Page 9 of Waves of Reckoning (Echoes of Camano Island #1)

Chapter Eight

H e wasn’t sure why he was so anxious to meet Nikki at the pub. Maybe because it felt like an actual date.

He got there first and ordered a glass of whiskey from the bar so he could calm his nerves. He was also anxious about the information in the folder he carried. It was heavy, all the things he’d found out, and he hoped Nikki was up for the task.

A smile spread across his face when he noticed her arrival. She wore black leatherette leggings with a single-shoulder moss-green top. Her large, loose curls fell to her shoulders and bounced as she walked. He waved to her, and she smiled as she hurried over to him.

“I’m not late, am I?” she asked innocently.

“Now, why does that question sound so familiar?” he teased as Nikki blushed.

“I don’t know.” She laughed.

“Some things never change,” he said.

The pub was dimly lit at the oval bar, where a few men drank and laughed heartily. There was a section where others congregated for live music and the dining area to the left.

“This is a really nice spot,” she said as she looked around at the impeccable dining area with the rustic wooden tables and furnishings. Off-white table linens adorned the tables set with silver cutlery and had the wineglasses turned upside down.

The easy rhythm of blues played in the background, and he could tell she was already enjoying herself.

“Outside of Lot 28, this is where I go,” he commented.

“I bet most people do.” Nikki smiled. “Not everyone can afford lobster bisque and squid-ink pasta,” she joked.

He laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. They have great finger food here,” he said as he showed her the menu. “Care to have a look?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” she said as she scanned the menu card. “Tacos sound good, and chicken lollipops.”

“I agree.” He grinned. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

She laughed as he placed the order. He couldn’t deny that he enjoyed her company, and though he hadn’t thought about her in years, lately, he’d found that she was always on his mind.

But that wasn’t why they’d met. They enjoyed the meal, somewhat anxiously as they both knew why they had met in the first place.

When they were done eating, they retreated to a lounge area to talk. He could see how nervous she was. “Are you ready?” he asked.

She sighed. “Before you do that, I know how close you and Trish are, but how much do you know? I can’t help but think that if she told you about Amy, then you must know a lot about us too.”

“You don’t have to feel bad about anything, Nikki,” he told her. “I already knew you and your family long before Trish and I ran into each other. Maybe that was why she found it so easy to talk to me.”

“I think I’m going to need another glass of wine,” Nikki lamented, much to his amusement.

He signaled the server over, who promptly returned with a bottle of red wine. Nikki held the glass in her hand very timidly as she glanced over at Paul. “Do you know what happened all those years ago?”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, she told me about it,” he admitted.

“She told me how she’d gotten pregnant with this guy who ditched her afterward, and that when her parents found out, they pressured her into leaving Seattle for Arlington, where she would put the baby up for adoption.

” Paul took her hand. “Nikki, you have to understand that Trish didn’t want to give you her daughter because she had every intention of getting her back. She wasn’t out to hurt you.”

“What?” Nikki asked and raised her brows.

“That’s why she started trying to find Amy. Ever since she’s been here, she’s been looking, but it’s a lot harder than it seems.”

“Wait,” Nikki said and wrinkled her face. “Trish wanted to keep the baby back then?”

“She did, but her father threatened to cut her off if she didn’t give her up for adoption, and your mother couldn’t disagree with him,” Paul told her and sighed.

“I didn’t know that. She told me no right off the bat, so I thought it was her decision too,” Nikki said softly.

“No, there was an entire conversation that happened before you showed up,” he said. “She’s harbored the guilt of that moment for years. She’s never forgiven herself, and that’s why she wants to connect with Amy, especially because she hasn’t had any other children after that.”

He could see the pain written across Nikki’s face. “I’m not telling you any of this so you can feel guilty, Nikki,” he reassured her. “I just want you to understand, and so does Trish, that none of this can be blamed on either of you.”

“I see,” Nikki said as she toyed with her fingers. “What’s Amy like?” she asked.

He slid the folder across the table. “Have a look,” he said.

Nikki picked up the file like she expected it could break between her fingers, and a smile spread across her face when she saw Amy’s picture. “She looks like Trish,” she said lovingly. “Did she have a good life?”

“Yeah, for the most part,” Paul replied.

Nikki sighed and closed the file. “That’s more than can be said of me and Trish,” she replied.

“I have to admit Trish didn’t go that far back,” Paul said. “I mean, you and I dated for a while, but I wasn’t at your house all the time.”

“I know, and you wouldn’t have wanted to be,” she said. “My father was a workaholic and a perfectionist. He rolled in the big leagues, and because of his reputation, he was sort of famous too. And he guarded that with his life.”

Paul tapped the folder. “I can see that. Trish had mentioned that he didn’t want her having a baby as a teenager to tarnish his reputation.”

“Yep,” Nikki said sadly. “That was all he cared about. Not her. Not me, and certainly not Mom. He had to look good all the time, and we were often ushered into the shadows. We had to become journalists like him. Even in that, we didn’t have a choice.”

“You didn’t want to be a journalist?” Paul asked as his brows dipped.

“I did, but if I hadn’t, he’d have forced the issue. For a while, Trish didn’t want to do that,” Nikki told him. “But he told her she had to have the baby and then come back to Seattle University to study journalism, and she did. But as you can see, she wanted to run a business.”

“Life wasn’t all roses and unicorns,” Paul replied. “I can’t say there was much difference in my own household. Not my parents, I mean,” he said as he explained and crossed his arms on the table.

“With your wife and daughter, you mean?” Nikki asked sensitively.

“Yeah.” He sighed as he stared at the table. “It’s been ten years, and the wound still feels fresh. It was a jarring time when I found out she had late-stage leukemia. Sarah was only thirteen when we found out, and that took a turn for the worst,” he said.

“I can’t imagine it was easy for you to handle a teen girl,” Nikki said.

“You have no idea,” he replied. “After Nat died, it was even worse. I was hurting, and there were times I had to just lock away what I was feeling to try to deal with what Sarah was going through.”

“As if the teenage years weren’t bad enough,” Nikki said with understanding. “I’m sorry you had to go through that all alone. It was clearly not easy. I remember what it was like losing my parents, and I wasn’t even close to them at the time. But they’re your parents, you know?”

“Yeah,” Paul said and wiped his hands down the corners of his mouth. “Why is there so much sadness between us?”

Nikki laughed softly. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Bad luck?”

“Perhaps,” Paul replied. “How about livelier things. You are a big-shot journalist like your father.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I’ve been killing it for the past twenty years at the Providence Journal .”

“Picked up where your dad left off?”

“Something like that,” she said. “I love doing it, but my ex-husband hated it. He thought I should have done something more ‘respectable’ like report on war crimes.”

“He clearly didn’t know you well,” Paul replied. “You? In a war zone?”

Nikki laughed. “You know me all too well. I like safety.”

“As we all should,” he said and started to stare at her until he could see the discomfort on her face. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, but it’s hard not to wonder, why now? Why are you back now?”

“Paul, I try not to get too serendipitous when it comes to us. I don’t want to get ahead of anything and then get disappointed. I just want to focus on my sister for now.”

“I know,” he said as he reached for the file again. “Where do you want us to begin?”

“We know she lives in Seattle, which is great. That’s close by versus if she were living in New York now or Alaska.”

“True,” Nikki replied.

“She’s a server, by what’s in here. She’s had some run-ins with some bad company and has trouble with an ex-boyfriend or boyfriend,” he said as he lifted his head to look at her. “How do you want to approach her?”

“I mean, it’s very convenient that she works as a server,” Nikki told him. “We could go to Seattle to the restaurant where she works. Keep an eye on her for a night or two and see what she’s like.”

Paul knitted his brows. “You’re not trying to delay the inevitable, are you?”

“No, no,” Nikki assured. “I just don’t think I’d want some strangers showing up out of the blue to tell me that I’m their long-lost aunt and I’m adopted.”

“Hmm,” he mused. “You may have a point. But won’t she get suspicious if she sees us there all the time and then we tell her who we are? Maybe a direct approach is better.”

“The two ways have their merits,” Nikki agreed. “Okay, here’s what we can do. How about we go there and just go with the flow? Maybe we’ll say it on day one, or we’ll wait.”

“I can live with that. When do you want to go?” he asked.

“As soon as possible. We’ve waited long enough, and I’m afraid I might get cold feet if we keep dragging this out.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” Paul smiled.

“Besides, I want to make sure that when Trish wakes up, her daughter will possibly be by her side. She might be disappointed if we haven’t reached out to her yet.”

“You’re right. Weekends are busier, so how about we go this Friday evening, and maybe we tell her then or wait until Saturday?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Nikki smiled and finally relaxed into the chair.

She wasn’t the only anxious one. He’d seen how much it had eaten away at Trish because she couldn’t accept that she’d given up her child. Now, looking at Nikki, he couldn’t help but think that the three made an odd group—all having lost loves and parents who died.

Maybe it made them uniquely suited for each other, but he didn’t want to read too much into it either.

He would go where the wind took him, but not if he wasn’t the one guiding the sails. He’d had enough pain and disappointment.

He could do without one more.