Wish You Were Here (17 page)

She angled the pencil toward the ceiling and shot it upward. It bounced off the ceiling and shot back down at her, the sharp tip nearly stabbing her in the shoulder.

“How do all the slackers do that?” she muttered.

“
It’s an acquired skill.”

She looked up and there was Nate, standing outside the screen door, the sun glinting off his hair. He was beautiful, and seeing him right at the moment her life was ripping apart at the seams was exactly what she needed. He opened the screen, stepped inside, and shut both doors behind him, then walked over and sat on the edge of the desk facing her.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“
Super,” she said. “You?”

“
Me? Great.” He sat there in silence, one leg kicking out a bit from the desk. Freya smiled; like father, like daughter.

“
What’s on your mind?” she asked.

“
Ruby thinks you should leave.”

“
Yeah. She expressed that to me.”

“
And I agree.”

Their eyes met, and Freya saw that he meant it
. A hot spike of pain cut through her, and the muscles in her legs went weak. She wanted to cry and she wanted to run and it didn’t make sense that she should feel this way just at the thought of leaving him. She’d worked her whole life to avoid this very situation, and here it had snuck up on her when she wasn’t paying attention.

She needed him.

“Okay,” she said, once she caught her breath. “You know, I think maybe she’s right. Maybe it’s a good idea.”

She started to walk past him toward the door, but he
grabbed her wrist. He didn’t grab hard, and the pain she felt at his touch wasn’t physical, but it almost brought her to her knees just the same.

“
I don’t want you to go,” he said quietly, and she froze where she was, her heart beating, panic rushing through her, her mind screaming,
Get out
,
get out, get out.

But instead, she looked at him, wanting to throw herself into his arms and let him carry her through all this. Except she didn
’t
want
him to carry her, she
needed
him to carry her, and that was a whole ‘nother kettle of fish.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?

“
Look,” he said finally, “Piper’s already attached to you, and you’ve got your job and your life in Boston. I mean, it’s not like you’re staying forever. It wouldn’t be fair for me to expect something like that of you. We’ve only known each other a few days.”

Freya lowered her eyes. This made sense, perfect sense. His fingers loosened on her wrist and traveled down her hand until they were entwined with her own.

“And I don’t know what’s going on with everything here,” he said, staring down at their hands. “I don’t want you getting hurt again. Not when you’ve got a nice, safe life somewhere else.”

“
Right,” she said, every beat of her heart blasting pain through her chest.
This is good, this is right. You don’t need him. You can walk away, on your own, just like always.

“
But...” He raised his eyes to meet hers, and she could see the pain in them. “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you to go so bad that I think I’d stand in the path of your car if you tried.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, and what strength Freya had left seeped out of her.

“I don’t want to go,” she said.

He smiled lightly, his eyes trailing down her cheeks, stopping on her lips. She took in her breath, waiting for him to pull her to him, to kiss her, to touch her, but all he did was run his fingers over hers.

“I’m a little lost here,” he said, his voice low and rough. “It’s not right, me asking you to stay.”

“
Then don’t ask,” she said softly, taking his hand and putting it on her waist. He pulled her closer to him until he’d drawn her into his arms. She rested her cheek on
his
shoulder as he held her, feeling the heat building between them.

I need him,
she thought. She pulled back a bit and moved her face next to his, closing her eyes as her lips found his. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him on the desk. Things clattered to the floor around them and she didn’t care. He picked her up and spun around until she was beneath him on the desk and she pressed herself against him, the thin fabric of the scrubs she was wearing allowing her to feel how strongly he wanted her. She reached out and unbuttoned his jeans, then put both hands on his face and said, “Tell me you have a condom, or I’m going to have to kill you.”

He smiled and reached into his back pocket, flicking the package onto the desktop next to her.

“That’s my Boy Scout,” she said, pulling him to her again. He hooked his thumbs under the waist of her scrubs and slid them off, running his hands up her thighs, finally cupping her bottom and pressing her against him. She kissed him, her left hand grappling on the desk until she found the condom and pressed it to his chest. A few moments later, he was inside her, moving slowly, as they savored the feeling of being together. Nothing had to make sense now, nothing had to be done, all she had to do was live in this moment. She wrapped her legs around his hips and arched back until the motion hit all the right spots inside, and her mind was wiped blissfully clean of everything but Nate.

And he was all she needed.

Fifteen

Ruby stood at the kitchen counter, staring at the toaster, listening to the coffee maker gurgle as Piper chatted away.

“…
and the Hello Kitty toaster burns little Hello Kitty faces actually into the toast, it’s so cool. We totally need to get one, it’s so much better than our boring old toaster. Are my Pop Tarts done yet?”

Ruby yawned.
“Not yet.”

“
So, I’m not going to school again today?” Piper said. “Why not?”

“
You have pneumonia.” The Pop Tarts popped up, and she whipped a paper towel off the roller. “If anyone from the school calls, cough.”

Ruby brought the Pop Tarts over to Piper and set them on the table. Piper picked at the edge of one tart and looked up at Ruby.
“Is anyone going to ever tell me what’s going on?”

Ruby riffled her hair.
“Kid, the joy of childhood is not needing to know what’s going on. Trust me.”

Piper grumbled and took a bite of her tart. Ruby walked over to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup
of coffee. When she turned around, she saw Freya shuffle into the kitchen through the entryway.

“
Morning, Piper,” Freya said.

Piper turned in her seat.
“Hey, Freya. You missed dinner last night.”

Freya shot a look at Ruby, then looked away.
“Yeah. Sorry. I was tired. Just passed out.”

In Nate
’s bed.
And Ruby had noticed he was not on the couch that morning. Which was fine. She’d given her counsel, and Nate had made his decision. She just hoped it was the right one. She pulled another mug out of the cabinet and looked at Freya. “Cream and sugar?”

“
Black,” Freya said, and walked over to get her mug. “Thank you.”

“
You’re welcome,” Ruby said. She followed Freya back to the table, where they sat down opposite each other and sipped their coffee.

And with that, Ruby knew that everything between them was good. And she had to admit, whether Freya was
gonna complicate things for Nate and Piper or not, there were things about her that Ruby liked: She didn’t need to talk things to death, and she didn’t hold a grudge.

With Ruby, those two traits counted for a lot.

***

Malcolm flipped open his cell phone, checking the text
that Nikkie had sent, to be sure he was in the right place.

Bear Paw Motel, 1381 S. Main Street, Room 223.

It was the right place. He smiled to himself as he raised his hand to knock. Over thirty years, he’d been waiting to chance across the instrument of Richard Daly’s destruction, and now it was just on the other side of this door.

“
Who is it?” Nikkie’s voice came from inside.

Malcolm glanced to his left, then his right,
then leaned into the door.

“
You know who it is,” he said. “Now open up.”

He listened as she unleashed the chain and turned the deadbolt, then pulled the door open.

“You look as lovely as ever,” Malcolm said, although if he was being truthful, the trench coat she was wearing made her look a little bulky. “May I come in?”

She stepped back, allowing him passage. He walked in, surveying the meager surroundings.

“Well,” he said, “times are tough now, love, but you’re going to be back on your feet in no time.” He turned to face her. “Where’s my plate?”

“
Where’s my money?”

Malcolm smoothed his hand down over his tie.
“I told you. You’ll get it. But I need the plate to get it, so if you’d be so kind—”

“
Oh, of course,” she said, and reached inside the coat, then proceeded to withdraw not a plate, but a gun.

“
For fuck’s sake,” he muttered. This was what happened when you tried to deal honorably with treacherous bitches.

“
I don’t know what made you think I’d let you threaten my kid,” Nikkie said, her gun hand shaking slightly, “but you seriously underestimated my maternal instincts, you crazy fuck.”

“
Nikkie, you’re about to kill me. Let’s not play games. You have no maternal instincts.”

“
Oh, no?” She raised the gun. “I’ve got a good instinct to pull this trigger.”

“
And then what?” Malcolm
tsk
ed at her. “Shots are fired, and the people in the room next door call the police, and they run your fingerprints, and then you’re in a hell of a pickle, aren’t you?”

“
I don’t care,” Nikkie said, but her trembling hand showed that she cared very much, if not for the life she was threatening to take, then for the freedom she would surely lose as a result. “I only have one way to make sure that you don’t hurt Piper, and that’s to kill you right this minute.”

There was a long silence. Malcolm raised his eyebrows at her.
“If you don’t shoot soon, I’m going to request a newspaper and a cup of coffee for the wait.”

“
Just... shut up! Give me a minute.” She put her other hand underneath her gun hand, but it only shook more.

“
Nikkie, I think we both know you’re not a murderer,” Malcolm said. “You’re hardly a lady or even much of a human being, but there are certain lines your type won’t cross, just from pure cowardice, and one of those lines is taking another life. Now just give me my plate and let me be off. I promise, Piper will come to no harm.”

Nikkie rolled her eyes.
“I don’t have your stupid plate, you dumbass. I just told you that to get you here so I could shoot you.”

“
Hell,” Malcolm said. “I was afraid of that.” Then he stepped forward and backhanded her hard across the face. She crumpled to the floor with barely a sound, and the gun slid out of her hand and across the floor, hitting the wall with an innocuous
plunk
.

“
Treacherous bitch,” he said, stepping over her body to get to the bedside phone. He picked it up, dialed 911, and when they answered said in a wimpy, breathless American accent, “Hi. I’m at the Bear Paw on Route 8. I hear fighting in one of the rooms. The man said something about identity fraud and the woman said she was going to kill him. I think maybe you guys should come check it out.” Then he hung up, picked up the gun, and clicked on the safety catch before tucking it in the waistband of his pants and slipping out the door. Although it would have given him endless pleasure to have shot the bitch, handing her over to the police had a certain poetry to it. And if she mentioned his name, that was fine. The police weren’t going to act quickly to find him on the word of a forger. And if it got back to Nate that his uncle Malcolm was back in town, the timing on that would work just fine. Nate had always been a good, reasonable boy. He wouldn’t refuse him one simple memento of his useless brother. It was just a plate, after all, to everyone but Malcolm and Richard Daly.

Nate
was a good, smart boy. He would take Malcolm seriously.

He was almost sure of it.

***

Nate watched as the sheriff
’s deputy brought Nikkie into the interrogation room. She was wearing an orange jumpsuit, her hair was flat on one side and shooting out wildly on the other, and she sported a yellowing bruise below her right eye. He lowered his eyes, keeping his focus on the wood veneer table until she was seated across from him.

“
You have ten minutes,” the deputy said, and left the room.

Nate raised his eyes to look at her. Her expression was hard.
Too hard to read. Too hard to crack. The lines on her face, which had seemed light back at the campground, were now hard-etched and immutable. It was like everything that Nikkie had tried to be had been stripped from her, and what was left was the shriveled core of who she could have been.

And she looked so much like Piper that it almost killed him just looking at her.

“It was Malcolm,” she said, her voice quiet and spent, but still carrying her signature undercurrent of anger. “He’s the one who wants the plate. I don’t know why, but he offered me a lot of money to get it for him. He also did this”—she motioned to her bruised right cheek with her cuffed hands—“and called the police to come get me while I was knocked out.” She closed her eyes heavily, as though warding off a headache long in coming. “Should have shot the fucker.”

Nate sat back, trying to take in this information.
“Malcolm? Malcolm Brody? My uncle? The drunk?”

She opened her eyes.
“Try to keep up, Nate. We’ve only got ten minutes.”

“
I didn’t think he and Mick were talking,” Nate said. “Ruby never even knew Dad had a brother. How would he even know about the plate?”

Nikkie leaned forward.
“Who gives a shit how? He’s here and he wants the plate. So... just... wherever you’ve got it, or whatever, just give it to him, okay? Just give it to him and he’ll go away.” She sat back. “Although it would have saved me a lot of trouble if you’d just given it to me when I’d asked.”

“
I don’t have it,” Nate said. “It’s gone.”

“
Gone?
”
Nikkie stared at him. “It’s a plate, not a dog. Where the fuck did it go?”

“
I’ll take care of it,” Nate said. “Where’s Malcolm staying?”

Nikkie shrugged.
“Beats the hell out of me. All I have is a phone number.” She rattled it off, and Nate punched the numbers into the contacts list in his cell phone. “Call it and tell that fake Irish fucker that in five to ten years, I’m gonna kill him for real.”

“
Little advice,” Nate said, tucking his phone into his back pocket. “No murder threats while you’re in the county jail, okay?”

She rolled her eyes.
“Whatever. Look, Malcolm is not the same guy who got drunk at our wedding and drove the catering van into the gift table, okay? The years have not been good to him and he’s gotten both mean and crazy. He almost burned down your girlfriend, for crying out loud.”

A shard of tension spiked through
Nate’s body. “What?”

“
T
his
is what I’m telling you,” she said. “It’s all Malcolm. He’s batshit crazy and he’s gonna try to get you through Piper. That’s what he did to me, and you see how that ended up.” She raised her cuffed hands and lowered them. “And now he’s got my gun.”

Nate leaned forward.
“Your
gun
? Christ, Nikkie. Identity theft, guns… what the hell happened to you?”

She eyed him.
“I got pregnant at nineteen and married the wrong guy. Pretty much been all downhill from there.”

“
Right.” Nate sat back. “I haven’t seen you in ten years, Nik. Eventually, the statute of limitations is gonna be up on your problems being my fault.”

Nikkie met his eyes and held them, and for a moment, he thought he saw something genuine in them, but then she looked away.

“Piper... she’s a good kid.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “You did a good job. Better than I ever would have done. So... thanks.”

“
You’re welcome,” he said. He’d never loved Nikkie, but he felt protective of her, wanted things to turn out well for her, and not just for Piper’s sake. She had given him the thing he loved most in the world, and that had earned her a certain status with him. And knowing she’d gotten herself thrown in jail to protect Piper only elevated her. He was trying to figure out how to say that to her when she interrupted his thoughts.

“
Look,” she said, “just keep an eye out. I already told the police about Malcolm but in their eyes all he did was turn in a chick wanted on a federal warrant so my word that he’s a crazy fucker isn’t shooting him to the top spot on their to-arrest list.” She raised her eyes to his, and nibbled her lip. “Keep her safe.”

“
I will.” There was a long silence, and then he said, “Is there anything else you need? A lawyer, or something?”

“
No,” she said, stiffening. “I’ve got that all taken care of. I just wanted to warn you about Malcolm. They say they’re gonna transport me to a federal facility tomorrow, so... I’ll see you when I see you.”

Nikkie code for
never.

“
Right.” Nate pushed up from the table. “I’ll talk to the police about Malcolm.”

“
Do that,” Nikkie said. She held his eyes for a moment, then pushed back from her seat and yelled, “Done here!”

And they were.

***

Freya pulled the towel off her head and tossed it into the hamper in Nate
’s room. Flynn had overnighted her a suitcase full of clothes full of casual Flynn-wear: T-shirts, jeans, light sweaters, and the simple cotton camisole and flannel lounge pants Freya was wearing at the moment. Not a thread of silk in the bunch. The rental company had sent her a new set of keys, her bank was rushing her a replacement debit card, and life would be okay.