Thirty
Valerie was in her element, and Nico couldn’t stop watching her. She looked cool and unruffled, but she was everywhere—assessing, deciding, and adjusting.
“Nico?”
He turned to see Gia, the recruiter, standing in front of him. “Gia?”
They both said, “What are you doing here?”
Gia answered first. “Helena was my boyfriend’s stepgrandmother.”
“I’m up with Roger, working from his cottage,” said Nico. “The family has been coming here for years, so they knew Helena.”
They chatted for a few minutes about how the summer was going, and the event, with Nico shamelessly collecting compliments for Valerie.
“I hope you didn’t take offense to my email about the job,” said Gia, shifting her purse from her shoulder to her hand. “I was casting a wide net.”
Nico felt bad for not replying. “Not at all.”
She gave him an appraising look. “You know, I was thinking you’d have been perfect for that role, but I know you’re happy with Roger. I remember those incredible expense-claim workflows you did when you were in the finance department.”
Now was his chance to tell her he had indeed been interested and wanted to be considered for future roles. Then he saw Roger in the corner, frowning slightly as his eyes roved from David to Penny to Alice. He couldn’t go, not yet. He couldn’t let Roger down.
“Luckily we managed to fill it before I left for here.” Gia gave an exaggerated swipe of her brow. “It all happened late Friday afternoon, as always. Thank goodness, because I’m going on a cruise next week.”
“Where are you going?” He tried to keep the conversation up although he could barely manage the words.
He’d made his choice, but it wasn’t until she’d told Nico it was filled that he recognized how badly he wished he could have made a different one.
The knowledge that she thought he’d match the role should have made him happy, but instead all he could see was the lost opportunity.
“Around the Mediterranean Sea with the Gem Line. Do you know how hard it was to find a cruise that suited both of us? My boyfriend can do pasta-making classes and meet people, and I can read at the quiet pool that has no talking allowed.”
She left, trailing the bloodied remains of his hope with him, but a quick movement caught his eye. He looked over to see Valerie dodging behind a pillar and his phone buzzed as he took his first step toward her.
Mayday. Mayday. I’ve been compromised.
He was at the pillar seconds after receiving the text, glad for the distraction. “What do you mean?”
“How did you find me so fast?”
“I saw you ducking back here before your text arrived.”
“Who were you talking to?”
“Gia. She used to work at the Bread Company.” He needed a moment before he could talk about what happened, even to Valerie, but it gave him comfort to know she would be there when he was ready. “What’s the problem?”
She pointed to an older man with a distinctive slouch. “Jim Walker.”
“Who’s Jim Walker?”
“One of my dad’s oldest golfing buddies and thus someone who could blow my cover.” She closed her eyes. “How in the world did he end up here?”
Nico glanced at the guy’s bare ankles and leather loafers. He had a Mariposa look for sure. “Maybe he knows the family.”
Valerie groaned. “Thank God Penny decided not to introduce me as Roger’s daughter. I never knew I’d be so relieved to be rejected.”
“It was too much to hope that you’d get out of this summer unrecognized,” Nico said, resigned. He knew something would go wrong.
“You thought about this?” She looked up. “Then you have a plan?”
He took stock of the situation. “We have two options. You hide for the rest of the party or we brazen it out and hope he doesn’t see you.”
“A. Option A. Let’s do A. I’ll ask Dalia to cover for me.”
“Let me go ask. You hide.”
It would have been a good plan had Jim not crossed the room to the sweets table as Valerie snuck her way to the back, bringing them face-to-face.
Damn. Nico strode over to see Jim staring, wondering if he was going to have to pull a fire alarm or something to get out of this mess. “Vanessa!” Jim said.
“Sorry,” Valerie said as she walked by, doing her best to keep casual. She looked like she was being hunted.
“No, Vanessa,” he insisted, grabbing her arm. “It’s Jim. Jim Walker. I play golf with your dad. You’ve got quite the unique face, and I never forget a name.”
Nico decided there was only one action to take and came up between them. “Sorry to interrupt, but they need a hand in the kitchen.”
“Excuse me.” She yanked her arm away and Jim took a confused step back, then shrugged.
“Crisis averted,” she said in a low voice when Nico followed her to the rear of the room. They watched Jim join a group of equally tanned men on the patio near the marina. Dalia passed Nico and Valerie to the sound of their hearty laughter.
“You can recognize a pod of high-net-worths by their deep, virile calls,” Dalia said in a David Attenborough voice.
“Highly sensitive to the opinion of their peers and desperate for the approval that means survival in their merciless environment, each member of the pod tries to outdo the others in status through proxies such as the age of their cars and youth of their wives.” She reverted back to her normal voice.
“Can you give me a hand with the Nanaimo bars?”
“I’ll get them,” said Nico. He turned to Valerie. “You might want to stay hidden for a bit.”
Fernie came by, swaying on her feet and holding another glass of wine. “Hey, Fernie,” Valerie said cautiously. “Do you think you should slow down?”
“Can you believe it?” Fernie demanded. “Some asshole told me to get a real job when I told him about Soulvinate. Do you understand how hard I work?”
Frankly, Nico didn’t, but he nodded. “I can imagine,” he said.
“Like, equipment costs money. My aesthetic costs money. It’s not like my parents help much. I asked if they’d fund my Soulvinate studio and Dad said no.”
This was honestly shocking, as Nico was used to Fernie getting her own way from her father. “No?”
“Dad had the nerve to talk to me about integrity and making good decisions, the hypocrite. The only reason we’re here is because we’re so broke he had to rent out the house while the executor figures out Grandpa’s will.” She waved her hand in disgust and wandered off, muttering about food.
“Broke is a little more extreme than being in debt.” Valerie looked at Nico, then gave David a significant look as she left to hide deeper in the kitchen.
She was right. Was it because he was paying off someone?
Someone like Yvette or her family? They hadn’t considered the idea that payments might be ongoing.
Nico frowned, hoping Yvette wasn’t blackmailing David or something heinous. It would break Roger’s heart.
His phone buzzed and the screen showed a text from his sister holding a full plate with multiple food groups. Thanks for the delivery, she wrote. This is the most green I’ve had in weeks.
Smiling at the text, he went out to get a breath of air on the patio.
His mind wandered as he took in the names of the boats.
Thar She Blows. Petunia IV, leaving him to wonder about the fates of Petunias I to III.
Ruby 40. Forty. A distant memory sparked.
Rubies were the stone for the fortieth anniversary.
Gia and her boyfriend sounded an awful lot like his parents.
What did she say it was called? The Gem Line?
He grabbed his phone. There it was, the Diamond Star, touring the sophisticated ports of the Mediterranean. He scrolled down and couldn’t believe his eyes. The Ruby Star went from Vancouver to Alaska and over to Japan. His father had always wanted to see the Arctic. His mother dreamed of Tokyo.
He copied the link and sent it to the group text with his sisters, glad to be able to look at his phone without dread. I have an anniversary idea.
Kimmy was the first to answer. This is it. No notes.
Stefanie’s reply came a minute later. Agreed. Perfect idea, Nico. I love it.
We can talk about it over dinner at Steffy’s place, he wrote, feeling a buzz of relief that he’d been able to get them all to agree.
Thanks to Nico I actually have meals I can pull together without effort, Steffy wrote. With real vegetables, not the dehydrated ones in ramen packs.
The group text devolved into memories about Kimmy’s attempt at apple pie when she was thirteen and didn’t realize she had to cut the fruit, and when Nico mistook salt for sugar.
It was nice to have this back-and-forth.
He was still on alert, but not as much. It would take a while, but their relationship could change and grow.
* * *
Valerie checked the time and nodded at the bartender to start closing up. It was getting to the end of the event and few things hastened a guest’s departure like an empty glass. Luckily, Jim Walker had left, leaving her free to show her face.
Fernie came up to drape a loose arm around her neck. “No. Are you shutting the bar down?”
“I think maybe you’ve had enough.”
“Never.” Fernie’s hand rubbed her shoulder. “Nice dress, by the way.”
“Penny gave it to me.”
“It’s one of those?” Fernie laughed. “I heard her talking to Mom about giving you her cast-offs. She said her out-of-season wardrobe was still better than the cheap, gaudy stuff you usually wore. So rude, but Aunt Pen is all about that Badgerton image. Oh wow. You know what? I should get her onto Soulvinate so she can explore her deeper truths. It might make her less superficial.”
Fernie drifted into the thinning crowd, leaving Valerie stunned behind her. The gray shift dress burned on her skin. Penny had said that? Humiliation rose in her but was quickly snuffed out by rebellion.
Then Penny herself came up. “Valerie, please stop standing around.” She sounded brisk. “I know we’re at the end but I hate the look of empty platters. So cheap and messy. I trusted you with this event. Don’t let me down in the final minutes.”