Home Is Where the Heart Break Is (6 page)

Chapter 11

Aunt Sadie had a doctor’s appointment, so Mom and I opened the shop. A message from Chase came through my unreliable phone letting me know that his sister was doing well and that she’d been moved to the city hospital.

Mom and I carried in the heavy box of candlesticks and set them down in front of an old table she’d cleared the day before. “Why don’t you make a nice arrangement of the candlesticks on the table, Jessa. Put the prettiest ones out front.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“I’m going to pick some smaller items to display on a table outside, so we can catch the attention of people passing by.”

“Sounds good.”

The candlesticks ranged from highly ornate with silver lion heads and fluted columns, to simple and practical with just a bronze bowl and a finger loop. The entire time I worked I had to avoid looking at the painting hanging on the wall above the table, because the creepy old guy’s eyes were following me. “I don’t think I could ever be an antique dealer,” I called to Mom as she picked through the figurines in an old cabinet.

“Why is that?”

“Some of the stuff is cool.” I lifted the candleholder with the loop. “I could totally see myself carrying a candle down a dark hall on a stormy night with this thing. But some of the stuff is just downright scary. This guy on the wall is making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”

Mom laughed. “I have to agree. There are definitely some things in this store that I would not want in my house.” She reached down for a second. “Like this.” She held up an old toy clown with the most frightening face in the world.

“Whoa, that’s horrifying. You’d have to pay me a million bucks to spend one night in the same bedroom with that thing. Is that the kind of toys kids back then had to suffer with?” I shivered. “I’m glad I grew up in the Little Sparkly Pony era instead of the psycho clown era.”

My useless phone seemed to be working for a change. It was a text from Nico.

“Lunch at one?”

“Sure. I made you a sandwich. I’ll see you at one.”

The morning went by surprisingly fast. A few tourists walked in and looked around but no sales.

Aunt Sadie returned. “I love the sidewalk display. It’s perfect. And the candlestick display as well.” She hobbled to the counter with her walker.

“What did the doctor say?” Mom asked.

Aunt Sadie waved her hand dismissively and sorted through the mail she’d carried in. “Nothing new. He prescribed me some muscle relaxers, but I told him I was already loopy enough without them.” She held up a long white envelope. “Hey, Jessa, someone left you a letter in my mailbox.” She turned it over once. “No postage or return address.”

“That’s weird.” I walked over and took the envelope from her. My first name was typed in bold capitals on a label on the front. Otherwise the outside was blank. With no postage someone had had to hand deliver it to Sadie’s mailbox. I slid my finger under the flap, opened the envelope, and pulled out the folded paper inside. The whole thing was kind of strange but it got stranger when I opened the paper. Something small dropped out, but I was so shocked by the message I didn’t glance down to see what had fallen. In a huge, ugly font and red ink were the words GO BACK HOME NOW! I turned the paper over. There was nothing else on it. Then I remembered that something had dropped out of the paper. I searched the floor around my feet until I found it. It was a dead spider, and not just any spider but a black widow. “Holy crap,” I gasped.

Mom looked up from her dusting. “What is it? Who sent you a letter?”

I held up the note with shaky hands. Mom didn’t have great eyes, but there was no way to miss what the letter said. Her eyes widened as she walked over and plucked it from my hand.

Sadie waddled over to look too. At first she chuckled. “Someone is just playing a prank on you. I’m sure it’s all in fun.”

“But look what fell out of it.” I pointed down to the dead spider.

Mom leaned down to get a better look. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yep. Someone sent me a black widow.”

“My lord, who would do something like that?” Sadie asked. Her earlier expression had turned serious, but she seemed to sense my fear and her face relaxed. She put her arm around my shoulder. “Still, I’m sure it is just a prank.”

“Sweetie, I agree with Aunt Sadie. Someone is just joking around. Would one of the boys have done it?”

“Mom, you know both of them. Do you think that they would have done this?” I was trying to keep the panic out of my voice, but the whole thing definitely had me freaked. “I’ve only been back a few days and I seem to have upset the entire balance of Pinecliff. I don’t understand why. I have no idea who would do this, but my intuition tells me this was not a prank. Someone out there wants me gone.”

Aunt Sadie’s brow wrinkled. I patted her arm. “Don’t worry; Mom and I are here to help you for the summer.” I smiled at her. “You know me. If someone tells me to go home then that’s the last thing I’m going to do.”

“That’s my Jessa.” Aunt Sadie dropped her arm and kissed my cheek. “Now why don’t you take a lunch break. You’ve been working hard all morning.”

“If you don’t mind I’ll take it at one. I’m meeting a friend down at the marina.” I decided there was no need for me to bring up Nico since she’d already made it clear that she didn’t approve of him.

Of course fifteen minutes later she knew. I pulled the sandwiches from the little refrigerator in the back office and headed out the door.

Mom looked up from her task. “Say hello to Nico.”

I caught a glimmer of disappointment in Aunt Sadie’s face as I left the shop.

I’d stuck the threatening note, but not the dead spider, into my pocket to show Nico. He knew the people around town better than me. Maybe he could figure it out. Naturally my suspicions had gone straight to Susie, but the more I thought about her honest display of emotion last night at the hospital, the more the idea seemed preposterous. They were truly into each other, and unless she was a total idiot, she would have to know how much he cared for her.

Nico was already sitting on one of the picnic tables outside of the marina shops when I walked up.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Why do you ask that?”

“You look upset, that’s all.”

I sat down next to him. “Sometimes it is scary how well you know me.” I pulled the letter out of my pocket. “Look what someone put in my aunt’s mailbox today. It was in an envelope with my name on it.”

He opened it up and stared at the big red letters. “That’s weird. Who the hell would give you this?”

“I’m not sure, but that’s not the worst of it. There was a dead black widow spider inside.”

“Shit. That’s creepy.”

I took the sandwich out of the lunch bag and handed it to him. “Your favorite-- ham, cheese, and mustard. My mom finally went to the store.”

He laid the note on the table and stuck his can of soda on it. “Great, I’m starved. I wouldn’t worry too much about the note, Duchess. It looks like a prank.”

“That is exactly what my mom and aunt said, but I have to say, I feel unsettled about it. And the spider-- what if it had been alive when they stuck it inside? Maybe they thought it would survive in there long enough to bite me. Those things are gnarly when they bite. Back home there was a lady two doors down in our apartment complex that had half of her hand missing. She’d told me she had been gardening, went to turn on the hose, and woke up the next day lying in her garden with half her hand numb and swollen. The doctor had told her it was a black widow’s bite.”

“They are definitely spiders to avoid. We have a bunch in the storage sheds down on the docks.”

I picked at my sandwich and then gave him my other half again. “Here, I’m not very hungry.”

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me hard. “Come on, Duchess, relax. I would never let anything happen to you.”

“All right but you’ll have to follow me around everywhere I go. Sort of like the secret service.”

“You know I would if I could.” Nico tossed the sandwich bag, soda, and threatening letter in the trash.

“What if I need that for evidence?” I asked.

“You’re watching too many police shows.” He stood. “Come on. Let’s go for a walk down along the water.”

I followed. The sun was bright, the air was warm, and it was so clear I could almost count the number of pine trees lining the mountain ridge miles away. And I was with the one person who always made me feel happy and safe. I decided to push the letter incident out of my head for good.

The beaches that lined the lake were not terribly wide, but people always managed to find a spot to park their beach chairs, ice chests, and umbrellas.

The water looked inviting. Nico was wearing his swim trunks, but I was dressed for work. “I think I’ll wear my bikini under my work clothes tomorrow then I can take a swim at lunch.”

“You will not get an argument from me on that subject. In fact now that you’ve mentioned it, I insist you wear your bikini tomorrow. Work clothes optional.”

“Maybe I need to try and channel the ten-year-old Nico I knew so well. He was far more interested in Pokemon trading cards than bikinis.”

“Pokemon trading cards-- I forgot all about those. They were so cool. Now if you had a bikini with a Pokemon picture on it then that would really be cool.”

I smacked his arm, once again forgetting that it was as solid as a granite rock. “Ow.” I rubbed my hand. “I’ve got to stop doing that. So did you go wakeboarding this morning?”

“Yes and it was awesome. Too bad you were such a sleepy head. The water would have been perfect for you to get up on a board. There were hardly any other boats.”

“If I get back on a wakeboard, I’m not going to do it in front of a bunch of your buddies.”

“Maybe Chase will come out with us once.”

“Sounds good.”

Nico grabbed my hand. “Let’s climb up to the hidden rock.”

“It’s so steep.”

He was about to speak, but I put up my hand to stop him.

“I know-- I’m a marshmallow. Let’s go.” I plowed ahead so that I was pulling him instead of the other way around.

The hidden rock was really not hidden at all. It was enormous and flat and looked as if it was just a continuation of the mountainside. But it was actually a separate piece of granite. People rarely climbed up to it because the trail was steep and rocky, but it had a great view of the lake. I slipped twice but I was determined to climb to the rock without any embarrassing stunts.

I was sucking in breath by the time we got to the top. Of course Nico wasn’t breathing hard at all.

“It’s the high altitude,” I said between gasps.

“So what are you saying? You’re a Lowlander marshmallow?”

“Shut up.” I climbed up on the rock’s flat surface, put my hands on my hips, and glowered down at him, but it was very hard to stare angrily at a guy whose incredible brown eyes and sexy smile were causing your already pounding heart to speed up.

Nico climbed up on the rock next to me. We glanced around at the surrounding wilderness and the azure colored lake below.

“I’ve forgotten how gorgeous it is up here. Rooftops and streets are the only views I see back home. It’s amazing how easily you can forget that places like this exist when you’re stuck in the city.”

Nico’s arm reached around me, and he pulled me against him so we were face to face. My breathing had no chance to slow. He peered down at me. His free hand reached up and pressed against the side of my face then he dragged his rough thumb across my bottom lip. He lowered his face, and I lifted my chin to meet his kiss. His mouth grazed my lips so lightly it felt as if a breeze had touched them. He straightened.

“This is not the time and place yet,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve been waiting to taste those lips since I was ten years old, so when it finally happens, it has to be exactly right.”

I was certainly disappointed, but he was right. We’d known each other for so long, a first real kiss would have to be perfect.

I moved my hands from his chest to around his neck and rested my face against his shoulder. “I suppose I’ll have to settle for being tucked in your arms for now, but I’m going to be thinking about that kiss.” We stood among the quiet rhythmic sounds of insects, birds, and rustling tree branches for a few minutes then I lifted my face and looked up at him. “Wait a minute. Here I thought you were only interested in Pokemon, but it turns out you were dreaming about kissing me?”

“Yeah, I guess. Although in between dreaming about your lips, I was thinking about my trading card collection. I was only ten after all.”

Spending time alone with Nico had taken my mind off the letter. In fact now our potential first kiss had taken priority in my thoughts.

We walked back to the marina, and perky little Vanessa ran down the docks to greet us.

She was holding up her phone and I wondered if I was going to have to squint at a new picture of Peter Vickers whose actual existence still eluded me. “Guess what! My brother just called me from work. The Highlander Nightfall River Float is back.”

I looked up at Nico. He didn’t look quite as thrilled about its return as Vanessa, and I had no reaction because I had no idea what she was talking about.

“I don’t remember it,” I said.

Vanessa looked pleased to have to explain it to me. “The Tube Shack, down in the village, provides free inner tubes to Highlanders every other Thursday night. An hour before dusk, we all float in a giant mass of inner tubes down the river and watch the stars come out. It’s a really fun tradition. I’m sure you can still qualify as a Highlander since you grew up in Pinecliff and since you’re living here for the summer. Plus, my brother will be working there that night, so I’m sure I can get you a tube.”

Nico looked hesitant.

“Come on,” I said. “It sounds fun. Otherwise I’ll see if Lexi wants to go.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said.

“Well, I’ve got to get back.” Vanessa spun around and flitted back to the rental office.

Nico pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. “You sure you want to go?”

“Yeah, it sounds cool. And since it’s Highlanders only, I won’t have to worry about Regina being there.”