As the group began to dissipate, Ryan took Nicole by the arm and led her away, walking so briskly she felt like perhaps she’d done something wrong. “Am I in trouble?” she asked him as he led her over to the gazebo.
He chuckled. “No, not at all. But you said you wanted to talk to me tonight. Remember?”
“Oh yeah.” She had nearly forgotten her message to him.
“But first I should thank you for bringing up the McDaniel Mansion. Theresa sounds very interested.”
Nicole smiled. “I just wanted to change the subject, and it was the first thing that came to mind.”
“Well, thanks for that too. I didn’t know how to react to Cassidy’s little story.” He slowly shook his head. “That really caught me off guard.”
“I guess that’s how I felt last night.”
“I caught you off guard?” He peered at her. “Why?”
“No, not you. I meant that’s how I felt when Cassidy showed up.” She carefully measured her words. “You and I were having such a good time, and then it all seemed to unravel. I just don’t know where you stand with her. Maybe it’s none of my business, Ryan, but I do want to know.”
“You’re jealous of Cassidy?”
“I never said that.” She was backpedaling but couldn’t seem to stop herself. “It’s just that it was . . . awkward.”
“I already told you, Nicole. Cassidy is a good friend. We’ve been good friends for as long as I can remember. But that’s all there is to it.”
“Really?” She studied him closely.
“Yes.”
“Well, maybe you should tell Cassidy that.”
“Huh?”
Nicole frowned. “You cannot be that dense, Ryan.”
“Dense?”
“Cassidy wants to be more than friends with you. Can’t you see that?”
He shook his head.
“Ryan. Cassidy practically asked you to marry her just now.”
“Oh, no,” he said quickly. “She was just sharing an amusing story.”
“It was more than that. Can you honestly not see it? And last night when she came over, uh, unexpectedly . . . well, I found out that someone had tipped her off. She knew I was with you. I’m pretty sure that’s why she showed up like that.”
“Someone tipped her off?” Ryan sounded doubtful. “Who would do that? Why?”
“Your brother, probably because he didn’t like hearing that I was having dinner with you. Sibling rivalry.”
“You’re saying that Alex told Cassidy you were with me, and that was why she came over? She wasn’t just wanting to see the fireworks and share a bottle of wine?”
Nicole shrugged. This was not going how she had hoped it would. Not at all.
“I don’t get it.”
Nicole felt herself getting irritated. Did Ryan think she was making all this up? “Are you kidding?” she asked. “You really don’t get it?”
He shook his head, and she reminded herself that this was something she’d been drawn to—how Ryan seemed totally oblivious to how attractive he was. Whether it was Cassidy or Abigail or even Theresa just now, Ryan had a knack for drawing in the females. It was no wonder Alex resented him so much.
“I’m not kidding,” Ryan told her. “What are you suggesting?”
“Cassidy wants to marry you, Ryan.”
“What?” He sounded truly shocked.
“Ask anyone.”
He rubbed his chin as if trying to absorb this stunning news.
“You really didn’t know that?” Nicole asked.
He blew out a long breath. “Maybe I’ve had some hints. But we’ve always joked around a lot. I never took her seriously.”
“Maybe you should.”
“Wow.” Ryan slowly shook his head. “I feel kind of blindsided by this.”
There was a long, uncomfortable pause, and Nicole really didn’t know what to say. None of this had come out quite right. She wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
“You could do worse,” Nicole meekly told him, trying to bring this to an end. She knew Katy would be disappointed in her. Perhaps she was sealing her own fate. “Cassidy is a great girl,” she continued. “And you guys are already such good friends. You even had an agreement. She’s about to turn thirty, Ryan. Maybe it’s time to—” Nicole’s words stuck in her tight, dry throat. Feeling like a total idiot, she turned and, excusing herself, hurried away.
What a fool—a silly little fool.
28
Nicole didn’t want to go back into the house, didn’t want to see anyone. She went for a walk, attempting to calm down after her little emotional scene. The more she walked, the more she thought perhaps it wasn’t as bad as she’d imagined. Sure, it hadn’t gone anything like she’d hoped. But it really wasn’t such a big deal.
She paused to watch the fireworks—the ones she could see over the treetops—but somehow they didn’t seem as glorious as they’d appeared last night. Finally, her feet tired of walking in heels, she headed back home, snuck up to her room, and changed into casual clothes. She could still hear the party going strong down below, but she had no intention of joining the merrymakers. Instead, she sat down to work on a painting that was coming along nicely. It was a simple study—just the portico of a Victorian house she’d photographed while on a walk. It was the massive iron flowerpots that had gotten her attention. Overflowing with salmon-colored geraniums and ivy, they’d been so pretty she’d wanted to capture them.
A knock on her door made her jump. Thinking it might be Ryan, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to answer it, but when the knocking persisted, she did. “Bernie,” she said in surprise. “What are you—”
“It’s Gina,” Bernie said. “You were right, Nicole.”
“Right about what?”
“Some of our friends did sneak into the alcohol. Haley brought some vodka downstairs and was daring us to drink it.”
“You were drinking?” Nicole stared at Bernie.
“I hardly drank anything, but Gina drank a whole glass of it. And now she’s sick.”
“I’ll bet she is.” Nicole was already following Bernie out the door. “Where is she?”
“My room. But she wants to go home.”
“Did you call her mom?”
“Her parents aren’t home. They’re at the fireworks.” Bernie opened the bedroom door, and they found Gina slumped on the bathroom floor.
“Are you okay?” Nicole asked the pale-faced girl.
“No.” Gina groaned.
“Did you throw up?”
“No.” She rocked back and forth, moaning. “I wanna throw up.”
“Cassidy,” Nicole said suddenly. “She’s a doctor. Go get her, Bernie.”
“Okay.” Bernie took off like a shot.
Nicole wet a washcloth with cold water and pressed it onto Gina’s head. “Do you remember how much you drank?” she asked.
“I dunno.” She moaned as she got into the fetal position on the floor. “I wanna die.”
“No, you don’t.” Nicole wished she knew what to do to help. Seeing Bernie’s phone on the counter, she grabbed it and did a quick search for alcohol poisoning. The information she found just made her more worried.
“You need to sit up,” she told Gina as she tugged her to a sitting position. “And you should drink some water.” She got the glass by the sink and filled it, trying to get Gina to take sips, which wasn’t easy.
“I jus’ wanna die,” Gina kept saying.
“No, you don’t,” Nicole said soothingly.
“Yes, I do.” She started to lie down again.
“You have to stay sitting,” Nicole commanded, silently praying for Bernie to get here with Cassidy. She tried to coax Gina to take another sip of water.
“Cassidy’s gone,” Bernie announced as she came into the bathroom. “Dad said she and Uncle Ryan left.” She peered down at Gina. “What’re we gonna do?”
Before Nicole could answer, Gina, desperately clinging to the toilet, began to throw
up.
“There you go,” Nicole said gently, holding her hair out of the way. “You’ll feel better now.”
When Gina finished, Nicole wiped her face with the damp cloth and was relieved to see a little color coming back to her cheeks.
“Is she going to be okay?” Bernie asked with wide eyes.
“Yes, but I still want to call her parents.”
“No,” Gina pleaded with her. “Please don’t call them.”
“But you were so sick, and you might still be sick. They really need—”
“Please.” Gina started to cry now. “I’ll be okay. I already feel better.”
Nicole frowned at Bernie. “I’m really mad at you for allowing this to happen,” she said. “Where are your other friends? Hopefully they’re not sick too.”
“Haley and Kristen went home,” Bernie told her. “And I hope they are sick.”
“That’s not nice.” Nicole refilled the water glass and handed it to Gina. “Keep taking sips of this.” She turned back to Bernie. “Did you girls have any food to eat?”
“A little.”
“Well, go down there and get some food for Gina. Like crackers, bread, popcorn—you know, starchy stuff. It might help. And get some soda. Ginger ale or something lemony.”
“Okay.” Bernie nodded.
After she left, Gina was sick again. But Nicole was glad to see her hugging the toilet. Not only was more poison getting out, it would probably teach the silly girl a good lesson too.
As Nicole sat on a bench by the bathtub, she felt her irritation growing. Not so much toward these girls as toward Alex. He was the one who should be sitting up here dealing with this. She had half a mind to go get him, except that she felt sorry for Gina and knew Alex would not be much help.
They moved into the bedroom when Bernie returned with a plate of food and sodas. Gina seemed to be feeling significantly better and managed to eat and drink some. After about an hour, Nicole was sure that Gina was going to be just fine. But she was still uncertain of what her role here should be. She offered to make a deal with the girls.
“I want you to both promise me that you’ll tell your parents about this. If you agree to that, I won’t insist on telling them tonight. But I do want you to tell them.” She pointed to Bernie. “Especially you, since this happened on your dad’s watch. He needs to know there were consequences. But if you don’t tell him, I will. I might not paint a very nice picture of it either. And just so you know, I do plan to talk to him about it. I’d just rather you talk to him first.”
Both girls agreed to her terms.
“You both need to promise me you’ll never do anything this stupid again,” Nicole added, knowing full well it was a promise most teenagers couldn’t keep. But both girls solemnly promised. For the next couple of hours, they munched on junk food and drank sodas as they watched an old movie together. It was past eleven when Gina, worn out from her ordeal, fell asleep. Feeling all was well, Nicole got up to leave.
“Don’t go yet,” Bernie said.
“Are you worried about Gina?” Nicole looked at the peacefully sleeping girl. “I’m sure she’s okay.”
“No, that’s not it.” Bernie followed Nicole to the door. “I just wanted to tell you thanks. You helped us out tonight, and I really appreciate it. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you earlier. You were right.” Bernie looked close to tears. “I really am sorry.”
Nicole embraced Bernie, holding her tight. “I guess you learned a lesson the hard way,” she said quietly. “But that’s better than not learning it at all.” She released Bernie and looked into her face. “You’re a good friend to Gina. I hope you two will remember this for a long time, and that you’ll always help each other. Hopefully you’ll help each other avoid stuff like this.”
“Yeah. I think we will.” She nodded solemnly. “Nicole . . . I wish you liked Dad better.”
Nicole didn’t know what to say.
“I know, he’s not really your type.” Bernie sighed. “But I wish he was. I know he likes you, Nicole.”
“Well, I like him too. Mostly I do. I’ll admit I didn’t much like him tonight. But the truth is I will never love your dad, Bernie. Not in a marrying sort of way. That’s just how it is.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“But I do love you.” Nicole reached over to stroke her messy hair. “I will always love you.”
“What about Uncle Ryan?” Bernie asked with a hopeful tone in her voice. “Do you love him?”
Nicole forced a smile but said nothing.
“You do, don’t you?”
“I think your uncle and Cassidy might get married . . . eventually.” Nicole tried to sound nonchalant.
“Seriously?”
“Well, they haven’t sent out invitations or anything. But Cassidy was talking about it tonight.”
“I thought Uncle Ryan was more into you.” Bernie frowned. “Dad thought so too.”
“Looks like you guys were wrong.” She let out a weary sigh. “It’s late, Bernie. I think we should call it a night.” She hugged her again. “If Gina has any more problems—although I doubt she will—feel free to come get me.”
Nicole turned a blind eye to the condition of the Graham house as she made a hasty exit the next morning. But Miss Doreen had her sympathy. Maybe Alex would take some responsibility—for a change!
After the late night, Nicole had slept in some, but since the gallery was closed today, it didn’t matter when she got there. In fact, she didn’t need to go in at all, except that she wanted to catch up on some office work. And she had no desire to hang out in the disaster area or to lift a finger to help Alex.
As she turned on the back-room lights, she realized her cell phone was dead, and her charger was still in her bedroom at home. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t expecting any calls today. Plus, if her phone was working, she’d probably be checking it . . . just in case Ryan tried to contact her. Not that she thought he would. Mostly she was thankful for the peace and quiet of the gallery today. Her plan was to do some book work and organizing. Then she would do some rearranging in the gallery—make the place look shiny and new before the start of the new week tomorrow.
After about an hour of office work, she picked up the landline phone, thinking she might just call Ryan . . . but what would she say? She considered apologizing for acting so weird at the party, but how would that sound? And really, what was the point? She knew Ryan had left with Cassidy last night. Didn’t that say it all? She set the receiver back in the cradle and went to work, transferring the recent transactions in the receipt book onto the computer program like Alex had taught her.
She was still irked with Alex. Not only for the incident with Bernie and her friends last night—although that was plenty!—but also for interfering with her and Ryan. Why had he felt the need to stick his oar in? Was it really just sibling rivalry? Or was the man just plain mean?
She sighed. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. If Ryan and Cassidy really belonged together, Nicole was better off knowing. Maybe Alex had simply wanted to open her eyes. She would probably have to forgive him . . . eventually.
Although it was a peaceful day in the gallery, Nicole felt tired by the time she locked up around five. Yet she wasn’t eager to go home because if the house still looked like it had this morning—and if Miss Doreen had thrown in the towel like Nicole suspected she would—she would probably feel the need to roll up her sleeves and help out. That just did not seem fair. Wasn’t it time for Alex to clean up his own messes?
Instead of driving home, Nicole stopped at the movie theater complex. It was totally out of character for her to see a movie by herself, but compared to her other options, it sounded like a tempting escape. Besides, there was a film she really wanted to see.
Feeling like a stranger in her own skin, she bought herself a movie ticket and a tub of popcorn and a soda, and for the next two hours she forgot about everything else. And it felt good!
When Nicole got home, the hous
e was quiet and relatively clean. As she slipped inside, heading for the stairs, she heard quiet voices in the kitchen. She strained her ears to listen, not to eavesdrop but simply to know who was in the house. To her relief, it was Bernie and Alex, and it sounded like they were having a nice little chat.
Feeling somewhat optimistic, Nicole tiptoed up the stairs and went into her room. Maybe life in the Graham house was about to get better for all of them. She could only hope.
After a quick shower and remembering to plug in her phone, Nicole fell into bed, exhausted. She wasn’t even sure why she was so tired, vaguely wondering if it was depression, but all she wanted was a good, long sleep. Like another Southern lady once said, she would think about it tomorrow.
Nicole got up early the next morning. Feeling surprisingly refreshed and energized, she took her time getting dressed for work, then went downstairs to have some breakfast. She was just finishing when Bernie showed up.
“Can I go to work with you today?” she asked brightly.
“Sure,” Nicole told her. “That’d be great.”
“Cool. I’ll go get ready.”
After Bernie went back upstairs, Nicole wondered how she’d keep everyone busy today, since Amyra and Marcie would be there too. But there were things to get done for the upcoming Turner show, and Nicole wanted to call Harriet about bringing in more paintings. Plus the foot traffic in town would be picking up as they got closer to the weekend. It was actually probably a good day for more hands.
As Nicole drove to town, Bernie told her about the conversation with her dad. “He was pretty mad at first,” she confessed. “But then it was weird . . . like he kinda blamed himself for everything.”
“Well, he is your dad, and he was the host.”
“Yeah, but it was even more than that. He was kind of taking some blame for him and Mom too. Like it wasn’t all her fault that they broke up.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah.” Bernie nodded. “It gives me hope.”
Nicole cringed. Hopefully she didn’t think her parents were getting back together.
“I mean hope for Dad,” Bernie clarified. “That maybe he’s growing up too.”
Under a Summer Sky--A Savannah Romance Page 24
