Sweet Nothings (35 page)

He laughed as she’d meant him to do, then reached down and patted her on the thigh, his fingers slipping to the inside curve of her leg. “If they don’t,” he promised, “I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

Oh yeah. And she already had a few ideas.

She looked at him then, at the love shining from his eyes, and knew she had to do whatever she could to see if this could last. He was good for her. Everything about her had been better since he’d come into her life. Surely she wasn’t being as stupid as her mother had been all her life. Joanie wanted to believe that what she had with Nick was so much more than anything her mother had ever experienced with any of the men she’d chased.

Which made her think of Nick and his house. He’d been so proud as he’d showed it to her that afternoon. She’d been just as proud that he had wanted her to see it. Aside from the fact it was Nashville and not Sugar Springs, and the fact that his neighbor was a nosy, judgmental,
bi
—a word that GiGi wouldn’t approve of her using—she had really liked it.

He’d built it to house a family. That had been clear from all the details. Large rooms for plenty of places for kids to play. Built-in bookshelves in the “kids’” rooms. An enormous family room. A huge dining room. What did he want with a room that big? A dozen kids?

She blinked, pushing the thought from her mind. She wasn’t sure about kids yet, but had the idea that if done with Nick, she just might like it.

But first, she had to figure out if she could give up her life and move there with him. Assuming he asked her to. He had suggested she not sell Cakes. That had at first shocked her. Made her have the fleeting thought to wonder if he was thinking he’d keep her as a monthly booty call when he came to visit Cody. But she’d quickly pushed that from her mind. He wasn’t that kind of guy. That was more who she was.

Or who she had once been.

She’d changed. And it was because of Nick.

But could she change enough to move into a neighborhood where she might have to tone back her ways? Keep her hair to only one color?

The game resumed and she squeaked with excitement and jumped from her seat to once again stand against the glass. The guys were so huge when they passed right in front of her. She’d already caught herself on
the Megatron more than once, banging on the glass with her palm. She’d even been in the running for fan of the game, but she’d lost out to some woman with a cute kid.

Nick joined her as the entire arena was now on their feet. They were down to twenty seconds in the game, the other team had the puck, and the Preds were up by one. All they had to do was hold out for twenty seconds.

The puck dropped and Nick’s hand slipped lightly around her waist. She glanced at him, but he was watching the game, seemingly as into it as she was. Yet she couldn’t miss the love in that small touch. And she knew right then that yes, she could move to Nashville if he asked her to. She loved him that much.

Maybe she would keep Cakes as an investment, though. Just in case the two of them didn’t work out. That way she wouldn’t be left out in the cold with nothing.

But she was bringing her van to Nashville with her.

Nosy Nancy was just going to have to deal. Heck, maybe Joanie would spend her days fattening up the snooty stay-at-home wives who were no doubt running the neighborhood.

Shea Weber, captain of the Preds and a giant of a man, slammed an opposing player into the glass right in front of her. The poor guy’s face was smashed into a cartoonish expression. She screamed, pounded on the glass, and the buzzer sounded. They’d won.

She smiled at Nick as they made their way out of the arena. She thought she might have won, too.

“Babe.”

The word penetrated Joanie’s consciousness, just as the light shaking of her shoulder did. She squinted open her eyes to see darkness and faint lights from the dashboard. She was tipped over on the front seat of Nick’s truck, asleep with her head cushioned in his lap.

Her seat belt was still wrapped around her waist, but had tightened so that she would need to unhook and refasten it to keep it from cutting her more tightly across the middle.

“What?” she mumbled. She sat up and adjusted the belt.

“We’re still going back to GiGi’s, right?” he asked.

She nodded, her eyes drooping again. “I want to spend the night in that third-floor room. We might get a buyer this weekend, so we shouldn’t wait.”

“Okay,” he said.

She dropped her head back against the seat, letting several miles pass. They were back in Sugar Springs. She’d seen the welcome sign on the edge of town when she’d sat up.

“We need to run by my place before we head out to the Barn,” she said.

“To get the cats.”

She nodded. “Yeah, but I want to get something else, too.”

She felt him glance her way, but she didn’t meet his gaze.

“I want to get GiGi’s boxes,” she said. “I want to go through them.” She looked at him then. “Will you go through them with me?”

He nodded, the expression on his face telling her that he realized she was ready to move on. Both beyond the issues between her and GiGi, and to take a giant step forward in her life. She hoped he knew she wanted that step to be with him.

“Absolutely,” he finally said. He reached out and squeezed her thigh. “We’ll get them and the cats and take everything home with us.”

She liked the way he said that. She liked the idea of going home with him. Wherever that may be.

His cell phone went off, signaling a text message.

“It’s almost midnight,” Joanie murmured. “Who would be texting you at this hour?”

“I’ve no idea.” He handed the phone to her. “Will you check it? I can’t imagine it’s anything important.”

She took the phone from his hand and the screen lit up in the dark cab. She pulled down the message, then her jaw fell open in shock.

“What is it?”

“It’s from your brother.”

“Is something wrong?” His voice went to immediate panic. “Is it the girls? Do I need to head over there?”

“No.” She shook her head, turning to him with a smile. Everything was working out for both of them. “The PI who you hired left a message that Cody just now heard. He found him, Nick. He found your other brother.”

Nick went silent.

“Want me to text something back?” she prodded. The phone beeped again. “Oh wait, here’s another. He’s in Atlanta,” she read. “Let’s drive down tomorrow.”

She turned to Nick. “Your other brother. Oh my goodness. Aren’t you excited?”

He’d grown too quiet.

“Nick?”

Finally he nodded and cleared his throat. His voice came out tight. “Text him back that yes, we’ll leave tomorrow. Hell, I’d leave tonight if I didn’t want to see your underwear so bad.”

She laughed and keyed in the message.

“I’m going to find my brother, babe.”

She grinned widely at him. “You’re going to find your brother.”

They drove through town and he turned onto the street leading to hers.

“Can I ask you to think about something?” he said.

“Sure.”

“Will you consider
not
selling the house just yet?”

She shot him a quick look. What was that about? “I have to. I owe the bank, and I owe you. I can’t just not make those payments.”

“You don’t have to worry about me right now.” His face went blank and she wondered what else he was thinking. “And I could help you with the bank. If you needed.”

She started to shake her head but he added, “Just for a while.”

“This has been the plan all along. We just signed with Jane today.” She noticed that her breaths had grown shallow. She didn’t want to think
about the fact she’d actually prefer to keep the house. It wasn’t an option. She couldn’t afford it.

He turned onto her street. “It’s your home, sweetness. I don’t think you’re ready to get rid of it yet. Maybe at some point, we might…”

His words cut off.

“What?” They might what? Was he thinking they might live
there
together at some point?

But he wasn’t looking at her anymore. He was looking past her. Toward her house.

“Did you leave a light on when we left?”

“No,” she said. She turned on the seat to face her little two-story rental and was shocked to see lights on in both the living room and the kitchen. “That’s weird,” she muttered.

He stopped on the road instead of pulling into her driveway, and cut his lights and engine. He clicked off his seat belt. “Did you lock your door?”

“Probably.” But she couldn’t remember doing it. She’d been excited about the game and had quickly changed clothes while he’d gone to put gas in the truck. She’d been on the porch waiting for him when he’d pulled back up. No, she couldn’t remember locking the door.

She turned to him. “I don’t think I did.”

“Stay here.”

Nick stepped from the truck, pulling a dangerous-looking black rod from somewhere in the vicinity of his seat, and though she knew the smart thing to do was wait there, she could not imagine anyone in her house wanting to do her harm. At the worst, someone was hurt and had found a place to sit down. She opened the door and hurried across the grass behind him.

“I told you to stay,” he whispered.

She blew out a breath. “I told you people don’t break into homes around here.”

“Someone is in there. So are Bob and Cat.”

At the mention of their cats, a rare fury started boiling inside her. “Whoever it is had better not hurt our boys.”

There was no way she wasn’t going in now. She had to get to their babies.

She let Nick go up on the porch first. She wasn’t a total fool.

He reached the door and brought the stick up, readying to swing if need be. It was a thin baton like a police officer might carry. Who in their right mind would think they would need one of those here?

But then, there
was
someone in her house.

The knob turned freely in his hand and he pushed. Not making a big scene, but not hesitating either. As he stepped inside, Joanie bent down and peeked under his arm, looking for the cats.

Instead, she found the intruder. She straightened where she stood.

“Mom?”

Chapter Twenty-One

N
ick stared at the woman sitting cross-legged on the living-room floor, her hair a dull brown, her clothes clean but cheap knockoffs. She had a cell phone stuck to her ear and a contemplative look on her face as she stared straight at Joanie.

He looked behind him, took in Joanie’s shocked features, color beginning to bloom high on her cheeks, and her gaze locked just as tight with the other woman’s. He wanted to refuse to see the resemblance, but it was there. Same bone structure, same build, same eyes. If the woman had blond hair and a little more meat on her bones, they could be twins.

“This is your mother?”

Shock turned to anger in front of him. “Yes,” Joanie bit out. She cut her eyes at him. “Nick. Grace Bigbee.”

After twenty years, the missing piece just drops back in uninvited? This did not feel like a good thing.

Grace held up a hand as if asking them to wait, then glanced down, concentrating on whatever was being said from the phone at her ear. She nodded slightly.

“Of course, baby,” she murmured into the phone. “It’s worth plenty of money.” She nodded again, smiled a faint smile that looked similar to Joanie’s, but wasn’t pretty at all, then finished with, “Just a few days and I’ll be back. Then we’ll go wherever you want.”

Joanie shoved him aside and stepped inside the house. “What are you doing here? And why are you going through my things?”

She yanked papers from her mother’s hands and that’s when Nick realized the woman had GiGi’s boxes open and was digging through them. Oh, hell.

“Joanie,” he started, unsure what he needed to say, but terrified for both women at the moment.

She ignored him. Grace lowered the cell phone, but didn’t move from her spot on the floor.

“I had to do something while I waited for you,” she said, her tone indicating Joanie had been out participating in unscrupulous behavior. Grace then, amazingly, grabbed another handful of papers from a box. The woman had some nerve.