Dinner was a loud affair once everyone got past their first mouthwatering bites.Danny baited Cam into an East Coast-West Coast football debate, Mel and Aidan entering the fray to plead the Miami Dolphins’ case, while Lauren ignored that debate completely, discussing with Mary TV shows she’d marathon-watched.At some point, Aidan began pitching Mary on coming to work for him, drawing a death glare from his brother.
“Why the hell do you need help?”Danny argued.“Jamie’s practically a chef.”
“Yes, but he’s also the messiest person alive.”
“Let me answer this now,” Mel interjected.“No.”
Laughter erupted, and the conversation moved on to Q&A with Mel about the latest bounty she’d chased through Alaska.The woman could write a book with the stories she was collecting.
Nic took the opportunity to lean closer to Mary, asking, “What happened to retirement?”
She smiled serenely.“This I don’t mind.”She gestured with a hand at the group around the table.“I’m getting to know your family.And it’s only two days a week.I come in, straighten up, and cook enough to feed them all week.They’re easy to please and always appreciative.”
“I’m glad it worked out.”His smile dimmed a little as he pushed around the last bite on his plate.“I should have thought of it sooner.”
She bumped his shoulder.“Everything happens when it’s supposed to, Dominic.”Nic looked up, right across the table at Cam, their eyes catching, and Mary laughed softly.“And yes, I mean him too.”
Cam continued to check in with him throughout the meal, a glance here, a kick under the table there, and given the look Mel shot him as they were clearing the table, they hadn’t been fooling anyone.For a while now.Mary had the same look on her face as she came out of the kitchen.“Give him a kiss, then let’s go up to the roof.We’ll sort things out.”
Cam stuck his head out of the kitchen, cheek lifted.“You good?”
“All good.”Nic stole a kiss from his lips instead, then followed Mary upstairs and claimed the lounger next to the one she’d stretched out on.
Her gaze drifted out over China Basin, their chairs arranged to see south toward the ballpark and the water.On a clear night like tonight, no rain, no fog, no bright stadium lights, it was just the stars above and the moon rippling on the dark water.“I come up here every time before I leave,” Mary said.“Reminds me why I love it here so much.”
Nic understood that feeling.As much as he’d enjoyed the work in San Diego, it had never felt like home, not like this.The city that had grown up with him, the ballparks he couldn’t stay away from, the water on either side that didn’t make him feel trapped so much as free.The Bay Area was home, always would be, and he didn’t regret his decision to pass up the job in San Diego, especially not since Cam decided to stay and make this his home too.Now, they had to protect it.
Mary shifted on the lounger, curling on her side and covering up with the blanket.Her relaxed, casual posture made it easier to stomach her words.“Let’s start with the easy stuff.Funeral arrangements?”
Easy.
His father wasn’t the first person he’d lost—his mother when he was six, other soldiers killed in combat—but it was the first time he was directly responsible for the after.He wasn’t religious, neither was Curtis, so in a way, arrangements were easy.No church service, just cremation and a scattering of the ashes at the house.There was no need for more; he wasn’t about to entertain a public service.And if anyone wanted to send flowers or condolences, they could do so in the form of a donation to a charity Nic would designate.He and Mary had it sorted in less than ten minutes.
Yet there was something unsettling about being the last Price, the last of his immediate family.Not exactly grief, but a vague sense of emptiness, of being untethered like when they’d been out to sea with no other ships or land in sight.He rubbed his hip, reminding himself of his strongest tether to the here and now, to the reality and future he wanted, one where he wasn’t alone.But still that uneasiness lingered.Perhaps also because Nic couldn’t avoid the hard stuff any longer.
“I need to ask you some things related to the case, but I can’t go into all the details.”
“I work for a bounty hunter, Dominic.I’m used to half stories.”
He swung his legs around, facing her with his feet on the ground, elbows resting on his knees.“Did you know Victoria before she came to work for Dad?”
Mary shook her head.“She came by recommendation from the landscaper your father used for the commercial properties.”
“Do you know if she was seeing anyone romantically?Garrett’s father was out of the picture by then, but was there anyone else?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Did she know Duncan Vaughn?”
Mary’s relaxed posture evaporated.“I figured that’s where this was headed,” she said, resignation in her voice.She straightened in her chair, pulled her knees up to her chest, and wrapped the blankets around her folded body like a shield.“They grew up together.Duncan was her best friend, and he was in love with her.”
That fit with all the pictures in the lockbox, a collection of memories of the woman Duncan had loved, though none of the pictures had seemed romantic.They were just shots of Victoria or of the two of them as friends.No hugs, no kisses, nothing remotely date-like, and no pictures of Garrett.What else had Mary seen that wasn’t in those photos?“What makes you say that?”
“He came to the house a few times once your father had started courting her.She’d been seen around town with him and Duncan was upset.”
“He was trying to talk her out of getting involved with Dad?”
She nodded, gaze drifting back out over the Bay.“When word got out they were engaged, he waited until your father left for a business trip, then visited one afternoon.They had a shouting match in the garden.”
