20. Breaking Old Patterns
20
Breaking Old Patterns
N icole awoke, disoriented and confused. Slowly, she opened her eyes and adjusted to the sight of Nessa in front of her, slyly smiling. “Do you mind waking my uncle? I have school,” she said before going into the kitchen.
Nicole looked at her hand and saw she was still on the couch. She sat up and saw Spencer asleep under her. Her body draped over his, their legs tangled together. She remembered falling asleep, her head resting against his chest. The memory sent warmth through her body.
Underneath her, Spencer slept soundly, his face calm, his breath steady. Almost too peaceful to wake. That’s when Nicole got the idea. She got out from under him, careful not to wake him. When she was free, she walked into the kitchen, where Nessa sat on a stool eating Frosted Flakes.
“How would you feel about me taking you to school?”
“Really? You would take me?”
“If you’re okay with that, I would love to.”
“Yes! Please!”
Nicole smiled. Spencer was there for her last night in a way no one had ever been before. The least she could do was let him sleep in. “Do you know your school’s address?”
Nessa nodded. “It’s in the car’s navigation.”
“Great.” Nicole walked back into the living room and put on her pumps. She grabbed her purse and Spencer’s keys. Worried he might wake up and think she stole Nessa and his car, she left a note. “Taking Nessa to school. See you soon. -N.”
When they pulled up to Nessa’s school, the kids were lining up in front of the building. The teachers monitoring them as they entered. When some of the kids from Cindy’s party saw Nessa, they waved. “Nessa!” they greeted.
“Well, go on. Have fun with your friends.”
“Thanks, Ms. Nicole.”
“You did all the work by being your cool self.”
“I mean more than just yesterday. My Uncle Spence needed a friend as much as I did. Thank you for being his.”
“It’s the easiest job I’ve ever had.”
With that, Nessa got out of the car and greeted her friends. Nicole felt her heart swell. The love niece and uncle, father and daughter, had for each other was pure and beautiful. She was thankful she could see it and be a part of it.
She hoped to remain a witness to it, but she couldn’t be sure. Spencer acted accepting of her past last night, but having time to think it over, he could change his mind. Even if he didn’t, it was one thing for him to accept her past. It didn’t mean he would want his niece hanging around her, a criminal.
As she pulled away, her phone rang. She answered it through the car’s bluetooth. “Does this mean we’re even again? I saved you from face planting on my stairs and you get my kid in school on time?”
“What can I say? I’m a saint.”
“Clearly,” Spencer remarked. She could hear the smile in his voice.
“I hope you’re not mad that I took your car. ”
“Nah. Nessa likes spending time with you. I would never deny her that.”
“So you won’t keep her away from me?”
“Why would I do that?”
“You’re still new to this parenting thing, huh? Let me fill you in on a basic rule. Keep your children away from criminals.”
He laughed. “You’re not a criminal, Nicole.”
“I am.”
“Okay, fine. You are, but I don’t care.”
“Why not?” She leaned into her seat, really wanting to hear his answer when she wasn’t even sure what she wanted to hear him say.
A quiet moment passed between them before his voice came through again. “Everything in me is telling me not to trust you. That I should let you return my car, then kick you out of my life. I’m not going to do that and that may make me an idiot.”
“So why aren’t you kicking me to the curb?”
“Because the woman I want to kick out is the one who conned people without an iota of guilt. The woman who dragged her daughter into her scams. The liar, the schemer, the manipulator. The woman I want gone already is.”
Nicole took a small, involuntary gulp. “And the other woman?”
“The version of you now? If she doesn’t mind, I would like to keep her around.”
“She doesn’t mind. Not in the least,” she replied, her voice the softest she’s ever heard it.
“I’m glad.”
“Me too.”
Spencer took a deep inhale. “Nicole, I’m going against my instincts here, but I’m not going away. Not unless you ask me to. And if that makes me an idiot, at least I’ll be a happy one.”
His words had such an effect on her, her heart ached. It was so nice, the idea of someone trusting her. Not Hamilton. Or Mitchell. Or Wright. But, her. Nicole. Making it all the better was that it was him who was trusting her.
Aiden Spencer was a good man. As instinctively as a gut feeling or observant as a noticing a deep hidden red flag, Nicole knew he was. A person’s goodness or lack thereof wasn’t something anyone could hide. Spencer wore his on his sleeve.
No one person could be all good or bad, but they could be more of one or the other. The good in Spencer outweighed any of the bad in him. Nicole was sure of it. To have someone good believe there was good in you too was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time. As she sat there, trying to comprehend the weight of his words, Nicole felt something shift inside her.
It was like a door had opened, one she had thought was closed forever. It would be safer to close it and turn around, but knowing that wasn’t enough to compel her not to step through it. “How can you be sure you’re not making a mistake to trust me?”
“Because the mistake would be not trusting you. You wouldn’t have confided in me last night if you weren’t scared. I know I can help you. I’m not going anywhere until I do exactly that.”
Her eyes blinked back the tears that had welled up. She didn’t deserve the chance to get to know a guy like Spencer, but he was there anyway. “You’ll never know how much that means to me.”
The next words Nicole said to him were face to face. Spencer was standing outside his building, waiting for her to arrive with his car. She parked and stepped out. As he met her halfway, Nicole waved his keys at him.
“I think I found something that belongs to you.”
Spencer smiled, taking and tucking them in his pocket. “Feel free to find them again if it gets you to come and talk to me.”
Nicole couldn’t promise that. Opening up to people was something she had long ago stopped doing and people stopped inviting her to. “We’ll see.”
“I mean it, Nicole. If you need anything, I’m here.”
She heard those words before. From foster parents to partners. Always without meaning, she knew.
Nicole changed subjects, asking. “How was your sleep? As peaceful as it looked?”
“Yeah. I dreamed of a woman named Nicole.”
“Oh, really? Was she a nightmare, or a dream come true?”
He leaned closer to her. “What do you think?”
Nicole’s heart pounded in her chest at the closeness. The smell of his aftershave. The pink of his lips shimmering from his chapstick. The mint of his toothpaste. She could practically taste him, but played coy.
“If she’s anything like me, she’s gotten confused for both before.”
“Let me clear up the confusion. She was the best dream I’ve had in a long time.”
He was a step closer now. His gaze, the one she had gotten lost in before, locked onto hers, unwavering. They had a way of looking straight into her, of seeing her in a light no one else had in a long time. Nicole felt exposed yet covered, raw yet safe.
“Is that so?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“Mhm.”
They had to stop. Nicole needed them to stop this. Her carefully constructed boundaries were collapsing around her anytime she was around Spencer. Not by Spencer knocking them down, but by Nicole tearing them down for him. If he got close enough, she feared there would be nothing left to separate them.
She had to stop it. “I’m sorry about using your couch last night.”
Spencer blinked at the sharp turn she took. “It wasn’t a problem. You can use it any time you want or the bed if it’s more comfortable. ”
“Spencer,” she said in a reproaching tone. “I’m working for you. I’m planning your niece’s birthday. That’s the extent of our relationship. Or what the extent should be.”
“You’re telling me to back off, but all I’m hearing is that you’re telling yourself the same thing.”
She opened her mouth to deny, but the sound of her ringing phone interrupted her. “Saved by the bell.”
“Shut up.”
He chuckled. “Call me. Whether it’s professional or personal, call me. I’ll pick up.”
She watched him go, annoyed he was right. Annoyed that he wasn’t letting her put up her walls again. Annoyed that she was enjoying him seeing all of her. The good and the flawed.
“Hello,” she answered, directing her attention to her caller.
“Did you forget we have a meeting with the potential private investigator today?”
Nicole looked at the date on her phone and realized she had. “I’m sorry. I’ve had a busy couple of days.”
“He’s meeting us at my dad’s in the next hour. Do you think you can make it or will I have to handle it on my own?” Kennedy didn’t sound annoyed, but Nicole could tell her absence would bother her.
“I’ll be there. See you soon.”
* * *
Since her last sleepover at Spencer, Nicole kept some fresh clothes in her car. So when she arrived at Eric’s, she appeared as professional as she needed to look for the meeting. When she parked, the cars there were Kennedy’s, Eric’s and… Maya’s. As she expected, her daughter was inside, waiting on the living room couch with Kennedy.
“Maya, I didn’t know you would be here. ”
“I thought it was about time we brought Maya into the fold,” Kennedy offered.
“By fold, you mean—”
“She told me everything. From William trying to blackmail her to you deciding to meet with him. Seriously, mom, what were you thinking?”
Nicole didn’t appreciate being scolded. There was a lot Maya could criticize her for that she would take lying down, but not this. “I was thinking the sooner I handled this, the better for you. The last thing you need to worry about is William dangling our pasts over you.”
“Mom, I’m not a child. You don’t need to handle things for me. We have always been a team, working together to solve whatever problem came our way. Have you forgotten that?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why try to shield this from me?”
“Because you shouldn’t have to focus your energy on this anymore,” Nicole answered in one long string of words. “It’s been almost a year since the last con. You’re making something of yourself with your show. William has the power to take what you’re building away from you because of me. I gave him that ammunition. It’s my job to take it away.”
“I get it. You feel guilty. You want to take William out of the equation to rid yourself of it, but you don’t have to keep me in the dark,” Maya reinforced. She didn’t sound quite as annoyed as before. “You didn’t cause this problem by yourself and you don’t have to fix it by yourself either.”
Nicole nodded, understanding Maya’s frustration. She wouldn’t have liked the situation either if the roles were reversed. “I’m sorry. I thought I was looking out for you, but I see now I was taking your agency away. That wasn’t my intention. You’ve just made incredible strives to distance yourself from our pasts. The last thing I wanted was to drag you back into it and have you get your hands dirty.”
“These hands?” She waved them in a jazz hands motion. “Do they look dirty to you?”
“No, but when was the last time you had a manicure, sweetheart?”
Maya gasped, grabbing a pillow to throw at her mother. Nicole laughed as she caught it, not noticing Eric walking into the living room.
“I see we’re getting along much better now,” he said.
“Eric,” Nicole greeted. “Thank you so much for paying for the PI. You didn’t have to considering our history.”
“You know me. I choose to remember the good of our relationship, no matter how fake it was. And everyone in this room loves Maya and won’t let anything happen to her, or you by extension.”
Nicole caught a lucky break choosing to scam Eric Hayes. She couldn’t have foreseen any of the others being as forgiving or generous as Eric had been to her and Maya. “I will repay you for this.”
“Be there on their wedding day instead of prison and we’ll call it even.”
“Dad!” Kennedy exclaimed.
“Oh, I forgot how touchy you two are on wedding talk.” He did not forget, but the blushes on Maya and Kennedy’s faces were well worth their daughters’ embarrassment.
The doorbell rung, cutting the teasing short. Eric opened the door and in walked their potential savior, Thomas Fisher. Nicole had never met a private eye before, but assumed they more or less resembled Thomas. With his leather jacket, faded denim jeans, and slicked back hair. He looked like the kind of guy you would hire to find out if your spouse was cheating, and he found the proof to back it up.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Hayes,” he said, shaking Eric’s hand before shaking Nicole’s, Kennedy’s, and Maya’s.
They led him over to the dining room table and expanded on the details explained to him over the phone. “We’re interested in getting this man out of our lives permanently. Within legal means, of course. No hit mans,” Nicole added at the end of the summary, driving their point home. “Do you think you could help us?”
“I can find skeletons in anyone’s closet. And rich middle-aged white men have enough of them to fill Narnia. I’m confident I can find something that would get him off your backs, but I need to know how you want to do this.”
Maya leaned in, listening harder. “What do you mean?”
“The approach I take is up to you and what you’re comfortable with. Looking into his background, monitoring, surveillance—”
Nicole heard enough. “Whatever you need to do to find a weakness to exploit. Do it.”
“Absolutely,” Maya agreed. “Whatever it takes.”
Eric nodded. “I’ll cover the costs.”
“We can all pitch in,” Kennedy offered. “Since this is affecting our entire family.”
Nicole smiled to herself. She couldn’t have predicted that when plotting to steal the Hayes family’ fortune, that today, they would consider her and her daughter family. It was a gift, better than any money could have gotten her.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Thomas said.
With a sigh, Nicole reached into her pocket. “I have the thing to get you started.”
She slid the note across the table. Thomas’s eyes took a moment to grasp the unsettling nature of William’s words. “Debts eventually demand their due,” he read aloud. “He sent this to you?”
Nicole nodded. “Yesterday, to my office, via a flower delivery boy.”
“Oh mom, I’m so sorry.” Maya put a hand on her shoulder, easing the tension in Nicole as best she could.
“I’m fine. What matters is that you,” she directed at Thomas, her voice firm and clear. “Get this done.”
Handing over control to another person was against every one of Nicole’s core beliefs. But so was confiding and letting someone in like she had with Spencer. So far, that move hadn’t bitten her in the ass. She had to trust this one wouldn’t either.