Ten
Valerie wore a loose pair of green pants and a low-cut black tank top. He worried she could hear his audible inhale. He’d never seen skin so smooth and wondered uncomfortably if skin texture was strange to be into.
“Hi,” she said, completely oblivious to how she shook him. “How did you sleep?”
He managed to get his mouth working and thanked the muscle memory that came from decades of meaningless but polite social interaction to provide him with an automatic answer. “Good, thanks. You?”
“Same. It’s always a bit strange in a new place but I’ll get used to it. Your hair is wet.” She reached her hand out slightly before dropping it. “How was the water?”
Had she been about to touch him? How did he feel about that, since somehow this seemed different than her usual light but unconscious touches? Good. He felt…yeah, definitely good. He tried to focus on the conversation. “Invigorating.”
She shuddered. “That means cold.” She put down her flowered bag and sat on the edge of the dock to dangle her feet in with a faint yelp. Her hair fell to the side to show the nape of her neck, slightly paler than the tan on her shoulders. “Hey, Nico?”
“Yes?”
“I kind of lied about sleeping well.” She was facing the water so he stared at her back as if he could read it like a newspaper. “It was strange sleeping in the house.”
He was alert now. “Was anyone rude to you?”
“No, no.” She twisted so one wet foot lifted out to drip on the slats of the dock. “Everyone was as polite as they were at dinner last night.”
At dinner the Badgertons had done their best to cope with the cuckoo in their nest by talking about anything except Valerie’s parentage.
That had worked until Jenn had mentioned a new dim sum place in the city that had cart service.
The loose connection between Chinese people and food was enough to evoke Yvette, and the resultant silence had sat heavy on the farro salad and porterhouse steak as a flushed Jenn stared at her plate to avoid making eye contact with her husband or Penny.
Valerie pushed her hair behind her ear. “It was like I didn’t belong in the house, sleeping with the family.” She made a face as if to preemptively deflect his mockery.
Nico sometimes felt the same way, which is why he never stayed there himself. “There’s a bunkie next to me,” he said. “Why don’t you move?”
“A bunkie?”
“It’s like a mini-cabin away from the house.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “I’d love that.”
She kicked the water with her one foot, then opened the bag for her yarn and a hook.
Nico watched with interest. His mom had never been crafty, and his dad could barely sew a button back on.
He was fairly sure this was crochet through process of elimination, since knitting used two needles and needlework…
used an actual needle? She seemed to have no problem looking out over the water as she transformed the yarn into a little pink square. Incredible.
His phone buzzed with a message from Roger, who had finally agreed to text to avoid being overheard when talking on the phone. “Roger wants to know if we’ll meet him in the study for a debrief.”
She stuffed her yarn back into her bag and, to his intense dismay and equal fascination, did some sort of bending yoga move that caused her shirt to fall down so low it took almost superhuman strength for him not to gawk.
Too soon, it was over, and she was on her feet, hand reaching out to haul him from his chair. “Let’s go.”
Although she released him once he was up, Nico felt the lingering pressure of her grip as they walked to the house. He guided her to a door to the left. “The study is through the lower level, where the gym and office are,” he said.
“What about the kitchen-kitchen?”
“Down the hall with the storage rooms and staff entrance.”
He didn’t know what was so funny about that but Valerie couldn’t stop snickering. They waved to Penny, who was visible on the treadmill through the gym’s huge windows. She didn’t wave back.
Valerie followed him down the short corridor and stopped when they emerged into the study. “Are we in the same house?”
He tried to see his favorite room through her eyes.
Here, the labored perfection of the rest of the cottage had been banished so the space retained the comfortable atmosphere of a well-loved den.
Shelves of crinkly paperbacks, survivors of rainy days and dockside splashes, overlooked shabby furniture covered in faded blue and green tartan.
It set off the dark honey wood of the walls and floor and in no way matched the threadbare Persian rug.
“This is so cozy.” Valerie examined a bookcase formed from a red canoe that had faded to pink.
On the shelves stood a motley mix of mementos, including old tins spotted with rust, glass Coke bottles filled with sand, and rocks that Nico assumed had once held esoteric significance to a past Badgerton child.
“You might find something here about Yvette.” Nico pointed to a row of photo albums lining the bottom canoe shelf but she was busy looking at the battered table made from old oars and covered with a random collection of board games.
Nico had never played them but knew the Yahtzee box would be missing the score sheets and half the Monopoly money would be gone.
“Good idea.” She spared the albums a quick glance. “How did this escape the despotic hand of minimalism?”
“Malcolm insisted one room of the original cottage be kept how he wanted after Penny had a designer expand and redo it.”
“Heya.” Roger came in and hesitated. Nico could tell he was deciding between a hug (too intimate), handshake (too formal), or fist bump (no). He settled on a wave and moved to a worn chessboard in the corner. “Do you play, Valerie?”
“I do.” She walked over and plucked up two pawns that she hid behind her back. Roger pointed to the left and she held out her hand with a flourish to reveal black. “How about you?”
“I used to play with my father, but the first time I won was the last time we played. After that he was too busy for games.”
Classic Malcolm. Nico watched as Valerie moved a white pawn. “Seems like a good time to start again,” she said.
“I don’t remember any of the strategies.”
“Me neither. We’ll play for fun.”
Roger laughed. “That’s new. Dad considered games another competitive venue. Only the weak lost.”
“Well, let’s prove him wrong,” said Valerie. “Come on.”
They sat at the board and Nico stood to the side, feeling like a sentry. “How do you think last night went?” she asked.
Roger sighed. “I’m having second thoughts.”
Nico watched Valerie’s eyebrows rise higher than Icarus testing his new wings. “Not to be rude, but I feel you have a limited period for walking this back and that time frame is shrinking rapidly.”
That was charitable, because Nico thought Roger’s opportunity to back out had basically shriveled to proton size as of yesterday. Maybe down to quark.
“It’s just…” Roger moved a pawn. “I look at their faces and I can’t believe my own flesh and blood could knowingly do this to me.”
“Your father did,” she said gently.
“He did, but it was a lie of omission.” Roger held up a bishop. “I never asked Dad straight to his face if he knew about Yvette.”
Nico thought Roger was being overly generous to Malcolm but knew nothing would come from saying so. A bad parent was still a parent. Valerie looked up as if to encourage Roger to keep talking.
“It doesn’t feel real,” said Roger. “Ever since I found out, it hasn’t felt real.”
Valerie’s eyes met Nico’s and he hoped his face expressed his profound and admittedly unfair desire for her to take on the burden of the conversation.
He was Roger’s executive assistant. He wanted to know what was going on in terms of logistics and information, but it was inappropriate for him to talk about feelings.
He didn’t know what to say. She nodded as if to tell him she had this and he sagged—internally—with gratitude.
“Now’s the time for you to confirm you want to continue, before we get in too deep,” she said. “There’s a lot at stake, Roger. Your family is going to be furious at you for lying. It’s a big deal, what you’re doing. Really big.”
“I know, and you’re putting yourself on the line as well.”
She waved her hand. “Don’t worry about me. Let’s get you sorted.”
Nico started. Don’t worry about her? Valerie’s concern truly seemed to be with Roger.
Roger breathed in through his nose. “Right.”
“Do you need to take some time to think about it?”
He stared at the chessboard as if it held an answer as his hand drifted to the pocket where he kept his wallet. Nico knew that’s where he’d put the photo of Yvette and his daughter. Then Roger looked up. “No. I’m in.”
“You’re really sure?” she pressed. “You thought about what’s going to happen when they find out?”
“I am, and I have. It was only a moment of weakness and the reward is worth it. I’m very grateful for your help, Valerie, no matter what happens.”
“Okay.”
“I’m good,” he reassured her. “I’m sorry you had to experience that yesterday. My family was not at its best.”
Nico thought the Badgertons had reacted exactly as expected but kept his mouth shut.
“I shouldn’t have said that about the money,” said Valerie apologetically. “I panicked.”
Roger shook his head. “Naturally David’s first concern would be what it means for his wallet. He’s always been obsessed with status and money, like Dad. It’s fine. You saying that doesn’t make it legally binding.”
She blew out her breath. “I was worried I’d screwed up Rogette’s inheritance.”
“Rogette?” Roger repeated.
“Your daughter needs a name and Yvett-ette doesn’t roll off the tongue. Nor does Yve-ger.”
Roger laughed. “No, they don’t. Rogette it is. Now, what are you two doing today?”
Valerie looked thoughtful. “I need to get my bearings and start talking to everyone. I’m not sure how, though. I wasn’t very popular last night.”
Roger regarded her with a serious expression. “The goal of you being here is to shake them up and get them off-balance. All you need to do is have a good time. Go for a swim. Take out the boat. Read. My job is to observe how they act around you. Yesterday was a good start.”
“I still need to interact with people,” she reminded him. “Unless you want me to hide out like a mole person.”
“Sure, but you can let it be casual. You don’t need to worry about quizzing them on where they were the night of November twenty-first or marking off conversation topics on a matrix like it’s a logic grid puzzle.”
“I like those,” said Valerie and Nico in unison.
Roger rolled his eyes. “You two are a pair. Valerie, have fun. Be yourself and tell me or Nico if anyone makes you uncomfortable. I’m going to talk with them again about treating you right, or at least Penny and David. Alice I’m not worried about.”
“Thanks.”
“For the next two months, you’re a member of the family.”
Her face broke into a huge smile as she gave him a salute. Nico checked the time. “Roger, you’re due on a call in five minutes.”
“Damn.” Roger looked at the chessboard. “We’ll have to finish the game later.”
“I look forward to seeing what you were planning to do with that bishop.”
“You and me both.” Roger put down the piece and left, looking indifferent about the factory supplier update.
Nico had sat in on the last few calls and enjoyed analyzing the plan with the project team.
However, spending time with Valerie was even better than the opportunity to check over a new process model.
“Regardless of what Roger says, I need a bit of a plan. I can’t just walk around hoping someone will talk to me.” Valerie rose from the chessboard and paced the room. “I followed Fernie’s social media yesterday, so I could try talking to her first.”
“About what?” asked Nico.
“I’ll start with the role of social media in driving overconsumption and unfeasible expectations for standards of living. Then I’ll ask why she feels the need to contribute to this damaging cycle and follow up by complimenting her manicure.”
“You will?” He was curious about how that would turn out.
“God, no.” She looked amused, then made a face. “Any ideas?”
“I don’t want to get in your way.”
“Nico.” She reached over and grabbed his hands to look at him soulfully. “I’m begging you.”
This was the third time today she’d touched him. If it happened much more, he might go into cardiac arrest because every time she did, a jolt of energy zapped him.
“Then I might have some.” He was sad to disentangle himself, but he needed his hands for his tablet.
They sat down on the sofa close enough for him to breathe in her new scent—something fruity—and he opened up his document.
Nico had mapped out the Badgertons, their interests, and potential avenues of conversation that Valerie could use simply to get people talking.
He’d also set up a chart in the classic mystery grid style, with names down the side and columns for opportunity, motivation, proof, and the catch-all “Other.” It was unnecessary, since Roger was the one playing detective, but Nico had been on a roll.
“Wow,” she said. “You put a lot of thought into this.”
He assessed her tone. His last girlfriend—not that Valerie was his girlfriend, he hastened to remind himself—had always acted as if his attention to detail was something embarrassing.
Madison’s little jokes had enough zing to make it clear they weren’t really jokes.
It had eventually reminded him so much of Stefanie that he’d felt only relief the day Madison told him it was over.
Valerie, on the other hand, was pulling his tablet closer with unfeigned impatience. She seemed…impressed? Her next words confirmed it.
“I’m impressed,” she said and he felt something deep in his chest untwist.
“You’re here for two months, so you’ll only need these for the first few days,” he said. “After that, it should be organic. Try to limit one-on-ones to impersonal things like the weather if Roger’s not around.”
She pointed to his notes. “Okay, gut check. Who do you think is our person? Let’s both say it…now.”
“Penny.”
“David.”
Nico raised his eyebrow. “Why do you think David?”
“He’s jealous of Roger. He’s mad about the money. He’s kind of a dick.”
“You can be a dick and not betray your brother.”
“True. Why do you think Penny?”
He organized his thoughts. “The money. She’d do what Malcolm told her. Her name actually does start with P, and Peter didn’t seem like the kind of person to screw Roger over.”
“I can see that, but it’s still David.”
“We’ll see.”
“So we shall,” she said. “Let Day One of the Great Badgerton Investigation commence. Target: Fernie. We’ll start easy and build up to our primary suspects.”
Then she was gone. Nico made some additions to his notes, texted them to her, and went out. He’d made it to the second patio when Valerie’s voice floated up. “Here, let me help with your lighting. How did you decide on your brand aesthetic?”
It sounded like Valerie was well on her way to making friends with Fernie. One Badgerton down.
Four more, and one Morton, to go.