by Jen Gilroy
“Don’t be silly. She was teasing.” Lori gave him the patient smile she’d used when she babysat Nick and his sisters when his mom had parent meetings or other evening events at the high school. “Georgia wanted to talk to you, but since you were in court, I filled her in on the latest. She sent me some yoga exercises for you and told me to tell you to pay more attention to your posture and breathing.”
“My posture and my breathing are fine.” At least they would be if he could check Facebook. Nick gripped the edge of the reception counter, where a woolly sheep on wheels and several packages wrapped in pink foil paper had replaced his great-grandfather’s picture.
“Cat and Georgia were sure mad at me for not telling them about you and Mia.” Lori handed him the Johnson-Peters file before he asked for it. “I told them you hadn’t said anything to me, either.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
He glanced at the women, who’d abandoned any pretense of knitting.
“It didn’t look that way,” Miss Crandall said. “Lori showed us Facebook, and the two of you are real sweet. Like you’d see on a cover of a romance novel. The tasteful ones, where they leave something to the imagination. The way you had a hold of Mia’s glasses was so tender it made me tear right up.”
“You have to be careful of people with phones these days.” Lori shook her head. “Before you know it, you’re the local celebrity. Even though whoever took the picture didn’t name names, it’s you all right. As for Mia, well with her looks, she’ll never be invisible.”
He’d sue. He was an attorney and a good one. This was a total invasion of privacy. Mia’s, as well as his.
Mia. Nick dragged air into his constricted lungs. He doubted she’d seen the picture or anyone had told her about it since she was at Charlie’s bedside. Maybe it would be better if he told her first and prepared her.
“You need to think about having a baby. You’re not getting any younger.” Lori winked.
Nick’s stomach rolled. Lori couldn’t know how her words were like a knife to his heart. Not only did she run the office like clockwork, but she’d always been like a big sister, and she’d never do or say anything to hurt him.
“Hold my calls for the next hour, please.” He bit back angry words and gestured to the file. “I have a lot of work to get through here.” Starting with Facebook.
Lori’s gaze shifted to a point somewhere to the left of Nick’s ear. “There’s a client in your office.” She inclined her head to the ladies still clustered around him. “I couldn’t have her wait out here.”
The bell above the door jangled and more women came in, younger ones with strollers and baby slings. And babies, lots of babies. His office had become the venue for an impromptu mom and baby group. The headache Nick had battled all morning slammed into him full force.
“Who’s the client?” He didn’t have a meeting in his calendar. Someone must have called while he was out. Since Allison was on vacation for a few days, he had to hold the fort.
Lori checked a note on her desk, and he’d have sworn she tried to hide a smile. “A Miss Kalinowski.”
“Kalinowski?” Nick leaned over the desk to check the name. It wasn’t local.
“She’s a new…” Lori hesitated, “client.” She grabbed the phone as it rang.
Clients were good. Clients meant money to keep the firm on its feet so he could hire someone else and go back to New York after Labor Day. While he’d miss Firefly Lake’s caring, he also craved big-city anonymity. He’d be done with this Miss Kalinowski in an hour, tops. Then he’d check Facebook and head to the hospital to talk to Mia.
Nick pushed open his office door. This Lexie mission control center was temporary. His life would soon be back to the way it was. He and Mia would laugh about that Facebook picture because they were friends. At least he hoped they were still friends.
He scanned the room. No baby stuff in here. Only a stack of files in the in-tray and the whir of the air-conditioning. Afternoon sunlight filtered through the slatted wooden blinds.
Except, his chair had gotten turned the wrong way round so it faced the window.
As Nick moved toward the desk, the chair spun around.
“Hey.” Kylie grinned at him from the depths of the black leather seat. Her hair was still pink streaked, and she wore a red Camp Rainbow T-shirt above a pair of dirty white shorts.
“Miss Kalinowski, huh?” Nick set his laptop bag on the floor and sat in the client chair across the desk from her. “How did you get here?”
“Easy.” Kylie blew a pink bubble with the wad of gum in her mouth then popped it. “Half the Camp Rainbow kids went to some dumb museum to look at fossils and Vermont life crap, and the other half went bowling. Which is also dumb. Both groups think I’m with the other one. I told that woman out there in reception I wanted to surprise you.”
Nick hit the intercom on his desk, spoke to Lori, and then turned back to Kylie. “You’re busted, kiddo, so, in the twenty minutes or so until someone from Camp Rainbow gets here, what can I do for you?”
Kylie blew another bubble before she took the gum out of her mouth and rolled it between her fingers.
Nick grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk, and Kylie stuck the gum in it, her green eyes wary.
“You’re smart, right? You went to lawyer school?”
“Yale Law School.”
“Whatever.” Kylie spun around in the chair again.
Nick shrugged out of his suit jacket and waited.
“See, I gave the Camp Rainbow staff the slip because I thought you were the only one who could help me.”
“Help you how?”
Kylie Kalinowski was a tough girl with a smart mouth and a super-size chip on her shoulder. But something about her tugged at Nick and reminded him of when he’d been a tough kid with a smart mouth and a chip on his shoulder. Behind the attitude, he’d been a scared kid who was lonely and angry at the world, and wanted something he’d lost forever.
“It’s my mom.” Kylie took a pen out of the holder on his desk and clicked the top. “She’s in jail, right? But I still see her almost every Saturday afternoon.” She dug in the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a mini photo album, her expression at once fierce and so vulnerable Nick’s heart skipped a beat.
The album fell open at a picture of a blond woman, hardly more than a child herself, with a toddler on her lap. An older dark-haired boy stood beside them. “You and your mom?”
“And Dylan, my brother, remember?” Kylie flipped the pen across the desk, and Nick caught it. “Mom was sixteen when she had Dylan. She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is.” Nick studied the picture.
Although the woman was pretty, her smile was tight and there was a desperate look in the same green eyes that looked out of Kylie’s face and spoke of a life lived close to the edge. “You can see how much your mom loves you.” The girl had one arm wrapped about Kylie and the other around Dylan, like a mother bear defending her cubs.
“She didn’t love us enough.” Kylie picked at a mosquito bite, a red and swollen blotch on her forearm. “Not like Mia loves Naomi and Emma.”
Nick tented his hands on the desk. Do not get involved. Except, like it or not, Kylie was here, so he was already involved and, as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t distance himself. “What do you want from me?”
“My foster family’s moving to Chicago. They can’t look after me anymore. It’s no big deal. Families move all the time or they have another kid.” She shrugged, but Nick caught the hurt in her eyes. “I’m the disposable kid.”
“You’re not disposable.” Nick swallowed the unexpected lump in his throat. How could a girl of twelve see herself as disposable?
“Whatever.” Kylie shredded a tissue between her thumb and forefinger. “I heard my social worker on the phone when she didn’t know I was listening. She said Mom might be moved somewhere else. A new ‘facility,’ she called it, which is a fancy word for jail. She said it’d be too far aw
ay for a new family to take me to see Mom.”
“Kylie.” Nick took a deep breath. Why were kids like Lexie wanted and, before they were even a week old, cherished by the whole town as one of their own? While kids like Kylie lived on the margins, invisible. “I can see it’s a problem, but how do you think I can help?”
“I don’t know.” Dwarfed by the chair, Kylie looked even smaller than usual. “I didn’t know who else to ask.” She stood. “I’ll go. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“No, wait.” Nick caught her arm as she came around the desk. Like the rest of her, the arm was small and skinny. “I could call your social worker and your mom’s attorney to find out more. She has an attorney, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah.” Kylie dug in her pocket again and pulled out a tattered slip of paper torn from a notebook. “Here, I wrote down their names and telephone numbers for you. Mom’s attorney is the first one, and my social worker’s Kim.” She eyed him. “You’re not bullshitting me, are you? To get rid of me?”
“Of course not.” Guilt pricked Nick. Although the last thing he needed was to get involved in somebody’s family, a troubled family moreover, it was only a few phone calls. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try to find out more for you.”
“I’ve got thirty dollars saved from doing extra chores so I can pay you.” She pulled a red plastic purse from her shorts. “It’s real money, not fake.”
“You keep your money.” Nick pressed the purse back into Kylie’s hand. Her fingers were long and slender like Mia’s, but unlike Mia’s, her nails were bitten to the quick. “I’ll do any work pro bono.”
“Pro what?” She put the purse and photo album back in her pocket.
“It means for free, like a volunteer or a public service.”
“I won’t take no handouts.” Kylie didn’t smile back. “Mia says girls have to pay their way and not depend on men to look after them.”
“Mia’s right. Usually you would pay your way.” He stood and tried to choose the words to make her understand. “But in this case, I want to help you.”
“Why?” Kylie’s sharp gaze drilled into him. “My mom says guys always want something. Like when you kissed Mia. You wanted sex from her.”
Nick bit back a groan. “When I…Mia…no…”
Kylie was a street-smart kid, and whatever he said was bound to make things worse.
“I saw you two on Facebook.” Her grin popped out. “All the girls at Camp Rainbow think you must be an ace kisser, the way Mia was into you.”
“Kylie…” For the first time, Nick wondered if maybe it was good he couldn’t have children. He had no idea how to handle them, almost-teenage girls especially. Without a dad to show him the way, he wasn’t cut out to be a father. “I want to help you because back when I became a lawyer, I did so because I wanted to help people.”
Until recently he’d forgotten about that. He’d been focused on making money to reestablish McGuire and Pelletier so he could get out of Firefly Lake.
“Oh.” Kylie studied him for a few minutes. “Thank you.” Her grin widened. “Some of the girls printed out that Facebook picture and stuck it in the dining hall on the ‘specials of the day’ board. You’re old, but they think you’re hot.”
Nick shoved the chair back. Maybe it was time to check off that trip to Argentina from his bucket list. Or he could go to New York for the weekend. Far away from people who’d seen a picture of him on Facebook and had nothing else to talk about.
“I don’t think you’re hot.” Kylie’s grin faltered. “Well, you are, I guess, but I think you’re nice. That’s better than being hot. If I’d ever had a dad, I’d have wanted him to be like you.” She reached up and gave him a bony hug. “You got anything to eat in here? I’m starving ’cause I missed lunch.”
“There are Snickers bars in my desk.” Still reeling from Kylie’s hug and the feel of her scrawny arms wrapped around him, the simple trust and affection in the innocent gesture, Nick forced himself to move forward and open the bottom drawer. “You want one?”
“Like yeah.” Kylie caught the bar when he tossed it to her. “Snickers are my favorite.”
“Mine too.” Nick sat in his chair and locked his knees together to stop them from shaking.
“See you.” Kylie spoke around a mouthful of chocolate. “I’ll wait with those old ladies out there so you can get started on my mom’s case right away. I can play with Shadow. Lexie’s sure getting a lot of shit, isn’t she?”
“Gifts.” Nick choked back a laugh.
“Sorry.” Kylie stuffed the last of the Snickers bar into her mouth. “I never swear around Mia because she’s like so proper and perfect, but I forget with you because you’re a guy.” She chewed and swallowed. “Maybe she’s not so perfect if she’s having sex with you.”
Why was a twelve-year-old girl talking to him about sex? “She’s not, we’re not—”
“Check Facebook. You’ve got it bad, Nick. Real bad.” With another grin, Kylie closed the office door behind her.
Nick swiped the Facebook icon on his phone. Ever since Isobel, he’d kept his life uncomplicated. No ties and no commitments. No diamond rings and no kids, his or some other guy’s. The couple of women he’d dated understood it was casual and wanted a good time, and kids weren’t yet on their agenda.
Except Mia was a woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. She wasn’t casual, her kids were central to who she was, and her kisses had spun his world off its accustomed axis.
And somehow the two of them had ended up on Facebook and become the talk of Firefly Lake. He navigated to the picture. It was him all right. There was no mistaking Mia either, or the way they were wrapped around each other.
Her lips had opened under his. They’d been soft, warm, and sweet. Her body had curved into his like the missing piece of a puzzle, and he hadn’t wanted to let her go.
Except, now their private moment was out there for everyone else to see. That was something he could fix. He scrolled to his contact list.
Laughter erupted outside his office, followed by Shadow’s deep bark and Pixie’s higher-pitched yelp. Which meant his mom was there to coo over Lexie and talk about the evils of retirement bungalows to anybody who’d listen.
Nick shoved his phone in his pocket and grabbed the last Snickers bar from the drawer.
Pixie yelped again before being drowned out by the insistent beat of a Katy Perry song. Sure, the first week in August was always slow. They didn’t have any client appointments this afternoon, either. But McGuire and Pelletier was a law office. His law office.
Maybe Kylie was right. He might have it bad. So he had to get this situation under control fast.
Mia wouldn’t think about Nick. The next time she saw him she’d be friendly like always. Maybe they’d even laugh about the kiss. Or not. She blinked as the television screen on the wall at the end of Charlie’s hospital bed went blank.
“When did the news get so depressing?” Charlie dropped the remote and pulled at the sheet. “Wars, pollution, death, and destruction. What kind of world have I brought Lexie into?”
Although Charlie was still pale, she’d lost the waxy gray color that had scared Mia so much when she’d first seen her after Lexie’s birth.
“The news has always been depressing. You’re a journalist, so you cover it, don’t you? But when you become a mom, it changes you. All of a sudden, there’s danger everywhere.”
Charlie plucked at the sheet again. “I don’t feel much like a mom. I haven’t even seen Lexie yet.”
Mia poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the bedside table and held it out. “The doctor said if you keep on progressing the way you are, you should be able to go to New Hampshire by the weekend.”
Charlie waved the water away. “If that’s the case, why won’t people give me facts? My boobs hurt. I’m supposed to be pumping milk for a baby who can’t nurse. Not that that matters because I’m not even there to nurse her. And my stomach hurts so much that getting out of be
d takes at least five minutes.” Her voice wavered and a tear spilled down her cheek. “And although I can’t imagine I’ll ever want to have sex again, I miss Sean. Texts and phone calls aren’t the same as having him here. I need him to hold me.”
“Of course you miss him.” Mia reached over to give her sister a gentle hug. “As for sex, give it time. Sean will wait and when you’re ready, I’ll go with you to buy sexy lingerie and watch Lexie to give you some couple time.”
Charlie gave Mia a half smile through her tears. “Like I’ll ever look sexy again. My hair’s a mess, my stomach’s as flabby as a deflated balloon, my body’s leaking all sorts of weird fluid, and I haven’t had the courage to look at my C-section scar yet.”
“You just gave birth, honey, and sexy comes in all shapes and sizes. You look beautiful.”
“Says the woman who was back to her immaculate stick-figure self within minutes of popping out her babies.” Charlie’s smile broadened. “I’m sorry. You’re so sweet. You’ve hardly slept in two days and all I can do is complain.”
Mia laughed. “It’s the hormones.”
“I am not hormonal.” Charlie stuck her tongue out like she’d done as a kid.
Mia shifted in the straight-back chair, and the vinyl seat stuck to the backs of her legs beneath the skirt Gabrielle had brought her to change into. “Let’s look at the pictures of Lexie again. I asked the nurse if she could print them out so we can pin copies to your bulletin board. I think Lexie looks like Mom.” Mia tapped at her phone.
“You’d think any baby of mine or yours looked like Mom.” Charlie’s expression softened and she gave an engaging little chuckle. “Whoever she looks like, Lexie’s a miracle. You said that about Naomi and Emma, but I’m only their aunt. I didn’t know.”
“How could you?” Mia patted Charlie’s hand. “You want me to help you take a walk?”
“The nurse already did while you went to find a vase for my flowers.” Charlie gestured to the bouquet of pink roses her colleagues at the AP in Boston had sent. “What I want is for you to tell me what’s going on between you and Nick.”