the table set, baby.”

“
Coming!” Piper called, then glanced around before heading into the kitchen.

“
Why don’t I help you?” Nikkie said, following close behind. He couldn’t recall Nikkie ever volunteering to help with anything the entire time they were together. Maybe she had changed.

A hand slid into his and he turned to see Freya looking at him, a slight expression of concern on her face.

“You okay?” she asked softly.

He smiled, squeezed her fingers, and released them.

“I’m great,” he said. “Let’s eat.”

***

Ruby didn’t care that Nikkie Cooper was Piper’s mother; the woman was trouble. Nate knew it, Ruby could tell that Freya knew it, and it seemed from Piper’s reserved behavior at dinner that she knew it, too. So why the hell didn’t Nate toss that little bitch out on her ass?

Of course, Ruby knew why. Nikkie was his daughter
’s mother, and that was that.

Damn honorable men. Didn
’t know what was good for them.

“
Well, that was great,” Nikkie said, putting her napkin down on the table and sighing. “Excuse me. I’m just going to use your bathroom.”

Ruby watched as Nikkie slid out from the table, keeping her eye on the woman until she was out of sight.

“She sure goes to the bathroom a lot,” she muttered.

“
Yeah. Some women have a lot of sh”—Freya glanced at Piper and course corrected—“
stuff
to clear out.”

Ruby met eyes with Freya and they shared a small smile. Now,
Freya
was a woman Ruby could get behind, and based on the looks that had been sparking between him and Freya all evening, Ruby guessed Nate felt the same way.

Freya stood up and started gathering plates, and Nate was right behind her, taking the dishes from her hand.

“Um,
hey,
”
Freya said.

Nate grinned at her like a big goof.
“You’re a guest. Guests don’t clean up.”

Freya put one hand on her hip.
“Well, you’re the cook. Cooks don’t clean. I trump you. Ha!” And she took the dishes back.

“
Fine,” Nate said, gathering up the wineglasses. “We’ll just have to clean up together, then.”

Ruby looked at Piper, and they both smiled. She didn
’t know who those two thought they were fooling, but even the kid could tell what was going on.

But that was a secondary concern right now. Ruby stood up and walked over behind Piper, glancing down the hallway where Nikkie had
disappeared.

“
Help clean up, Piper. I’m gonna be right back.”

“
Okay.” Piper rose and gathered her plate, then paused and said, “Hey, Ruby?”

Ruby turned around, trying to hide her impatience.
“Mmmm? What, baby?”

“
What did you wish for?” she asked. “You know. With the coin?”

Ruby blinked and turned her full focus on Piper.
“Why do you want to know?”

Piper shrugged and scuffed a toe on the ground.
“I’m just wondering if, you know, if it turned out the way you wanted.”

Well. Isn
’t that an interesting question?

“
It did.” She watched the girl for a reaction, but Piper’s face was unreadable. “Why do you ask?”

“
Nothing,” she said. “Have you ever unwished a wish?”

“
No,” Ruby said. “But then, I only used it twice. Like I said, you have to have a special kind of want in order for it to work in the first place.” Ruby glanced down the hallway. Nikkie sure was taking a long time in that bathroom. Ruby turned back to Piper and put one hand on her arm. “Baby, can we talk about this later?”

Piper nodded.
“Sure.”

“
That’s a girl. I’ll be right back.” Ruby turned and hurried out, just about to pass the stairwell to check on the downstairs bathroom when she heard the click-click of high-heel shoes on the stairs.

Son of a bitch.
Ruby took three steps back and looked up, and wasn’t there Nikkie Goddamn Cooper coming down the steps?

“
Something wrong with the downstairs bathroom?” Ruby asked, not bothering to mask her tone.

Nikkie paused on the last step and laid cold eyes on Ruby.

“Yeah. I already stole all the fancy soaps out of that one.” Nikkie stepped down on the last step, called out, “Thanks for dinner!” and started toward the front door. Ruby grabbed her by the elbow and Nikkie’s eyes widened.

“
I don’t know why you’re here or what you’re after,” Ruby said, “but you’re gonna go say good night to your girl.”

Nikkie wrenched her elbow out of Ruby
’s grip and seemed about to bash that elbow into Ruby’s face—oh, how Ruby would have loved for her to try it—when Piper hurried out, the plate she was drying still in her hand.

“
You’re going?” she asked.

Nikkie shot a glance at Ruby,
then nodded. “Yeah. I’m wiped out. Jet lag. Gonna go get some sleep.”

“
Oh. Okay.” Piper seemed about to take a step forward, then didn’t. Ruby began seriously contemplating Nate’s head-on-a-pike idea. “Well, good night, Nikkie.”

“
Good night.”

Nikkie was gone two seconds later. Nate poked his head out and gave Ruby a questioning glance. Ruby motioned toward the door, and Nate nodded. He was,
from what Ruby understood, fairly experienced at getting a fleeting glimpse of that bitch’s backside. He put a hand on Piper’s shoulder.

“
Come on,” he said. “Let’s finish up and we’ll play Monopoly or something.”

Piper nodded and went into the kitchen, and Nate looked at Ruby.
“You up for some Monopoly?”

“
Yeah.” Ruby glanced up the stairs. “I just need to go check on something first.”

Nate gave her a brief nod and retreated into the kitchen. Ruby headed up the stairs, her eyes scanning every inch she passed for something out of place. There wasn
’t anything of real value for Nikkie to steal.

Except...

Ruby’s eyes flew to her own bedroom door; it was slightly ajar. Had she closed it before coming to dinner? Hell, she had no idea. She was too fucking old to waste precious brain space with those kinds of details. She pushed it open, went inside, and slid the rug out. She stepped on the edge of the floorboard to dislodge it, then pulled it up and sighed with relief.

The tackle box was still there. She was just about to reach for it when she heard footsteps on the stairs. She hustled to replace everything and had just scurried to her bedside drawer
when Piper poked her head into her bedroom.

“
Dad’s gonna take the shoe if you don’t hurry,” Piper said. Now that her mother had left, the tension in her face had ebbed considerably. Poor kid.

“
The hell he is.” Ruby pulled a bottle of Tums out of her bedside drawer and popped two into her mouth. “No one takes my shoe without a fight.”

***

“It’s not in the house,” Nikkie’s voice whined through Malcolm’s cell phone. “I looked.”

“
It’s in the house,” Malcolm said. “I’ve already looked everywhere else.”

There was a pause on the line.
“I thought you said you couldn’t come here.”

Don
’t try to look for holes in my story, Nikkie,
Malcolm thought.
You’re untrained. You could hurt yourself.
“Go back and look again. It’s there somewhere.”

“
Where are you?” Nikkie said.

Malcolm smiled. He could just picture her glancing over her shoulder in her cabin, wondering if he
’d been there.

Which, of course, he had.

“I’m nearby,” he said. “And I’m watching.”

“
You know what? Fuck this, Malcolm. You’re just as batshit crazy now as you were when I married Nate, and that’s a lot of batshit. I’m outta here.”

Malcolm sighed and leaned back in his lounge chair, looking up at the stars.
“I think you may be underestimating my determination, Nikkie.”

“
I think you may be underestimating my ‘fuck you,’ Malcolm.”

He could hear the distinct sound of a suitcase zipper in the background.

“Stop packing,” he said.

The zipping stopped.

“Good. I think it’s important that you understand something. I don’t care about Nate, I don’t care about Piper, and I certainly don’t care about you. What I do care about is that plate. Now, you can get back in that house and find it for me, or you can run the risk that my batshit crazy might get on your daughter. Is that a risk you want to run, Nikkie?”

There was a cold silence. Good. He liked that. It meant that for once in her life, Nikkie Cooper was listening to someone.

“Piper was very pretty in that blue shirt with the little cat on it tonight, wasn’t she? She looked so innocent and sweet. Gosh, I’d hate for anything to happen that might mar that innocence. Wouldn’t you?”

“
Where the fuck are you, Malcolm?”

“
It won’t matter where I am,” Malcolm said, “if you keep up your end of our deal.”

She sighed heavily.
“It’s not there. I don’t know what happened. Maybe Mick had it buried with him, I don’t know. Give it up. It’s done.”

“
It’s done when I say it’s done.” Malcolm pressed his fingertips to his temples. The woman was thick as hell. “And just in case my threat was a little too veiled, let me make sure you understand. I don’t
want
to hurt Piper. It’s just that I
will.
The good news is, you have total control over that. Find me that plate, and I will pay you, and you can leave secure that your little girl will continue in her life without ever knowing I exist. I’m a man of my word.”

“
You’re a deluded asshole,” Nikkie said. “That’s what you are.”

“
Fine. I’m a deluded asshole of my word. I’m not going to quibble over semantics. The point is, it’s time someone took me seriously, Nikkie, and I really think that someone should be you.”

There was another long silence, but she didn
’t hang up on him, which was a good sign. Malcolm sat forward in his lounge chair, staring out into the blackness of the small lake at night.

He heard Nikkie take a drag on her cigarette.
“I can call the police, you know, let them deal with your crazy ass.”

“
I’d think twice about that, Nikkie. You’re not the only one who can call the police.”

“
What the hell are you talking about?” she said, but there was tension in her voice.

Good.

“Identity theft is a federal offense, Nikkie, whereas my little threat against your daughter is really just your word against mine.”

There was a long silence. Finally. She was taking him seriously.

“Right,” she said. “And how exactly are you going to get your precious plate if I’m in prison, Malcolm?”

Malcolm tightened his grip on his phone, imagining it was her bony little chicken neck.
“Is this a game you really want to play, Nikkie?”