by Linz, Cathie
Julia blushed. Then she surprised Skye by walking up to Luke and kissing him. Her sister had never been one for public displays of affection before.
Skye’s eyes met Nathan’s as she remembered every kiss they’d shared, each hotter than the one before. Would the day ever come when Nathan would kiss her in front of an audience instead of beneath the bleachers or behind closed doors?
“Get a room, you guys,” she finally told her sister and Luke.
Julia broke away from Luke with a laugh, but he kept his arms looped around her waist.
“So, Luke, what were you and Nathan talking about when we walked in?” Skye tried to sound casual.
“The stubbornness of a Wright woman.”
“Oh, please.” Skye rolled her eyes. “We are not stubborn.”
“Well, I’m not,” Julia said. “But you are.”
“Yeah, right. This from the woman who refused to give up her Pop-Tarts.”
Luke just grinned. “Nathan and I have decided you’re both stubborn, each in your own adorable way.”
Skye narrowed her eyes at him. “That ranks right up there on the sexist-meter with the idiotic phrase ‘You’re so cute when you’re mad.’ ” She paused a moment before adding, “Of course, maybe my half sister isn’t bothered by that. I mean, after all, she put her life on hold to follow her man around the country because that’s what he wanted.”
“It’s what I wanted,” Julia said. “Which you would have known if you’d bothered to come see me before I left.”
“If you recall, we weren’t exactly on the best of terms back then.”
Julia ignored Skye’s words and focused her attention on Nathan. “So, are you and my sister seeing each other?”
“Yeah, we’re seeing each other. In fact, we’re looking at each other right now,” Skye drawled.
“She’s part of an investigative case I’m working on,” Nathan said.
Julia nodded. “Luke told me about the sabotage incidents at the theater.”
Nathan’s cop face returned. “There was a fire the night before last.”
“Angel told me. She also told me that you’ve moved in with Skye to protect her.”
“It’s a temporary measure, until we catch the perpetrator.”
“I’ve already offered Nathan my law enforcement expertise, such as it is,” Luke said. “Not that a burnt-out former FBI Special Agent might provide that much assistance.”
“Yes, you would,” Julia said loyally.
“So what else did you and Nathan talk about?” Skye asked Luke.
“The Steelers.”
“And the White Sox,” Nathan added.
“What did you think we were going to talk about?” Luke asked. “Afraid I was going to ask the lawman here what his intentions are regarding you?”
Skye gave a short laugh. “Like you’re in any position to be asking that. You haven’t even stated your own intentions about Julia.”
“Oh, I plan on marrying her,” Luke stated confidently. “I just haven’t decided when.”
Julia looked stunned.
Skye gave Luke a you-poor-s.o.b. look. “Even I, rebel that I am, know that you’re supposed to ask the woman first. And by the expression on Julia’s face, I’m guessing you skipped that critical step. Bad move, Luke. You’re screwed now.”
“She knew. Right? You knew, Julia.”
“How was I supposed to know?” she retorted. “You never mentioned a word about getting married until just now.”
“Yeah, but you’re a traditional woman. You must have been thinking of marriage.”
“No, not really. And what do you mean, I’m ‘traditional’? You say that as if it were some sort of bad trait.”
“See what I meant about Wright women being stubborn?” Luke said in a knowing aside to Nathan, who wisely kept his mouth shut.
Skye just stood back and watched as Julia, who was slow to anger but did have a temper, began a major melt-down. “It’s not a matter of being stubborn. It’s a matter of respecting my feelings! Or don’t they matter to you, Luke? Was Skye right? Am I just the little woman dutifully following behind my man? Is that all I am to you?”
Luke, belatedly realizing he was in deep shit, tried to pull Julia into his arms.
She shoved him away. “Don’t touch me! We’re arguing. You can’t distract me by kissing me. That’s not going to work!”
Skye grinned at Luke. “Only back in town a few hours, and already you’ve messed up.”
“This is your fault,” he said.
“Don’t you dare blame my sister!” Julia was getting angrier by the second. “It’s not her fault that you’re impossible sometimes.”
“Only sometimes?” Skye said, before Nathan gently but firmly clapped his hand over her mouth.
It didn’t stay there long, because Skye stomped hard on his foot and bent his little finger backward in a self-defense move Nathan instantly recognized.
The moment he released her, she pivoted to angrily jab her index finger in the middle of his chest. “Don’t you ever do that again! Do not ever manhandle me or try to shut me up! I have the right to speak. So does my sister. So do women all around the world! Come on, Julia.”
Skye and Julia paused by the door, looking over their shoulders at the two men before saying in unison and with equal irritation, “Idiots.”
They then marched out of the office together, leaving the men shaking their heads in bewilderment.
Skye and Julia held a postmortem in the back booth at Angelo’s Pizza.
“I can’t believe the way they treated us,” Julia said.
“I can’t believe how good this pizza is,” Skye replied. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a greasy pizza like this? Years and years.”
“For a bad girl, you sure do eat healthy.”
“Your body is a temple, and you should honor it by only allowing pure foods to enter.”
“Yeah, yeah. So are you going to eat that last piece or not?”
“It’s mine!” Skye growled, grabbing it and stuffing it into her mouth.
“That sheriff must really be something if he drove you to eat pizza,” Julia remarked. “Tell me about him.”
“He’s anal-retentive.”
“Cute, though.”
“Cute is for kittens and teddy bears. He’s hot and sexy. But I don’t care how sexy Studly Do-Right is.” Skye took another drink of her beer. “We have nothing in common.”
“Neither did Luke and I when we first got together.”
“Yeah, and look how good you two are doing.”
Julia sighed. “Why do men have to be so . . . ?”
“Malelike?”
“Their brains are wired differently.”
“Yeah, they’re wired to their penises.”
“Skye!” Julia looked around in horror, but no one seemed to be paying them any attention.
“What? You want me to use euphemistic phrases instead of the real thing?”
“I’d like you to use a little decorum.”
“That word isn’t in my vocabulary.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “Neither is common sense. What on Earth possessed you to buy a dilapidated movie theater?”
“It’s a palace of dreams.”
“That’s something Angel would say. A palace of dreams, huh? Talk about using euphemistic phrases . . .”
“You haven’t even seen the theater,” Skye protested.
“I saw it when we rode into town.”
“On the back of your bad boyfriend’s Harley. Not that you have what it takes to be a biker babe.”
“How would you know? You haven’t seen or talked to me in over six months.”
“You could have called me. The phone works both ways.”
“I didn’t know if you’d talk to me,” Julia said.
“Same here,” Skye admitted.
“You never did say why you were in such a hurry to stop Luke from talking to Nathan.”
“I panicked, okay
?”
“Really? Wow. That’s a big step for you. To admit you panicked. You never do that.”
“Never panic?”
“Never admit to it. So what were you panicked about?”
“I didn’t know what Luke might tell Nathan about me.”
“And you care what Nathan thinks. But you should know that Luke would never say anything bad about you.”
No, but Luke saw past Skye’s defenses, and he might reveal the fact that she wasn’t as tough as she made out. She didn’t want Nathan to know that. She was already too vulnerable where he was concerned.
“You’re in love with him,” Julia murmured softly.
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“Then I’m not only bad, I’m really, really stupid, because Nathan still loves his dead wife. Shit.” Skye bent forward until her forehead thumped the edge of the table. “I’m totally screwed.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Stop that!” Julia ordered. “Sit up and take a deep breath. Come on, where’s that Skye attitude? Since when has being screwed ever stopped you from going after what you want?”
“Since I met him. Well, not right at first.” Skye straightened up and looked around, suddenly nervous. “We can’t talk more here. Someone might overhear us.”
“Okay, now I’m seriously worried. Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?”
“Half sister,” Skye said unsteadily.
Julia reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “You’ve been my sister for a quarter of a century,” she said fiercely. “Biology isn’t changing that now.”
“Okay, that’s it.” Skye furiously blinked back tears. “If we’re going to get sappy, we need to do it in private. We can’t go to my place. Nathan will be there.”
“And we can’t go to my place in Serenity Falls, because Violet will be there.”
“I’ve got an idea . . .”
Half an hour later, Skye turned her rusty Toyota into a pull-off along the two-lane highway leading out of town. The mid-September night was warm and clear. The sky, away from the lights of Rock Creek, was filled with stars, reminding her of the Tivoli’s glistening celestial ceiling.
She grabbed an old quilt from the backseat and placed it and her huge Peruvian tote on the hood of the car. A minute later, she and Julia were sitting with their backs propped against the windshield, just like they’d done as kids. They’d made a quick stop at Gas4Less on the way out of town to pick up comfort food—Pop-Tarts for Julia and pumpkin seeds for Skye.
“You know,” Julia said in between bites, “the irony of this situation hasn’t escaped me.”
“I never thought it would. Tell me again—which situation were you referring to, exactly? We’ve got so many going on.”
“I meant our grandmother and Angel.”
“What’s ironic about Violet and Angel?”
“The fact that Violet drives Angel crazy, that she’s the total opposite of everything Angel stands for.”
“Violet drives everyone crazy.”
“That may be, but she especially gets to Angel. Just like Angel especially gets to me. You’ve got it good, because you and Angel always had this special kind of bond.”
“Don’t give me that poor-little-good-girl speech. I’m not in the mood.”
“I’m just saying that you should value how special your relationship with Angel is.”
“I do.”
Julia sighed and opened another packet of Pop-Tarts. “Life is funny, you know?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s just stinking hysterical.”
“I read somewhere that we re-create stressful emotional situations in our lives until we resolve the issues that gives them power over us.”
“Have I ever told you that you read too much?”
“Frequently. But I think it’s true.”
“That you read too much? Totally, it is true.”
“No, I meant about the need to resolve old emotional issues or end up forever repeating mistakes of the past.”
“Meaning my mistakes, since I’m the sister who’s good at that.”
“You don’t get to own the mistake card. I’ve made plenty too.” Julia turned to face her. “I was really jealous of you, did you realize that?”
“No way.”
“You were closer to Angel than I could ever be. You two think alike and always did. And you have a little girl who adores you. And I was jealous and still am of the way you don’t seem to care what other people think. You obey your own set of rules. While it often drives me nuts, it’s also something I wish I had the courage to do. It’s something I’m working on, which is why Luke’s comments about my being traditional really bothered me.”
“You weren’t bothered by the fact that he just assumed you wanted to get married and that he figured he’d ask you when he felt like it?”
“Yeah, that pissed me off too.”
Skye laughed. “Such language! You wild woman, you.” “Do you ever look in the mirror and wonder if your butt looks too big?” Julia abruptly asked.
“Not really. But then, I don’t have a big butt.”
“Are you saying I do?” Julia suddenly started to cry. “Well, I’m going to get a lot bigger all over, because I think I’m pregnant!”
“Okay, if you’re going to learn to be a bad girl, the first lesson is no crying. And no skipping birth control.”
“It was just the one time . . .”
“That’s all it takes. Believe me, I know.” Skye reached into her tote bag in search of a tissue. She found a receipt from Gas4Less, a flyer from Cosmic Comics, and the still unopened box of Trojan condoms she’d had with her when Nathan first stopped her for speeding. No time to think about that now. “So, what are you going to do?” She stopped her search when she realized that Julia had found a tissue on her own. “I suggest you first make sure you really are pregnant.”
“I took two of those home pregnancy tests yesterday. They were both positive.”
“Maybe you should see a doctor.”
“I should see a mental health provider for doing something this crazy!”
“Well, the good news is that Luke wants to marry you, so that should make you feel better.”
“What if Luke doesn’t want this baby?”
“If he loves you, he’ll love the baby you made together. Have you guys ever talked about having kids?”
Julia shook her head. “And you know that Luke’s childhood was not a pleasant one. He was just a kid when his mom died, and his dad started beating him after that. How am I going to tell him?”
“The mayor of Serenity Falls used to call him a bad seed, right? Well, tell Luke that his seeds are pretty good after all. Damn fertile, in fact. Want me to tell him?” Skye offered.
“No! If you do, I’ll tell Nathan you love him!”
“Okay, okay, calm down. I won’t say anything. But you should tell Luke, and the sooner, the better. Look at the mess Angel has gotten herself into by hiding the truth.”
“You mean by not telling me Adam was my real father?”
“Or telling us about Violet. And you know that Angel is seeing Adam.”
“Yes, he told me.”
“Well, Angel hasn’t told Tyler, and I have a feeling he’s not going to be too happy about it when he finds out.”
“Great.”
“So let’s recap, shall we? I may be in love with a by-the-book lawman still in love with his dead wife. You’re pregnant by a bad-boy biker dude who may not want kids. And Angel is lying to her current lover about seeing her former lover. That about wrap it up?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re all screwed.”
Nathan was waiting for Skye when she walked into her apartment. “Where have you been?”
“Angelo’s Pizza.”
“You never go to Angelo’s Pizza.”
“I did tonight. And then I went out on a drive to talk to my sister. You want to make something out of it?”
Na
than wisely backed off and waited until she’d taken a shower and changed into a tank top and shorts before approaching her again. “I’ve compiled a preliminary list of possible suspects for you to look over.”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Skye towel-dried her short hair until the ragged chunks fell into place, framing her face. “Milton did it. Angel said the tarot cards strongly indicate he’s guilty.”
“Afraid that won’t stand up in court.”
“And his auras are really negative.”
“Again, not evidence I can use. Take a look at the list.”
Skye read off the names. “Mrs. Trimble? I don’t even know her.”
“She has a thing for Owen, apparently, and feels you stole him from her.”
“What about your assistant, Celeste? Why is she on here?”
“She’s not a big fan of yours.”
“Owen, Sister Mary, Violet,” she read aloud. “I’m surprised you don’t have Angel on here too.”
“I considered it.”
“I’m glad to see you crossed off Tyler’s name.”
“Luke vouched for him. And for Algee.”
“If you don’t trust anyone, how do you know that Luke isn’t lying to you?”
“I had him checked out too.”
“Of course you did. I should have known. You don’t think Lulu or Sue Ellen or Nancy Crumpler are possible suspects?”
“You’re right.” He took the sheet of paper from her and began writing on it. “I should add them.”
She grabbed it away from him. “That’s not what I meant. Nancy would never suspect her friends.”
“Nancy Crumpler?”
“Yeah, right.” Skye wasn’t about to admit that she’d actually been thinking of Nancy Drew. “Why don’t you believe that Milton is the guilty one?”
“I never said I didn’t believe that. But as a law enforcement officer, I need to look at all the evidence.”
“We’ve got evidence? You didn’t tell me that.”
“You can get that C.S.I. look out of your eyes,” Nathan said.
Skye only knew about the show from the issue of TV Guide she’d picked up at Gas4Less because one of the actors on the cover, George Eads—Nick Stokes on C.S.I.—looked a lot like Nathan.