Don't Mess With Texas (47 page)

“Eager, aren’t you?” she teased.

His chest felt heavy. He stopped in the middle of the hall and then turned and looked at her. “You know I love you, right?”

She looked at him. “Of course I do.”

“We have to move past it.”

“Move past…” Her gaze shot to the nursery door. He pulled the wrench from his pocket. She started shaking her head. “No, Tony.”

“Yes.”

“No!” She swung around to walk away, but he caught her around her middle and pulled her against him.

“No!” she screamed and tried to get away.

He didn’t let her go. He held her against him, and waited for her to stop fighting.

He listened to her sobs. Big and deep, they ripped at his heart. Then she stopped struggling.

“I love you,” he whispered. “We can do this together.”

She turned in his arms and looked at him. Tears stained her face.

“Together,” he repeated.

He opened the door. She hesitated but finally walked inside with him.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I should have saved her. I’m a nurse. That’s what I do. I should have saved her!” She fell to the floor and rocked herself back and forth.

“No!” He dropped down beside her and dragged her into his lap. Tears rolled down his own cheeks. “LeAnn, look at me.” He pulled her hands from her face. “This isn’t your fault. We lost something precious. I blamed myself for a long time, too. I should have checked on her before I went to bed. I should have been a better person. Not worked so much.” He breathed in. “I was eaten alive with guilt. But it wasn’t our fault.”

She buried her head on his shoulder and he just held her. They stayed like that for the longest time. Time enough that sunlight that once brightened the room faded to a purple glow.

“You ready to help me?” he asked.

She nodded. They both got up and, together, they took apart the crib they had once put together. Piece by piece. They both cried. And they talked about Emily. About how sweet she was. About how they would never stop loving her.

When they finished, they put the bed in the attic until they decided what to do with it, then went to bed. They didn’t make love. They were both too emotionally spent. But she held on to him the whole night and he held her, and Tony knew everything was going to be okay.

On Monday, Nikki decided to take a mental health day. The fact that she’d done the same on Saturday and Sunday was unimportant. So instead of opening the gallery, she stayed in bed until ten. Then she got up, brushed her teeth—which hadn’t been brushed in two days—drank another decaf tea, ate the last of sixteen cupcakes Nana had dropped by, and opened a can of tuna and called it breakfast. After managing only a bite, she phoned Nana and set up a lunch date.

At lunch at her favorite restaurant, Nikki ordered enough for an army and didn’t eat enough for a bird.

Seated across from her, Nana didn’t eat much more. “You gonna spill the beans, child?”

“No beans to spill,” Nikki said.

Nana shot her the parenting scowl that still held weight. Giving in, Nikki told Nana the truth. The whole truth.

“That jerkwad wanted you to have a threesome?” Nana asked.

“No. From what I overheard he didn’t know she was showing up.”

“But he confessed that he’d been having sex with her since you two met?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“He lied to me. He said he wasn’t involved. And then he said it was just sex.”

Nana placed a hand on Nikki’s arm. “Sweetheart, from a male perspective
involved
takes on a whole new meaning. I’m not saying it’s right. What I’m saying is maybe he wasn’t lying. Have you considered that you might be punishing Dallas for something your parents and dumbass ex did—God bless that dead man’s heart.”

Nikki went on the defensive. “Dallas never wasted an opportunity to let me know that we weren’t serious.”

“Sounds like he was as scared as you are,” Nana said, pouring herself a cup of hot tea.

Nikki stared at her grandmother. “You’re supposed to take my side, not his.”

“Oh Nikki, I’m not taking his side. I told him if he came within ten feet of you I was taking a pair of wire clippers to his balls. Funny thing is, usually that keeps a guy from calling back. Not Dallas. He’s called twice a day asking if you were okay. And each time he asked me to tell you that he needed to talk to you.”

“No,” Nikki said and had to swallow to keep from crying.

“Just think about it, Nikki. Just think about it.”

Tuesday was another mental health day. And her last, she swore. Nikki called Eddie Nance and offered him a part-time job at the gallery. It made her happy hearing the excitement in his voice… not so happy when he said, “Dallas misses you.”

Then she went to see Ellen who was finally out of the hospital and spending a week or so with her parents. Nikki had avoided Ellen since the whole Dallas disaster. Her friend deserved to recover in peace and not be dumped on. All Nikki had to do was keep from dumping.

Nikki had worried for nothing. Dallas had already dumped. “How dare he come to you with this!” she said to Ellen.

“He didn’t. I called him looking for you when you wouldn’t answer the phone. And he sounded like warmed over baby poo.”

“I’m sorry. Not for him, but for worrying you.” Nikki sat down at the kitchen table beside Ellen. The sun streamed in through the large window looking out at the backyard pool.

“You should be. I was concerned,” Ellen said.

“Well, I’m fine.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Okay,” Nikki confessed. “I’m hurting like hell, but if I keep faking it, I should get better in about…” Nikki looked at her watch. “Eleven months from now.”

“What happened?” Ellen picked up her diet soda.

“I thought Dallas told you.”

“He told me his side.” She giggled. “Sorry, I know it’s not funny, but it was.”

Nikki gave her the short version and, when Ellen appeared confused, she asked, “What? Was his version different?”

“No, actually that’s exactly how he told it.”

“Then why are you confused?” Nikki turned her drink in her hands.

“Are you sure you’re not letting your past issues cloud your judgment here?’

Nikki frowned. “Have you been conniving with Nana?”

Ellen picked up her soda. “Nikki, you’re mad at a guy because he slept with someone before he met you.”

“No, I’m mad at him because…” Nikki had to work to remember. “He lied.”

“Okay, he should have told you when you asked about surprises, but is hiding one’s sexual past from their new sexual partner a breakup offense? When I was dating—eons ago—I never told my new boyfriend about my old
one. I mean, when a guy’s… going there… you don’t want him thinking about another guy having been there.”

“I hate it when you do that!” Nikki dropped her head on the table.

“When I do what?” Ellen asked.

“Make sense.”

Before lunch on Wednesday, Dallas and Tyler were summoned to Brian and Sterns Law Firm by Mr. Sterns. Dallas went but only because Tyler insisted.

Sterns sat behind his oversize desk. “The cops aren’t sharing the information with us that you found. Can we pay you for it?”

“Sorry,” Dallas said.

“How much?” asked Tyler, always wanting data before making a decision.

Sterns named an impressive number, but Tyler didn’t bite. “You know, you had your chance to work with us.”

Sterns frowned. “I can’t believe my partner is still standing behind that murdering, thieving son of his.”

“Actually, we’re not certain Andrew is guilty,” Tyler said. “Of the murder that is. He is definitely a thief. Has a drug problem, and made a couple people sick, but—”

“I thought you were the guys who had him arrested for murder because you’re now banging Leon’s ex.” Mr. Sterns looked at Dallas.

Dallas stood up. “What did you say?”

“Sorry,” Sterns said. “That was a tad crude.”

“It sure as hell was.”

“However,” Tyler continued with his own agenda, “we think the murderer works here.”

“Here?”

“Could be you,” Tyler said. “You see, Leon argued with someone at this office three times the night he was killed. Brian Junior admits to only two of those calls.”

“I told the police I never spoke to Jack Leon that night.”

Five minutes later, not having learned anything more, they started out of Sterns’s office. They got as far as the front door of the building when Rachel Peterson met them. The look in her eyes was one hundred percent pure bitch.

“So you’re screwing Leon’s leftovers, huh?”

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” Dallas said, trying to play it nice.

Rachel muttered something under her breath and stormed away.

“Damn,” Tyler said, grinning. “She must have really wanted your body.”

Later that afternoon, Dallas and Tyler went to the police station when Andrew Brian was being reinterviewed. They stopped by Tony’s office when he finished talking to the lawyer.

“I don’t get it,” Tony said. “You hand me Brian on a silver platter and now you don’t think he’s guilty.”

Dallas hesitated to answer, but Tyler jumped in. “We’re just saying the guy agreed to do a polygraph,” Tyler said. “And we think you should do it.”

Tony nodded before looking at Dallas, “How’s Nikki?”

Just hearing her name brought Dallas pain. “She still won’t talk to me.”

“Do you want LeAnn to talk to her? They hit it off.”

“I don’t think it’d help.” Then something about the
way Tony said his wife’s name seemed different. “You and LeAnn…?” Dallas asked.

A smile parted Tony’s lips. “Yup. She couldn’t resist this body.”

Tyler laughed out loud.

“Congrats,” Dallas said and meant it. One of the O’Connor men deserved to be happy. Or make that two. His father had been hanging out with the Ol’ Timers club. He was even talking about selling his house and moving into the same retirement community.

“Okay,” Tony said, getting back to business. “If Brian didn’t kill Leon, who did?”

“Someone at his office,” Dallas answered. “That third phone call on Wednesday evening is still not accounted for. If they are telling the truth, there was Canton, Sterns, and Brian Senior in the building.”

Tyler sat forward. “Maybe Andrew’s dad figured it out and killed Leon to protect his son?”

Tony sighed. “I guess I could talk to Brian Senior again. But if he killed to protect his son, it doesn’t seem likely he’d let him go to jail.”

Driving back to his place alone, Dallas kept going over everything Brian Junior had said. Something about the story didn’t sit right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Then his mental finger finally pointed out the problem. Brian had said it was Wednesday night when he and Leon had argued. Rachel had specifically told Dallas it had been Tuesday. And if Brian was right, and Rachel had overheard the argument, that meant that she was in the office Wednesday evening. She could have been the person arguing with Leon on the phone. Or perhaps she just had her days mixed up.

Her earlier words rolled through his head.
So you’re screwing Leon’s leftovers, huh?
The anger in her tone had sounded venomous. Angry enough to kill?

“Shit.” Suddenly it became clear. Everyone said Jack Leon had a problem chasing skirts. Leon had been having a fling with Rachel. When she found out he was trying to win Nikki back, she became furious. After she’d killed Jack, she went after Nikki and got Ellen instead.

Not sure where Nikki was, he grabbed his phone, and called her. She didn’t answer. So he phoned Nana. “Where’s Nikki?”

“The gallery. Crawling back to her on your knees, huh?”

“Yeah.” He hung up, turned the corner and pushed the Mustang as fast it would go.

Nikki missed the call and now stared at Dallas’s number. They needed to talk. She’d accepted that. She’d accepted that perhaps she’d overreacted. Not that it was all on her. Dallas hadn’t been the best communicator, except to make it clear he wasn’t promising anything serious. Still, the man had been her anchor since everything had happened. Thanks to him, she was no longer considered a cold-blooded killer.

He didn’t deserve her scorn. She didn’t deserve to have her heart broken, but that wasn’t exactly his fault. For that reason, she’d decided to apologize—in person—pay him for his services, and say good-bye. As badly as she wanted to believe that they could fix things, it didn’t seem fixable. Yeah, she’d been looking for potholes, and maybe that was her flaw, but no matter how she turned and tried to see things from a different viewpoint, there was one truth
that remained. Dallas had been upfront with her from the beginning. He was a one-day-at-a-time guy.

She wanted more. The longer she postponed the inevitable, the harder it would be.

It was gonna hurt like hell, but she’d survive. She’d survived worse. Right?

It didn’t feel like it right now, but time would make it better.