Page 132 of The Body in the Backyard

“But they don’t have to get married if they don’t want to,” Rain announced from where she was spinning circles in the chair behind the desk.

“My mom says I can’t get married until after my master’s degree,” Esmeralda said.

“I’m sure there’s room for negotiation.” Riley patted her sympathetically on the head.

“What are we doing here, Uncle Nick?” River asked, eyeing the bottles of polish with interest.

Nick gestured with a flourish toward a row of leather chairs, each with fancy-looking drinks already in the cupholders and stacks of kid-friendly magazines. “We’re getting pedicures.”

The gasps were genuine, making Riley grin.

“Are you getting a pedicure too, Uncle Nick?” Esmeralda asked hopefully.

“He sure is,” Paula said, clamping her hands on Nick’s shoulders, making several pieces of jewelry jingle. She steered him toward the chair in the middle that had a beer in the cupholder.

This news pleased the nieces even more than the initial pedicure announcement. “Yay, Uncle Nick!” all four girls chorused.

“Not cool, Paula. Not cool,” Nick muttered under his breath.

“Paybacks, Nicky.”

Riley grinned and helped the girls choose their chairs.

“I saw you two on the news today,” Paula said. “Everyone’s talking about the couch tackle. You’re Harrisburg famous…again.”

Riley winced. “Thanks?”

Paula clapped her hands, and several nail technicians in bright pink smocks appeared. “Who’s ready to pick their color?”

Four little hands shot into the air.

“This isn’t so bad,”Nick said half an hour later as his nail technician applied a second coat of Pixie Dusty Pink to his toenails. The color had won in a unanimous female vote. Nick had his feet propped up on the rim of the tub and his chair massage heads going full speed.

Janet, next to him, did too. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh,” she said as the chair vibrated her little body against the leather. Her tiny toes were a garish dark purple. Nick told her it looked like she had cute goblin feet, and Janet took that as a compliment.

Esmeralda had gone with a classic French pedicure while River had gone with Call Girl Red—a name Riley had decided not to explain. Rain had gotten a different color on each nail.

“The giggling during the exfoliation was definitely worth it,” Riley agreed.

It turned out that Nick Santiago had very ticklish feet, news that had entertained their nieces to no end as he had screeched and cackled every time his nail tech reached for his feet.

“Manly guys can still be ticklish,” he insisted, taking a slurp of beer through the purple bendy straw.

“This was really nice of you, Nick,” she told him, nodding at their four nieces, who were carrying on several conversations at once.

“Damn right it is,” he said, looking at the girls fondly.

The image of the dimpled bad boy holding the cherubic baby on his hip popped into her brain again. Was Ticklish Nick really fatherhood material?

“I think the unicorn chipmunk skunks are having a good time,” she observed.

“I am too. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on stuff like massages and pedicures,” he said as the massager kicked into high gear. “No wonder you and Jasmine do this all the time.”

“You’re welcome to come along next time,” Riley offered. “You don’t actually have to get color on your nails if you don’t want to.”

“It probably wouldn’t be the worst thing ever to do this with you once in a while. Especially if we pay Hector a visit too,” he mused.

Riley admired her own toes. River had insisted she go for Arctic Snowflake Sparkle. Its diamond flecks of glitter reminded Riley of her recent sparkly visions. But if jeweler Wilfred Peabody wasn’t the bad guy, what were her spirit guides trying to tell her?