Chapter One Hundred Seven Kiersten
Chapter One Hundred Seven
Kiersten
June
Kiersten, Rosamund, and Piper sat on Kiersten’s front porch, celebrating the first day of summer vacation.
Rosamund flipped through the print edition of The Washington Post. “Did you see the latest?”
“About the investigations into the death of Chip’s wife and the murder of Richard’s first wife?” Kiersten shook her head in amazement. Each morning The Washington Post delivered fresh revelations about her former neighbors.
“That was yesterday,” Piper corrected. “Today they have a story about Bruno Orlov making large ‘donations’ to the school, and in exchange, Mr. Vex agreed to look the other way when Alex Orlov bullied kids in order to drive their parents into selling their homes at a loss and leaving the school district.”
“Isn’t his sentencing hearing coming up?” Kiersten asked.
“It is, and based on the sentences Chip and Trey got, he’ll be in prison for a very long time,” Piper said with a satisfied smirk.
“It says here that Evil Dickie is trying to claim he’s too senile to stand trial?” Rosamund said, flipping to page A12.
“While simultaneously attempting to tamper with the jury from his jail cell.” Piper snorted. “I know the prosecuting attorney, and she’s a badass. Good luck to Dickie with that.”
“Maybe he’ll end up in the cell next to Hawkeye Slaughter?” He’d finally been arrested three weeks ago, attempting to smuggle a bomb into a data center in Loudoun County.
Piper grinned. “They deserve each other.”
Kiersten gestured toward the For Sale sign in Aspen’s front yard with her glass of iced tea. “Looks like Aspen’s house is on the market.”
Piper nodded. “She closed down all her social media accounts too.”
Inadvertently streaming the arrest of her entire family live on Instagram made Aspen go viral, for all the wrong reasons.
She’d filed for divorce from Trey and moved to Florida two weeks ago with Peggy and her girls.
In her last text, she’d told Kiersten she planned to become a certified energy healer with a side practice as a life coach.
Rosamund folded the newspaper and turned to Piper. “How did your interview go today?”
Piper smiled. “They made me an offer, and I accepted.”
“Congratulations!” Kiersten pulled her into a hug. “I knew they’d hire you.”
Piper gave her a tolerant smile before disentangling herself from Kiersten’s embrace. “It’s noble work, and I’m excited to be part of it.”
“What is it again?” Rosamund asked. “Some kind of shelter?”
“It’s a home for runaway teenage girls, providing education, counseling, and a safe place to live. Everything they need to put the past behind them and move toward a better future.”
“And the governor’s wife is doing this?” Kiersten asked. “And that TV-anchor lady?”
“That’s right.” Piper leaned back in her chair. “Nikki Lassiter and Ainsley Bradley. They started it last year. It’s called Project Runaway, and I think it’ll be a great place to work.”
Kiersten grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the plate on the patio table. “Remind me how you heard about this job?”
“My friend Edna Chavez. She’s a detective with a small department out in Maryland.
Nikki and Ainsley wanted someone with a law enforcement background on staff to help build a case against the traffickers.
And they need someone to develop security protocols to protect the building and the girls themselves.
Bad guys aren’t happy they’ve created a shelter for runaway teenage girls, and they’ve had threats. ”
“Listen to you, on a first name basis with television anchors and the first lady of our fine state,” Rosamund teased.
Piper raised her iced tea with her pinky extended. “I’m sure I’ll become far too cool for Beaverbrook Lane potlucks.”
“Do you have any regrets about turning down that promotion?” Kiersten wiped her fingers on a cloth napkin.
She’d started using her grandmother’s lace napkins during “high iced tea” every Friday afternoon on her front porch with Rosamund and Piper.
“Wouldn’t it give you a lot of satisfaction to boss around the people who put you on administrative leave in the first place? ”
Piper’s reinstatement had been expedited, thanks to her role in uncovering an illegal sports gambling ring and a money-laundering operation, not to mention solving a sixty-year-old murder. She’d been offered a promotion and turned it down.
“No regrets,” she said with an emphatic shake of her head. “I’ll be doing important work in an office full of moms with a flexible schedule. It’s perfect. And that’s not all.”
“There’s more?” Rosamund asked.
Piper grinned. “This morning, I also received a backhanded semi-apology from my mother-in-law.”
“No way.” Kiersten had met Piper’s mother-in-law at Christmas. This was quite possibly the most shocking development of all.
“She wants to take the girls to Europe this summer and build on the interest they’ve developed in history during our home school experiment, thanks to you, Rosamund.”
“It takes a village,” Rosamund said with a modest shrug as she reached for another cookie. “How about you, Kiersten? Are you going to be our new school nurse?”
Kiersten nodded. “Head lice and strep throat, here I come.”
“Sounds like the hardest job on the planet,” Piper said.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Kiersten smiled. “I like taking care of people. And little people with tummy aches at school need all the care they can get. Plus the hours are perfect. I’ll have the same schedule as the kids.
And if we get one of those giant tourist-bus passenger vans, I can drive all our kids to school in the morning and home again in the afternoon.
You guys will never have to sit in the pickup line again. ”
“I’m going to miss the Beaverbrook Academy for Inquiring Minds,” Rosamund said wistfully. “But Guinevere is excited to go back to school in the fall. Now that she has friends.”
They gazed out at the street where the older kids played kickball while Johnny and Bella whacked each other with pool noodles.
“Do you think . . .” Piper’s voice trailed off.
“That we’ll be able to hold the line?” Kiersten finished.
“Yeah.” Piper nodded.
“I do.” Kiersten set her iced tea down on the table. “Because I learned something from the Beaverbrook Academy too. I learned about this crazy, old-fashioned concept called balance.”
“Easy to say now, before the next school year has even started,” Rosamund warned.
“True,” Kiersten admitted. “But all those things I did before . . . I did them because I was afraid. Afraid of the future. Afraid my kids would be left behind if I strayed from the path taken by everyone else. But now I know my kids are resilient, loyal, curious, and strong, no matter what their report cards say. That fear is gone. You guys erased it.”
“I feel the same way.” Rosamund stirred a packet of sugar into her iced tea. “We dropped out, and the world kept spinning. The kids not only survived, but they thrived. So I feel confident about dropping back in, but slower this time.”
“With balance and boundaries,” Kiersten said. “My kids will play on a travel team for one season. Then they play a different sport on a rec team the rest of the year.”
“Balance and boundaries,” Piper repeated. “Amen to that.”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing too?”
Piper nodded. “We’re still doing dance but at the studio down the road. No more epic trips across time, space, and the DMV to study at a certain studio or with some special instructor.”
“How about Guinevere?” Kiersten asked.
“She’s going to audition for some plays,” Rosamund said. “As you may have noticed, she has a flair for the dramatic.”
Silence fell over the porch as they watched their kids play together in the cul-de-sac. Then Rosamund asked, “When does Lillian’s granddaughter move in?”
“Tomorrow,” Kiersten said. “She starts her junior year at George Mason in the fall. And she’s a nursing student, so it’s perfect.”
“Rent-free off campus housing for her, and Lillian has someone there every day, just in case.”
“And Lillian insists on seeing Bella and Johnny once a week to work on their spelling words,” Piper added.
“She will still be very much involved,” Kiersten agreed with a smile.
“As will Valentina. Luke will work with her two days a week after school. She’s finally going to let me pay her the going rate.
And while she does that, Reggie is going to launch a personal-training business. I’m his first client testimonial.”
“And Minnesota?” Piper took a sip of iced tea. “Anything new with that?”
“We thought about it,” Kiersten said. “And we decided to stay out here until the end of the ag secretary’s term. We’ll be here three more years.”
“So you’re not going back home?” Rosamund asked, her expression hopeful.
Kiersten looked out at the cul-de-sac, where her children played. “We’re already home. Home is where your friends are.”