I step out of the bathroom, and immediately I’m cold. He crooks his finger, and I go to him in the bed.
He pulls me to him. “Cecelia put us together for a reason.”
Chapter 18
Lilly
After a glorious afternoon, I’m the first to leave. I wave to Rod as I begin the walk back. Sneaking around still makes it feel like we’re doing something wrong, but we’ve talked about it enough that I know we’re doing it for the girls. They don’t need anything else to process right now.
I slip into the house and make my way to the kitchen, where I smell sweet spices. Tonight is chicken stir-fry.
“Were the girls okay this afternoon?” I ask.
“I didn’t hear a peep from them. They’ve been in the media room,” Amy says.
“When will dinner be ready?”
“It should be on the table in about fifteen minutes. Is Mr. Lancaster joining you tonight?”
He’s been at dinner most evenings. “I’m not sure. I can text him and ask.”
She nods, but I’m suddenly overwhelmed by guilt. I’m sure everyone knows what we did this afternoon, and I’m both embarrassed and hating that I feel that way.
I take a deep breath and send a text to Nate.
Me: Dinner is in ten minutes. Will you be joining us?
Nate: Probably not. I missed a conference call this afternoon and need to do some follow-up.
Me: I’m sorry.
Nate: I’m not. It was totally worth it.
I can’t stop my smile or the butterflies in my stomach. I look up and Amy is waiting expectantly.
“I don’t think Mr. Lancaster is going to make it. Sounds like he’s stuck on a conference call.”
She nods.
“I’ll go grab the girls.”
I find Bex and Katrina watching some Disney Channel show.
“Did you find what my dad needed?” Katrina asks.
“I think so,” I say. “But he’s still busy. It doesn’t look like he can join us tonight for dinner.”
We shuffle to the dining room, sit down, and enjoy the wonderful meal Amy made. As the girls eat, we make plans for our evening.
“I want to play Catan,” Bex announces.
“That’s because you always win,” Katrina replies. “What if we played Monopoly?”
I internally groan. That game goes on forever. “Why do we need to play a board game?” The girls look at me with interest. “We have a deck of cards and we can play Hearts? Or maybe Spades?”
Bex turns to Amy. “Would you play Hearts with us?”
Amy looks at me, her eyes wide. “I’m not sure I know how to play.”
“It’s not hard, and the more the merrier,” I assure her. “If Eko and your son want to join us, they’re more than welcome too. It doesn’t require an even number, and we can double the deck if we add the two extra players.”
“After I do the dishes, I can join you. That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“I think the girls can help you with the dishes,” I offer. “At home, Katrina rinses and Bex loads the dishwasher.” I wink at Amy. “Nate and their mom didn’t want the girls to feel entitled.”
She smiles. “Smart parents.”
Not long after we finish eating, the kitchen is clean and the four of us are seated around the table playing Hearts. Amy seems to have the best time of all of us, despite Bex being the card shark of the night.
We don’t see Nate all evening, so when it’s time, I put the girls to bed and sit up waiting and listening for him. I work on my project, and while I’m online, a message pops up from my best friend and business partner.
Mackenzie: Where have you been?
Me: Sorry. With the arrest of Christina Daniels, we went away to get the girls away from the tabloids.
Mackenzie: I can’t believe you haven’t told the Lancasters to pound sand. We need you here taking care of things.
Me: Let Tripp take over the next phase. I’m still working, but I can’t leave the girls right now.
Mackenzie: They’re not your girls. You have misplaced loyalty to a dead woman. We need you.
Me: I’m working remotely. The girls do their schoolwork in the morning, and I’m still able to hold up my end of the bargain.
Mackenzie: I’m sorry. I’ve been worried about you since you missed the deadline, and you’ve not responded to any of my messages on our Slack channel.
Me: I haven’t been able to get on Slack for a bit, but we’ve found our routine now, and I’ll be back to normal. I miss you.
Mackenzie: We miss you. Do you think you can do a Zoom call in the morning with the team?
Me: Sure. I’ll walk down to Starbucks and use their wi-fi. Can we do it about 10?
Mackenzie: Yes. Talk to you then. I need my beauty rest. Not all of us have a cushy nanny job that keeps a roof over our heads.
I roll my eyes. I know I’m letting Mackenzie and the team down by not being accessible. I was doing fine managing my workload until we went to Italy. Since then, it’s been frenetic at best.
I look over at the clock, and it’s after midnight. I haven’t heard Nate come in. This town is too small for him to be out at a bar. Where could he be? I decide to send a quick text.
Me: Goodnight.
I don’t see any bubbles rotating and no notification that he’s seen the message. I lie back in bed and think about our afternoon. I ache in a good way, and I’m a little amped up. I wish he were here to take the edge off. But he’s not.
I watch the clock flip to one, two, and eventually three. I get up and peek in Nate’s room, but he’s not there. If we were in San Francisco, I would understand this, but I’m not sure what to think here.
I walk out to the kitchen without turning on any lights. The moonlight reflecting off the snow allows me to see well enough to turn the kettle on and warm some water. As I look outside, the glare of the snow makes it seem almost like day, and I swear I see someone dressed in all black on the porch. I’ve almost convinced myself I imagined something, but a rumble across the back deck, followed by snow crunching, tells me someone was there. I look out just as the figure tucks himself into the woods on the other side of the trail behind the house.
My heart races. I’m not sure if I need to call for Charlie or Rod—Rod is probably with Nate anyway. I begin to second guess what I saw. Maybe it was nothing…or a bear…or the wind and a branch.
The kettle vibrates with water boiling and turns off. I pull a caffeine-free mint teabag out of the cabinet and dunk it in my mug. I sit down at the table and stare outside, looking for clues as to what I might have seen.
Then someone is shaking my shoulder. I look up through the fog of my brain, and Nate is standing over me. “Did you stay here all night?”
I’m still disoriented. “What time is it?”
“It’s a little after six.”
“Where were you last night?” I ask, looking for Rod.
“I fell asleep after sitting in on two calls. I didn’t realize how much stress I’d had. I guess I injected it into you.” He smiles like a little boy who snuck a cookie from the jar.
I give him a dirty look. That’s not funny.
Nate reaches for me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure. I think I may have seen someone out back last night when I came down to make tea.”
Nate becomes hyperalert, looking outside. “Are you sure?”
I shake my head. “I’m not. I thought someone jumped off the deck after I saw them, but I could be imagining things. I must have fallen asleep looking for them.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Nate demands.
I haven’t had much sleep, and I’m not the most patient right now. “I texted you, and you didn’t respond. Why would I think you’d respond if I called?”
“I fell asleep, but I would have woken if my phone rang,” Nate says, his voice low and sexy.
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I saw. It could have been an animal. I’ve been second-guessing mysel
f since three a.m.”
Nate calls for Rod and Charlie. They come into the kitchen at the same time Amy does.
“Tell them what you told me,” Nate prompts.
I walk them through getting up and what I think I saw.
Amy’s brow furrows. “I heard something last night about the same time. I didn’t think much about it, because people come and go all the time.”
Rod and Charlie exchange a look.
“What was this person wearing?” Rod asks.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy.” I’m getting nervous that I may have seen an animal and not a human. “But it looked like a black wetsuit with goggles.”
“Where was this?” Charlie asks.
“Just at the back sliding glass door.”
Rod and Charlie look out the back door and murmur to one another.
Nate puts his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
Amy has coffee going, and she’s made a cup for Nate. She motions to see if I’d like one. My tea is cold, and I’m going to need a lot of caffeine. I nod. She pours me a cup, and I drink it black.
Charlie and Rod go out to the back porch. They look at the hot tub before coming in.
“Someone was definitely on the porch last night,” Charlie says. “We found these.” He opens his palm, and I see several small cameras.
I’m confused, but I know those aren’t supposed to be here. Nate looks at me and shakes his head. Charlie disappears upstairs and comes back with a device about the size of a garage door opener. He runs it around the inside of the house, and then he walks outside.
Rod watches him. “Where did the person you saw go?” he asks me.
Unsure if I should talk, I point to the corner of the wooded area across the path behind the house. Rod steps outside with Charlie, and they walk over to look at the ground. They take photos, but I can’t be sure of what. When they come back with a tripod that has a small, clear, sandwich-plate-size disc with a black center, my heart begins to race. It isn’t until they’re inside that I figure out it’s a parabolic microphone. I look up at Nate, alarmed.
Rod sets the garage-door-opener device on the counter. “This is a jammer,” he says. “You can speak freely now that this is on.”
“What does this mean? Has the paparazzi found us?” I ask.
Rods shakes his head. “I don’t know. But this is some pretty expensive shit. The mic alone is worth over ten K.”
My eyes grow big. “What? Who would do something like this?”
“I need to talk to Jim,” Nate says. “We may be moving tonight. But keep the girls on their routine until I say otherwise.” He squeezes my shoulder.
“I was going to Starbucks later this morning for a call with my friend.”
Charlie studies me. “Can it wait?”
I nod. But Mackenzie is going to be pissed.
I head upstairs to check on the girls. They’re still fast asleep, and I decide today is going to be stressful enough, so there’s no hurry to wake them. I text Mackenzie, and she doesn’t respond. I’m sure she’s angry. I’m not a dependable partner right now.
I gather clothes and make sure if we need to go, I’ll be ready. Then I head into the bathroom I share with the girls and shower.
Bex comes in as I’m toweling off. “Why is Daddy shouting?”
I step out of the shower, careful that she doesn’t see the hickeys her dad put on the underside of my breasts. I don’t want to lie, but I also don’t want to scare her. “I’m not sure. Let’s get dressed and see if we can find out.”
I dry my hair and put on a spot of mascara. When I look in the girls’ bedroom Katrina is gone, too.
Descending the steps, I can hear everyone talking and laughing, and I’m sure that means things have been figured out. I join the group and don’t see Rod or Charlie anywhere. I’m relieved. We’ll just carry on as normal, like Nate said.
“Amy, I think I’ll walk the girls into the village for lunch today so we can check out the Olympic rings.”
She nods. “I have burgers and brats for dinner tonight. I’ll make a macaroni salad and crudités to go with it. For dessert, I thought we’d make ice cream shakes. Do you know everyone’s preferred ice cream flavors?”
“Mr. Lancaster likes chocolate and caramel, Katrina is mint, and Bex still prefers vanilla.”
“I prefer vanilla myself. What about you?”
I gesture to my hips. “No ice cream for me.”
She pats me on the arm. “You’re perfect just the way you are.”
“Amy, I’m going to record you saying that so when my jeans are too tight from all your cooking, I can replay it.”
“You got it!” She smiles warmly, and I realize how much I like her.
It’s almost eleven, and the girls are still dawdling at the table. “All right, you two. Time to get some schoolwork done. Let’s break about noon and we can go into the village for lunch. There are all sorts of options.”
The girls are slow to get up, but they clear their places and move to their computers to start their school day.
Nate looks up as they go. “I meant to tell you, I hired an online tutor for the girls while we’re here. I don’t want to bother with Stratton anymore, and it makes sense for Bex to work independently too.”
“Oh…” I cock my head. We usually talk about his plans for the girls before he takes action. “Okay. I didn’t know you were ready to move on that.”
“Well, it happened kind of quickly. Jim gave me a referral, and I didn’t want to waste any more time.”
I nod. “Okay. That sounds good. The flexibility will be helpful.”
Nate nods and gives me a thumbs up as he gets absorbed in something on his phone, so I head upstairs to work on my project. There’s a lot I could catch up on. I still haven’t heard from Mackenzie, though, and that’s beginning to bug me.
Chapter 19
Nate
Everyone is going about their business as usual now that the day is underway—and I’m glad about that. The girls certainly don’t need any unnecessary stress or disruption. But I know Lilly’s insomnia has caught something significant, and I can’t just let it go. I’m being watched.
Jim will be in town tomorrow morning to check in on us and discuss our next plan, but in the meantime, I keep racking my brain, trying to figure out why someone wants to hear my conversations. It’s not like we’re trading government secrets up here. But the security guys and I agree that this seems more than what any news organization or tabloid would do.
With my mind swirling, I look out at the muck and decide I need a diversion, even if no one else seems to. We should do something different today. I put in a call to the best person I know to point me in the right direction.
“Hey, bossman. What’s up?” Landon says when he answers. “Everything okay?”
“Hey, Landon. We’re doing fine and feel really grateful to have this getaway. We’re actually in Whistler—I don’t know if you knew that—so I thought we’d stretch our legs today and go down to Vancouver. Any suggestions for us?”
“Are you looking for some touristy things to do, or shopping?”
“I think touristy fits the bill. The weather seems to be hit or miss here, but if the weather app on my phone is right, the sun is out in Vancouver.”
“Okay, that makes it easy…” I listen and take a few notes as he rattles off a whole series of activities we can do, including a hike through a park and the aquarium.
“That sounds right up our alley. Where downtown would you suggest for dinner?”
“I know the restaurant group that owns the Teahouse. It’s right there in Stanley Park. I can get you and your team situated there tonight. The menu is pretty eclectic, with lots of ethically caught seafood and probably chicken nuggets for Bex.”
I laugh at that. I knew he was the man for this job. “Thanks.”
After I finish my call with Landon, I pull in Lilly, Trevor, and Amy and tell them our change in plans. Amy nods a
nd Lilly springs into action to get the girls ready.
We eat a quick lunch. The girls have pizzas, but I just make a sandwich. I’d never admit it, but the pizza I made the other night gave me so much indigestion that I may never make another.
Trevor puts us in two cars. The girls go in one vehicle with him and a driver, and I travel with Lilly, Rod, and Charlie. I reach for Lilly’s hand as we drive the hour south into Vancouver.
“This is really a beautiful drive,” Lilly says as she stares out the window.
“Would you want to live up here full-time?” I ask.
“Probably not. It’s too far from my mom. I FaceTimed with her yesterday, but it’s not the same as visiting in person. Communication is already really difficult because of her stroke. I think she misses me. I know I miss her.”
I sometimes forget that Lilly has a life outside of us. Am I being fair to her to keep her so far from her friends and family for so long? “Would you like to go home for a few days to see your mom and friends? It has to be hard to be so far away from them.” I hold my breath. I’m not sure I could take a few days without her.
She turns to me and smiles. “I think I would. I can take a flight home and spend maybe three days visiting with her and also my best friend, Mackenzie. She’s feeling neglected.”
“Of course. We can have the private plane fly you back and forth.”
“I’ll miss you all while I’m gone.”
That makes me feel a little better. “Well, I hope before you leave we’ll get a full day alone at the Fairmont.”
Showdown: Tech Billionaires Page 17