Page 31

N ico wished the bulldozer had taken him down as he watched Ginny’s clunker of a car cough its way down Placard.

Just minutes before, she’d pecked him on the cheek and held his hand.

Not long before that, they kissed on a ridgetop overlooking the Pacific.

He could still feel her slightness against him, still feel her nimble fingers in his hair.

In his whole life, he’d never had a kiss like that—like cool, clear water hitting parched desert stone. Now he would never feel it again.

His foot brushed against a longish piece of house trim the exact periwinkle blue as a two-thousand-dollar suit on its way to a landfill somewhere. He pressed his boot onto the center of the board until he heard the crunch and felt it splinter.

Ginny wasn’t the type to forgive and forget. And after what had happened here, why should she? He had promised her up, down, and sideways that the house would be safe. He’d pledged his love for his mother that it would be safe!

The young man from the demolition company walked up to him. “Are you Nico?” Nico nodded. “Your brother said you’d be here soon.” He motioned toward the rubble. “She was stubborn at first. These old gals have good bones. Pity to see them go like this, but hey, progress, right?”

Nico envisioned hamsters running endlessly on wheels. “Right. Progress.” It was disconcerting how the man referred to the house as if it had been alive and female, especially since Ginny thought of the place the same way.

The man scratched at his ear. “The dump trucks will be here soon. We’ll start scooping and hauling, keep working till she’s cleared away.” At the mention of ‘clearing her away,’ Nico felt a tug at his heart. The man sent him a concerned, questioning look. “Was it your house then?”

“I grew up here, yeah.” The plume of demolition dust seemed as much inside of Nico’s head as outside of it.

“Ah. I thought it belonged to that girl. She seemed pretty upset.” He patted Nico once on the shoulder. “Nostalgia gets us all, but I'm sure you’ve got big plans for the place.” He turned and walked toward his machine.

Nostalgia? Nico wasn’t known for that. If anything, he was known for actively rejecting it. The past was the past. The future was all anyone need care about.

His future, any outsider could have told him, was now crystal clear.

This pile of pastel-colored rubble was the endpoint of ten years of hushed deals, personal sacrifice, enormous financial risk, and sleepless nights.

As of a few short minutes ago, he and his brother owned a veritable gold mine, with no squatter strings attached.

His muddled brain did a double take. The house’s destruction had been a mistake, hadn’t it? He hadn’t secretly wanted his brother to call in the bulldozers, had he? Was that why he hadn’t told Vince about the new plan? Was that the real reason he’d switched his ringer off?

He searched his heart, and it soundly rejected the thought.

No . He had wanted to visit Ginny in the sky above Malibu.

He longed to go for walks with the dogs and bring his mother to the house.

He was curious to see where things might go between him and this mercurial woman who had somehow made an imprint on his heavily guarded heart.

The dogs were calmer now, and Nico figured they would be okay a few minutes longer.

The side yard was intact, but he was nervous about them climbing the low fence and taking off.

The very, very last thing he needed was to lose one (or all) of Ginny’s dogs.

He walked over and gave them each a treat from a bag in the back seat.

Mick and Jack wagged their tails, but Annie spun in agitated circles.

“It’s okay, girl,” he said, patting her through the bars. He’d take them to Monique soon. First, he needed to know what had really happened here. Opening the driver’s side door, he retrieved his phone, then leaned against the truck’s hood. His brother’s text messages read like a diary of disaster.

11:15 am: “Looks like the house is empty – even the dogs are gone. Hey, Romeo, did you get her to leave with you? You sneak.”

11:19 am: “Can I go ahead or do you have demolition guys round the corner?”

11:29 am: “I don’t see any activity yet.”

11:40 am: “OK. They’re on their way. Don’t know where you went with her, but take your time, kay?”

12:17 pm: “The guy is there. Asking if we want to do any salvage first? I don't think there’s time for it, do you? IDK where you’re at.”

12:45 pm: “I told him to go ahead and start.”

12:50 pm: “Dammit. Front-end loader having engine trouble. They’re sending over a new one. I cursed them out, so now they’re sending an even bigger one. ;)”

2:25 pm: “New one finally arrived. It’s a frick’n monster! Will eat house for snack.”

2:35 pm: “Bye bye, housie. Was good knowing ya! Dang. Ya shoulda been there to see it!”

Nico checked his watch—a little after three. No wonder gasoline fumes still rent the air. The texts made clear his brother had a real-time view of the area. He stared at the house next door and, sure enough, a barely visible, small white box was tucked under an eave.

His phone rang, and Nico’s heart jumped. Was it Ginny? He glanced at the screen. A facetime call from Vince.

Nico answered it. “Hey.”

Any time Nico looked at his twin, he might as well have been looking into a mirror.

This time, Vince’s features were stretched into the ecstatic version of Nico.

Behind him, several rows of conjoined, silver seats and a bank of high windows showcasing the Rocky Mountains told Nico that Vince was calling from the Denver airport.

“CONGRATULASHUNNNNNNS!” Vince yelled in a pro-wrestling announcer voice.

“Yeah,” Nico managed. His head swam for a second. Seeing Vince so happy was giving him whiplash. “Score one for craven capitalism.”

Vince’s grin faltered. “Craven what? Is something wrong?”

Nico’s anger up to that point at been aimed squarely at himself, but Vince’s triumphant grin and complete ignorance of the damage he’d just done caused a fury like scalding poison to well up in Nico’s throat.

He had asked Vince not to do anything. He had made that clear…

or tried to. The loss of the house, the breaking of his promise to Ginny—it wasn’t all Nico’s fault, was it?

Vince was the one who’d broken the deal. “I can’t believe you did this.”

Vince’s face went several shades lighter as his grin evaporated completely. “Bro, what?”

It was so easy to slip back into angry Nico mode. And it felt good. It felt like a touchstone. “I told you this morning that I had it covered!”

Vince winced like a dog expecting to be hit.

His reply came out in an anxiety-fueled rush.

“Bro, you’re always telling me to take initiative.

You…you really didn't seem yourself this morning, and I thought…

I thought you were trying to get me to trust my instincts, especially since it was me dropping the ball that created the problem in the first place. This was our plan, wasn't it?”

And as quickly as it had risen, Nico’s anger deflated.

This had been their plan, as far as Vince knew.

And ever since Nico had met Ginny, he hadn’t been behaving like himself.

He was always telling Vince to trust his gut—their whole lives he’d been bolstering Vince’s self-esteem every way imaginable.

Here his meek brother had finally taken a bold decision all on his own, and Nico was chopping his head off?

“No, no. I’m sorry. This isn’t your fault. It’s not at all your fault.”

His brother seemed unconvinced. He slapped his forehead with his palm. “Ugh. I thought we’d agreed. I thought…” He looked as contrite as a man who accidentally shot someone. “Did…did I screw up again ?”

“Vince, no, you didn’t. I only accused you because I feel so terrible about it.”

Some of the anxiety lines crisscrossing Vince’s face relaxed, but not all of them. “I don’t understand what’s happening here,” he said quietly.

Nico sighed heavily. “She and I had decided to move the house to the lot in Malibu. That’s where we’d gone. I was showing it to her, and if she approved of it, I was going to tell you right away. But obviously, I should have told you sooner. I didn’t know you had a camera set up and everything.”

“Oh. I thought I mentioned that. It was put up by the guy who did the speakers. I hadn’t been checking it because I was waiting for instructions from you, but after our call today, I looked, and I saw you drive her away.

I figured it was go time.” Nico was too busy silently cursing himself to reply.

Vince continued. “But I still don’t get it.

The squatter had the money for that Malibu lot? ”

“No, of course not. But she didn’t care about this lot–only the house. So, moving it made everybody happy.”

“A free house plus a free ocean view lot in Malibu should make anyone happy! Sheesh. How’d she get you to agree to that?”

Nico knew he should be offering some rational explanation—it was cheaper than the million dollars he’d offered her, it took care of their problem with no legal strings, blah blah blah.

But Vince’s question— How did she get you to agree to that?

– had sapped his waning faculties completely.

All he could think of in that moment was her smile, her bright green eyes, her quirky sense of humor, her infectious energy, her tinkling laugh…

The full realization of what had just happened— of everything he’d just lost —hit him full on, and a wave of emotional and physical exhaustion followed. He opened the door to the truck and sat down sideways on the seat.

“Nico?” Vince said after a bit. “You’re acting even weirder right now, and it’s freaking me out. Are you on drugs or something? Is she a dealer?”

He shook his head slowly. “No, no drugs.…Mom just really liked her,” he mumbled.

Vince’s eyes widened. “You introduced her to our mother?”

Words flowed limply from Nico’s mouth. “They introduced themselves.” He shrugged. “It was in the kitchen.”

“ In what kitchen ?” Vince looked around as if checking to make sure he was still on planet Earth. “Look, bro, I don’t know what’s going on, but they’re boarding our plane. I’ll have Cathy take the boys home so I can come straight to you.”

“Yeah,” Nico said absently. “Okay.”

“Shit. I wish I’d left here days ago. Are we in even more trouble now? Did you write up a contract with her?”

“No contract. We just shook on it…” He one-shoulder shrugged. “…and there was some kissing.”

“ Kissing ? You made out with her?”

“Well…she asked me to.” And I really wanted to and now I’ll never get to again .

Vince eye-rolled with his entire head. “Uh huh. I bet. I’m gone two weeks and you of all people get taken in by some chick who probably carries crystals in her pockets.”

Nico blinked so slowly if felt like his eyelid hinges were sticking. “Dog treats,” he said dully.

“What? You’re not making sense. Just go back to your hotel, okay? I’ll head straight there, and I’ll take care of everything.”

“In her pockets. She keeps dog treats in her pockets.”

Vince huffed out a breath. “More like Nico treats.” There was a flight announcement at the airport, and Vince raised his voice to be heard over it. “Nico, did you fall in love with this squatter?”