Sixteen
The weather turned overnight, and Nico put on a sweater before going to get Valerie for lunch.
She had spent the morning curled under a blanket with a book and looked up at him with the glazed expression of someone whose soul remained partly trapped between the pages.
After collecting bowls of roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese sourdough croutons, everyone gathered around the fire in the Mariposa room to eat.
The meal was subdued, the gray skies and spitting rain adding a slight chill to the dim but not dreary house.
“This is delicious, Penny,” Jenn said.
“Thank you. I told the staff I wanted something cozy.” Penny put down her spoon and looked around to gather the approving nods.
The chat was general until it somehow moved to electronics and Roger snapped his fingers. “Nico, that reminds me, I still have your old charger. I went by your bunkie early this morning to drop it off but you weren’t in and I didn’t want it to get wet.”
Roger was scrupulous about not coming into Nico’s space, which he usually appreciated. He tried not to look at Valerie.
Because last night the coyotes had been out again and he’d come over to play cards and distract her until her eyes closed. Then he’d fallen asleep waiting for the rain to stop pounding down.
“Were you out swimming in this weather?” asked Alice.
“No,” said Jenn. “I was at the lake and didn’t see you.”
Valerie’s leg pressed against his and he wasn’t sure if it was deliberate, and if so, what she meant to communicate. Was she nervous about people thinking they were together?
“I was getting coffee,” Nico said.
“Really?” said Penny. “I was in the kitchen all morning.”
“I was in the other one,” Nico said after a beat, not sure which kitchen she had been in. “Before I went for a walk.”
“Oh, which path?” asked Alice. “I went to the tennis courts and got soaked.”
Not the tennis courts, then. “Around by the lake path.”
“The mud didn’t bother you?” asked Penny, her gaze sharper as she looked between Nico and Valerie. “They had to hold back on remulching.”
“No.” That was true since there had been no walk and thus no mud.
Nico was let off the hook when Roger turned the conversation to whether they should use gravel instead of mulch—a discussion that became oddly impassioned and caused literal gasps of shock when Alice asked why they didn’t just pave it. After lunch, Penny looked out the wet window.
“We’re going to have a nice family game of Monopoly,” she announced.
“I have to work,” said David. Nico tried not to let his expression reflect his skepticism.
David spent most of the summer on the golf course or at the cottage while his deputy dealt with both their jobs.
The time he’d taken a video call about layoffs from his boat—not bothering to remove his sunglasses or put on a shirt—was legend around the office.
“Nonsense,” said Penny. “We’re supposed to be connecting as a family after Dad’s passing, away from the demands of the city. Your staff are overpaid anyway, thanks to Roger’s bleeding heart. Let them deal with it.”
“David is used to that,” said Jenn, but so softly Nico wondered if he heard correctly.
“Nobody wants to work anymore,” said David, looking at his wife.
“I doubt that’s true,” said Alice.
“David, you’re playing,” said Penny. “Your boss is right here, and he’s in, aren’t you Roger?”
“Doesn’t seem like there’s an option.” Roger tilted his head. “Get ready to lose, Davey. Again.”
This threat to his Monopoly skill was all it took to get David involved. “As if. Come on, Alice. You’re the best at this game. We’ll be partners.”
“I’ll decide that,” said Penny. “Dave, you and Jenn. I’ll be with Roger, of course.
” She looked around. Fernie and Brayden hadn’t been fast enough to escape the loving embrace of family and she put them together.
They immediately began fighting over top hat versus race car.
Alice begged off to read a book on the sidelines.
“Good, that’s everyone,” said Penny. “Let’s start.”
Roger looked up from unpacking the Monopoly money Nico had replaced the other day. “You forgot Nico and Valerie.”
“It’s a family game, Roger.”
Valerie started to make excuses that made Nico feel for her. “I don’t need to play,” she said. “I prefer watching games. Let me get snacks for everyone.”
She left and Roger turned to his sister. “What the hell, Penny.”
“I’m so sorry.” She sounded calm. “Poor Valerie. I feel terrible. I went into auto mode when I thought of family. It was habit.”
“Sure it was,” said Alice.
“Penny is trying,” said Jenn.
Penny glared at Alice. “I’ll apologize when she gets back.”
“Just leave it,” said Roger. “You’ll make it worse. Nico, will you and Valerie be partners?”
He nodded and went to the kitchen to help Valerie, who rolled her eyes when he came in.
She’d added a wide polka-dot belt to her blue dress, one from the Penny collection.
He doubted the belt had been part of the original look, but Valerie made it wholly hers.
It accentuated the width of her hips as she leaned over and he had to shove his hands in his pockets.
“Imagine if I was the real Rogette,” she said in a low voice as she pulled a fully stacked charcuterie board from the fridge. “Also, why do I never see people cook here?”
“Penny has the staff come in early to prep the food for the day so no one sees them, and if they’re here, they stay in the working kitchen. Are you okay?”
“Sure, it was no big deal.”
Was Valerie trying to pretend it didn’t bother her, or did it really not? Not for the first time, he wished people came with little emotional signals, like the lights on a car, to guide him.
“Roger called her out after you left and she said she felt bad.”
“No doubt.” Then she shrugged. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
Nico was sure she did, but he let this go. “If you want to join, we’ll be partners, but you don’t have to.”
“I want to play,” she said. “This is the only time they’ve all been together since that first dinner. It’s perfect for recon. Sorry, but you’re stuck with me.” Valerie reached out to give Nico’s arm a quick squeeze. He was grateful she didn’t put in that latent finger power.
She didn’t seem upset Nico had lied about being with her last night, which was a relief. Still, he wanted to make sure she knew it wasn’t her, but the situation. “Earlier, when I was talking about where I was this morning—” he said.
Valerie didn’t let him finish. “God, good save. Penny told me to watch out for you, can you believe it? She warned me about summer romances with staff.”
“She what?” He shouldn’t be surprised, though. Penny liked to think she had influence over everyone in her sphere.
“I know! Some nerve, although it’s kind of funny since I’m also staff but she doesn’t know it.
What we do is none of her business, but at the same time, we don’t need to deal with anyone’s judgment.
” He nodded, gratified they agreed there was something between them to keep private.
Her phone dinged and she checked it. “Weird. Ruth says someone asked about my employment history.”
“Who?”
“Ben from the Larrow Agency. He was looking for someone with my skill set.”
“Did you apply for a job?”
“No.” She looked up from her phone. “There’s no Larrow, but there is a Harrow Agency. Ruth might have misheard.”
“Maybe it’s a potential Ad Astra client.”
She snorted. “I sincerely doubt it.”
Jenn poked her head around the door. “Are you coming? Penny wants to know what’s taking so long.”
Nico took the tray and carried it out. People milled around collecting snacks and drinks before surrounding the table with good-natured insults and threats. David’s competitive side appeared when Roger bought St. James Place after David himself bought Tennessee Avenue and New York Avenue.
“You asshole,” exclaimed David. “I’ll trade you.”
“For what, Baltic? Get ready to lose.” Roger was ecstatic.
The game seemed to have resurfaced a series of long-held petty animosities that Nico recognized from his own life. No one held a grudge like an adult who remembered a sibling hoarding the best snacks and inching onto one’s own side of the car during a road trip decades ago.
“David, your money is a mess,” said Penny as David pawed through the disordered pile of bills and property cards. “You should sort them out properly, like mine.” She reached out and David slapped his hands down to protect his cards.
“I like it this way,” he said.
“You should be more like Nico,” said Penny as Nico counted out his money from where he’d tucked it neatly under the board in order by denomination. “He’s so serious. Roger, you need to teach him to have fun.”
Valerie leaned into him, heavy against his side. “Nico is a lot of fun,” she defended. Nico caught Penny’s raised eyebrow when she saw Valerie stayed close but he couldn’t bring himself to move away. “He taught me to canoe.”
“It was oar-some,” said Roger.
“No one thinks your jokes are funny,” said David as Penny laughed.
“Sure they do,” said Roger. “You’re jealous you can’t think of them first because you’ve got the same sense of humor as Dad. None.”
“Roger’s right, David, you’re turning into a bitter old man,” said Penny. “I’m going to see you shaking your fist at the sky one day. Good Lord, what’s this?” She picked up the jar Valerie had added to the snack tray.
“Pickled asparagus,” said Valerie. “I thought it looked cool.”
“That’s not the kind of thing we’d serve here, but thank you. It was sweet of you to try.”
Valerie looked down at the board and Roger jumped in. “Do you remember when Dad taught us to canoe?”
“God, do you remember when he taught us to drive?” asked David. “He took me to a parking lot and lasted five minutes before he started pounding his feet into the floor as if he could brake on the passenger side. I’d barely touched the accelerator.”
“I don’t know why he bothered,” said Roger. “He hated not being in control and loved his precious Mercedes.”