Chapter 22
MAREK
Well, I fucked up.
Not the first time in my life and probably not the last time either. But I hate that I hurt Nikki.
She felt safe with me. And I fucked it up. That’s what really bothers me.
I know it hasn’t been that long since the accident. I do feel like she’s slowly coming back to being herself but it’s going to take time. I’m here for her, I’ll help whatever ways I can, but I’m not a professional and… well, my fuck-up is evidence of that.
“So we’re not leaving?” I ask.
She’s sitting with her head bowed and doesn’t answer. Then she glances up at me with a weird look on her face.
“What?” I search her face for answers. “What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing. I mean, other than… I don’t know. God, Marek.” She leans her head against my shoulder. “I’m so confused.”
“I know.” I let go of her hand and slide my arm around her. “Me, too.”
“What are you confused about?”
I huff a strangled laugh.
She looks up at me. Our eyes meet. “You,” I say. “I’m confused about you, Nikki.”
“I… I’m sorry?”
One corner of my mouth hooks up. “Don’t apologize. It’s not you. It’s me.”
Her forehead creases. “I’m sorry I got mad.”
“You have a right to get mad. You have a right to feel whatever you feel.”
“I overreacted. It’s not like you literally stabbed me in the back. It’s just a guitar.”
“Okay.” I’m not sure that’s true, but I’m going to leave that for now.
“Let’s just spend the next few days enjoying our time here.”
I can do that. That’s my whole life. Live in the moment, have fun.
But fuck me, she’s got me thrown all off balance. Since the day I laid eyes on her, to be honest. The whole last year has been jacked up. I have to keep reminding myself—we’re here for a good time, not a long time.
“Okay,” I finally say. “Let’s get ready to go wine tasting.”
The inn has a shuttle van that takes guests to wineries but we’re the only ones on it. The driver introduces himself as Harvey.
“I guess it’s busier in the summers?” I say to him as we head out.
“Eyep. We get a lot of winter visitors, but it’s definitely not as busy as summers. And fall. Fall is really nice here.”
I ask him more questions about the area and he gives us lots of interesting details about the lake and the region.
“We were hiking yesterday,” I tell him. “We went to Ridge Falls.”
“We came across a grave,” Nikki puts in. “Marek said it was a witch’s grave.”
“No, I didn’t! There’s no such thing as witches.”
“You did say that!”
“I said I’d heard there was a witch cemetery. I didn’t believe it.” I pause. “But you did.”
“Oh my God, we heard something. Are there ghosts there, Harvey?”
He grins. “Legend has it, there are.”
“Ah!” Nikki describes the noise to him.
“It could have been a screech owl.”
“It wasn’t really screeching,” Nikki says doubtfully.
“No, they don’t screech. I don’t know why they’re called that, but that’s exactly what they sound like.”
“So it wasn’t a witch’s ghost?” She slides me a mildly let down look.
“Well, you never know,” Harvey says. “Aliza Binkerhoff is buried there. As the legend holds, she was believed to be a witch. She was beheaded in 1878.”
Nikki gasps.
“Many people claim she’s buried with the axe that severed her head.”
“Oh, dear God.”
I shoot Nikki an amused glance.
“Some accounts claim Aliza wasn’t alone in her dealings with the occult and she was actually part of a coven of witches.”
Nikki’s wide eyes meet mine.
“The locals put up with the coven until their witchcraft started causing problems and terrorizing the non-witch folks. Some say there were other witches who were also beheaded and buried in the same place, so folks called it the Witch Cemetery.”
“Ohhhh.” Nikki nods, still big-eyed.
“The witches are said to haunt the area. People have noticed strange winds, drops in temperature, mysterious noises.”
“Yes! We heard them! It wasn’t a screech owl.”
“Could be.” He nods. “There’s also a legend that if you step on Aliza’s grave you will meet a gruesome end within forty-eight hours.”
“We didn’t step on it!” She turns to me. “Did we?”
I bite back my smile. “No, we definitely didn’t.”
“We get lots of visitors looking for paranormal experiences—ghost hunters, teenagers looking for a thrill, that kind of thing,” Harvey adds as he pulls into a parking lot. “Well, here we are at Brambleheart Estate.” He names a time that he’ll pick us up to drive us to the next winery.
“We did hear ghosts!” Nikki whispers as we enter the building.
“Sounds like we’re not the only ones.”
“I’m fascinated with Aliza Binkerhoff. I need to know more.”
Ooookay. Christ, she entertains me.
We spend the next while sampling various wines and being informed of the story behind the winery. The next one is Feywood Cellars, and we wrap up the tour with a stop at Whispering Vines before being chauffeured back to the inn to get ready for dinner.
I’m in the bathroom washing up when I hear it—the notes of an acoustic guitar. I go still, listening.
I don’t recognize the tune. It’s slow and halting. Then stops. Starts again.
Will she stop if I go out there? I don’t want to chance it so I sit on the bed with my back against the headboard to listen. It sounds like she’s creating something new. But she’s not singing.
When she stops and doesn’t restart, I go back out to the living room. She’s sitting, still holding the guitar, and looks up at me.
Our eyes connect, and hold. And hold. I don’t know what to say and I can’t read the look on her face. Finally, she says, “I did it.”
“Yeah. You did.” I can’t stop my smile.
She stands and carries the guitar back to its case and carefully puts it away. “I’ll go get ready.”
I grab a beer from the fridge and sit down with my phone, but I don’t even see the screen. I’m too distracted by Nikki playing her guitar and what it means.
* * *
Back in Hoboken, Nikki regards her suitcase and purses her lips. “I shouldn’t bother unpacking. I really have to go back to my apartment.”
My head jerks back and a coldness seizes my insides. “Why?”
She shrugs. “I’m sure the media has moved on to other things now. I doubt they’re still stalking my apartment.”
“There wasn’t anyone there when I went to pick up your things,” I admit. “But as soon as someone in the neighborhood sees you, they could be back.”
She nods slowly, looking torn. “I suppose.”
“Do you want to go home?”
She stares at the suitcase. “I have to.”
“Not the question, Nikki.”
She still doesn’t look at me.
I’m not used to working this hard with women. It’s always been easy for me to find someone to hook up with, date a few times, have some fun, and then move on. But Nikki is complicated.
I’m not sure why I’m trying this hard. I keep reminding myself this isn’t going to end well for me. It’s hard. I want her here. I want her here every minute I can get her. I want her to be safe. And I’m going to get my nuts kicked in for my troubles, I just know it.
She’s clearly having an internal debate about this. “Okay,” she finally says. “I’ll stay.”
I let out a long exhalation. “Okay.”
My phone pings with a text message. I pull out my phone. It’s from Mabel.
Mabel
Hey can we come over tonight?
Marek
Why
Mabel
That’s not a nice response to your sister
Marek
That’s not an answer
Mabel
OMG you’re such a butthead. We want to spend some time with you.
Marek
Doubt it. But yeah, come over. Bring beer.
Mabel
Will do
I look up at Nikki. “Mabel and Benny are going to come over tonight.”
“They’re back from Saint Lucia?”
“Yeah.” I’d told her that they and two other couples had gone there for part of the break. I didn’t tell her I was supposed to go with them. “They probably want to show off their tans.”
“I can hang out in my room,” she says.
“What?” I stare at her in horror. “You don’t have to do that.”
A hint of a smile brushes her lips. “Okay.”
We throw in a load of laundry, order pizza, and I make a quick trip to the bodega for some snacks, wine, and beer even though Benny’s bringing some.
I also get an email from Levi about another goddamn hospital visit. “Jesus Christ,” I mutter.
“What?” Nikki looks up from folding laundry.
“Nothing.”
“What is it?” she persists.
“I guess Levi doesn’t get a holiday when we’re not playing. He’s still working. Still trying to set up a hospital visit for me.”
“Why don’t you just do it? Then he’ll probably leave you alone. It’s a nice thing to do.”
“I do nice things.” I try to soften the defensive edge in my voice. “I do other charity work.”
She pauses, holding a towel. “Then why not this?”
My gut bunches into a knot. I glance at her, at her clear, uncritical expression. I release a strangled breath. “I don’t like hospitals.”
“Oh.” She nods, then says again, “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
She inclines her head. “You could tell him… that.”
I rub my forehead. “I’d rather not.”
“You haven’t been in a hospital since then?”
“Nope. Haven’t had a need to, thankfully.”
“You could do it.” She holds my gaze. “I know you could.”
I’m not as certain, but I appreciate her faith in me. She drops the subject.
Mabel and Benny arrive around seven. Mabel greets me and Nikki with big hugs. “How was your trip?” Mabel asks us.
“It was good. How about yours?”
They start yakking about St. Lucia as we all move first to the kitchen to get drinks, then to the living room. Mabel makes herself at home and starts some music; she did live here for a few months when she left her asshole ex and moved to New Jersey.
“It was so beautiful,” she gushes. “The beaches were gorgeous. And we had our own butler!”
“A butler? Whoa.” I shake my head.
“It was trippy. He looked after us the whole time. Served us drinks on the beach and at the pool. He offered to unpack for us, but that seemed weird to me.”
“Hmm. I guess.” I’ve never had that service either.
“And we went scuba diving.”
“I’d love to try that!” Nikki says.
“There are amazing coral reefs,” Mabel goes on. “We saw seahorses! That was so cool! And so many fish, I can’t even remember all the names. And turtles!”
“Did you get pictures?” Nikki asks.
“Yes, I had an underwater camera. I’ll show you sometime.”
She and Benny talk more about the amazing food they ate, paddle boarding, the spa at the resort. Then she starts asking us questions about the Finger Lakes, and we tell her about our trip. This goes on for a while, until Mabel jumps to her feet and cries, “Oh my God! What is wrong with you?”
I freeze and look at her like she’s a mountain lion about to pounce. “Who? Me? What?”
She thrusts her left hand right in front of my face. An enormous diamond glitters on her third finger. “I’ve been waving my hand around all night hoping you’d notice!”
“Holy shit.” I look over at Benny, who’s grinning. “You’re engaged?”
“Yeah.” Benny beams. “I proposed at the resort.”
Nikki gives a little scream. “Oh my God! Congratulations! Let me see the ring.” She admires it while I give Benny a bro hug.
Then I turn back to my sister and meet her eyes. We both smile, and I pull her into a hug.
There was a time when I wasn’t too happy about Mabel and Benny being together.
But after I got used to the idea and realized that my buddy is the best guy I could ever want for Mabel, I was okay with it.
He really does make her happy. And she makes him happy, too, even though she’s kind of wacky and talkative and way too sociable for him.
“This is great,” I say. “I’m happy for you both.”
“Thanks, man,” Benny replies. “I was hoping you would be. You know I’ll take care of Mabel.”
“I know.” I turn. “Do Mom and Dad know?” I ask Mabel.
“Yes. Benny talked to Dad before we left on our trip and told him he was going to propose.”
“Nice.” I nod approvingly at my friend.
“I’ll get the champagne!” Mabel bounces over to the kitchen and pulls a bottle from a bag she stashed in the fridge.
Benny opens the bottle while I find more wine glasses and we all drink a toast to the engaged couple.
“We didn’t tell Andi and Ford, or Trevin and Brooke, because we didn’t want them to know before you,” Mabel says, mentioning the others they were with. “Now we’ll tell everyone.”
“Was it romantic?” Nikki asks, smiling. “The proposal?”
“Yes.” Mabel sighs. “Ben did good.”
“Our butler helped me arrange it.” Ben grins.
“It was on a private catamaran cruise,” Mabel says. “At sunset. We had champagne and snacks and music and watched the sunset, and we saw the green flash.”
Nikki and I both say, “Green flash?”
“It’s some kind of optical phenomenon that happens right when the sun goes below the horizon. There’s a flash of green above it, but it’s super quick and you have to really watch for it. We figured that was a good sign for us.” She exchanges a smile with Benny. “And then that’s when he proposed.”
“That sounds lovely.” Nikki seems genuinely happy for this couple she barely knows.
“Maybe we should get married there,” Mabel muses. “A destination wedding.”
“I like that idea.” I lift my glass in approval.
When Mabel and Nikki go into the kitchen for snacks, Benny looks at me. “I have a question for you.”
“Yeah?”
“Will you be my best man at our wedding?”
I smile, my chest going weirdly fizzy like the champagne I’m drinking. “Oh, hell, yeah, I will.”
Benny smiles, too. “Great.”