Nick hurried to use the bathroom and brushed his teeth, not taking the time to shave or shower. His bag sat on the hallway floor, items haphazardly hanging out of it. He took it back into Carlie’s room and set it on the bed, quickly pulling on clean clothes. Rushing back out, he entered the dining room just as Carlie set cereal bowls on the table.
She glanced up, her eyes shadowy and unreadable. “Coffee will be ready in a few minutes, but we may as well eat while we wait.”
Nick sat next to her and spooned up a bite of the healthy fiber cereal she liked so much. He hoped she’d say something and give him a clue how to proceed, but she ate without comment. Looked like it would be up to him.
“I want to apologize for last night. I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s fine.” She stared at her cereal bowl. “A purely physical relationship would have been okay with me. I wish you’d been honest from the start.”
“I never said I only wanted a physical relationship. You misunderstood what I was trying to say.” Reaching across the table, he grabbed her hand.
She yanked away from him. “So, what? You actually think I’m a terrorist? It wasn’t an excuse to get out of a relationship with me?” Finally meeting his eyes, confusion was clear in hers.
He wasn’t sure how to get himself out of this situation. Last night, for some reason, he figured if he could get her to confide in him, maybe there was a chance he could talk her out of working with Muhammad. They could still run away together if she would give up the terrorist organization for him. Despite her flaws and the fact Nick should hate her, he was in love with her. It seemed nothing could change that.
And maybe that was his answer—to be honest. “Carlie, this is all screwed up. There’s one thing I know for sure.” He took her hand again, cupping it between both of his. “I am in love with you.”
Her eyebrows narrowed and she blinked rapidly. “How could you be? If you think I’m a terrorist, you obviously don’t even know who I am.”
“I do know who you are.” Not entirely true, but he knew his feelings for her were real. “What the FBI agent said got to me, that’s all. If you were involved in something illegal, I wanted you to confide in me. I wanted to be a part of your life, but I needed to know what I was getting into.”
She stood abruptly and grabbed her half-eaten cereal. “I suddenly don’t have an appetite.”
Carlie walked into the kitchen. The water came on and the garbage disposal whirled for a few seconds before both things shut off. She walked through the kitchen archway, staring at him.
“Please, Carlie, you have to forgive me.”
“I always thought involving feelings deeper than friendship would make things so much more satisfying than what I had with Bradley.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why I thought that. I should have learned my lesson with Ryan.”
Nick ground his teeth together, his frustration level rising. Why persist with the Ryan lie? She had to know he was on to her and didn’t believe that story anymore. Perhaps she didn’t care about him at all, so it didn’t matter if her lies were too thin to be plausible. “Good to know where I stack up in regard to all the men of your life.”
She snorted. “Yeah? Well, I wanted you to be the top one, but you aren’t the man I thought you were.” Crossing to the end table where she kept her purse, Carlie picked it up and slung the strap across her shoulder. “I’m going to work. Please turn the coffee pot off before you leave.”
“I take it I’m not invited to come with you.”
Her lower lip trembled slightly, but she shook her head. “Take your stuff when you leave. You can stop by the shop to drop off the key, and then I don’t think we should see each other again.”
It was hard to catch his breath as waves of pain knifed through his body. He stood up and held his hand out, praying she’d change her mind. “You can’t mean that. Don’t throw me out of your life.”
“Goodbye, Nick.”
She brushed past him, her vanilla scent wafting in the air between them as she strode toward the door. She didn’t even turn around for one last look before leaving the house.
***
One batch of bread was in the oven and Carlie worked on dough for the dinner roll orders an hour later. Though she tried to tell herself to be strong, tears worked their way steadily down her cheeks. Shelley would arrive for work in a half hour and likely ask too many questions. Carlie didn’t want to face that, but she couldn’t get her grief under control.
She leaned against the wall and sank to the ground, wiping her tears helplessly. It was foolish to cry over him. Super hunk, complete jerk, her chivalrous hero—Carlie couldn’t decide exactly who Nick Kendall was. Definitely not who she thought.
The sounds of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony interrupted the silence, signaling a call from an unknown number coming in on her phone. Half hoping it was Nick from his hotel room calling to make up, she slipped it out of her pocket.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” a man’s voice said—not Nick. “Is this Carlie?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, but who is this?”
“Donovan Andrews. Edward’s friend.”
Carlie scrubbed at the tears on her face. “I’m sorry, I don’t know any Edward.”
“Er... Did I say Edward?” He laughed. “Weird. I meant Nick. I’m Nick’s friend.”
Crap. It sunk in who was on the other end of the line, Donovan—as in Donovan and Madeline—who planned to share Thanksgiving dinner at her house tomorrow. She totally forgot about them. “Did Nick call you and tell you about the change in plans?”
“Change in plans? No. I’ve been trying to reach him. He’s not answering his phone and I got worried. Nothing’s happened to him, has it?”
Strange question. What did Donovan expect to happen? “He was fine when I left this morning.”
A female voice rumbled in the background, though Carlie couldn’t make out the words.
“I’m getting there, darling,” Donovan said, though Carlie could tell the words weren’t directed at her. “We wanted to let you know we’re more than halfway there. We started out yesterday, because Maddie wanted to stop at all the lighthouses along the route, and we’re taking the kids to get ice cream at the dairy. We’ll be there around dinnertime and wondered if we could treat you guys tonight before you cook for us tomorrow.”
Shoot. They were already on their way. How could she say no? Nick told her they lived in northern California, a town about ten hours away. She couldn’t cancel now, not when they already traveled so far.
Forcing a smile on her face in the hopes her voice would sound cheerful, she said, “Dinner sounds great. I’ll let Nick know. He’s looking forward to seeing you.”
***
Nick stared at the damn bracelet, wishing Carlie hadn’t shown it to him. It made absolutely no sense that it was still sitting here. If it was such a dangerous little jewel and so important to the terrorists’ plots, why leave it?
Carlie knew he was on to her. He supposed it was possible she didn’t think he knew the significance of the bracelet, but that seemed unlikely. Carlie wasn’t stupid. She could connect the dots and realize he knew about the bracelet too, since he questioned her about everything else.
But she left it, right where it had been all along. His for the taking. At least he could lock it at the safe in his hotel room, but he didn’t understand why a terrorist wasn’t more suspicious of leaving her prized possession where he could get it. It didn’t make any sense.
The burner cell buzzed yet again. Donovan was the only person who had that number, and Nick knew he should pick it up and talk to his friend. The problem was, he didn’t know what to tell him. It seemed doubtful Carlie would still agree to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Plus, if they planned an attack for this weekend, he really needed to let Donovan know so he could protect his family. They should be home stockpiling food just in case S.A.T.O. couldn’t stop Muhammad.
He raced to the living room to answer i
t, but the call disconnected before he could. Almost immediately, his normal cell phone rang. Nick glanced at the screen, shocked to see Carlie’s name come up on the caller ID.
Heart pounding, he answered it, almost afraid to hear from her. “Carlie? What’s wrong? Are you safe?”
Her sigh came over the line. “You’ve had to rescue me way too many times, I take it, if you expect me to be in trouble.”
He relaxed slightly. “That’s okay. I like being your hero.”
“I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“Say you’ll forgive me.” He hoped she could hear the sincerity in his voice. Ever since she walked out the door, Nick had questioned his wisdom at confronting her. He had felt betrayed and wanted to force her into the truth. Losing time with her wasn’t worth it, though. He didn’t need the truth—he needed her to choose him.
“Whether I forgive you or you believe me is not the issue right now.” She paused and sniffed. Nick could tell she’d been crying. After how cold she acted this morning, he had worried that maybe she truly didn’t care. Relief flooded through him upon hearing her emotion. She did care, even if she was angry.
“What’s the issue?”
“Your friends are already over halfway here. They decided to start out yesterday. They’ll be here tonight and want to take us to dinner.”
“You talked to them?”
“Donovan said you weren’t answering your phone.”
Donovan must have saved Carlie’s number when Nick called him from it the first time. “I didn’t know what to tell him.”
“Neither did I,” she admitted. “We’re going to have to get along, at least through the holiday. They’ve already traveled a long way. We can’t just ditch the plans now.”
“We can’t?” Nick wondered if he sounded as shocked as he felt. If Carlie really wanted to end their relationship, she’d cancel. Maybe this was her way of making up with him.
“I already bought food for tomorrow and they expect a nice holiday,” she replied. “What else could you do? Order room service at the hotel?”
“We could, actually,” he said softly, “but I’d rather be with you.”
“I’m not saying everything is fine between us,” she cautioned. “Let’s just get through the next few days and see where we stand.”
After the next few days, he was supposed to kill her. Nick closed his eyes and ran his hand across his face, wondering how he could sort all this out. He didn’t know what to do. “I’d really like that. I do love you, Carlie.”
“I have a lot to get done today at the shop,” she said. “You should call Donovan and finalize the plans. I’ll be ready around seven tonight and you can pick me up at my house then.”
Which meant she still expected him to be out of it. “I can’t wait to see you. I’ll do whatever I can to make things up to you.”
“I can’t talk about that right now. I’m still too angry. Goodbye.”
The phone went dead and Nick lowered it. Although he’d planned to cancel on Donovan, he was happy his friend was almost to town. He needed advice in the worst way.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Carlie finished applying lipstick right as the doorbell rang. She took one last look at her reflection, deciding the fading bruises on her neck and cheek weren’t noticeable enough to upset Nick’s friends or their children. Part of her wished she’d just told them plans had changed and she wouldn’t be joining them for the holiday, but that was the part always running scared.
While she didn’t understand how Nick could ever think she was a terrorist, especially based on what a stranger told him, it didn’t stop her from loving him. She wanted to work things out. Maybe she had been a little too hard on him. After all, he had never had a deep, meaningful relationship by his own admission. Yet, he persisted in saying he loved her. Maybe he really meant that. Maybe he just let the FBI guy get to him because he was looking for reasons to end the relationship, but having a hard time finding any, and that scared him.
Sighing, she made her way to the front door, checking out the peephole to make sure it was Nick before opening the door. He looked extremely handsome, dressed in black slacks and a deep purple dress shirt beneath his suit jacket.
“You look beautiful,” he said, though he didn’t make any moves to touch her or enter the house. “Donovan and Madeline are meeting us at the restaurant. That waffle house down on Fifth.”
She nodded. “Great. I’ll grab my coat.”
Carlie pulled it from the front closet and slipped into it. It was a shame to cover up the beautiful white silk blouse Shelley lent her, but she’d freeze in the drizzling rain that started up a few hours earlier. Nick’s friends probably wouldn’t judge her on fashion anyway since they picked a waffle house. At least, she hoped not.
Grabbing her purse, she stepped out onto the porch and locked the door. “Okay, let’s go.”
Nick offered his arm, but Carlie started down the stairs without taking it. Blindly forgiving him and pretending nothing changed wasn’t something she wanted either.
He opened her car door and then went to the driver’s side, sliding behind the wheel and fastening his seat belt. He put the keys in the ignition, but glanced at her before starting the car. “Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t want to spend the evening fighting with you.” Reaching across the console, he ran gentle fingers down her cheek. “Especially not when all I want is to kiss you.”
Carlie closed her eyes, melting at his touch and craving more of it. “I promise not to make a scene in front of your friends, but I’m not sure kissing is a good idea.”
“Even though I love you and you love me?” His dark eyes filled with an emotion Carlie couldn’t begin to guess at.
“Nick, you decided to believe something a total stranger said about me for no reason whatsoever.” Her anger grew once again at his betrayal of her trust. “Maybe I could understand if you had any evidence, but I’m honestly hurt.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I thought I could help you, if that was what was going on. All I want is total honesty between us.”
“So you assumed I lied?” She brushed his hand away from her face and folded her arms. “Do you still think I’m lying?”
He looked away, starting the car. “We’re going to be late. Let’s try to have a good time. I don’t want to spend the next few days fighting. Especially not when I...”
After waiting a few seconds, Carlie raised her eyebrow. “Especially not when you what?”
“Nothing.” He pulled the car out of the driveway and the tense silence became unbearable.
Carlie turned the radio on, bumping the volume. Nick apparently still thought she lied to him, which cooled her anger to an even deeper hurt. Maybe she should ask him to turn around. She could always call a cab to pick her up if he wouldn’t take her home.
She shook her head. The truth was she wanted to be with him. Maybe he had a good reason for believing the FBI agent, and once he decided to tell her what that was they could work things out. That was the hope, anyway. Nick had been so hot and cold the last few days. Carlie questioned her wisdom in staying with him, but she wanted things to work.
They pulled into the parking lot of the waffle house and Nick parked the car, clicking off the radio. “I’m sorry.” His voice sounded flat. “I keep screwing things up. All I want is to be with you and find happiness.”
“That’s what I want too. I’m not sure what made you turn on me, but happiness is going to be dang near impossible for us if you believe those things about me.” She unfastened her seat belt and opened the door. “For now, let’s have a good evening with your friends, a great dinner tomorrow, and deal with the serious stuff Friday.”
She climbed out of the car. Perhaps it was cowardly to put off talking with him until later, but if they were going to part ways, she deserved at least one happy holiday first.
Even if it was a lie.
***
Nick followed Carlie into the restaurant, to
rn by her words. If they pretended to be okay until after the holiday but not really work on their issues, that wouldn’t give him much time to decide what to do.
All day he’d been tormented by the thought of flying back to D.C. and leaving Carlie to the mercy of Stephen Chance. Then again, if she didn’t really care about him and was determined to carry out her plans with Muhammad, what could Nick do?
The dining room was packed with large families and crying children when they entered. A harried server held her finger up and nodded their direction, but before she made her way to them, Nick spotted Donovan sitting at a table in the center of the room.
Without asking permission, he gripped Carlie’s elbow and steered her to the table. She glanced at him with wide eyes, but he just smiled. If she wanted to pretend things were fine for the holiday, then that’s just what he’d do.
Nick looked over his friend’s family. Jealous he didn’t have something similar warred with his happiness for Donovan. “Looking good, man.”
The silver at Donovan’s temples had spread to a wider patch and he put on a few pounds in the past year—that infamous marriage weight. Other than that, it was the same old Donovan. Relief at knowing he’d be able to confide his problems in his friend flooded through Nick.
Donovan walked around the table to smack Nick’s back. “Looking good, yourself, Edward. Good to see you.”
Nick widened his eyes and shook his head slightly at the same time as Carlie sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes darting between both men.
Donovan cleared his throat and smiled at her. “You must be Carlie. Nick’s told me so much about you.”
Though she had to be curious about Donovan calling him Edward, Carlie favored Donovan with her bright, waitress-style smile and shook his hand. “Nick’s been looking forward to your visit. It was nice of you guys to come all this way.”
Donovan’s wife stood, leaning across the table to shake Carlie’s hand and then Nick’s. “I’m Madeline.” She was very tall, nearly Nick’s height of six feet, and thin scars coursed down each of her cheeks, though they didn’t diminish how pretty she was. “Thanks for letting us crash your party this week. My parents are away and we wanted to spend the time with family. I’ve been hearing all about you, Ed...err, Nick. Donovan thinks the world of you. Glad we finally meet.”
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