Unexpected Sparks

by Gina Dartt

  Nikki nodded unhappily, not feeling that she had won anything with this concession.

  Kate hesitated and then kissed her again, more lingeringly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Good night, Kate.”

  Nikki waited until her lover had disappeared into the building before turning to leave. She had a lot to think about as she trudged home under stars that appeared a lot duller without Kate to share them with her.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kate opened her eyes as the alarm went off and gazed at the ceiling above her. Inhaling deeply, she could still smell Nikki, not only because she hadn’t showered since yesterday, but also because she had slept in her T-shirt. She wondered if she could convince Nikki to let her keep it. If she couldn’t have Nikki in the bed with her on a regular basis, then wearing her T-shirt at least offered her a bit of comfort in the night and allowed her to sleep.

  Kate had always been amazed when people chose to marry after knowing each other only a few weeks, considering such stories hyperbole or the participants drunk out of their minds. But lying in her lonely bed, wanting Nikki with every molecule of her body, she completely understood such impulsive behavior. She didn’t want to spend any time away from her new lover and wished fervently that she could ask her to move in. Even as she thought it, however, she knew it was way too soon, and that Nikki would probably not agree.

  But oh, how it ached to wake up without Nikki next to her, and the hours that remained before she would see her again seemed to lie before her like a gray desert, an empty space of time that she had to endure. Never had her apartment seemed so sterile and empty, never had it seemed so incredibly lonely, and she had to exert an effort to roll out of bed and pull off the T-shirt.

  Kate tucked it under her pillow, managing a brief smile as she glanced at the small teddy bear on her nightstand. She felt like a teenager, finally comprehending all those inane gestures people in love were so famous for. Previously she considered herself beyond them, far too mature to indulge in such silliness, but she was realizing she had merely avoided falling in love. Poor David. Did he love me like this? What a pitiful return he received for his emotion if he did.

  Strolling into the bathroom, Kate started the shower and then noticed her solitary toothbrush in the holder looked somewhat worn. Frowning, she opened the vanity drawer, relieved to find two more still in their packages. She selected one for herself, replacing the old one, and then placed the other carefully on the sink on the off chance a certain someone might require it the next morning. Smiling, she slipped under the shower, feeling better about her day as she washed her hair and luxuriated under the hot water for a sinfully long time.

  Dressed in black trousers and a teal green blouse, she had a bagel with cream cheese and coffee before returning to the bathroom to make up her face. Kate was abruptly aware of how many bottles and jars of cosmetics she had scattered over her vanity compared to Nikki’s tiny selection and wondered if her need for makeup indicated yet another difference between them. Those differences preyed on her mind as she walked downstairs and began the routine of turning on the lights, bringing up the heat, and transferring the float to the register before unlocking the front doors and starting another day at Novel Companions.

  Only a few customers stopped by, and she spent the morning working on the paperwork she had been letting slide since beginning her romance with Nikki. As she studied the legal documents requiring her signature, she realized the fire had occurred only a week ago. So much had happened in such a short time.

  The jangle of the bell made her glance up, and she stared in amazement as her ex-husband walked into the store, almost as if thinking of him earlier in the morning had somehow predicated this visit to her store, his first in more than a year. “David?”

  “Hello, Kate.” He smiled at her as he stood in front of the counter. Of average height, with light brown hair and brown eyes, he had never been particularly well built, but neither was he running to fat now that he had moved into middle age. His second marriage did seem to agree with him, softening the hollows of his face, and Kate was honestly happy to see the contented light shining in his eyes. Whatever else had occurred between them, they had been friends for a very long time. “You’re looking extremely well.”

  “Thank you,” she said, slipping off her glasses and placing them on the clipboard, which she slid beneath the counter. “What brings you by?”

  He started to speak, looked vaguely uncomfortable, and then glanced around the store, almost as if he wanted to make sure they were alone. “I’m sorry, Kate,” he said finally. “I’ve just been...well, hearing some rumors around town, and I thought I should probably stop by to see how you are.”

  She leaned back against the counter. “What kind of rumors?”

  He gazed at the bookmark display, his thick fingers tapping the polished wooden surface of the counter. He was obviously finding it difficult to look her in the eye, but they had always tried to be honest with each other during their marriage and even after it. “There’s been some talk,” he began in a very deliberate tone that she recognized as his way of delivering bad news, “that you’ve been spending a lot of time in the company of...well, someone who is gay. A lot of people in various circles have taken that to mean that you’re probably gay, as well.”

  “And?”

  He frowned. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “David, I don’t really give a damn what people think of me,” she said, squaring her shoulders as she slipped off her stool. So it begins, she thought. “At least, not anymore. In any event, what difference does it make if people want to talk?”

  “If people are spreading lies—”

  “They’re not lies,” she said evenly, seeing how the words jolted him, but not backing down. The sooner she laid it out there, the sooner they could all get back to their respective lives. “I have no doubt the stories have been exaggerated a great deal, but yes, I’ve met someone, I’ve fallen in love, and yes, that person happens to be female. Anything else you want to know?”

  He paled, then flushed, and then paled again, the colorful progression somewhat intriguing to Kate, though she rather hoped he wouldn’t have a heart attack in the middle of her bookstore. Waiting with a touch of impatience as he slowly adjusted to her news, she tapped her fingers on the counter, unconsciously mimicking him.

  “I see.” He inhaled deeply. “How long—”

  “Not long,” she said, recognizing what he was really asking. “Not back while we were married, at any rate. It just sort of happened over the past few months, but I’m not going to deny it. If people have a problem with it...well, it’s their problem, David, not mine.” She considered him, feeling a muscle twitch briefly in her jaw. “But I was never attracted to women before I met Nikki, though I was never really attracted to men, either. That lack was what probably ended our marriage, but honestly, David, I didn’t know until recently.”

  He inhaled audibly. “You never loved me?” He sounded bleak.

  “Not in the way that perhaps you loved me.” She wanted him to understand for his own peace of mind. “I loved you dearly as a person and as my friend, David, but I was never in love with you. Unfortunately, I never understood that distinction at the time. For that, I’m truly sorry, because I realize now what you offered me, and what I couldn’t return. You deserved better.”

  He stared at her for a moment before exhaling. “This is kind of a shock, Kate,” he said finally. “Maybe it shouldn’t be, since we’re no longer together, but still...”

  She slowly nodded, acknowledging his attempt to comprehend the situation. “I guess I can understand that,” she said, not unkindly. “It would probably have shocked me if the person you became involved with after the divorce had been named Eddie rather than Ellen. But this ultimately has nothing to do with you, David. This is my life, and for the first time, I’m living it in a way that perhaps I always should have.”

  He bent his head to study his hands resting limply on the
counter, and she noticed that his hair was thinning on top. “Maybe you’re right. Until Ellen, I didn’t realize what I was really missing in our marriage, either.” He sighed. “What a mess.”

  “It’s old news, David.”

  “The marriage is, but this isn’t. If people have been coming to me to try to dig for information, it’s probably all over town by now. You could be facing a bit of difficulty in the future.”

  She squared her shoulders as she thought of those challenges that lay ahead. “Somehow, I’m not surprised, but again, I’m not too concerned. Give it another month or so, and they’ll be talking about something else.”

  “Michelle Greenwald is going to try to get you kicked out of the golf club.”

  Kate didn’t flicker. “Let her try.”

  He snorted. “Yeah, that’s what I said too. People tend to forget how much clout you really hold in this town. I don’t know what the hell Michelle’s worried about anyway. No woman in her right mind would want her on a bet.”

  “Is that what she’s up in arms about?” Kate said disbelievingly. “That the next time we’re in the locker room together, I’ll be unable to resist her ‘charms’?”

  “There was some mention that she would be afraid to shower in the event that ‘others’ would be ‘checking out her body.’” He smiled ruefully.

  Kate laughed out loud. “If anyone checks out her body, it’s because it’s such a miracle of modern architecture with all the plastic surgery she’s had.”

  “You’re being awful, but it’s true. You can always find the funny side of any situation.” He sobered a little, seeming wistful. “I think that’s why I married you. I thought it was a good marriage, at least until the matter of kids came up. Were you so very unhappy all that time, Kate?”

  “Not at all, David.” She grasped his forearm. “I was...there was just something...lacking between us, and maybe I never would have figured out exactly what it was if things hadn’t worked out as they did. It’s entirely possible that if I had any maternal instinct at all, we’d have gone ahead, had kids, and still be together raising them.”

  “Of course, you still might have met this girl and realized exactly what it was you were missing,” he suggested, surprising her with his prescience, just as he always had. Behind the placid exterior lurked a keen intelligence and a kind heart. She supposed she wouldn’t have married him otherwise. “Then where would we all be?”

  “God, that would have been awful,” she said, taking his conjecture to its inevitable conclusion. She lifted her head, thinking about the possibility. “Let’s just be thankful it didn’t play out like that. Fortunately, I’m single now and in a position to make my own choices without hurting anyone else.”

  “Except yourself.” He sounded honestly concerned. “Kate, it might not be easy for you. This town is small and, like a lot of small towns, it can be cruel.”

  “I know, but who said life was easy? Anything that really matters always requires an effort.”

  “This girl is worth it?” His gentle eyes were steady on hers.

  Kate lifted her chin. “Oh, yes, she’s worth it.”

  He continued to regard her and then grinned. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one who tried to get in your way.” He straightened his shoulders as if accepting Kate’s new status. “I can’t say I completely understand this, Kate, because I don’t, but I wish you the best. You’ve been a good friend and a class act since the moment I met you in junior high. I hope this girl realizes what a special person she’s getting.”

  “Thank you,” she said, pleased by the compliment. “I also want to thank you for coming over and…well, warning me.”

  “I still care about you, Kate. Regardless of what happened between us, there’s a part of me that always will. You’re still the girl who kept me from being a complete loser in high school, and the one person who believed in me when no one else did. The success I achieved in my life was mostly because of you.”

  “You’re a good man, David,” she said, squeezing his forearm fondly. “You never needed me.”

  He patted her hand. “Yes, Kate, I did.” He lowered his eyelid in a bit of a wink, a familiar tic that she had grown to know well over the years. “Take care of yourself.”

  “You, too,” she said as she walked him out.

  She stood there at the door, gazing out at the street for a long time after he left, considering what he had said and thinking back over her life, over all the steps that had led her to this moment. Wondering where they would lead her in the future.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Home at three-thirty, too restless for sedentary pursuits such as surfing the Internet or reading, and finding it too early to go to Kate’s for their five o’clock date, Nikki decided to drop by Lynn’s accounting office to see if she had discovered anything. Dressed appropriately in layers and sporting a backpack to carry whatever she might require later, she locked the door behind her before she set off on her hike, cutting across the marsh leading to Bible Hill.

  It was good to be out in the fresh air, even when it was faintly flavored with car exhaust in the busier parts of town, and she recognized that sometimes she allowed winter to keep her inside too much. She really had to fight against hiding from the cold weather. Every so often, she entertained the notion that she would do much better in a more southern climate, one that was warm all year round, yet the thought of leaving Canada always caused a twinge within her. Of course, now that Kate was in her life, Nikki wasn’t about to move anywhere.

  Her thoughts kept returning to the mystery of Sam Madison’s murder. It was a change from thinking of Kate all the time, and not necessarily an improvement, but unquestionably the events of the past week had profoundly altered her life.

  If Katherine Rushton had murdered her business partner, discovering the proof would provide Nikki with a sense of accomplishment, something she had lacked lately. One of the most insidious things about being in a dead-end job, particularly in winter, was the ennui that arose, the sense of each day running into the next, of feeling time pass and not knowing where it was going. If she couldn’t find a better job, then at least pursuing the mystery of Sam’s death, as much as she could in her amateur fashion, provided her with direction and purpose. She needed those to feel useful, to feel worthy of being with Kate, of being someone she would find attractive.

  Yet for all the evidence slowly being gathered on Rushton, Nikki harbored a tiny doubt. She couldn’t forget that look of fear in the woman’s eyes when she’d faced her in the police station the day before, and while she did believe that Rushton had switched the guns she and Kate had discovered in Edwards House, was that because the first one had been used in a murder? Or was it because someone had planted it on her, she panicked, and then switched it so as not to be implicated?

  Or am I just making things unnecessarily complicated? Nikki obviously needed more information before she could formulate any real conclusions. Hopefully, Lynn had made some subtle inquiries into Mosaic Estates and found out exactly what Sam and Katherine Rushton had been up to.

  Kim and Lynn’s modest home sat on the top of one of the higher hills surrounding Truro, and Nikki was puffing slightly as she finally crested it and strode along the sidewalk leading to the house. Crossing the yard that had been cleared for parking, she greeted their dog, a small brown animal of undetermined breeding, before ascending the short flight of wooden stairs. Lynn’s office had once been a second bedroom they had remodeled, deciding that the cost of doing so was cheaper than continuing to pay rent downtown.

  Lynn was just finishing up with a client, so Nikki slipped her backpack off and placed it on the floor before quietly taking a chair in the tiny waiting area, flipping through a magazine about computers until he left.

  “Any news?” she asked, wasting no time as she hurried around the small partition which had been set up to provide a bit of privacy. This was tax season, Lynn’s busiest time, and Nikki was fortunate to have caught her during a
bit of a slow period. Since the phone could ring or another client could come in at any second, she was determined to take full advantage of the brief time she had.

  Lynn pulled out a file. “Nothing anyone would admit to knowing,” she said, equally concise. “But from what I’ve picked up from scuttlebutt, Sam and Katherine created Mosaic Estates to buy up Edwards House and all the land surrounding it.”

  “Why?”

  “Apparently, they were thinking of creating some vacation resort, renovating Edwards House into a hotel, and using the rest for a recreational area.”

  “Who’d want to build out there?” Nikki glanced at the notes Lynn had collected. “There’s nothing around.”

  “Ah, but there is.” Lynn tapped a finger on the topographical map that she had probably retrieved from her friends at town hall. “A lake in the woods next to the Edwards House, right in the middle of the Gilles property, undoubtedly full of fly fishing and resort potential. I don’t think a lot of people knew about it. It isn’t accessible from the road, and certainly, old man Gilles never let on it existed.”

  Nikki regarded the map with interest. “So what went wrong? Sounds like a good deal so far.”

  “Gilles moved to Florida, did you know that?”

  “Yeah.” Nikki eyed her curiously. “He won the lottery, didn’t he?”

  Lynn spread out her hands. “That’s the story that went around, but I don’t think so. I think he charged an arm and a leg for his lake. That was the property that counted, after all, since it had the prize on it.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice confidentially, though no one else was in the office. “I think Sam made a mistake and bought up all the other land first, which tipped off the old man, and he refused to sell out for a reasonable price. Without the lake, the whole deal wasn’t worth anything. I think Mosaic Estates paid up to five times what the land was actually worth, rather than let the whole thing fall through.”