The Root of All Trouble (19 page)

I bit my tongue from lashing out at either of them.

Saul was back in a jiff, had Mr. Cabrera sign the credit card receipt, and handed over a small bag.

Perry moped his way to the car.
"When are you going to ask Ursula the big question?"

"
I don't know," he said.

I turned on the car.
"I wouldn't wait too long."

He clasped the bag to his chest.
"I need to come up with a plan. Do something special. I've waited this long, so I don't suppose another day will matter."

As I headed home, I hoped that he wasn
't wrong about that.

Chapter Seventeen

L
ater that night I stood at the kitchen counter chopping green chilies for the enchiladas I was making for dinner. Maria and Perry were back to watching episodes of
Small-Town Crown
(they were going to need a twelve-step program soon), and I had Riley working on setting the table. After dinner he'd head back to Kevin's condo across town—it was a school night and the weekend visit was drawing to a close.

My heart clenched a little at the fact that he was leaving again, and I wondered if it was ever going to get easier. Probably not. Then next thing I knew he
'd be headed off to college. Then married. Then babies.

Heaven help me, but the thought of Kevin being a grandpa did make me smile.

As I slid the chilies into a mixing bowl, I kept throwing looks at Riley.

"
What?" he asked. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

After snatching a dishtowel that hung from the oven door handle, I dried my hands.
"There will be plenty of extra for dinner if you want to invite anyone over."

His eyes flashed.
"You want me to call Dad?"

I whipped the dishtowel in his direction.
"I meant Layla. How long have you two been dating?"

"
We're not dating." He set forks next to the plates. "We're
seeing
each other."

"
Ohhhh
," I said sarcastically. "Now I understand. How long have you been
seeing
each other? Has your dad met her?"

"
A little while and no."

Riley lacked the ability to be forthcoming on just about any topic, but this was pushing his secrecy to a new level.
"I can't help but feel as though you're keeping her from us. Like you're embarrassed of your family or something."

From the living room Maria shouted,
"Oh my God, is she wearing a purple sequin jumper? No one wears purple sequins."

"
Hookers do," Perry said. "I saw one last week, ho'ing downtown."

Maria said,
"That's disturbing."

He said,
"The sequins or the ho?"

"
Both," she answered. "Both."

Riley set a stack of napkins on the table, looked at me straight on and said,
"Your point?"

Okay, our family was a tiddly bit embarrassing. Most were, though, so that was no excuse.
"I'd like to meet her."

"
Maybe," he said evasively.

Cheddar cheese went into the bowl along with some shredded chicken and garlic.
"
Maybe
next weekend or
maybe
if hell freezes over?"

"
We'll see," he said loftily and walked out of the kitchen.

I filled a dozen tortillas, set them in a baking pan, covered them with cheese and then foil and stuck the pan in the oven. I hopped onto a stool and slid my laptop over to see if my father had written back to me. I logged onto my email, but there were no new messages.

I drummed my fingers on the counter and finally called up a search engine. I typed in The Black Fox + Eric Thiessen.

I had to pay to read several articles that had been archived in the
Cincinnati Enquirer
. As I let what I read settle in my brain, I thought back to my childhood. I'd never associated anything bad with the Thiessen family, but these articles revealed that Mr. Thiessen's business had ties to a white supremacist gang. The week before the plane crash, he'd testified in a federal court about a murder he'd witnessed behind his pub.

The next week, he and his family
were dead.

A shiver went up my spine. It was against one of my personal commandme
nts to believe in coincidences.

However, if the plane had been tampered with, I didn
't understand why there weren't more articles about the accident. Why hadn't anyone been charged with killing the family?

I was stewing over it when Perry walked into the kitchen and sat next to me. He propped his elbow on the counter and settled his chin into his hand. Sadness was etched into every line on his face—at least the ones he hadn
't Botoxed.

I patted his back.
"It'll all be okay."

"I screwed up, Nina."

Closing the laptop screen, I glanced over at him and was dismayed to see the depth of regret in his eyes. I couldn
't very well agree with him without further hurting his feelings, so I waited for him to explain.

"
I saw Kit and Mario leave the house earlier," he said.

Much to Kit
's dismay, the pipes still weren't fixed, so it was another night of Mario under his roof.

"
So I snuck over to check out the progress. I couldn't get in. Mario had changed the locks."

"
No!"

"
Yes! I mean, the back slider never locks right, so I was still able to get inside, but still. He changed the locks!"

"
Can he do that? It's your house, too."

Drawing an imaginary circle on the counter, he said,
"Actually it's not. Mario paid for it. I can barely save enough money to make my car payment."

He was one of the biggest spenders I knew.
"Oh, Perry."

"
The worst part is that this is all my fault. I had to gloat over those presents I got."

True. He had gloated. But I tried to make him feel better.
"They were nice gifts."

"
I know," he said, sliding me a surreptitious glance. "I picked them out."

It took a second for his words to register.
"Wait. You what?"

"
I picked them out. I sent the presents to myself, Nina."

"
Perry Owens!"

He winced.
"I wanted to make Mario realize what a catch I am."

"
You've been hanging out with Mr. Cabrera too much."

Nodding, he said,
"But what do I do now? I've screwed everything up."

I crossed the kitchen and grabbed two wine glasses and filled them to the rim. I slid one over to him.
"You have to talk to him. Confess." I recalled what Bear had said to Mario. "I think he'll be receptive. You two love each other. You'll figure this out."

"
You think?"

"
Yes. But it wouldn't hurt for you to compromise a little in the relationship, like Maria advised. Life's not about material possessions."

"
I suppose I can compromise. A little. I'll talk to him."

"
Well, don't wait too long," I advised for the second time that afternoon.

He guzzled the wine.
"I'll talk to him first thing in the morning, before I go to work. And I'll return all the presents, too."

"Perry!" Maria called. "She dropped the baton! She dropped the damn baton!"

Maria really needed to calm down or she was going to put herself into labor.

Scooting off his stool, he grabbed his glass and held it up to me in a half-hearted salute. "You're the best, Nina Quinn."

"
Yeah, yeah."

"
No, you are."

I fluffed my hair.
"How about you show me?"

His eyebrows shot up.
"What do you have in mind?"

"
Sell me the vintage watch instead of bringing it back to the store? Father's Day is coming up, and my dad would love it."

He gulped.

"At a discount."

"
How much of a discount?"

"
Steep."

Taking a deep breath, he said,
"Fine, but I'm not happy about it."

I said,
"But I'm the best, remember?"

"
The best bamboozler." He kissed my cheek.

As I watched him stride out of the kitchen, I could only hope that once Perry explained everything that Mario would give him a second chance.

That seemed to be a theme around here lately, second chances.

Mr. Cabrera and Brickhouse.

Perry and Mario.

Kevin and me?

I wasn't ready to make that decision but knew I'd have to soon.

Really soon.

***

T
here was something so soothing to me about early mornings at my office, even when that morning fell on a Monday.

The building was quiet—no one else was in yet—as I sat behind my desk and sipped my coffee. My gaze kept falling on the envelope sitting inside a plastic bag that lay askew on my blotter.

The plastic bag was a necessity because it had been hiding inside the planter of Tam's African violet, Sassy. Inside the thin folds of the paper envelope were Maria's ultrasound results.

I wouldn
't have pulled the envelope from Sassy's pot except for the fact that I discovered my office key in the wrong spot on my key ring when I got to work today. It was usually nestled between my truck key and the storage shed key...but not today.

Which made me think that someone had
"borrowed" the key at some point over the weekend. Probably to have a copy made so the culprit could break in and search for these ultrasound results while I was busy all day at Mario and Perry's house.

This left me little choice.

Setting my mug on the desk, I snapped open the plastic baggie and took out the envelope. I tapped it twice on its edge and tore a thin line across the short end and shook the piece of paper out onto my desk. It had been folded in quarters so the writing wouldn't be visible if held up to a light, and as I picked it up, my fingers ached to unfurl the note.

But I knew I couldn
't. There's no way I could keep the baby's gender a secret. Before I could change my mind, I spun in my swivel chair and fed the note into the crosscut shredder. After the blades stopped churning, I scooped up the confetti and dropped it into a pile on my desk. I then took my scissors and began chopping the confetti into even smaller pieces.

I looked up as the front door chimed and Tam called out,
"You have to tell me what happened with Ursula! Why did she call me this morning and tell me she's going away for a month?"

"
A month?" I asked as Tam appeared in my doorway. "She told me two weeks."

"
She bamboozled you."

Hmm. A lot of that going on lately.

Tam Oliver was the spitting image of a young Queen Elizabeth and had the haughty mannerisms to match. Perry even styled her hair in an old-fashioned style that complimented Tam's (and the Queen's) bone structure perfectly. However, when Tam spoke there was no mistaking the Midwest twang in her voice. And I seriously doubted that the Queen had the computer-hacking skills Tam possessed.

I sliced through some more confetti.
"She and Mr. Cabrera had a falling out."

"
Another one?"

"
It's bad this time, but I have hope he can fix it." I told her all about the big fight, and how Mr. Cabrera had bought an engagement ring.

Tam
's eyes grew wide. "He's going to propose? When? Because she's packing to leave for a cruise that sets off tomorrow morning. She's flying down to Florida tonight. I think she said it was an eight o'clock flight."

"
I'm sure he'll be nosing around the work site today, so I'll let him know that he's running out of time."

Tam smiled and rubbed her hands.
"Ursula will be thrilled."

I hoped so. I really did.

Tam said, "What're you doing? Arts and crafts?"

"
Of a sort." I explained. "If Maria finds the results, it'll be a lesson in patience to get all the pieces put back together again."

Tam frowned.
"You should have just told her. It's her baby."