Twenty-four
Three hours later, they both ended up in the attic. The lamplight in the main house made it too difficult to find little cracks in walls that might indicate secret hidey-holes, and if he was honest, Wes felt a little daunted by the entire endeavor. There were a lot of searchable spots in Dot’s house.
He paged through property tax bills in a desultory fashion as he tried to stay awake. He hadn’t wanted to break first, vaguely feeling as though he’d be letting Nadine down. She was so involved in the competition they’d made up that he wanted to bring the same energy.
She pinched her shirt between her fingers to fan in some air and looked over quizzically when he made an involuntary sound. “Wes? Are you okay?”
“A little overheated.” True enough although not in the way he felt it. That decade-old attraction had kicked up hard the other day when she’d appeared in the attic ready to work, dress swirling around her legs. Despite their constant need to be at each other’s throats, he’d been powerless as it grew when she was on her hands and knees taping that ridiculous line on the floor. Tonight in the damp heat, she’d pulled her hair up, and tiny tendrils had escaped to frame her face. The harsh lights lit up Nadine’s skin to show the little pattern of freckles across her shoulders, like the sun had peppered her with kisses.
Nadine looked inside the dusty trunk she was about to sort and sighed. Wes sympathized. She sounded like he felt.
“Want a break?” he offered. He’d take one for the team by giving in first. They’d do better if they paced themselves. “I found a curious place earlier.”
“ Yes .” She switched off the light, plunging the attic into a dim twilight. The moon was bright enough for them to find their way through the boxes. “Where is it?”
“Out back.”
Nadine looked out the window. “What if there are clues outside the house?”
“Dot could barely walk, and we never saw her outside,” Wes pointed out.
She looked relieved. “True. What’s this secret place?”
“You’ll see.” Wes didn’t want to tell her the details so he could see the surprise on her face.
They stopped in the kitchen, and Wes opened the fridge to fetch her a can of the fruit beer she preferred.
“Thanks.” She handed him a glass of his favorite red. “Where to?”
“This way.” They were being so polite, as if exhaustion had sapped the energy to snipe at each other, a habit they still fell into despite their big talk. Wes went straight to the trees they’d assumed had delineated the edge of the property, then ducked into them.
“Is there a path?” asked Nadine as she stepped behind him.
“Yes, but you can barely see it.”
They came into the clearing a few seconds later, and Nadine gasped. “No way.”
He waved his hand. “Voilà. She wasn’t kidding. Dot had a grotto.”
It was exquisite. Water fell from a rock formation into a pool that looked like it was hewn from actual stone and was small enough to cross in four or five swim strokes. He couldn’t believe it when he found the place. His first thought had been Nadine is going to love this .
He was happy to know he was right.
“I checked with Brent, who said it’s a legit pool and safe to swim in,” said Wes.
Nadine slipped off her shoes as if in a trance. “The water looks perfect.”
Her toes shattered the moon trembling on the surface, and Wes joined her, instantly feeling his whole body relax. She was right. He lay back on the inlaid stone surrounding the pool and listened to the water tumble down the surprisingly robust falls at the edge. The warm, dark stillness made him feel as if it was only the two of them left in the world. Not even the ever-present Toronto traffic or sirens broke the peace.
They sat for a few minutes before Wes said, “This is almost like a real vacation.”
Nadine laughed without humor. “I needed one. I hate the night shift. Almost as much as Raj hated being obituary editor.”
“Your replacement?” He closed his eyes and folded his arms behind his head like a pillow.
Her voice came to him. “It wasn’t his thing.”
“Did you like it?” He twisted his head to look at her. The moonlight touched her profile, the tip of her nose and chin, and left the rest in shadow. “Obits?”
“Not at first,” she said. “Why am I telling you this?”
“Hey, we don’t have to be friends to listen.”
She sniffed. “I kind of think you do.”
“Well, maybe you’re about four percent better than I thought.”
“High praise.”
“Come on, Nadine. Let it out.”
“Ugh, only because my therapist is on vacation.” She pulled her hair back and let it drop. “You don’t do obits over at the Spear , right?”
“Nope.”
“They call it the dead beat and say it’s where reporters go to die. Tom was there for twenty years. I didn’t know how he managed it, calling people day in and day out to ask about the lives of those who had passed.”
“Didn’t or don’t?”
She leaned forward to dip her hands in the water. “Past tense. You remember the first time you had to call the family for a crime story?”
He did. “It was hard, going to people reeling from grief and trying to let them talk but at the same time knowing you were on a deadline.”
“Yeah.” Her shoulders hunched up. “I was only in the obits job for a month, and that wasn’t enough time to understand it was different. The people I talked to were sad, but they were happy to talk about the person I was writing about. It was kind of uplifting? Less depressing at least, but I didn’t see it at the time because I had a preconceived notion it would be sad.” She splashed her feet around. “Enough about me. I’m on vacation. What about you? What’s the Spear like?”
“I’m on vacation too,” he reminded her.
Her laugh rang out, full and happy. Wes liked it. It wasn’t like bells chiming or anything like that, but the rich sound of a woman enjoying herself. His home hadn’t had much laughter, and he found he craved it like a drug.
“True, but tell me anyway,” she said. “We’re doing sharesies.”
“This isn’t the last slice of cake. There’s no sharesies here.”
“Don’t care. You owe me.”
He looked at the shadows on her back as she bent forward and how the fabric of the dress showed she wasn’t wearing anything under it. Better to talk than think about that. He capitulated. “It is what it is.”
“Yowza. That’s no vote of confidence.” She shifted to face him, causing her dress to dip down low in the front. Wes had to close his eyes. “I have an idea,” she announced. “What if we don’t use points for our game?”
He cracked an eye open. “What do you have in mind?”
“If I find something, you have to answer one of my questions. On the off chance you do, you can ask me one.”
“Why?” he asked. “What do you want to know?”
“If I asked you the question here, it wouldn’t make for much of a prize, would it?”
“True, but that doesn’t answer why.”
Nadine kicked her foot in the water. “We’re here for a while,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense that we stay strangers. We’ve known each other for years, and we’ve barely talked . It’s weird.”
He was nodding before she finished. “I like it. Do we start now, since we each have a point?”
“We can.” She tilted her head to the sky. He followed her gaze. The city would never get full black thanks to light pollution, but at least there were a few stars visible. She was quiet, and then she pulled her legs in. “Actually, you know what I’m really in the mood for?”