“Great,” Tessa said, exchanging a high five with Nate. “I’ll see you guys by seven, okay? I have a table already reserved at the Q Lounge, but their buffet is only until eight.”
“Wait.” Makay was already having second thoughts. “Nate’s usually in bed about eight.”
“Not when we watch movies,” Nate protested.
“Well, Jonny’s probably going to bed about then.”
“It’s the weekend,” Tessa said. “He lives in a house full of teenage girls. No one goes to bed early. Sleeping late, yes, but never going to bed early. Kid after my own heart.” Her eyes slid back to Nate. “Hey, I know, why don’t you plan to sleep over? That way it won’t matter what time we get home. Jonny will be thrilled.”
The last time she’d been out with Tessa, Makay had left everyone at the club at twelve thirty because she’d been worried about Nate, who was being watched by old Janice at her apartment. Well, worried about Nate and also ready to drop dead from exhaustion. Not everyone was like Tessa, who was a zombie in the mornings but came alive at night. “I don’t know,” she hedged.
“Pleeeease,” begged Nate. There he went again with the eyes. That child was going to be a heartbreaker one of these days. Makay understood exactly why Tessa had come to the school to ask her in person in front of Nate instead of calling. She either had control issues or she was a really good friend.
Makay ignored the sting of tears behind her eyes. “Okay.”
Tessa grinned. “See you tonight then. Don’t eat before you come because I’m buying, remember, and they have great barbecue.” With a wave, she headed toward her car, which was parked across the street.
“Well,” Makay said. “Guess we’d better get home.”
Nate threw himself at her, hugging her tightly. “This is the best day ever. Thanks!”
She really needed to let him get out more. “How was school?” she asked as she went around and opened the car door for him.
“Awesome. I like school. My teacher’s nice. Can we have the top down?”
“Sure.” Makay started the engine and began retracting the top before saying casually, “So, was that one of your friends you talked to just now?”
“Yeah. She’s really nice and not silly like the other girls.” He hesitated a moment before adding more softly, “Is it okay that I said you were my mom? It’s just . . . well, I know you’re my sister, but you do everything a mom does and sometimes, well, I just feel weird, you know, like I’m different ’cuz I don’t have a mom and all the other kids do. Or most of them.”
Makay took his hand. “Nate, ever since you were born, you were my baby. I went back to Fern’s so I could be with you, and when that didn’t work out, I still went there every day to see you. I took you with me to school when you were only six months old.” Barely eighteen and taking a baby to college. No wonder she’d flunked out that time. “Even if I had my own baby, I couldn’t love it any more than I love you. So, you’re right, I am your mom. Just as much as my mom was my mom.”
“’Cuz you were adopted?”
“That’s right. It’s exactly the same thing.” She wondered now if she should have officially adopted him. It hadn’t seemed necessary when he was younger, but she hadn’t counted on the influence of other children or his own urge to feel connected.
“Okay,” he said and snapped on his safety belt.
She pulled from the curb. “Now, just so you know, I’ll be driving to the club tonight so if you need me, I can come home. Just ask Lily to use her phone if you need me. Okay?”
“Sure, but I’ll probably be having too much fun.”
At least one of them would be. Makay was now into her third round of second thoughts. She should be following Lenny and getting more evidence against him. Or maybe using the details from the manila folder he gave her to research the target herself and find out where she lived. That way maybe she could catch Lenny in the act of putting a blackmail note on a car or watching someone’s house. Lenny had taught her a few researching skills over the years. For all her hatred of Lenny now, he had given her that much.
Tomorrow, I’ll take care of Lenny,
she thought. She still had that video of him, and as soon as she had a moment, she’d put it on her computer and see exactly what happened with that Beetle.
Chapter Five
H
arrison ran his fingers through his hair as he stared at the fogged mirror in his bathroom, a towel around his waist. There was nothing in his face that signaled his frustration, but it raged inside his chest. Not for the first time, he wondered if he should call off his planned outing with his sisters and their husbands.
He’d taken time off work this morning and spent two hours at the gym waiting, hoping to catch sight of whoever came to pick up the return note he’d left on his mother’s car, but though he’d spent most of that time in the outdoor pool area that overlooked the parking lot where he’d left the Beetle, he’d been unable to see anything out of the ordinary. No one lurking around. No one stopping near the car and speeding away. Yet when he’d returned to the parking lot, the note he’d left under the windshield wiper was gone.
The only thing interesting he’d witnessed was the vibrant blue Sebring that he was sure belonged to the woman he’d helped at Albertsons yesterday. But he’d only noticed the car as it pulled from its parking space, which was far away from his car, almost out of his view. Phoenix was a large city, but this was one of the best fitness centers, so he shouldn’t be surprised to see her there. Still, she hadn’t dressed like a person who liked to visit a gym. In fact, now that he was thinking about her, she had seemed an exact opposite of the kind of person who would stay indoors. Maybe she liked to hike and bike and that sort of thing.
Why was he thinking about her again? It made no sense. She had a child, and where there was a child, there was usually a daddy close by.
Well, whoever had picked up his note today now knew to deal with him and to leave his mother out of it. What he’d like to do was go to the police, but he would respect her wishes. Truthfully, he didn’t know how Eli would react to the secret, and he wasn’t anxious to find out. For now it was a waiting game to see what this person wanted from his mother and how far he or she was willing to go.
Was that his doorbell ringing? Pulling on dark gray dress pants and a fitted gray and black button-down shirt, he hurried to the door.
“Finally!” Tianna said, pushing inside. “What? You aren’t ready yet? I told you we’d be here at six thirty.” His little sister was a miniature of his mother—blond hair, tiny frame, and blue eyes with the same dark lashes—though he knew for a fact that her blond came from a bottle and not from nature like his mother’s.
“I had to work late. I spent the morning . . . Never mind.”
“Well, the others are waiting in the car. But I need to eat something right now, or I’m going to puke.” She made a face, grabbing her stomach. “Oops, too late.” With a hand over her mouth she ran across his living room and down the hall. He heard her gag into the toilet. Ugh.
“Is she okay?”
He turned to see his other sister, Rhonda, in the doorway of his apartment. She was tall, brown-haired, and large-boned like their father, and her square face was more arresting than beautiful. She’d had more boyfriends growing up than anyone he’d ever known. “I don’t know.”
“Well, get your socks and shoes on and I’ll go check. She should be over the worst of it soon.”
“I thought morning sickness only happened in the morning.”
“That’s a myth.” She frowned. “Why aren’t you ready?”
He sighed. “I had some things to take care of.”
She had started walking across the living room, but now she stopped and faced him. “Is it something to do with mom? Because I happen to know she came to see you yesterday. And she’s been acting weird.”
What would Rhonda say if she knew they had another sister? She’d probably confront her mother but agree with her that things were better left as they were. She hated clashing with Eli. She was a lot like their mother that way.
“I just worked late,” he said.
“I’ve heard they’re slave drivers at Honeywell.”
He laughed. “I like to keep busy.”
Tianna took that moment to appear in the living room, her face pale and her blond hair a bit wild. “I’m beginning to rethink this whole pregnancy thing.”
“Well, we all told you to wait a few years,” Rhonda said. “But don’t worry. You won’t remember any of it once the baby’s born.”
Tianna rolled her eyes, and Harrison stifled a laugh. Same old Tianna, who hated being mothered by her sister. Only twelve months separated them, but Rhonda had always been an old soul.
“So are we still going?” Harrison asked.
“Of course we’re going.” Tianna glared at him, hands on her hips. “A little puking doesn’t change anything. We’re going to celebrate all of us being together again if it kills me. Got it?”
“Okay, okay.” He hurried to the bedroom for his socks.
“And fix your hair!” Tianna called after him. “Put some gel in it or something. You look like you just got out of the shower.”
Harrison laughed. It was good to be home, even if his baby sisters thought they had to take care of him. It was kind of nice for a change, going with the flow instead of trying to figure out a romantic relationship that had soured and dragging himself every day to a job he’d once loved but that had somehow become unfulfilling.
Fifteen minutes later, Harrison was in the backseat of his brother-in-law’s car. “So, where’re we going?” he asked Tianna, who sat between him and her husband Chad, a man who had been a football player before he started selling air conditioners and whose arms were double the size of Harrison’s.
“I don’t know,” she said.
After a little investigation, Harrison realized that everyone had thought someone else had taken care of reservations, and by the time Rhonda’s husband, Graham, turned north on Black Canyon Highway, no one had any ideas where to go, or why he’d turned onto the highway in the first place. “I’m just driving,” he said when Rhonda protested. “Tell me where to go, and I’ll drive there.”
“How about Sizzler?” Chad asked. “They’re having a special. All you can eat ribs.”
“Ugh, no,” said Tianna. “Boring.” When she saw the disappointment in his face, she patted his hand. “Don’t worry, once the baby’s born, I’m sure that’s all we’ll ever be able to afford.”
“Well, there’s really nowhere I want to go in this direction,” Rhonda said as they passed Castles ~N~ Coasters. “Turn around. Let’s go to Bluewater Grill on Camelback.”
Harrison laughed. He didn’t really care where they ate.
They were still arguing whether to go to Bluewater Grill or a place called Christopher’s that was a bit further east and served French cuisine when he saw the Sebring in a parking lot off the highway. He did a double take. With that cool blue, it had to be the same car.
“Q lounge,” he said, his eyes going to the sign above the building. “Let’s go there.”
“What?” Rhonda turned around, looking at him. “Really?”
“The Q lounge serves a buffet in their dance club,” Chad said. “Same food as Bobby-Q next door. Great barbecue. I could go there. We could get in a little dancing. There’s no cover charge until later.”
Tianna laughed. “Sounds fun. We haven’t been there since we got married.”
“That was only four months ago,” Rhonda said, with a groan. “You were barely old enough to get in.”
“Oh, come on,” Tianna said. “Let’s make a night of it.” Her face glowed. “Who wants some stuffy old restaurant when we can scream and holler and dance all night?”
Rhonda shook her head. “You’re going to be sorry. You know you can’t drink, right? Because of the baby.”
“Of course I know that.” Tianna snuggled up to Chad. “I don’t need to drink to have fun. Let’s do it.”
Rhonda looked at Graham, who shrugged and exited the freeway.
Harrison was already regretting his outburst. What if it wasn’t
her
car? And even if it was, what did he think he was going to do, ask her out? Throw a can at her feet? Ha.
It probably wasn’t her car, or she was nearly finished eating and on her way out. Maybe she’d had to park on the lounge side because there wasn’t any parking on the restaurant side. If she was there, he’d probably better keep his distance. Otherwise, she might call the police and accuse him of stalking her. Then again, she’d been the one parked outside the gym today when the note on
his
windshield had disappeared. Maybe he needed to talk to her about that.
They went inside, and despite the crowd, Tianna and Chad somehow arranged a table. Graham looked a little out of his element, preferring more conservative venues, but he good-naturedly offered Rhonda his arm. Harrison followed the couple, suddenly wishing he’d opted for the French cuisine instead. Here, they would expect him to hit on some of the admittedly sexy women, but he didn’t know if he was ready for another relationship. Maybe that’s why the woman in the Sebring was so attractive to him—the child with her obviously meant she was out of reach.
Chad went back for seconds at the buffet, much to Tianna’s disgruntlement, so she pulled Harrison to his feet. “Let’s dance.”
He grabbed his drink and finished it off before following her out onto the floor. There were a lot of people, but he didn’t feel in danger yet of being trampled. Still, he’d have to keep a close eye on Tianna. She wasn’t showing yet, but what if someone bumped into her? Maybe this was a bad idea.
He saw her then, the woman from Albertsons. She was dancing with a dark-haired guy wearing a dress shirt and black pants, but she seemed almost to be dancing alone, as though the man were nothing more than a peripheral thought. Her hands wove above her head and then down in a movement so natural and alluring that his feet stopped moving so he could better watch. She looked different than she had in the parking lot yesterday. She wore a fitted black dress that hit a few inches above her knees and showed off the slender figure that had been hidden beneath the jacket and jeans she’d worn before. Her hair was teased and clipped up on her head, with a few curls escaping, and she was probably wearing makeup because her dark eyes stood out even more. She looked almost otherworldly—and absolutely gorgeous. A lump formed in his throat.