Last One Home (9 page)

A day with her best friend was a rare treat for Nichole Patterson. With a one-year-old underfoot, she was on duty 24/7. She needed this break and lunch out with Laurie, her BFF from college. A day for herself was the perfect antidote to the new-mother blahs.

“Have a great day,” Jake told her, as he kissed her on his way out the door to work. As a salesman for a growing Willamette Valley winery, he often worked long hours. They were blessed that Nichole could stay at home with their son.

Nichole stood in the doorway and watched as her husband backed the car out of the garage. Jake paused halfway down the driveway, rolled down his window, and called out, “What time will you be home?”

“I won’t be too late. Five at the absolute latest. That okay?” She felt a bit silly asking her husband such a question.

His smile was warm. “Honey, of course, and buy yourself a pair of those fancy jeans you saw online.”

“Jake—”

“You deserve them,” he said, cutting off her protest. “Be sure and thank Mom for me.”

“I’ll buy her something for watching Owen.”

“No need. Mom loves it that you asked her to babysit.”

It was also a blessing that Jake’s parents lived close enough to watch their only grandchild on the rare occasions when Nichole and Jake went out. Unlike some of her friends, Nichole got along famously with Leanne, her mother-in-law. Having Jake’s family nearby was especially important, seeing that both her parents had passed. It hurt to think that her parents would never know Owen.

Nichole met Laurie at Nordstrom at ten just when the department store was opening. They linked arms, excited to see each other. “I feel like we’re teenagers again, skipping school,” Laurie said.

Nichole understood—she felt the same way. It had been at least a year, since before Owen was born, that she’d taken an entire day to herself.

At one time Nichole had done all her school shopping with her two older sisters. Her parents had given her a budget of a hundred dollars for the school year. Her sisters’ clothing allowance was slightly higher, based on the idea that she had hand-me-downs and they didn’t.

Their mother wasn’t a shopper. In fact, Nichole could remember only a handful of times that she’d gone to the mall just north of town with her mother. Mom had seemed relieved when Karen was old enough to drive so she wouldn’t have to take her three daughters school shopping.

For weeks in advance of August, Nichole and Cassie read through fashion magazines and department-store fliers, making lists of what they wanted to buy, where, and at what price. Cassie was great when it came to accessorizing. She could do amazing things with a scarf, changing the look of an entire outfit. Karen was much better with makeup. Although it’d been more years now than she could remember, Nichole missed those days, missed those special times with her sisters.

School shopping was always the best. It went without saying that whatever they got would need to last them. Karen and Cassie claimed Nichole was the lucky one because she got their hand-me-downs. Nichole had quite a different opinion. She hated having to wear her sisters’ old clothes and getting less money to buy new things. Her clothing allowance was always less than theirs, which to her way of thinking was completely unfair.

Cassie was the most patient of her two sisters, often bringing Nichole clothes to try on while in the dressing room. Like their mother, Karen wasn’t a great shopper. She preferred to hang out at the cosmetics counter. Funny, it’d been years since she thought about their school-shopping expeditions. It was never quite the same after Cassie left, though.

“I scheduled a surprise for us,” Laurie said, cutting into her musings as she steered Nichole out of the store.

Nichole glanced longingly over her shoulder. Shopping was first on her agenda. She was desperate for a new pair of jeans. Her skinny jeans didn’t fit the same since she’d given birth to Owen.

Although she detested the thought, she might need to go up a size. The difference in her weight was only a few measly pounds, but those pounds seemed to have attached themselves directly to her hips.

“We’ll have plenty of time to shop,” Laurie insisted, dragging Nichole into the mall.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, enjoying the adventure.

“You’ll see.”

The surprise was a shop that specialized in shaping eyebrows. Nichole and Laurie giggled as if they were twenty-year-old college students all over again. Once finished, they couldn’t believe the difference a few hairs could make.

Every minute of this day was about as perfect as it could be.
Nichole badly needed this getaway for her sanity; the demands of motherhood were above and beyond anything she’d anticipated. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her son with every cell in her body, but never having a moment to herself was draining. Stealing away for these few hours was exactly what she needed. This was the first time in more than a year that she felt carefree and light.

After they had their eyebrows shaped, Nichole and Laurie went in search of the perfect pair of jeans. While it was depressing to go up a size, the white rhinestone-studded jeans she tried on made her look a size smaller. Or so Laurie insisted.

“I feel guilty spending two hundred and fifty dollars on a pair of jeans,” Nichole confessed, holding on to her credit card and weighing the decision.

“But didn’t Jake tell you to go ahead and get them?”

“Yes.” Still, Nichole hesitated.

“Do it,” Laurie urged. “You wouldn’t see me thinking twice if my husband suggested I buy something for myself. Besides, you deserve those jeans and you look fabulous.”

That was all the inducement Nichole needed. She laid down her credit card and added a shirt that was forty percent off to go with the jeans.

“Now all you need are the shoes,” Laurie coaxed.

“I couldn’t,” Nichole said, laughing. She felt guilty enough after paying such an outrageous sum for those jeans.

“Jake would insist,” Laurie assured her.

Her friend was right. Jake was far too good to her. He indulged Nichole’s every whim. She finally had to tell him to stop buying her gifts. Hardly a week went by when he didn’t come home with a little surprise for her. He insisted it was simply his way of proving that he adored her. He’d been like this ever since she gave him a son.

Both Nichole and Laurie ate crab salads for lunch, with the
dressing on the side, naturally. “When was the last time you had a pedicure?” Nichole asked her friend.

Laurie set aside her fork. “You don’t want to know. I swear it’s been over a year. Lucy is two and is into everything. I don’t have a wonderful mother-in-law like certain people I could mention—I have to pay a sitter, and you wouldn’t believe what they charge these days.”

“Then we’re going to do it today. We passed a salon in the mall that said walk-ins are welcome.” Nichole had an ulterior motive. If she did find time to shop for shoes, she absolutely refused to let a salesperson see her feet in their current condition.

They were fortunate to find two available nail technicians who could fit them in at the same time. Not thirty minutes after they’d finished their lunch, Nichole and Laurie sat side by side with their feet soaking in bubbling hot water. The chair had a pulsating massage in the back that eased the tension from Nichole’s lower spine. If this wasn’t heaven it was mighty darn close. She closed her eyes and luxuriated in the moment.

Just when she was certain she was about to doze off, her phone chirped. Afraid something had happened with Owen, Nichole jerked upright and grabbed her purse.

She didn’t even bother to look at caller ID before she answered. “Hello.”

“Nichole, this is Karen.” Her sister.

“Is anything wrong?” Nichole asked, sitting up straight now, worried.

“No, not really. How are you?”

Her sister hadn’t phoned just to say hi, Nichole could tell. “Karen, what’s wrong?”

Laurie looked over at her and Nichole shrugged.

“I heard from Cassie.”

The two sisters had discussed the rather awkward conversation already. “Yes, that was a few days ago, right?”

“Right.”

“And?”

“Two things. I want to be sure you’re still comfortable with what we’ve done?”

What a ridiculous question. It was far too late to change their minds now. “Of course I am.”

“Mom wanted—”

“We both know what Mom wanted and we both felt Mom wasn’t in her right mind. You know as well as I do that in the end she wasn’t anything like herself. Half the time she didn’t make any sense whatsoever.”

“True …”

Nichole didn’t know why Karen would be bringing all this up now. “Karen,” she said, lowering her voice, “it’s too late for us to have second thoughts. The attorney has already dispensed the money from the sale of the house.” She hesitated and a sense of dread came over her. “Is Cassie asking questions about the will?” It wouldn’t do her any good, and both Karen and Nichole knew it. After Cassie married Duke, their father had cut Cassie out of the will. He wasn’t looking to punish his precious, favorite daughter as much as protect her. It went without saying that anything of value Cassie inherited would quickly be squandered by her no-good husband. And he was right.

Later, just a few days before she died, their mother asked the two sisters to help Cassie.

“Do you think …” Karen paused, almost as if she was afraid to say the words.

“That Mom wanted us to share everything with Cassie?” Nichole asked, completing the thought for her sister. “I don’t. I think that reaching out to Cassie and offering her Mom and Dad’s furniture is above and beyond anything she should expect. As you said earlier, Cassie put Mom and Dad through hell and beyond.”

“She did,” Karen agreed. When Cassie disappeared, it’d been a nightmare for the entire family. Their father had been completely unnerved, unable to sleep. He lost weight and fretted endlessly. Their mother had taken Cassie’s leaving equally hard. She sat at the kitchen table chain-smoking and sobbing for days on end. The police were no help. At eighteen, Cassie was considered an adult, and the decision to marry Duke was out of the hands of the law.

Nichole didn’t mean to be callous, but Cassie had been out of their family for so long that it was hard to even remember what she looked like. Their middle sister hadn’t kept in touch or showed any real concern when she learned of their father’s death. True, she’d reached out when told their mother was ill, but by then it was far too little too late.

Nichole straightened her spine. “We made our decision, Karen, and I believe it was the right one. You said Cassie seemed happy to be getting the furniture, and she should be.” That sounded heartless, she realized, but she couldn’t help it. “Let’s leave it at that.”

Right away Nichole realized her little outburst had attracted the attention of nearly everyone in the salon. Embarrassed, she lowered her head, dreading that she might have caused something of a scene.

“I know that you’re right,” Karen said, after an uncomfortable moment. “I just wanted to be sure you don’t have any regrets or second thoughts?”

“None,” Nichole assured her, and she didn’t. She felt sorry for Cassie, but things could never go back to the way they’d been when they were kids. That time was long past. Cassie couldn’t show up after all these years and just assume nothing had changed. They were different people now, with separate lives.

“She was the one who chose Duke over her own family,” Karen said, as if she needed to hear it again.

“Yes. She wasn’t there after Dad died or to help when Mom was so sick. Nor was she there to clean out and sell the house. You and I were the ones who worked sixteen-hour days.”

“Right. I guess I was just looking for reassurance that we weren’t unreasonable in what we did.”

“You, unreasonable?” Nichole laughed. “You’re the most levelheaded, fair person I know.”

“I try to be.”

“You are,” Nichole said, although if Karen was having second thoughts, then maybe she should reconsider their decision herself. And she would, but not now, not when she was supposed to be spending a carefree day with her best friend.

“I’m sending Cassie an email,” Karen said.

“Oh?”

“Yes. I told her I’d pay for two months’ storage fees for Mom and Dad’s stuff and said that was all I’d be willing to do. She has sixty days to collect it and no more.”

“It’s good to set those boundaries with Cassie.”

“My thought, too. What I don’t think Cassie realized … well, actually, I failed to tell her. One of those months had already passed. In fact, five of the eight weeks are gone.”

“Let her know, then. If she really wants it, she’ll find a way to get over to Spokane.”

“It’s only fair that I tell her she has less than three weeks to collect the furniture.”

“Or pay the storage fee herself.”

“Should I send the email?” Karen asked.

“I don’t know why you’re hesitating.” Nichole felt her sister was already being more than generous. It wasn’t like there was anything left that was of any real value, other than maybe the piano.

Her pedicure had been finished by then, but she was so
wrapped up in the conversation, she barely noticed. She said good-bye and dropped the cell back inside her purse.