Chapter Nine Nico
Chapter Nine
Nico
Lee blinks up at me, a dazed expression on her face. ‘Was I supposed to be somewhere else?’ she asks. ‘This is where Bud dropped me off.’
‘Bud?’ I repeat blankly. I realise that I’m still cradling her against my chest, and I ease her back, putting several inches of clear air between us.
It’s more for my sake than for hers. Catching her had been an instinct, but the smell of her perfume – smoke and honey – hits my system like a drug, my mind going hazy.
I have no idea what she’s doing here, and I’m not sure how I feel about that sharp shock of gladness I experienced when I realised who had tumbled into my arms.
‘He picked me up from the airport,’ Lee says slowly. ‘Like you arranged?’
‘Like I—’ I break off, my gaze moving over her shoulder to where Magda and Phoebe are standing. Magda looks guilty and Phoebe looks the picture of innocence, which means she is also guilty of something.
‘What’s going on?’ I ask slowly.
‘Let’s go and sit down inside,’ Magda says, clearly flustered. ‘We weren’t expecting you back yet and there are a few things we need to discuss…’
‘What type of things?’ I look at Phoebe now, because whatever harebrained scheme this is, she’s probably the ringleader. ‘Phoebe?’ I lift an eyebrow.
She smiles back winsomely – only further evidence that she’s been up to no good. She’s never winsome.
‘Daaaad,’ she begins, her singsong voice cajoling, and Lee’s sharp inhale has me looking back at her.
‘Dad?’ Lee murmurs.
I want to wince, but I’m careful not to, not in front of Phoebe. Shit.
‘Lee, this is my daughter, Phoebe.’ I turn back to Phoebe. ‘This is my friend, Lee.’
‘I know who she is.’ Phoebe rolls her eyes.
‘You have a daughter?’ Even in the dim light from Magda’s torch, Lee looks totally stunned, and when her gaze meets mine I’m surprised by the hurt mingled with the shock there.
‘I do,’ I confirm quietly, feeling like a dick that she didn’t hear it months ago from me.
We haven’t spoken for about a year, and while it’s not unusual for us to go a long time without contact, I have to admit that I thought about calling her more than once.
The desire to do so caught me by surprise, and so I pushed it down. Way down.
Besides, what could I even say? The last time I saw her had been messy.
And awkward as fuck. I didn’t even get the chance to apologise during my fleeting trip to London after Gran’s heart attack.
I got the feeling she was avoiding me, which made me feel like even more of a piece of shit about how we’d left things.
I’d obviously embarrassed her, put her into an awkward situation and she wanted nothing to do with me.
If she wanted to talk, she’d reach out, I reasoned.
I was surprised by how much it hurt that she never did.
‘I think you and I have a lot to catch up on,’ I say carefully now.
‘Yes.’ It’s Lee’s turn to look flustered. ‘Of course, and then with the wedding and everything—’
‘What wedding?’
She frowns. ‘Our wedding. Not that it was really a wedding. Of course, legally it was a wedding. That’s the whole problem.
’ She’s rambling, her cheeks pink, her eyes darting between me and Phoebe.
I’ve never seen Lee so ruffled before and it’s enough of a novelty that it takes several long seconds for me to register what she’s saying.
‘Wait.’ I hold up my hand. ‘Are you talking about Las Vegas?’
The line between her brows deepens. ‘Yes. What else would I be talking about?’
Lee takes a step towards me, clearly concerned by the look on my face, which I can only imagine is the look of a man suffering some sort of medical disaster.
‘Are you saying that we’re… that you and I…’ I trail off.
Phoebe makes an impatient sound. ‘She’s saying you’re married, Dad. Lee is your wife. Isn’t that great? You really needed a wife and now you have one!’
My daughter beams at me; Magda offers her own smile. Lee looks as bewildered as I feel.
‘You didn’t know?’ she asks, her face pale. ‘But what… The emails? The ticket?’
‘I really think now would be a good time for us to go inside and have a nice glass of my homemade lavender lemonade,’ Magda interrupts, and she takes Lee by the arm, guiding her up the steps towards the front door, muttering something soothing as though Lee has been involved in an accident.
It’s not that much of a stretch – personally, I do feel like I’ve been hit by a metaphorical truck.
‘Come on, Dad.’ Phoebe tugs at my hand.
‘What the f—’ I cut myself off, just in time. ‘What exactly have you two been up to?’
My daughter only smiles, showing off the gap where she lost a tooth last week. ‘We’re going to explain everything,’ she says. ‘Come inside and sit down.’
Following the arc of Magda’s torch, I allow myself to be pulled through the entrance hall, which is currently a mess of building materials, and into the sitting room, which is in no better state.
Someone has dragged a crate into the middle of the room and spread it with a floral tablecloth.
There’s a pitcher of lemonade and a plate of cookies arranged on top, along with a small glass vase of daisies.
Lee’s eyes linger on the flowers for a moment before meeting mine. She looks away.
There are candles on the table, too, which Magda lights, giving the whole scene a bizarrely romantic atmosphere.
‘Why don’t we sit down?’ Magda gestures to the folding chairs that have been put out.
‘This is very civilised,’ I say, trying to hold onto my temper as I take a seat. ‘But the pair of you had better start talking, right now.’
Phoebe helps herself to a cookie. ‘It started when Lee emailed you.’
‘Phoebe… intercepted the email,’ Magda adds.
‘You hacked my email?’ I ask.
Again, Phoebe rolls her eyes. She’s eight years old and I’m already terrified by the prospect of her teenage years.
‘I didn’t need to hack anything. The passcode on your phone is 0000.
I was actually watching a video about female serial killers on it.
Did you know that approximately sixteen per cent of serial killers in the United States since 1820 have been women? ’ She turns to Lee, who looks dazed.
‘I didn’t know that, no,’ Lee says, clutching the glass of lemonade that Magda has poured for her.
I briefly close my eyes and make a mental note that I need to do something about setting up better parental controls on my phone.
Do I also need to have a talk with my daughter about female serial killers?
Is that some sort of milestone I have missed?
I wonder if there’s anything in my various parenting books about that…
‘Anyway, the notification popped up about the email and I read it,’ Phoebe continues completely without shame.
‘And then she said that she was married to you.’ She gestures towards Lee with her half-eaten cookie.
‘So I thought that could be a good thing because you said that you really needed a wife.’
I close my eyes, hissing out a long breath.
‘That was not…’ I start hopelessly. ‘That wasn’t…’ I turn to Magda. ‘How the hell did you end up getting wrapped up in this?’
‘Now, Nico.’ Magda’s face is lit with mischief.
She’s enjoying this. It’s not difficult to see where her granddaughter gets her outrageous streak from.
‘When Phoebe came to me with Lee’s email of course I said we should tell you about it, but then the more I thought about it, the more it felt like destiny, you know?
Here you are, in this predicament, and the universe offers up a bride! It’s so romantic!’
‘Fucking hell, Magda.’ I drop my face into my hands.
‘That’s another dollar for cursing.’ Phoebe pulls a pencil and a small notebook from her pocket, and runs her finger over the neatly accounted figures there, before making a note. ‘Looks like me and Taco are getting ice cream.’
Lee, I can’t help but notice, observes the book with interest and something approaching approval. I’m glad that my failures as a parent are giving the accountants something to bond over.
‘We thought if we could get Lee out here then she’d be willing to—’
‘Magda, that is deranged,’ my voice is sharp as I try to rein in my temper. ‘I know you’re worried about… things, but I don’t understand how you think this could be the answer. Having Lee fly out here like this, lying to her.’
I look at Lee, but I have no idea what she’s thinking. Her expression is almost totally blank.
‘Yes, I did feel a bit guilty about that part,’ Magda looks chagrined for a moment, ‘but in the end I thought the two of you needed to talk about all this face to face anyway. And Nico… did you know?’ Magda’s in raptures again. ‘She’s an accountant! An actual accountant!’
‘People aren’t usually so excited about that.’ Lee’s voice is dry. Her expression remains calm but her toe is tapping against the floor. There’s an uncomfortable pause and I try to unscramble my thoughts.
Lee gets there first. ‘Let me get things straight: are you saying that Nico never saw my email? It was you and Phoebe who replied? You sent me the plane ticket, and Nico had no idea?’
Magda nods.
‘You sent her a plane ticket?’ I have to try very hard to keep my voice level as I face my daughter.
‘We wanted to get her here as soon as possible.’
‘And how did you pay for that?’
‘I used your credit card of course,’ Phoebe answers, as if I am being especially dim-witted just to annoy her.
‘That is…’ I reach for the words, ‘a crime! Phoebe, that is an actual against-the-law crime!’
‘Pffft.’ Phoebe waves a dismissive hand. ‘It was an investment. You gotta spend money to make money.’
‘Where are you getting this stuff?’ I ask wearily.
‘You know… around.’ Phoebe keeps her answer vague, pushing her glasses up her nose. ‘I think you and me need to have a talk about your crypto wallet.’
‘I don’t have a crypto wallet.’
‘You don’t have a crypto wallet?’ She echoes me in disbelief before turning to Lee and making a face like can you believe this guy?
Lee makes a choking sound that could be a laugh.