by Rin Daniels
Her sigh of relief had Kat asking, “All clear?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she replied softly. She relaxed, moving through the house to the stairs. “Maybe they’re out.”
“Lucky you. So,” Kat hedged.
“What?”
“When do I get to meet your mechanic?”
Her mechanic. Before, it had been just a dream—a flirty way to fantasize about him. Now she could say it for real. Her mechanic. She smiled so hard, it colored her voice with embarrassing warmth. “I’ll check with him. Maybe we can all go somewhere?”
“That’d be perfect,” Kat said happily. “A double date! I’ll check with Adam, too.”
Nadine chuckled. “I don’t even—”
“Nadine Renee Sherwood.”
“Ohmigod,” she squeaked, jumping like a scared rabbit as her mother’s frigid tones clipped out of the open door to her dad’s office.
Kat hissed in her ear. “Damn. I heard that from here.”
She didn’t dare take the time to answer her friend as she shuffled to the open door. Her dad sat at the chestnut desk he prized, his gaze on his computer screen and a deep furrow between his eyebrows. Her mother leaned against his chair, arms folded across her crisp teal blouse. They looked pressed and clean and professional.
And very upset.
Nadine smiled weakly. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Daddy. I’m home?”
Kat tsk’d in her ear.
“Nadine,” her father said, as much acknowledging the greeting as the fact she was coming home at seven in the morning.
“Where have you been?” her mom demanded. “Who are you speaking to?”
“Tell her with me,” Kat whispered.
“With my friend Kat,” Nadine said on cue. She held out her phone. “Want to talk to her?”
Her guts churned at the thought of making her friend lie for her, at lying to her parents, but there was no way she could admit to where she was.
If her parents knew about Lucas, they’d blow a gasket. He wasn’t even close to her dad’s ‘nice, well-to-do young man’. Short of bringing home an actual felon, she wasn’t sure it was possible to be more opposite.
Mary held out an imperious hand. “Give it here.”
Crossing her dad’s well-appointed study was probably what they meant by Walk of Shame. She didn’t regret what she’d done with Lucas, not even a little bit. What she regretted was the silent disappointment thickening the air.
Silently apologizing to Kat—making a note to do so in person later—Nadine handed the crystal-studded phone over to her mom.
Her mom stared at her as she lifted the device to her ear. “This is Nadine’s mother.” Whatever Kat said didn’t so much as twitch on her mom’s face. “I see,” she said in cool tones. Another interminable wait.
Her dad tapped on his keyboard.
Nadine clasped her hands behind her back, holding her shoes tightly, and tried not to look guilty.
“I see,” her mom said again. “Yes.” A beat, and her mother’s gaze turned away. “I understand.” Another pause. “No, it’s not necessary. Thank you for your apology. You have our condolences. Yes,” she said again, and Nadine silently counted them up. Two actual yeses, at least four indications of understanding.
God, Kat was good.
“Yes, thank you,” her mom continued. “I’m afraid my daughter will have to call you back.” She paused to listen, then replied, “Mm-hm, you, too.”
Nadine tried to figure out her mood as her mom looked down at the phone, then offered it over. Her elegant gold watch glinted in the morning sunshine streaming through the windows.
Nadine accepted the phone back. “Okay?”
Her mother took a deep breath. Then another. A calming technique. “Nadine,” she began, and Nadine’s heart jumped. “I understand your friend is going through a bad time.”
Oh, man. What had Kat said? The only problem with being friends with a reformed con artist was keeping up with moments like this. She nodded solemnly, wracking her brain for what kind of excuse her friend gave for Nadine’s late night.
“That’s understandable,” Mary said, clipped. “It happens. Next time,” she added firmly, “call. We were worried.”
Nadine’s guilt kicked. “I’m sorry.”
“As long as you understand.” But her mom wasn’t done. She pointed to one of two leather tufted chairs across from her dad’s desk, where he occasionally entertained clients. “Sit.”
Given no other choice, Nadine padded across the lush Persian rug and sat. Nerves bundled in her stomach. “What’s wrong?”
“Germaine.”
Her dad looked up from his screen, his mouth a line of concern under his groomed mustache. “Pumpkin, is there anything you want to tell us?”
Ohmigod. No way. She hated when they opened up with this. What did they know?
What did they suspect?
It was like some sort of test they threw at her when they wanted to know if she was trustworthy.
Nadine’s hands clenched around the shoes she held in her lap. “You mean aside from Kat’s rough time?”
“Aside from that,” her dad allowed.
Crap. And a half. Of course there were things she could tell them. Lucas pretty much topped that list, and that was not a debate she wanted to open up. Her parents, as much as she loved them, had never understood.
Her silence lingered.
Her parents exchanged glances, and Mary tipped her head, a stern set to her lips.
Nadine braced for the worst as both looked back at her.
“You know we encourage you to be financially independent.” Her dad laced his hands on his desk, leveling the same kind of serious regard on her that he did to his clients.
Nadine blinked.
“And you know we try to stay out of your everyday affairs,” he added. “However, I do get alerts when a certain amount of money is spent on the Centurion.”
Relief shouldn’t have been her first reaction, but it so was. This wasn’t about Lucas.
Halle-freaking-lujah!
“Oh,” she managed. It didn’t laugh. At least she swallowed that.
“Yes,” her mother interjected. “Oh, indeed.”
The hysterical urge to laugh faded.
“The thing is,” her father said, raising hand to interrupt his wife, “we trust you to make wise decisions, and you know we’ll never let you fail. Just…” He hesitated.
“Nadine, why do you need—”
“Mary,” her father chided gently, cutting her off again.
Nadine watched them go back and forth in awkward silence, relief now warring with guilt.
Her mom subsided, but reluctantly. Her mouth thinned, like she had to seal all her questions. Nadine figured she probably did.
Of the two, her mom was the busybody.
Germaine leaned forward, emphasis to his point. “We won’t ask details, pumpkin, but you’ll let us know if you’re in trouble?”
Oh. She couldn’t do this. Not this, not when she was already choking on the secrets and lies of her night.
“It was for Kat,” Nadine blurted. She forged on before her father’s eyebrows could fly off his forehead. “She’s had a really rough go, and her mom borrowed heavily from loan sharks, and when Kat finally earned the money to pay them back, her mom took that and ran away with everything.”
Well, that did it. Neither of her parents said anything. Her mother blinked in surprise.
Her father’s expression settled into severe lines.
Nadine let go of her shoes to press her hands together, like a prayer. “I know it was super dangerous and I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t let Kat just be hurt, you know? It wasn’t her fault, not even a little. Her mom is...not really a good mom.”
Mary lifted a manicured hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, eyes closed. “Honestly, Nadine.”
“I know,” she replied wretchedly.
Her father heaved out a long, slow sigh. “Okay,” he said. “Okay, I get that.”
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“Germaine,” Mary said, all the argument she needed in a word.
“It’s okay,” he replied, his gaze on Nadine. She smiled crookedly, relieved to have that much off her chest, and bolstered by the trust he gave her. “It’s even upstanding. Your friend Kat,” he added. “She’s not a trouble maker, is she?”
In only about a million ways. But what he called troublemaker, Nadine called human, even fun, and so she shook her head and promised, “She’s a nice girl.” As an afterthought, she added, “She’s dating Adam Laramie.”
As expected, this even smoothed out her mom’s expression. She dropped her hand to study her daughter. “The Adam Laramie? The Laramie family?”
“That’s the one.” Nadine couldn’t blame them when they exchanged another glance.
The Sherwoods had money, and plenty of it, but they weren’t billionaires. The Laramie name dug deep into Sulla Valley’s community.
She’d have to apologize again for dragging her friend’s relationship into her mess.
“And,” Nadine explained before her parents could ask, “she wasn’t going to give her boyfriend the impression she was dating him for his money, so she refused to ask him. Don’t worry,” she added hastily when her mother blanched. “She’s got a salon she’ll be opening soon. I’ll have a stake in it, a kind of silent partner. I think it’ll do really well. Kat’s a styling genius.”
“Really, Nadine,” her mother sighed.
“No, I’m serious.” Nadine couldn’t help it. It seemed important that her parents understood this. Kat had a gift. “She’s really amazing,” she insisted. “You’ll see.”
“Okay,” her father said again, lifting a hand to cut them both off. “Nadine, thank you for telling us.”
“After the fact,” her mother added pointedly.
Nadine flushed.
“At least I’m aware, now,” her dad said good-naturedly. “As long as I know what to look for, I can ensure nothing like this ever harms this family. Pumpkin, I suppose I don’t have to ask you to never deal with them again?”
“Never,” Nadine vowed, crossing her heart over the blouse she’d fortunately buttoned up before her Walk of Shame turned into a Third Degree. “It’s done. Kat doesn’t like borrowing money and I really don’t want to ever see them again. It’s cool.”
Her mom rubbed at her forehead. “I feel like we’ve missed the point, here.”
“It’ll be fine, Mary.” Her dad grinned. “She’s a good girl.”
Her mom sighed, waving at them both in general. “You two have your little solidarity moment,” she said, resigned. “But next time, young lady?” Stern green eyes pinned on Nadine. “I expect you to be forthcoming.”
That could have been way worse. “Got it,” she said meekly.
Her dad’s eyes crinkled. “Go on, then.”
Nadine fled while she could, wincing as her mother’s voice carried a hint of argument behind her. Her parents would probably argue in the genteel way they always had, with her mom accusing her dad of lacking discipline and her dad good-naturedly agreeing.
It wasn’t all true. It just…wasn’t all not true, either.
Nadine made it to her suite at a near-sprint, shoved the usual pillow over the intercom, and called Kat.
“How’d it go?” her friend asked after the first ring.
“You’re off today, right?” At Kat’s sound of assent, Nadine said tersely, “MacKinnon’s, lunch.”
“You got it, girl.”
* * *
MacKinnon’s was the kind of place that tourists didn’t know to look for and locals jealously guarded. Set back in the maze of a boutique shopping center, it didn’t have much more than a sign to announce its presence. Even the windows were marked by bricked up decoration.
The interior was always a mix of patrons, designer brands to everyday store bought to thrift store warriors. The food was good, the music always a mix of staff favorites, and the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling were seasonally rearranged to match the local constellations. That’s just the kind of place it was. Nadine liked it okay—it wasn’t her favorite—but Kat loved it.
Plus? Nobody knew Nadine there.
She arrived to find Kat had already claimed a high bar table, two margaritas already in place. God, she loved that woman. “It’s like you know me,” Nadine said as she threw her purse on the floor under the table and climbed into the tall chair. She cradled the frosted mug in both hands and took a long, hard pull of the zesty lime flavor. “Ah,” she sighed at the end.
Kat watched her, grinning as she toyed with her straw. “Nice hair, Daisy the Milkmaid.”
“Ugh.” Nadine slumped in her chair, elbows on the table. She’d taken a shower and braided her long hair, too impatient to do anything more than pin it to the back of her head in lazy styling. “I am so tired.”
“You don’t look it.”
“You’re nice,” Nadine replied, laughing.
Her friend rolled her eyes, blowing out a laughing breath that pushed her straight sable bangs from her forehead. “If you glowed any harder, I’d have to wear my shades.”
“I take it back. You’re terrible.” Nadine glowered. “Shut up and drink your margarita.”
“Fine, but you have to tell me what happened with your parents.”
Between sips, Nadine did just that. At the end, Kat’s amusement faded. Her frown darkened her moss green eyes, and she tugged absently on a strand of hair she’d dyed fire engine red. “Jeez, Nadine. I told you not to mess with those guys.”
“Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “I did, it’s done, it’s over. And my dad gets it,” she added reassuringly. She bent over her glass, sucked the last of the drink through her hot pink straw with a loud slurping gurgle. When she was sure she got the last life-giving drops, she sighed and leaned back, rubbing at her forehead. “I was super lucky. What did you tell my mom?”
“That my cat got hit by a car.”
Nadine stared at her.
Her friend grinned, completely unabashed by the outright lie. She didn’t even have a cat. “I told her that some frat bro backed over her, and that he was probably drinking and didn’t have insurance. And since I was too emotional to drive, you took me all over town looking for an emergency vet.” She crossed her legs to the side, the hem of her dark purple skinny jeans just brushing the tops of her black off-brand sandals. Kat didn’t do designer, not for casual meetings.
Nadine never held it against her. A lot of people in the Laramie social circle did, but whatever.
As long as they focused on what Kat was or wasn’t wearing, they didn’t notice when her friend charmed the hell out of them.
Nadine laughed, impressed despite herself. “I swear, it’s like you’re a bullshit machine.”
She shrugged. “If it helps you,” she said, her smile going crooked. “I also said that afterwards, I was such a hot mess that you got me drunk.”
“You didn’t.”
“And I apologized profusely that you had to stay and take care of me,” Kat added. Which probably went a long way to soothing her mom’s anger. Hard to stay upset when her daughter was such a Good Samaritan.
“Wow,” was all Nadine could say, laughing into her hands. “Just wow.”
“It comes in handy, sometimes,” Kat said, with a nonchalance that didn’t fool Nadine.
She knew Kat didn’t like her background, didn’t like the fact that her family was a bunch of honest to God con artists. Nadine loved it.
“Whatever.” She nudged her friend’s leg with the toe of her sandal. “You’re a good person, Kat Harris. And you saved my life.”
“Damn right,” Kat shot back, eyes sparkling.
A tall, slim waiter with platinum hair stopped by to replace their drinks. He smiled at them both, sliding an order pad into his back pocket. “Same kinds, ladies?” he asked, collecting their glasses.
“Random us,” Nadine said.
The waiter winked at her. “Waiter’s choice, coming up.”
He was cute, probably in college. Nadine and Kat watched him go, then glanced at each other.
They shrugged in unison.
Nadine laughed. “God, we suck.”
“We’re just occupied,” Kat countered.
“Yeah, as in ‘occupied by the asses of our respective man-meats’,” Nadine retorted.
Kat laughed so hard, several other patrons glanced their way in varying shades of amused. She was still chortling as the waiter returned with two new margaritas, one pink and one purple. He put the pink in front of Nadine, surprising her not at all, and the purple in front of Kat. “Cheers, ladies.”
Nadine waited until he’d gone back to another table before reaching across the table and swapping the drinks. “Purple, mine.”
“Fine, fine,” Kat said, wrinkling her nose. “Ugh. Please tell me they—” She took a sip before finishing the sentence. Then grimaced. “Too much sugar.”
Nadine took a drink of hers. It burned right up into her nose. “Too much tequila,” she gasped. “Ohmigod. Give that back.”
“Oh, man.” Kat shoved the sweet pink stuff back her way. “I love you.”
She rinsed her mouth with the much gentler pink margarita—raspberry lemonade flavor, maybe. As her tastebuds slowly recovered, she said sweetly, “I know. And that’s why I’m going to help you with your salon.”
“Yeah, yeah.” But affection colored it. “If everything goes okay, I should be able to open by Valentine’s Day.”
“Brilliant,” Nadine said, perking up. “Let’s do a grand opening gala!”
“Let’s see what kind of opening funds we’ll have,” Kat replied dryly. “Drink your syrup before it crystallizes.”
Nadine chuckled and obeyed. The sweet margarita went a long way to soothing her nerves, and Kat did the rest. Without her friend, Nadine’s morning could have been very, very different. She wouldn’t ruffle Kat’s feathers by suggesting she offer money to the store, but she’d be ready to offer assistance again at any time. Kat didn’t like it, not really, but Nadine liked supporting her friends.
And Kat was the best friend she had.
Aside from Lucas.
Who was…maybe…more than a friend, now?
Not that he ever took her money. She knew better than to offer, it too. Everything about him, she had to come at it sideways.