“How nice,” said Penny. “Someone else has decided to set off fireworks early as well. Excuse me. I need to see about dinner.”
“I’ll help,” said Jenn, not looking at Valerie. “Fernie, come along.”
Her words acted as a signal. People slowly left the Mariposa room, ignoring Valerie or nodding awkwardly until only she, Roger, and Nico were left. Roger stared at the door. “Not too bad.”
Valerie disagreed but it seemed counterproductive to say so. Shewatched through the window of the Mariposa room as Penny did nothing about dinner but poured herself a goblet of wine.
At least the nadir of meeting the family meant it could only go up from here.
Right?
Ten
Nico left his bunkie earlier than usual to get in a morning swim and sit on the dock with a cup of black coffee before Valerie woke. He assumed, based on her lateness of yesterday, that she’d sleep in but it was barely eight when a hand landed on his shoulder.
Valerie wore a loose pair of green pants and a low-cut black tank top. He worried she could hear his audible inhale. He’d never seen skin so smooth and wondered uncomfortably if skin texture was strange to be into.
“Hi,” she said, completely oblivious to how she shook him. “How did you sleep?”
He managed to get his mouth working and thanked the muscle memory that came from decades of meaningless but polite social interaction to provide him with an automatic answer. “Good, thanks. You?”
“Same. It’s always a bit strange in a new place but I’ll get used to it. Your hair is wet.” She reached her hand out slightly before dropping it. “How was the water?”
Had she been about to touch him? How did he feel about that, sincesomehow this seemed different than her usual light but unconscious touches? Good. He felt…yeah, definitely good. He tried to focus on the conversation. “Invigorating.”
She shuddered. “That means cold.” She put down her flowered bag and sat on the edge of the dock to dangle her feet in with a faint yelp. Her hair fell to the side to show the nape of her neck, slightly paler than the tan on her shoulders. “Hey, Nico?”
“Yes?”
“I kind of lied about sleeping well.” She was facing the water so he stared at her back as if he could read it like a newspaper. “It was strange sleeping in the house.”
He was alert now. “Was anyone rude to you?”
“No, no.” She twisted so one wet foot lifted out to drip on the slats of the dock. “Everyone was as polite as they were at dinner last night.”
At dinner the Badgertons had done their best to cope with the cuckoo in their nest by talking about anything except Valerie’s parentage. That had worked until Jenn had mentioned a new dim sum place in the city that had cart service. The loose connection between Chinese people and food was enough to evoke Yvette, and the resultant silence had sat heavy on the farro salad and porterhouse steak as a flushed Jenn stared at her plate to avoid making eye contact with her husband or Penny.
Valerie pushed her hair behind her ear. “It was like I didn’t belong in the house, sleeping with the family.” She made a face as if to preemptively deflect his mockery.
Nico sometimes felt the same way, which is why he never stayed there himself. “There’s a bunkie next to me,” he said. “Why don’t you move?”
“A bunkie?”
“It’s like a mini-cabin away from the house.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “I’d love that.”
She kicked the water with her one foot, then opened the bag for her yarn and a hook. Nico watched with interest. His mom had never beencrafty, and his dad could barely sew a button back on. He was fairly sure this was crochet through process of elimination, since knitting used two needles and needlework…used an actual needle? She seemed to have no problem looking out over the water as she transformed the yarn into a little pink square. Incredible.
His phone buzzed with a message from Roger, who had finally agreed to text to avoid being overheard when talking on the phone. “Roger wants to know if we’ll meet him in the study for a debrief.”
She stuffed her yarn back into her bag and, to his intense dismay and equal fascination, did some sort of bending yoga move that caused her shirt to fall down so low it took almost superhuman strength for him not to gawk. Too soon, it was over, and she was on her feet, hand reaching out to haul him from his chair. “Let’s go.”
Although she released him once he was up, Nico felt the lingering pressure of her grip as they walked to the house. He guided her to a door to the left. “The study is through the lower level, where the gym and office are,” he said.
“What about the kitchen-kitchen?”
“Down the hall with the storage rooms and staff entrance.”
