Page 55

“While I was standing there, I heard someone call my name. ‘Nico, is that you?’ It was a man who’d been a friend of my grandfather’s.

He used to bring his car into my grandfather’s shop.

He said they’d worried and wondered what had happened to me.

They’d even put out an Amber Alert, but of course I was never found.

I told them about Aunt Milly and Uncle Jack but not the truth.

I told him they were family and that I’d had a good upbringing.

He wondered if I was still racing and took me out to the track just outside town, the one Grandpa used to take me to, and there were a couple cars they let me take around the track.

It was wonderful to be behind the wheel without Mickey there.

The man said if I was really serious, he knew a guy out in Nevada, just outside Vegas, who might be able to help.

And I thought, Vegas, of course . I could make good money there, doing the only thing I knew how to do, the only thing I was good at other than racing—playing poker and pool.

“So, I went. Eventually, the man sponsored me. After a while, he put me in touch with other people, and I was able to gain more sponsors. My racing career took off from there.

“I never knew what had happened to Mickey, but I figured he’d probably left the country to escape the authorities. Eventually, he was able to track my whereabouts, and he sent me threatening letters for a couple years but then stopped.

“And then just as I was about to sign with Maverick Racing, I received a letter postmarked from Italy. I knew at some point he would find me.”

She paused.

Now that night at Drink and Dive.

“On New Year’s Eve, the night before I was set to sign the contract with Maverick, I went to a bar—”

She blinked as she saw Sofia and Beatrice tiptoe into the room, holding their fingers to their lips.

“Sofia and Beatrice!” Isabella cried. “What are you doing?”

Sofia tilted her head, raising one shoulder. “We wanted to see Nico.”

Beatrice mimicked her sister, raising the other. “Most definitely.”

“It’s okay,” Nico said. “I think it’s okay if they hear the rest.”

“All right,” Isabella said.

Nico drew a deep breath. She was close now.

Almost to the end of it. “I wore a short blonde wig. Like I used to when I”—she glanced at Sofia and Beatrice before looking away—“when I, well, you know. I don’t know why I did that.

I don’t know if it was nerves over the fact that I was going to sign a contract to race Formula 1 or that letter arriving when it did, but I didn’t plan on doing what I did.

Not until I entered that bar and saw Rocco. ”

She told them about the pool game and the money. She left out what had happened outside the bar.

“I never spent any of the money. In fact, here it is,” she said, pulling it from her purse and placing it on a coffee table. “I never dreamed Rocco would turn out to be my teammate. And I certainly never dreamed …” She swallowed. “Well, that just seemed like the stuff of fairy tales.”

And it is , she thought.

What you were playing at with Rocco wasn’t grounded in reality at all.

She sighed. “Well, Rocco figured it out. I know I should have told him. I just couldn’t think how. It’s good he knows. He should know. I only wish I had had enough courage to tell him myself. I’m just so sorry that Mickey entered your lives. It was because of me he did. And that’s it.”

Nico stood up immediately. She didn’t want to make this more awkward than it already was.

She didn’t want to make them feel like they had to say something—anything.

She took a step, intending to move quickly to the door but was stopped when Beatrice ran over and blocked her way.

The girl stood there, gazing up at Nico.

“Did you really wear a blonde wig?” she asked.

Sofia rushed to her sister’s side. “Was it short and really, really, really blonde?”

Frowning, Nico hesitated. “Yes.”

They faced each other, clutching arms.

“Saturn Girl!” Sofia cried.

“Saturn Girl,” Beatrice whispered.

Their eyes blew up wide.

“And we sent her flying over the balcony—” Sofia said.

Beatrice nodded. “And she landed—”

They turned and stared at Nico.

“On your balcony … Spooky!” they said in unison.

This last word was expressed in a hushed and reverent tone as though there were unseen forces at work in an unseen world, and they had to be careful not to disturb any of it.

Isabella grinned. “Saturn Girl has the greatest telepathic powers of any of the superheroes.”

Oh , thought Nico, she’s a superhero .

“Yeah.” Beatrice nodded. “Telepathy.”

The girls stared at each other. “Spooky,” they said, once again, in unison.

“Saturn Girl beat Uncle Rocco at pool,” cried Sofia.

The girls began to giggle.

After that, Rocco’s grandfather grinned, nudging Rocco’s father. They began to chuckle until all of them were laughing.

Nico stood frozen, unsure how to respond.

“Tell me something, Nico,” said Rocco’s grandfather. “Did you cheat when you played pool? Did you play by the rules?”

“Yes,” Nico said, nodding. “I mean, I played by the rules. Whether I was playing poker or pool. I didn’t cheat.

But I did lead people to think I wasn’t that good.

Led them to believe they were going to win and coaxed them into betting large sums of money.

That night, I purposely lost the games I played before the game with Rocco. ”

“Who suggested you play for money?”

“I did. But not at first. We were just playing a game, and then Rocco suggested we make it interesting.”

She really had lost her edge. She could feel her cheeks burning. She knew full well what Rocco was planning on winning if she’d missed that final shot. If she’d known then what she knew now, she would have given it to him. Happily.

“And he threw that money on the table,” Rocco’s mother said, taking Nico’s hand. “You were just a child, dear. You were taken advantage of every bit as much as the people conned by the man and woman you called Uncle Jack and Aunt Milly.”

“More,” said his father.

“That’s right,” said his grandfather.

“But afterward,” Nico insisted, “with Mickey—”

His mother placed her hand on Nico’s cheek, shaking her head. “No, dear. You were still very young with no one to look out for you.”

“You may have done some things you’re not proud of,” his father said. “But that’s true of all of us. You did what you did to survive.”

“And as for what you did on your own,” his grandfather said, “it’s not the same at all. Not even if you did make like you weren’t so good at the poker and the pool. You won that money fair and square. Nothing wrong in that.”

His grandmother came up beside her, placing her hand on the other cheek. “That’s right. If those men couldn’t best you at either, then that’s on them. And that includes my own grandson. It’s also on them if they couldn’t resist your charms. They knew what they were doing. Including Rocco.”

That’s when the tears tumbled from her lashes down her cheeks while each and every one of them hugged her. She cried until finally, there were no tears left.

“Please don’t tell Rocco I came here,” she pleaded.

“That’s not why I came. We’re good as teammates now.

” She paused, seeing the doubtful looks on their faces.

“Really. We’re okay. We’ve come to an understanding.

You’ve seen how well we’ve been doing. Rocco still has a chance to win that trophy.

Please promise me you won’t tell him any of this. ”

They hesitated, looking at one another.

“Please,” Nico insisted.

They looked reluctant but they all promised.

Nico glanced apprehensively at Sofia and Beatrice. Isabella nudged them.

“We promise,” they said in unison, holding up their hands as though they were testifying in court.

After Nico waved goodbye, she drew a deep breath, admiring the beauty of the small hamlet sitting at the foot of the mountain. As she walked along the cobblestone road, she realized something.

She felt lighter.

That anchor was gone.

She smiled at the few people she passed, and they smiled back.

Mickey was still out there. She might never be rid of him. But she’d deal with him if she had to. She wasn’t sure exactly how. But she’d figure it out.

Charles was right. The man had no power over her anymore. Not if she didn’t give it to him.

She lifted her chin proudly.

I’ve never been the kind of girl who would turn myself into sea-foam.

I’m going to be okay. Even without Rocco, I’m going to be okay.

She felt a pang thinking of Rocco. But for the first time since he’d learned the truth about her, she didn’t want to put her life on rewind and erase what had happened between them.

Even if it hurt now, she wouldn’t wish what had happened with Rocco away.

She didn’t think it was possible for her to feel like she had about him. Like she still did.

Up ahead, she saw a couple young girls and wondered how old they were. They made her think of Sofia and Beatrice. She smiled, watching them laugh as they skipped arm in arm and disappeared around a corner.

When was the last time I skipped?

She’d have to go way back to sometime when her grandfather was still alive. And then she stopped.

Did she? Have to?

No. She didn’t.

Today.

Today will be the last time I skipped.

And so, she did; she flew her arms out, flung her feet forward, and bounced down the cobblestone road and under the archway, waving goodbye to the hamlet.