“Thank you, handsome.” Dot’s voice was gleefully malicious, as if she knew what Nadine had been aiming for and was gratified to have witnessed this own goal.
Nadine stared hard at Wes but made sure her smile was pleasant when she turned to Dot. “You know,” she said, trying to salvage the situation. “I would hate for Maria to think we didn’t enjoy her squares. Perhaps we could stay and finish them?”
“Oh no, I couldn’t have that, not when your colleague is so eager to leave.” Dot’s eyes glinted with joy behind her glasses. “I’ll ask Maria to pack you some to go.”
Nadine could have cried in rage. They were so close, but Dot was struggling to her feet and calling for Maria. She made one more attempt. “Can I ask you about—”
“Of course.” Dot didn’t turn around. “Next Sunday.”
Dammit. Wes held out his arm to escort Dot from the room, and Nadine stood to follow. On the way, she caught sight ofThirty Pieces of Silver, this time propped up with a newspaper clipping poking out from its pages. She reached out to see what it was marking.
“Come along, girl.” Dot’s voice drifted over.
Nadine snatched back her hand. She’d get to the bottom of this next week.Great job, Wes.That was what she got for counting on him.
***
There is always next week, Wes thought as Maria handed him two containers of lemon squares. It wasn’t Nadine’s fault she’d been blocked by Dot, a woman who had achieved grand master status in mind games.
Then again, Nadine seemed more pissed than was warranted. She’d gotten some good traction, and he thought she’d be pleased about that.
Once the front door closed behind them, he turned to Nadine. “You shouldn’t feel too bad about blowing it,” he said generously. “You were getting there.”
“You absolute…” She sputtered as if trying to think of a term before settling on “Walnut!”
“What, me?” He was astounded.
“What were you thinking?” She groaned. “You were supposed to step in and play peacemaker!”
“Peacemaker? How was I supposed to know that?”
“I don’t know, context clues? Reading the room?”
“I did read the room,” said Wes, peeved. “She said it was time to go. Why did you think this time to go was different from other times to go?”
“She was only pretending. This is thegame.” Nadine blew out herbreath. “She wants to make us work for it. We could have gotten the answers we need, but thanks to you, we have to wait another week.”
“You don’t know that.” He pinched the bridge of his nose to keep the frustration from spilling out of his brain. “What we do know is that she told us to leave. I’m not going to pressure her.”
“I can’t believe you.”
They weren’t shouting, conscious of the intercom, but they were whispering loudly and emphatically.
Wes took a breath. “Look, Nadine. Dot is an old and sick woman who said she was tired and wanted us to leave. You were paying attention to the wrong things.”
“Oh, for… You have the social awareness of Sir Latimer.” Nadine squeezed her eyes shut as if feeling physical pain. “Whatever.”
She got in the car and slammed the door as Wes stepped back. He’d been hoping to get a ride to a subway stop, but the way Nadine gunned it out of the circular driveway said he was on his own. He tucked down the disappointment.
Worse was that Nadine’s reaction called out a concern he’d had over the years that had resurfaced after the conversation with Jason. He had never been like Tyler, who pressed and pushed until he got the answer he wanted. Wes was confident in his work but disliked riding roughshod over people. He never saw the need for Tyler’s chest-thumping performances. The loudest voice wasn’t always correct.
He crossed the driveway with the two boxes of lemon squares, since Nadine had taken off before he could hand hers over. He lifted the lid and ate one as he squinted at the sky. The afternoon sun had disappeared behind a low layer of cloud, and the wind was picking up. He hoped he could get home before the rain.
To his surprise, Nadine’s dusty car sat outside Dot’s gate, and the passenger side window rolled down when he came out.
“Wes.”
Part of him wanted to keep walking. If they didn’t have to worktogether, he might. He stopped. “What?”
