Chapter 8 #2
“Mine can barely stand being in the same room together.”
“Do you get along with your dad?” She loved hers, but feared she wouldn’t see him much once he left for good. Lisa would chase him away.
He shook his head. “He’s always on my case.” Thomas bounced the pencil on the table. “He wants me to go to work for him after I graduate college. That’s the last thing I want to do.”
“What would you rather do instead?”
“Something cool. The CIA would be off the hook. What about you?”
She shrugged. She hadn’t thought about anything past eighth grade graduation. If she graduated. She was barely getting by in her classes.
Angela returned with Thomas’s sundae. Her eyes widened at the vanilla ice cream scoops buried under a flood of hot fudge and mountains of whipped cream. Thomas shot a spoon across the table. “Dig in.”
“You sure?” Nadia’s appetite might have ditched her but she was a sucker for sweets.
His spoon shoveled into the scoop nearest him. “I wouldn’t have asked for two spoons.”
Nadia ate her fill and set down the spoon, and surprised herself by saying, “My parents are getting divorced.”
“I wish mine would.” Thomas scraped a spoon along the bottom of the bowl, finishing off their treat.
Two hours later, Thomas dropped her off at Aimee’s house.
They never got around to doing their homework and spent the entire time talking.
He’d kept her mind off the troubles at home.
And somewhere between complaining about exams and debating the best item on Joe’s menu, he’d stopped being Thomas and started being just Tom.
Nadia was glad she went to Joe’s instead of the Goat.
“Hey, Nada. Call me again?” he asked before she got out of the car. Her eyes widened. “When you need a ride to study. We’ll go to Joe’s.”
She tried to play it cool, but his offer meant more than she’d ever let on. So she did call him again, and eventually, he’d just show up whenever he was heading to the diner.
Two unexpected things emerged from their frequent meetups. Nadia passed her classes. She also found in Thomas the friend she hadn’t realized she’d needed. With him, she’d felt safe.
Nadia swiped the burner phone she’d left on the bathroom counter. Where Thomas had been the friend she hadn’t known she needed, Aimee was family.
She was probably sick with worry after Thomas had cut off their conversation earlier. Nadia should have already been at her and Ian’s house to care for Caty and Fenwick while their parents went out.
Nadia wiped her nose and steeled herself with a breath. She texted Aimee from the new phone.
It’s Nadia. I’m OK. Please don’t worry.
Aimee called immediately. Nadia answered on the first ring so she wouldn’t alert Thomas.
“You text me from an unrecognizable number and tell me not to worry?”
“I know, I know,” Nadia answered, aware she was asking a lot of Aimee.
“I had to hear your voice to know it was you,” Aimee said. “Have you been watching the news?”
“Yes,” she said, her reply barely audible. She hadn’t discussed with Thomas who’d they notify about where they were.
“That cartel guy escaped, the one the Donato family was involved with. And Thomas’s house was shot up. At least I think it was his house. That’s what’s being reported on tonight’s news. They mentioned his name and nobody knows where he is.”
“I’m aware,” she said, although she hadn’t realized Thomas’s house had made it onto the news. She shouldn’t be surprised. Organized crime gangs descending on an idyllic seaside community would blow up the wires nationwide.
“Are you on your way over?” Aimee asked, hopefully.
“Here’s the thing…” She paused, dreading her friend’s reaction.
“My god, Nadia,” Aimee interrupted. “Please tell me you aren’t with him. I had this weird feeling about you this morning before I heard about Ruiz’s escape and then tonight, learning about Thomas’s house after you hung up on me. I’ve been trying to reach you for the past few hours.”
“Thomas was showing me his house. He wanted some work done.”
“You told me you hadn’t heard from him!”
“I know. I’m sorry. He’d texted, but I hadn’t responded yet when I met up with you.”
“That’s not the same as not hearing from him,” Aimee lashed out. “You lied to me.”
Nadia rubbed her forehead. If Aimee only knew the extent of her lies.
“Why? Oh, forget it. We’ll talk about it later. Are you okay? Were you there when it happened?”
She inhaled a shaky breath. “Yes and yes.”
“God! Where are you now?”
“We’re at a safe house. Tom knows people who are helping us out. We’re lying low until Ruiz is back in custody.”
“Why are you there with him?” Aimee demanded. “You don’t have anything to do with him or the cartel.”
“I told you, I was there when they shot up his house, and they know that. They saw me. We had to leave my car behind when we escaped. My purse was in the car. They know where I live.”
“Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god,” Aimee wailed.
“That’s why I’m calling. I didn’t want you to go looking for me at my house. If they’re watching it—”
“Screw Thomas,” Aimee spat. “I hate him. I can’t believe he got you involved. Screw him. Screw the shit he gets everyone I care about messed up in.”
Nadia’s stomach knotted with unease. The day was coming when Aimee would discover exactly how involved she’d been with Thomas. Nadia could feel it. Their inevitable confrontation. The potential fallout.
“I’m coming to get you,” Aimee announced. “Tell me where you are.”
She wished Aimee could come get her. But Thomas was right. What if Nadia’s house was being watched and they saw Aimee drop her off? They could follow Aimee home.
“I can’t,” she said. “Trust me, I’ll be okay.”
“It’s not you I don’t trust.”
“Really, Aimee, I’m fine,” she insisted.
A light knock on the bathroom door startled her.
“I have to go,” Nadia quickly said. “I’ll call you tomorrow when I know more.”
“Nadia—”
She terminated the call just as Thomas’s voice came through the door. “Everything all right in there?”
She wiped her face. “It’s fine.”
“Can I come in?”
She stood and smoothed her hair. Unlocked the door. “Yes.”
Thomas poked his head in, his gaze landing on the phone in her hand.
She lifted her chin. “I had to call Aimee. Between the news and you cutting off our call, I needed to let her know I was okay.”
“That’s fine, but best you don’t call her again or anyone else.”
She balked. “For how long? We have no idea when or if Ruiz will be back in custody.”
“Exactly.”
“I have work. People are counting on me. I can’t just disappear.” She was repeating herself from earlier, on the verge of losing her composure.
“You aren’t the only one with obligations.”
“You say it like this whole thing is an inconvenience.” She flapped her arms. “Well excuse me. Maybe you shouldn’t have damned my life all those years ago.”
Thomas flinched. His expression turned to stone. Nadia wished she felt smug for insulting him. She only felt worse. This wasn’t his fault. None of it had been his fault.
Nadia’s shoulders bowed. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair. I shouldn’t blame you.”
“But I am to blame.” His gaze met hers and for a beat he let her see the regret and loss he’d suffered before his eyes blanked. His face became unreadable.
“Are you okay?” he asked, going back to why she’d called Aimee in the first place.
“Fine,” she said in a clipped tone, wishing this would be over soon.
His eyes narrowed skeptically and she lifted her chin a fraction more.
“We need to stay fueled and alert. Come eat something when you’re ready,” he said.
She started tidying up the counter, grateful he didn’t push her to admit that she really wasn’t fine. She was far from okay. “I’ll be out in a moment.”
Thomas hesitated. “Let’s wait until we hear more from Mitchell, then we can decide next steps. It’ll turn out okay.”
“You don’t know that. You can’t promise me that.”
“No, you’re right. Come eat,” he said again and closed the door.
Alone again, Nadia stood there, staring at her reflection in the mirror.
She should have had Aimee come to get her or used the phone Thomas had given her and called for a taxi.
She could stay with Aimee and Ian until this blew over.
But she didn’t want to put their family in danger, or have Aimee prod her with questions, which she would.
Questions Nadia would struggle answering on the off-chance she revealed she’d known about James all this time.
But Nadia also couldn’t leave Thomas to face this crisis alone. Just as she hadn’t been able to leave him at the funeral home all those years ago.
Aimee was her oldest friend. They had always been one another’s ride or die.
But Aimee had had James, and Kristen and Nick had been inseparable since before the Donatos moved to California.
It only seemed natural for her to gravitate to Thomas as their friend group had coupled off.
They’d often been left with only each other to confide in about their troubles at home.
He understood her on a level nobody else did, as she did him.
And she owed him her life.
The question was, would she let him do so again? Or would she be the one doing the saving next time?