by Caroline Lee
“I…” How could she answer Jason’s offer? Did she want to stay with him?
She turned confused eyes to Nick, who—bless him—understood.
“I think you should, Okie,” he said softly. “It would be nice to catch up with Jace, and besides…you’d be near enough to paint the mountains. Just for a bit.”
Near to Nick. Nice Nick. Nearby.
She didn’t want to leave him. Didn’t want to climb in her truck with her fat cat and drive away, forgetting she met someone like him who understood her. She wanted to see him again. And again and again and again.
Wanted to be his friend.
But should she? Should she take Jason’s offer? Should she stay here on the ranch? Should she and Rajah—
“Rajah!” she blurted.
Again, Nick understood, and shrugged. “He can stay with me for a little while.” He nodded to the little family. “The Cunninghams actually have an apartment in the same complex as me and Jamal. And we know Jamal doesn’t mind your cat. He can stay with us until you’re ready to move on again.”
It must’ve been her imagination, the slight wistfulness in his expression. He didn’t let his emotions show, and she couldn’t read emotions. So maybe he just had to sneeze or something.
Jason tipped the balance. “Please, Okie? It would be nice to hang out for a bit and catch up. You can do whatever you normally do, but come stay with us in the evening,” he gently urged.
Dink grinned and nodded, and even the baby gurgled something useless and adorable. Okie knew she was outnumbered, and didn’t even know if she wanted to fight it in the first place.
She would stay here in Riston for a little while—To paint!—and see Jason. She didn’t need to “catch up” with him, as he’d said, but admitted to herself that his hug had been nice. It might be good to be around someone who remembered her from years ago. Someone who’d once understood her, the way Nick did now. And maybe, maybe, she’d be able to see Nick.
Sighing, she gave in, not quite against her will. “Okie-dokie.”
CHAPTER FIVE
He’d intended to stay away, to give her time to catch up with her foster brother. After all, it was fairly incredible, mathematically speaking, that she would run into the brother who she’d told him about, the one who’d given her the nickname. Depending on how many homes she’d been in, and how many other foster kids had been in those homes, she might actually have a fairly significant number of foster siblings. And assuming most of them stayed in Idaho, and assuming most of them were adults now, living fulfilling lives, then running into one again wasn’t a statistical improbability.
But Jason, specifically? Someone who’d been special to Okie, and with whom Nick worked? The odds of that were—
Enough calculating.
He shook himself and focused on climbing the steps up to the Cunninghams’ fourth floor apartment. He’d heard people say River’s End Ranch was magical, but surely this was just an unlikely coincidence.
Yeah. Nothing magical about it at all.
So yeah, he’d intended to stay away, to give her time with her unlikely coincidental reunion with her foster brother…but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. He found himself checking her website several times a day to see if she’d uploaded any new paintings, to use that as an excuse to email her. He was having trouble concentrating at work because he was remembering the conversations he’d had with her. And even Jamal had noticed he’d quit playing Call of Duty at home. How could Nick play anymore, when each game reminded him of the fun he’d had with Okie? He’d only known her for a little while—and had thought her a boy most of that time!—but they’d been friends. And she must’ve gotten under his skin, because everything seemed to remind him of her.
So today, when he’d been working in the admin offices, and he’d upgraded the phone in Jace’s office to their new VOIP system, it had seemed natural to ask about Okie. And when Jace had invited him to dinner, Nick had accepted before he’d thought better of it.
Which is why he was now standing in the hall, clutching a bouquet of flowers he’d picked up from the little shop in Old Town, waiting for someone to answer the door. Flowers! He couldn’t believe he’d done something like buy flowers! Mom would be proud, probably. Maybe.
But what else was he supposed to do? He couldn’t show up for dinner empty-handed, and when he’d asked what he could bring, Jace had waved away the offer. He could’ve grabbed a bottle of wine or something, but he didn’t drink and didn’t know if the Cunninghams did either…so flowers it was.
And when Whitney at Pushing Daisies had helped him pick them out, he’d been thinking about Okie. Wondering if she’d see the purple irises and remember the Columbine which had blanketed McIver’s Mountain the morning they’d met last week. Wonder if she even liked flowers. The bouquet was technically for Dink, as the hostess, but Nick had been thinking of Okie…
Who opened the door just as he was about to knock a second time.
She exhaled, and smiled softly. Shyly. She’d obviously known it would be him at the door, and was it his imagination, or did she seem like she’d been holding her breath before she’d seen him? Was it foolish, to ascribe typical reactions to someone as special and unusual as Okie?
Say something, fool.
“Hi, Okie,” he blurted, and felt just as foolish as he had that afternoon last week when she’d met him for ice cream, after he’d discovered her secret.
“Hi, Nick,” she replied softly. She was wearing a psychedelic t-shirt and was barefoot. She wasn’t wearing her knit hat, so her auburn hair hung in curtains around her cheeks, and she tucked a few strands behind her ear. Her hazel eyes—just as skittish as the rest of her—dropped to the bouquet in his hands. “Flowers?”
“Yeah, um…” Nick shifted his weight, suddenly embarrassed. “For Dink.”
For you.
She bit her lower lip as she stared at the irises. Was she disappointed? Did she want him to bring her flowers? Whoa, don’t get ahead of yourself. Okie wasn’t like any other girl he’d ever met.
“Okie-dokie.” She reached for the bouquet. “I’ll put them in water. Flowers like water.”
After that matter-of-fact recitation—she said it as if she needed to remind herself of it—Okie took the irises from Nick, and turned into the apartment without inviting him in. But Nick just smiled. Okie’s brain was too busy to think of something as simple as manners, and he liked that about her. He liked a lot of things about her.
So he slipped inside and shut the door behind him, wiping his feet on the mat instinctively, even though he hadn’t had to go outside to get here. It was interesting they lived so close, but he hadn’t seen Okie in the days she’d been here. Maybe he did spend too much time inside, as Reggie and Jamal had always told him.
Dink and Jace greeted him warmly from the kitchen, and waved away his offer to help. He watched Okie take out a glass from the cabinet, fill it with water, and plop the flowers in. Dink sent her husband an amused smile, and Nick knew it meant they had a vase around somewhere, but didn’t want to offend Okie by pointing that out, not when she was trying hard to do the right thing.
He liked them even more for that little kindness.
Dink shooed them both out to the living room where little Lacey was lying on a mat under some sort of dangly toys, kicking and cooing happily. To his surprise, Okie sank down cross-legged beside the baby, staring down at the little one. He hadn’t expected her to know much about babies, or want to interact with them.
Still, when she looked up and flashed him a little smile, Nick was helpless to do anything except sink down beside her. Without acknowledging their ridiculous positions there on the floor of someone else’s house, Okie nodded as if she hadn’t expected anything less, then stretched out a lithe finger towards the baby.
“Watch this,” she whispered.
Lacey stared at the finger for a while, then reached for it, wrapping her little fingers around Okie’s.
Nick wasn
’t sure what he was supposed to be watching. Didn’t all babies do that? He seemed to recall reading something—
“You try it,” Okie urged without looking away from the baby.
Mentally shrugging, Nick did as he was told, glad he’d washed his hands before he’d come up. To his surprise, Lacey reached out her other hand and grabbed hold of his finger. Her grip was strong. She was like a little fighter, fierce and intense.
Like the best parts of Jace and Dink, combined.
“Now watch,” Okie whispered again, slowly pulling her finger upward.
To Nick’s surprise, the baby followed, pulling herself as if she was trying to sit up. He helped by pulling his own finger, the one Lacey had latched onto.
“Wow,” he whispered in return, watching the look of concentration on the baby’s face. “I didn’t think they were that strong at this age.”
“It’s one of the reflexes she was born with. See how she’s holding her head upright by herself? That means she might be too old for the Moro reflex.”
“What’s that?”
Okie nudged his hand out of the way and replaced his finger with hers in Lacey’s hand. “When you pretend to drop her, she’ll throw her arms and legs out in an attempt to catch herself.”
“What?” Okie hadn’t practiced that or anything, had she?
But Okie was helping Lacey lift herself up and down, a look of concentration on her face to match the baby’s. It was impossible to imagine her doing anything to hurt the little one.
“It’s just something all babies are born with. Like how a baby monkey can cling to his mother’s back. Baby humans want to cling to things.” Just like Lacey was doing to Okie right now. “It’s pretty incredible.”
“Yeah.”
It was pretty incredible to watch her interact with the baby too. While she stared down at Lacey, Nick watched Okie. Watched the way her eyes followed the baby’s, watched the way her lips parted slightly in concentration. When he’d met her, he’d thought she was a boy, with the baggy sweatshirt, and that knit cap pulled low over her hair. But now…
Today she wasn’t wearing the hat, but the short auburn spikes of her hair were tousled as if she had been wearing it earlier. Where did she go each day? He wanted to ask—wanted to ask about the t-shirt with the zebra printed on it too—but didn’t know how. Maybe he should just come out and ask. She didn’t seem the kind to pick up on hints.
“What did you do today?”
“Painted,” she responded promptly, her eyes not leaving the baby. “In the park.”
“I didn’t see any new paintings up on your site.”
The admission he’d been visiting her site must’ve surprised her, judging from the startled way she jerked upright and her eyes flew to his. But just as quickly, she looked away, gently lowering Lacey to the brightly colored mat once more.
“No,” she whispered. “I was painting for myself.”
The way she said it made him want to ask what she was painting. Made him want to ask all sorts of things about her. Instead, he said, “Rajah seems to be fine. Jamal has spoiled him.”
Her lips quirked. “He was already spoiled.” Hazel eyes peeked up from under her full lashes. “I miss him,” she admitted.
But her tone made it sound like maybe she meant “I miss you” and Nick’s heart leapt at the possibility.
Careful. Don’t ascribe meaning where there is none.
Still, he couldn’t help but feel hopeful. Especially with the way she was peeking up at him right now, as if gauging his reaction, but not wanting him to know.
She really was lovely, in a fairy-like way. Earth-toned and lithe, limber and soft. She looked like she belonged in one of her paintings, a fairy in a garden.
Focus. He was getting off-track. How to let her know he heard both her words and the words she hadn’t said? The words he hoped she’d meant?
He tried a smile. “We’d love it if you would come visit sometime.”
That was it, but it was enough, because she smiled back.
During dinner, neither of them said much to each other, but he was very aware of her sitting beside him, one leg pulled up under her while she perched on the chair and ate her spaghetti. Dink kept the conversation going, mainly by asking about The Real Bigfoot and the “evidence” the site claimed to have found.
Nick answered uncomfortably, not sure he should be continuing to perpetrate the trick. Dink’s brother-in-law was Will Weston—Jace’s best friend! Shouldn’t they know about the prank Kelsi Weston had pulled to get the whole site started?
After dinner, Dink asked for Okie’s help doing the dishes, and Nick’s lips twitched. He knew it wouldn’t have occurred to Okie to offer to help—she understood social niceties about as well as he did—but she was quick to join in once asked. She was eager and ready to help, and Nick liked that about her.
He liked a lot of things about her.
“And you can help me,” Jace said to him as he scooped up his daughter. “Someone needs changing.”
Nick wasn’t sure how he could help with the baby, but he followed the other man into the master bedroom.
“Hope it’s not weird to be back here, man,” Jace apologized as he laid Lacey on a changing pad set up on a dresser. “Okie’s in the nursery, so we’ve moved all of the baby stuff in here.”
Nick just shrugged and leaned against the doorframe. It was a little weird, but if Jace didn’t seem fazed, he wasn’t going to be either. Much.
“I know you’re not one for small talk,” Jace started as he efficiently pulled the baby’s legs out of her romper thing, “so I’ll just get to it. I wanted to thank you for coming tonight.” He glanced over Nick’s shoulder down the hall towards the kitchen. “Okie thinks you’re here because you like us.”
What an odd thing to say. “You don’t think I like you?”
The Cunninghams seemed nice…
But Jace snorted as he used his foot to open a lined hamper and drop the used diaper in. “You’re not here for us, or even to meet Lacey—and trust me, we’ve hosted plenty of dinners in the last months for friends and coworkers to meet this little angel.” He tickled his daughter, evoking a giggle which earned one of Jace’s rare smiles. “But we know you’re here for Okie.”
Nick was, so he didn’t bother denying it. Instead he shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers and wondered if he was supposed to be guessing at Jace’s point.
Jace reached for a wipe and began to clean his daughter. “Listen, I’m just going to come out and say it. Okie doesn’t talk a lot, but when she does, it’s about you. It’s either you, or Bigfoot, or painting. I mean, when she talks, that is.”
When he paused, Nick wasn’t sure what he was expected to say. “Um…yeah, she doesn’t seem to say that much.” Unless prompted, or unless it was something they had shared a passion for, like art or video games.
On the dresser, the baby started to kick and gurgle. Jace trapped both of her tiny feet in one of his big hands, and lifted her bottom to slide a new cloth diaper under her. As he snapped her up efficiently, he got to his point.
“Look, I was twelve the last time I saw her, and she was younger. In the three years we lived in that house, there were a lot of ‘problem’ kids in and out, but she…” He shrugged as he tucked his daughter’s legs back into the romper. “She and I kind of stuck together. No one else really understood her—heck, I didn’t understand her, not really, but I figured I didn’t have to. I just let her be, be herself, and that’s all she wanted. We were surrounded by people who were trying to make both of us conform.”
He lifted Lacey and patted her back as he settled her against his shoulder, and turned to Nick. “I want you to understand. I wasn’t conforming on purpose. I chose not to follow their rules, and that got me into plenty of trouble growing up.”
It was hard to imagine the straight-laced accountant holding his daughter so gently and competently as any kind of trouble-maker, but Nick had heard the story of how Jace and Will had m
et.
“But Okie,” Jace continued, “wasn’t doing it on purpose. She didn’t—couldn’t—conform, because she genuinely didn’t understand what they were telling her. She didn’t understand how to conform. For, like, six months when I came into that home, all she said was ‘okie-dokie’—hence the nickname—but then she went and did her own thing. It drove our foster parents nuts that she could be so agreeable, but then go and do exactly the opposite of what was expected.”
He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, like he was trying to control some emotion Nick couldn’t understand. “She wasn’t doing it to be difficult. She just didn’t understand what they wanted from her—she didn’t understand a lot of how people interacted with one another. She never had an official diagnosis, but her brain doesn’t work the same way as everyone else’s. She sees things differently, thinks differently about things. She’s special.”
At last, something Nick could understand and agree with.
“She certainly is,” he said with feeling.
Jace stared at him about four heartbeats longer than was comfortable, but Nick also knew he wasn’t the best at reading social cues. Maybe this was the normal amount of intimidating staring that big brothers—foster or not—did when they confronted men who wanted…
What did Nick want with Okie?
Finally, Jace nodded. “I’m glad you see that. It’s why we invited you tonight, because I thought, of all the people who’d met Okie, and everyone she would meet here in this town, you’re the one who might understand her the best. The one who would see how special she really is.” He shrugged, and the baby burped, making him smile. “Plus, she already thinks you’re pretty special, apparently.”
The thought of Okie talking about him, especially to someone as near to family—albeit newly reunited family—as possible, made Nick go warm inside. He wasn’t sure why, but promised he’d take a minute to examine his feelings about this whole situation.
Later. When Jace was done talking.