by Terri Reed
“Maybe.”
The doubt in his tone knotted her chest. “Nick, trust me. We’ll make this right.” She stared at the photo again. “Detective Agee’s working on finding the guy that dropped the picture off at the television station. He can check with the paper to see if the same guy delivered the photo there.”
“I’ll call him.” He stepped back. “I need to get out of here. I need to see my parents and make sure they know this is a lie.”
“Let me grab my purse and I’ll come with you.”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” he said. “I need some space.”
Hurt ripped through her. “You’ll come to the station after you see your parents?”
Tipping his head back slightly, his gaze on the ceiling, he blew out a breath. When he met her gaze, the lack of emotion in the blue depths sent a fissure of worry chomping through her. “I don’t know. The damage has been done. Just like Cody, there will always be this cloud hanging over me now.”
“Nick—”
The trill of her cell phone filled the air between them.
“I’ll talk to you later.”
It took effort not to follow him. Her heart ached with anger on his behalf. With a sigh, she retrieved her phone from the bedside table.
“What happened?” Liam’s irritated voice assaulted her when she answered the phone. “How did the Bend Daily get the scoop when you’ve spent the last four days with Nick Walsh?”
“It’s not a scoop, it’s a fabrication made up of speculation and innuendo.”
“That picture is condemning,” he said. “How do you know it’s not true?”
“Because I asked,” she shot back. “The photo isn’t the whole story.”
“And you’re going to get the whole story, right?” Liam asked.
“I— Yes.” One way or another she would work the truth into the feature on Nick. She had his genuine reaction denying that he was doping on camera. That was a start. A good start.
“Good. Okay.” Liam sounded mollified. “That’s good. Glad you’re on top of it.” He hung up without saying goodbye.
Mulling over the situation, Julie went into the kitchen and stopped short when she saw her stepdad sitting at the dining table drinking coffee. He had on his usual business attire. Navy suit, crisp white shirt, red tie. “Hi, I didn’t realize you were here,” she said.
“It is my house,” he commented without looking up from the paper he had spread across the table.
Stung by his abrupt manner, she sipped from her mug, her gaze going to the window and the view of the pond beyond the snow-covered lawn. Her feature story on Nick wouldn’t air for a few more days. Until then the world would believe the report in the paper, just as the world had believed his brother had been high on something when he had his accident. The more she thought about the water bottle found in Cody’s things, the more she believed the liquid had been tainted. She hated how long it was taking the forensic people to analyze the contents. Reality wasn’t anything like they made it out to be on TV.
“You’re pale. Are you all right?”
Her gaze shifted to Marshal. Surprised that he’d noticed, she shrugged. “Not really.”
“Does it have something to do with your friend and the picture in the paper?”
“Yes, actually.” She set her mug down. “It’s not fair. He’s done nothing wrong, but public opinion will convict him of wrongdoing without a trial.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Marshal asked.
“Me?” What could she do?
“Yes, you. You care about him, don’t you?”
“Of course, he’s my friend.”
Marshal dipped his chin and stared at her. “Friend? I’ve seen the way you look at him. You’re smitten.”
“Smitten?” she repeated, stifling a smile at his choice of words. Words that reverberated through her like a bouncy ball, punching holes in all the carefully erected walls around her heart.
“Yes, smitten.” Marshal folded the paper and laid it on the table. He steepled his hands. “Julie, if you believe your friend is being maligned unfairly, then you need to lead the charge in making sure the world knows the article is full of falsehoods.”
His words tumbled around in her head. Since the feature on Nick wouldn’t be airing right away, there was only one thing for her to do—write a letter to the editor refuting the newspaper’s bogus story.
“Thank you, Marshal. I know what I need to do,” she said, rising from the table.
He inclined his head. “You always do, Julie. You always do.”
Her breath stalled. “Do you mean that?”
His eyebrows rose. “Of course. You’re a smart woman with a good head on your shoulders. Your mother would be so proud of you. I’m proud of you.”
Overwhelmed by the magnitude of his statement, she impulsively hugged him.
When he hugged her back, tears sprang to her eyes.
After a long moment, she pulled away and wiped at the moisture on her cheeks.
“Hey now, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Marshal said, concern etched on his face.
“You didn’t upset me. You made me very happy,” she said as love and gratitude smoothed the edges of her hurt and softened her heart toward him. She prayed this was the beginning to a new and better relationship with her stepdad. “These are tears of joy.”
He stared at her dubiously for a moment, then gave her a soft smile and nodded. “All right, then. Go fight for your man.”
She saluted and retreated to her room. It didn’t take her long to write a scathing letter, calling out the reporter and the newspaper for not doing their due diligence and fact-finding.
She put the letter in an envelope and stuck it in her purse. She would drop it off on her way in to work.
The drive to town took longer than she’d expected. Lots of traffic coming off the mountain. Before handing over the envelope to the receptionist at the Bend Daily News office, she hesitated as second thoughts bombarded her. How would her boss react when he found out she’d sent the note? Was defending Nick’s reputation worth risking her promotion? Why did she feel this overwhelming sense of need to right this wrong when he wasn’t willing to do it himself?
The answer that gushed up from deep in the depths of her heart made her stagger back a step.
She’d fallen in love with Nick.
Against all reason and logic, she’d allowed him into her heart. She wasn’t just smitten. She was doomed.
* * *
When Julie entered her office, she found Kitty Rogers waiting at the reception desk.
“What can I do for you, Kitty?” Julie asked as the woman followed Julie up the staircase.
“I need to know where Nick is,” Kitty said. “I want to make sure he’s okay. He wouldn’t do something like what the newspaper is accusing him of.”
Julie stopped halfway up the staircase and turned to Kitty. “I don’t know where Nick is right now. I’m not his keeper.”
“Of course you’re not,” Kitty huffed. “I don’t know who else to ask, though. He’s not answering his phone and I can’t find him at any of the hotels in town.”
“How did you get his cell phone number?”
“A friend.”
Julie crossed her arms over her chest. “Look, you need to know that Nick’s not interested in you.”
The hard glint Julie had previously only seen glimpses of settled firmly and frighteningly on Kitty’s face.
“Don’t think you’re going to get your claws into him,” Kitty said through clenched teeth. “I won’t let you. He’s mine. He just hasn’t realized he needs me yet.”
A sudden coldness hit Julie at the core. “What do you mean he hasn’t realized he needs you?”
Kitty’s lip curled. “He will, given enough time. But you need to back off.”
The coldness turned to stone-cold anger. Julie advanced on the other woman. “Are you the one trying to hurt Nick?”
Kitty’s eyes widened and she s
tepped back. “What? No, of course not.”
Julie glanced up to see Bryce hovering at the top of the stairs.
“I think you should leave now, Kitty,” Julie said.
Kitty swung around in a huff, hitting Julie hard with her purse in the process. Julie lost her balance and teetered on the edge of the stair. Her fingers flexed around the railing just as her foot slipped off the stair. She stumbled down several steps while still clinging to the railing, wrenching her wrist, and the resulting pain made her cry out. Regaining her balance, she leaned against the wall.
Bryce hurried down the stairs. “Are you hurt?”
Kitty rushed to her side, the picture of contrition. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you fall. Are you okay?”
Cradling her throbbing wrist, Julie said, “I twisted my wrist. I need some ice.”
“I’ll get you some,” Bryce said and ran back up the stairs.
“Uh, I should go,” Kitty said and hurried down the steps, the rapid fire of her heels echoing off the walls.
Slowly, Julie made her way to the conference room.
Bryce brought her a bag of instant ice from the first aid kit. “Here. Put this on your wrist.”
Molding the bag around her wrist, Julie winced. After a few seconds, the cold seeped through her skin to numb the pain.
“You should have that looked at,” Bryce commented.
Bob stepped into the room. “Hey, what happened?”
“Kitty Rogers pushed her down the stairs,” Bryce said.
Julie shook her head. “She didn’t push me. She accidently hit me with her purse and I lost my balance.”
“It sure looked deliberate to me,” Bryce commented.
“Let me see,” Bob insisted, reaching for her wrist.
She removed the ice pack and scrunched up the sleeve of her sweater. Her right wrist was turning a nasty dark purple and was already swollen.
“Come on, let’s take you to urgent care,” Bob said, placing a hand under her elbow. “You could have a hairline fracture or something.”
Great. Just what she needed.
Was Bryce right? Had Kitty deliberately hit Julie with her purse, intending to knock her off balance?
Had Julie become Kitty’s target?
* * *
“We’re glad you came over and cleared this up,” Nick’s father said. “We weren’t sure what to think when we saw the photo in the paper.”
Nick’s lung constricted, making it hard to take a full breath. He sat on the couch next to his dad. Mom sat on the leather ottoman, so close her knees touched his. His gaze bounced between them. “You have to believe me. I would never cheat.”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Mom said, clearly offended on his behalf. “This article is bogus. My boys wouldn’t do drugs.”
“No, we wouldn’t, Mom.” Nick’s heart twisted in his chest. Only Cody wasn’t here to defend himself. Julie’s words replayed in his head. You can counteract this. Set the record straight.
She was right. He needed to publicly set the record straight. If people chose to believe the worst, then so be it. As long as the people he cared about believed in him, that was all that mattered.
“So this condition you have,” Dad said. “Is there a cure?”
“I have to manage my vitamin intake. It’s not that uncommon. And not life threatening as long as I am aware of the symptoms and stay on top of my B12 intake. It’s really not a big deal. Please don’t worry.”
“That’s good to know,” Dad said. “But worry we will. We love you, son.”
Mom clutched his hand. Tears welled in her eyes. “I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
His cell phone rang. Using his free hand, he dug it out of his jacket pocket. The caller ID said Bend Police. His chest knotted. Had something happened to Julie? No, it had to be Agee calling with the results of the forensic test on his water bottle. He answered.
“Nick, Agee here. I have some news. The liquid in the water bottle you brought in had a high amount of diphenhydramine.”
Nick’s mouth went dry. Julie had been right. Cody’s death wasn’t an accident.
THIRTEEN
“What is di-phen-hi-dra-mean?” Nick asked, his mind staggering to comprehend what the detective was telling him. He met his mom’s curious gaze and his heart tumbled. How was he going to tell her Cody’s death wasn’t an accident but a botched attempt at hurting her eldest son?
“Benadryl. Basically, someone poured a bottle of liquid Benadryl into your water bottle. It would have made you dizzy, fatigued, and if enough had been ingested, caused hallucinations. We’ll reopen the investigation into Cody’s death.”
Feeling as if he was going to be sick, Nick thanked the detective and hung up. Telling his parents was difficult, but he forced the words out. His mother’s tears impaled him.
“It should have been me,” he said, hanging his head.
“No!” Dad slid his arm around his shoulders. “It shouldn’t have been anyone.”
His mother moved to sit on his other side and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t speak, just hung on to him.
They remained that way for a long time, each mourning the loss of Cody. Healing also.
Gathering his composure, Nick said, “I need to tell Julie she was right. It was her idea to test the water bottle.” He owed her so much. If she hadn’t stopped him from dumping the liquid out and insisting they take it to the police, the evidence would have been lost forever. Now they knew Cody wasn’t high or drunk. He’d been poisoned with too much antihistamine.
“She’s a smart lady,” Dad said.
“Yes,” Nick said. Smart and funny and caring. “Yes, she is.”
“I like her,” Mom said. “In case you were wondering.”
“Mom.” Nick could see the matchmaking wheels turning in his mother’s eyes. Better than the grief and pain. “We’re just friends.”
Mom gave an indelicate snort. “The way you two were looking at each other, I’d say it’s long past friendship.”
Growing uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was heading, Nick said, “I’m not ready for commitment. Julie’s a commitment type of woman.”
“You’re not getting any younger,” Mom replied. “You let her slip away, you might never find someone who’s as perfect for you.”
Nick looked to his dad for help.
Dad smiled. “I like Julie, too.”
Great, they were ganging up on him. He wished Cody were here to take some of the pressure off him. A sharp stab of grief hit him. “I have to finish what I’ve started. I can’t let a relationship derail my quest for gold. I owe it to Cody.”
Mom took his hand. “But there’s so much more to life than a chunk of metal.”
“Your mom’s right, Nick,” Dad said, his voice low, intense.
“I’m not going to give up on my dreams like—” Nick stopped himself in time from saying you.
When Nick was nineteen, he’d found a trophy and a silver medal in a glass case tucked away in the attic. Dad had admitted they were his. He’d been a champion Super-G skier back in the day. He’d given up his dreams of gold to marry Mom. Nick had decided then and there he’d never let romance get in the way of his dreams.
“Hold up a second,” Mom said, her gaze narrowed on Nick. “Is that crack aimed at your father?”
Nick’s face flamed. “I’m just saying I’m not ready to make any commitments.”
Mom dropped her chin and stared him down. “I never asked your father to give up his dreams. Not once.” She arched an eyebrow at Dad. “Did I?”
Dad touched her cheek, his gaze soft and loving. “Nope. If I remember correctly, your exact words were, ‘When you’re ready to let go of your wild ways and want to settle down, you come find me.’”
Mom turned her cheek into his palm. “And it took all of three days before you came knocking on my door.”
Mom laughed softly. “You made a wise choice.”
Dad took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “I did. I’ve never regretted a day of my life since you’ve been a part of it. You gave me the greatest gifts. Your love and Nick and Cody.”
Tears flowed down Mom’s cheeks.
Seeing his parents’ obvious love for each other constricted the muscles in Nick’s throat. A deep longing welled from within Nick, making him glad he was seated. He wanted a love like his parents had. A love that would last through happiness and sorrow.
But was he ready for it? Could he sacrifice his dreams to embrace love? Was there a way to have both? He just didn’t know.
After a tearful goodbye and promises to keep them informed on any developments, Nick and Ted left his parents’ house in Marshal’s Jeep, since Gordon had taken Frank and Lee up the mountain again. They were practicing while Nick’s life was unraveling around him. They didn’t know how good they had it.
At the television station, Nick asked for Julie. Her boss, Liam, came out of his office and shook his hand. Liam was tall, imposing and direct. “Julie went to the urgent care. She had an accident this morning.”
Panic rioted within his chest. “She’s hurt?”
“Her wrist. She fell down some stairs.”
Needing to see that she was okay for himself, Nick left the station. Ted drove him to the urgent care. They found her and Bob signing out.
Her right wrist was wrapped in an ACE bandage and a half cast. She gave him a lopsided smile when she saw him. Her face was pale and her eyes filled with pain.
“What happened?” Nick asked.
“It was an accident,” she said. “Kitty and I were talking—”
He reared back. “Kitty? She did this to you?”
“No,” Julie said. “She was upset and her purse knocked into me. I lost my balance.”
Bob stepped to Julie’s side. “The intern who witnessed the incident said it looked deliberate.”
