Eighteen
Nico had been doing his daily email triage in the office when Valerie’s laugh came up from the dock.
Roger was teaching her to kayak, and although the first time had been about as successful as the canoe lesson, she’d stuck with it despite her fear of water snakes.
He waited, hands on his laptop, aching to hear her again through the window, but this time it was a yelp and a splash. Then came the laughter.
Smiling, Nico turned back to his email and resurfaced the message from Gia.
The strange unwillingness to pass it on was matched by his growing desire to apply for the job himself.
But he’d worked for the Badgertons for his entire career.
Roger trusted him to keep his life in order.
He managed the bills and the schedule. He researched everything from new cars to the best hotel in Saskatoon.
He bought the gifts and sent the flowers and kept Roger up-to-date on important office gossip.
He couldn’t let Roger down, not when there was so much happening.
Especially because Roger had always respected the value of Nico’s systems and flows. Roger had even encouraged his side projects at the Bread Company, despite David’s complaining.
He resaved his original reply to his drafts. He could decide later what to do.
Soon, he was staring at the last task on his list. Call Stefanie.
He’d been avoiding it, but Kimmy was right.
They had to sort this out for their parents’ sake.
Actually, he should check in with Kimmy first, just in case.
She could give him some pointers on how to approach this talk with Stefanie. Yeah. That was the right decision.
Too bad it was Stefanie who answered Kimmy’s phone. “What do you want?” she asked.
Her tone put him off asking what was going on with her. He could ask later. “Why do you have Kimmy’s phone?”
“I’m staying at her place.”
“Oh.” Somehow asking why felt like letting her win. The competition had never been declared, and the prizes were unknown, but he knew it was there.
“I was going to call you anyway,” she said. “Kimmy’s upset because you haven’t bothered to check in with the group chat.”
That it was a fair criticism made him defensive. “What was the point, since you decided on an anniversary party?”
“No one had decided on a party. It was an idea. That’s it.”
He wasn’t going to let her get away with this. “Good. Then since it was only an idea, we can do something else.”
“Like what?”
He had his answer ready. “Dad wants a snowblower and Mom said she’d love a new lawn mower.”
“A what?” asked Stefanie.
“Snowblower,” he repeated. “And lawn mower.”
“Are you for real? We’re not getting them appliances for their milestone anniversary. That’s exactly what I expect from you. ‘Boring, Sidney, boring.’”
“Don’t quote movies at me.” He hated it when she did that.
“Then don’t be a loser. Mom deserves more. We need to get them something special. Something memorable.” Her voice rose with each word.
“Stop that.”
“Stop what?” Louder.
“Yelling.”
“Jesus, I’m not yelling, robot boy. Quit judging.”
That was it. No one could push his buttons like Stefanie, who played him with the ease of a maestro without even trying.
Any plan he might have had to keep cool instantly incinerated with those two words that transformed him back into the twelve-year-old standing in front of his sister’s closed door.
He’d had enough of being her punching bag.
“Have you considered the idea that it’s not me who’s judgmental? That you’re an asshole?”
“What did you call me?”
“You heard me. An asshole.”
“Oh, like you’re some angel.” Stefanie had never bothered with being the bigger person and he knew she wouldn’t be the one to deescalate this. Well, neither would he.
“At least I’m not a selfish loudmouth.”
“At least I’m not a petty, critical dickhead.”
“Me. Petty. That’s rich.”
“Yeah, you,” she said. “Like how you want to buy our parents appliances to bug me.”
“It’s not about you. And speaking of petty, what about when you went out of your way last Christmas to mess up all of the gifts under the tree that I put in the correct piles?”
“Because a tree is supposed to be fun! Not a Linnean classification. Also, wasn’t that the year you bought me a planner as a gift? And the book about the value of being a quiet introvert?”
“What about when you moved around my stuff all the time even though you knew it upset me? And made fun of me for wanting to play board games?”
“You said I wasn’t allowed to play because I wouldn’t understand the game. I could understand Settlers of fucking Catan but you loved to make me feel left out from you and Dad, like I was too annoying to fit in with you.”
Nico was in no mood to hear this and went back to his own grievances. “Like you loved making me feel left out from you and Kimmy and Mom? Remember that birthday party when you all went to get your nails done and left me at home?”
“I was fifteen.” She paused. “Is this what you’re upset about? This is kids’ stuff.”
“It’s not kids’ stuff. You’re doing it again with this anniversary.”
“Doing what?”
“Leaving me out.”
“You’re leaving yourself out! God, grow up. None of that was a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to me!” He hadn’t realized he was almost yelling into the phone until he heard his voice echo in the office.
“You’re joking. You’re going to torpedo our parents’ anniversary because your fee-fees got hurt as a kid?”
Nico could feel his temperature rise at her mocking tone. “No, because, as I said, you’re an asshole. You do whatever you want and expect me not to care. You always have.”
“If that’s what’s bugging you, why didn’t you say so in the first place instead of pretending it’s about the anniversary?”
“You should have known!”
“How? Why?”
Because you’re my sister. But he said nothing and Stefanie, caught in her own grievances, barreled on.
“Let me get this straight. You think I should have known that you’ve been upset about something, apparently for years,” she said slowly. “That it’s my problem for not reading your mind when not once did you think you should do the same for me. Because this is all my responsibility.”
He didn’t reply because although that’s what he thought, hearing her say it felt like something was missing.
She waited a beat. “Fine. Since you think everyone’s psychic, you’ll know what I’m about to do next.”
Then she hung up.
Like hell he’d call back. Suddenly infuriated, Nico deleted a series of emails, until he came to Gia’s. What was the point? Nothing would change. He deleted that too.
He took a deep breath and stood up. He wanted Valerie and a debate on the pros and cons of belly flops versus cannonballs for maximum splash. Something safe.
Something that would help take the sick feeling away.
* * *
He eventually found Valerie curled up with a book on her lap in the study. He hadn’t expected her there. Why, he couldn’t quite say except she seemed more of a creature of bright sun rather than the muted lamplight of the only windowless room in the house.
“Hello, Nico.” How did she do that, bring his entire body to attention with a single sentence? Fitzgerald said Daisy’s voice was filled with money. Valerie’s was filled with sunlight.
He handed over a new pastry he’d picked up in town when he’d went for a drive to calm down after the call with Stefanie and his inability to find Valerie earlier.
It was a flavor called kaya he’d never heard of but suspected she would enjoy.
“They were testing a new kind of croissant at the bakery.”
Valerie looked pleased as she tore it in two. “We can both try.”
Nico gave a tentative sniff before taking a small bite.
Although not something he would have thought he liked, the croissant was delicious and the coconut provided more of a tropical whisper rather the feeling of drowning in a pina colada.
A sprinkle of coconut sugar provided a pleasant sweet crunch.
“Nico, this is incredible. I love you. Thank you.” Valerie finished off the pastry as he relived her saying that a couple more times. She’d said she loved him in the same tone she used when she said she loved whipped cream in iced coffee, but he didn’t care.
“What are you reading?”
In answer she held out the book. Nexus Point, by Dot Voline.
“I liked that one, but I preferred Clementia,” he said.
“‘Her reflection wavered through the glass,’” Valerie stood and declaimed grandly, raising her arms like an opera singer hitting a high C and causing her shirt to ride up and reveal the rounded slope of her stomach.
“‘Herself but not her. A sovereign yet indeterminate shape that others would take and mold to their own requirements. Was this not love, after all? After all that, was this not love?’”
Somehow, Valerie had quoted from one of his favorite scenes. “You like Dot Voline?”
“Especially Cabinet Girl Secrets. There’s a copy here.”
That was the book with another of Nico’s favorite lines, although he didn’t have the nerve to quote back at her. He thought love was quiet, but his heart sang it like a bell. It clanged throughout his chest, reverberating until he felt the world must shake with him.
Valerie had turned to look at the books and bent down. “Here it is,” she said, pulling the paperback out and flinging out her arm as if to flaunt it.
“Whoa!” Nico caught her wrist right before she whacked him in the face.
She rose to put a hand to his cheek with a flurry of apologies. “Did I hit you? I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking.”
“You missed,” he assured her.
But she was looking at him intently, her fingers lingering on his jaw as she traced her hand down. “Good,” she breathed.
A trail of heat bloomed as she passed from his throat to his chest. A pink flush rose to her face, and then she licked that lusciously thin bottom lip.
Nico was only a man, and he was weak. Incredibly, somehow, he was still holding her wrist and he tightened his grasp. He stepped forward, and she tilted her head up and leaned back.
Right into the bookshelf, which rocked alarmingly. Nico instinctively let go of her to steady the shelf and Valerie cursed as a small photo album dropped out from where it had been balanced on top of some books to open onto her foot.
Nico had never hated a bookshelf as much as he hated one now. With the moment broken, Valerie picked up the bronze-vinyl-covered book. “Oh, interesting.”
The album was much smaller than the others, with a single photo on each page, and had opened to show the Lakeview, with the Badgertons at a table, smiling broadly into the sun. Judging from the hair, ages, and overall vibe, it was from the mid-nineties.
As Nico wondered if there was a way to turn back time thirty seconds, Valeire pulled out the tiny magnifying glass on the ribbon around her neck and pointed it at a woman at the back of the photo.
Her hair was styled in a ponytail with heavy bangs, and her resemblance to Valerie was unmistakable.
She was dressed in a white apron that had been tied with strings around her waist and a short-sleeved shirt. “It’s Yvette,” she said.
He took the magnifying glass and angled it downward. “Look at her wrist. She’s wearing a bracelet.” He looked again. “It might be the one Penny was wearing in the photo from the private investigator. Both of them are white with a big red bead, and Penny isn’t wearing hers here.”
“We weren’t sure it was Penny,” she said. “It could be Tracey Jefferies.”
“If it was Penny, that might be the bracelet,” he said. “Which means they might have been closer than Penny is admitting.”
“Possibly.” Valerie snatched the photo album to her chest.
“In any case, it’s something new and we’re getting somewhere,” said Nico.
“If we can talk to Tracey, I bet it’ll all come together,” she said. “I was starting to worry.”
“Roger said being a detective wasn’t your job,” he reminded her.
“I don’t like being useless,” she said stubbornly.
Neither did he, so he didn’t argue this too much. “Just because something isn’t going as quick as you want, that doesn’t mean it’s a problem.” He took a breath. “You’re perfect as you are. Not useless.”
Valerie’s mouth dropped open as if this was not what she’d expected from Nico, who knew himself to be more of a you-missed-your-targets rather than a great-job guy. “Did you give me a compliment?”
“I suppose so.”
“Perfect, you say?”
“Almost perfect.”
“What? Only ninety percent perfect? Eighty?” She gave a theatrical gasp. “Seventy?”
“At least ninety.”
As they were debating the scoring, he’d moved closer to her, wanting to recapture the moment before she’d walked into the books.
Valerie smiled, a crooked, knowing thing that told him she understood what he was up to.
She lifted one hand to flatten on his chest. Could she feel how his heart thumped under her touch?
He wanted her to know how she affected him. He wanted it to affect her.
The door opened. “No, Penny. I don’t know but I’ll find… Oh.” Jenn stood staring at them. “Sorry.”
“Jenn? Did you find it?” Penny’s voice was near and Jenn gave them an unexpected wink before stepping back and shutting the door.
“It’s not here,” Nico heard her say. “Let’s try the storage room near the gym.”
“That was close,” Valerie said, her hand still on him.
“Close for what?” he teased.
She gave him the tiniest push before stepping away. “What did you deduct my perfection points for?”
He indicated the chessboard. She and Roger were still on the first game, since they only managed a few moves whenever they played. “Because you’re going easy on Roger so he’ll win.”
Valerie laughed. “He’s trying so hard.”
Nico turned off the lights as he followed her out. “It does him good to lose once in a while.”
“Hey, Nico?” She paused as she was about to climb the stairs. “You’re about ninety percent perfect too.”
He tried to maintain an imperturbable expression. “What did I lose points for?”
She grinned. “Not marking me at a hundred.”