High-Caliber Concealer (19 page)

Nikki laughed, she couldn’t help it, and
that set the men off too. Z’ev grinned and folded his money over
into a wad.

“Another round?” someone suggested, but Z’ev
shook his head.

“Sorry, I got better things to do.”

“Yeah, like Nikki.”

“Funny Rey-Rey, real funny,” said Nikki.
Donny smacked the back of Rey-Rey’s head.

“What?” asked Rey-Rey.

The game began to break up, men disappearing
back into the bar or out to their trucks. They all shook Z’ev’s
hand or gave him the shoulder-to-shoulder bump that was what Nikki
mentally referred to as a man hug. Donny shook hands with Z’ev and
waved to Nikki.

“Buenas noches
,
Donny.”

“Buenas noches
,”
Donny called back and headed toward the front parking lot.

“You really went to school with those
hoodlums?” asked Z’ev when they were alone.

Nikki nodded as Z’ev walked the short
distance to the porch rail where Nikki still leaned on her elbows.
He traced one finger along her collarbone and then down across the
top of her breast.

“Kindergarten through fifth grade.” She
lowered her head and leaned down to kiss him. “We should go. They
can’t make dinner without us,” she said, after a moment.

“Are you sure?” he asked, kissing her again.
“The hotel is right over there.”

Nikki giggled, tempted. “Wait, no,” she said
pushing away. “Mom will totally know and that kills my mood.”

He nodded. “Fine. I just need to run over to
the hotel and grab my shirt.”

“That’s not yours?” asked Nikki pointing to
a blue and white checked shirt on the railing. Z’ev shook his
head.

“Not mine. Someone must have forgotten
it.”

“I’ll bring it in to Clyde. The bartender,”
she added, when he frowned in puzzlement.

“I’ll meet you back here in two minutes,” he
said, checking his watch and then stealing another kiss before he
jogged around the corner toward the hotel across the street.

Nikki picked up the shirt and shook it out,
folding it over her arm. The screen door slammed behind her and
Kristine walked out onto the porch.

“Well, look whose gone washer-woman,”
drawled Kristine, slightly drunk. “Give me a minute and I’ll give
you my panties.” She laughed loudly at her own joke.

Nikki said nothing.

“Geez Nikki, it’s bad enough that you speak
the language, but you really have gone native. You’re even dating
one of them—” Just as when she’d grabbed Z’ev’s wrist, Nikki’s arm
shot out, but this time her hand clamped around Kristine’s jaw.
Kristine made a slight ‘urk’ sound and sloshed some of her
beer.

“I just know that you’re about to say spic
or nigger or something else that I don’t want to hear,” said Nikki
in a conversational tone. “You have a problem with me. I don’t know
why, but I don’t really care why either. I can deal with it. But I
will not tolerate insults to my friends.” She gave Kristine’s head
a little shake. The sound of her teeth clicking together was
audible on the empty porch. “So consider this your warning. There
won’t be another one. Now, I’m going to let go and you can say
whatever it is you want to say and we’ll go from there. We clear?”
Nikki stared into Kristine’s saucer-sized eyes and knew she ought
to feel bad about this.

She let go and Kristine took a stumbling
step backwards eyes fixed on Nikki.

“Got something to say?” asked Nikki, and her
tone sounded hard even to her own ears.

Kristine shook her head back and forth.

“Then get back inside.” She pointed to the
door and Kristine did as she was told, tripping a little over own
feet.

“She’ll hate you for that.”

Nikki turned her head and saw Donny at the
foot of the porch stairs.

“Forgot my shirt,” he said pointing to
Nikki’s arm. He walked around to the railing side and Nikki handed
the shirt to him.

“She already hated me,” she said as he
pulled it on. “I don’t know why.”

“Jealousy,” said Donny, buttoning his
shirt.

“Jealous? Of what?”

“A glamorous job, glamorous boyfriend, in a
glamorous town. You got out of Kaniksu Falls and she never did.
Grass is always greener, and all that stuff.” He put the last
button through the proper buttonhole.

“OK, sure, I guess. But I don’t know why she
thinks that means it’s all right to say such racist crap.”

“You used to be shy,” said Donny. “She
probably thought she could get away with it. Trouble with you now
is that you sneak up on people.”

Donny leaned against the rail and Nikki
backed up a step or two so she could see his face clearly.

“What do you mean?” she asked warily.

“Well, anyone with eyes looks at Z’ev and
knows he’s a dangerous man, but you, you sneak up on a person.
You’re the scorpion at the bottom of a man’s sleeping bag. The
copperhead in the underbrush. By the time they see you, they’ve
already been bitten.”

“Latet anguis in
herbe
,” murmured Nikki. Donny raised an eyebrow. “A snake
lurks in the grass,” she translated. “It’s a Latin proverb.” Donny
nodded.

“That’s you,” he said.

“You’re crazy,” countered Nikki.

Z’ev came around the corner. He’d changed
into slacks and a button-up shirt and he was wrapping a tie around
his neck.

“Z’ev,” said Donny. “Do you think your
girlfriend’s dangerous?”

“Every day,” answered Z’ev, looking up from
the tie.

“Does anyone else think that?”

“No, and I can’t figure out why. I can’t do
this without a mirror.”

“See?” said Donny, as if his point had been
irrefutably proved.

“You’re both crazy,” said Nikki, untangling
Z’ev’s tie.

“Whatever.” Donny grinned. He slapped the
railing twice with an open palm, and glanced at Z’ev. then back at
Nikki. “You’re coming to the Fiesta, right? We still need to
talk.”

“Yes! I need to talk to you too. Jackson is
planning on coming.”

“Oh, good,” said Donny looking pleased. “I
keep meaning to call him, but the family’s been keeping me busy.
I’ll see you guys later then—Friday around five. But you know the
family. It won’t really start kicking till about nine.”

“Still out on Meyer?” asked Nikki looping
the tie around Z’ev’s neck and pulling it through.

“That’s the place. See you then.” Donny
ambled off with a wave and Z’ev waved back without moving his
head.

“What was all that about?” asked Z’ev, as
Nikki stepped back to check her work.

“Oh, we bumped into a girl we used to go to
school with and she was throwing some massive shade at me, so I
told her where to go.”

“Massive shade?” he repeated, mouthing the
words as if they were an unfamiliar food.

“Let it go,” said Nikki, shaking her head.
“Anyway, then Donny said I used to be shy and that’s why she
thought she could get away with that. He says now I sneak up on
people.”

“I could see that,” said Z’ev nodding.
“Don’t really see you being shy though.”

“I was,” she said with a shrug. “If it
hadn’t been for Donny and Jackson I wouldn’t have had a friend. All
the other kids seemed so with it. And Kristine, the girl who was
here, she used to boss everyone around. One time, she told Becky
Newmire that she couldn’t wear blue, and she didn’t, for like,
three years. If I saw Kristine coming my way, I’d just go hide in
the giant tires on the playground. I didn’t ever speak up—not for
Becky Newmire, not for myself. I think that’s something I’ve
learned from working at Carrie Mae.”

“Now you take charge and get what you want,”
said Z’ev, miming a Rosie the Riveter pose.

Nikki laughed. “Yes, that’s me. Come on, we
might as well get this over with. Promise you’ll still love me
after you meet my mother?”

“Te amo
,” he said,
kissing her. “A thousand mothers couldn’t make me love you
less.”

“Yeah, you say that now,” said Nikki.

As Z’ev and Nikki pulled up to the house,
Nell and Jenny were returning from the pond, towels over their
shoulders.

“Were they bathing in the water tower?”
whispered Z’ev and Nikki slapped at him with her free hand.

“Now is not the time to start being funny,”
she hissed back.

“Well, you let me know when the time is.
I’ve got more.”

“You know, comparing a farming community to
Green Acres
is not going to endear you to
people who actually live here.”

“Petticoat
Junction
.
Green Acres
was later.
You must be Nell,” he said walking forward and holding out his
hand. “It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”

Nell looked at Z’ev’s slacks and tie and
beamed.

“It’s lovely to meet you too! I’m very
excited that you could make it. Nikki said you were away on
assignment.”

“I just got back.”

“How’d you get here so fast?” asked Jenny,
trying to work out flight times in her head.

“I hitched a ride with some friends who were
heading this way,” he said.

“Hitched a ride on what?” Jenny was giving
him the suspicious eye.

“Jenny,” admonished Nell. “You shouldn’t be
so pushy.”

“If Jenny weren’t pushy, I’d think she were
ill,” said Z’ev. “It’s all right. One of the good parts of working
for the government is having friends in other departments. I
hitched a ride on a DEA flight. They dropped me off in
Spokane.”

“Well, that’s exciting!” Nell seemed
impressed. “You’ll have to tell us all about it at dinner. Which
Jenny and I should go change for.”

“We’ll meet you in there,” said Nikki, “We
have to unload the groceries before the ice melts.”

“Didn’t you put it in the cooler? She always
has a cooler in the back of the car,” said Nell.

“And now I know why,” said Nikki opening the
SUV and pulling out the bag of ice as Z’ev grabbed the entire lot
of grocery bags.

“Already making yourself useful,” said Nell,
and Nikki rolled her eyes.

“I aim to please. Lead the way to the
kitchen.”

“This way.” Nell led him inside. Jenny was
making hilarious faces at Nikki. It was all Nikki could do to not
laugh and she felt herself relaxing even as the ice dripped in cold
rivulets down her arms. Maybe this dinner wouldn’t be straight out
of one of the seven rings of hell. Her grandmother was great, her
mother was attempting to be nice, and Z’ev was doing his blend in
thing. This really was going to be OK.

The screen door swung open and Nikki looked
up, expecting to hear her grandmother’s welcoming voice and light
step. Nikki’s own steps faltered as she saw Jackson stride out onto
the porch. He had gussied up. He was wearing his good boots—shiny
snakeskin. The outfit was complete with an enormous belt buckle,
clean jeans, new button-up shirt, and a shave. He had obviously
been invited for dinner.

“What are you doing here?” demanded
Nell.

“He’s holding open the door and letting all
the cold air out, waiting for you to bring the ice in,” said
Grandma stepping out onto the porch.

“Clearly he’s here for dinner,” snapped
Nikki. “Some people like him.”

“I’m sure they do,” answered her mother,
looking offended. “I simply wasn’t aware he had been invited.” Nell
swept past Nikki and onto the porch. “Jackson, it’s nice to see
you.” She dropped an icily formal kiss on Jackson’s cheek and
proceeded into the kitchen. Jackson, used to such behavior from
Nell, calmly let her.

“Nikki, aren’t you going to introduce us?”
asked Grandma, smiling at someone over Nikki’s shoulder. Nikki
remembered Z’ev and twitched guiltily.

“Z’ev Coralles,” said Z’ev waggling a
grocery bag at her.

“Grandma, Z’ev. Z’ev, Peg Connelly,”
completed Nikki a second too late. “And this is Jackson, Z’ev.”

“Jackson Tyrell,” said Jackson.

“That some people like,” said Z’ev.

“Apparently,” answered Jackson. “Can’t
imagine who.”

They squared off. Z’ev loomed over the
shorter man, but there was a wry sparkle in Jackson’s eye that
refused to be intimidated by size. Jackson, tan and freckled under
a thatch of unruly brown hair that poked in all directions even
when he’d combed it, should have looked puny next to Z’ev, but
didn’t. Z’ev, who wore his tie and slacks with the same ease that
Jackson wore his snakeskin boots, should have looked like a
jumped-up city slicker, but didn’t. They looked oddly alike to
Nikki, both possessed of a similar raw energy and tensile strength.
It was puzzling Z’ev, she could tell. He wasn’t used to people that
could match his force of personality. Nikki found she was holding
her breath.

“Nikki. Nikki, Nikki,” gasped Jenny, hitting
Nikki’s arm with each repetition of her name. “You said your
ex-boyfriend’s name was Jackson. You didn’t tell me he was The
Jackson Tyrell.” Jenny’s Georgian accent redoubled in strength on
Jackson’s name.

“Um…” Nikki looked from Jenny to Jackson.
“Yeah?”

“Oh, my God, I’m in my swimsuit. I’m meeting
Jackson Tyrell in a swimsuit.”

“I like your swimsuit,” said Jackson,
grinning.

And Jenny giggled. She actually giggled.

“The Jackson Tyrell, meet Jenny Baxter,”
said Z’ev.

“I was in the stands the day you went
toe-to-toe with Devil Winder,” gushed Jenny. “I thought I was going
to bust a lung from screaming.”

“Seems fair. I busted my arm.”

“Yes, well, why don’t we talk about who
busted what inside,” said Peg sourly. “So we can stop letting the
AC out. Nikki, can you and the big fella carry the groceries into
the kitchen?”

“Who is The Jackson Tyrell?” asked Z’ev as
they walked toward the kitchen.

“He used to do bull-riding and
rodeo-clowning. Or whatever the proper way to rodeo clown in past
tense is,” said Nikki. “I didn’t realize he was that big a deal.
But you know Jenny and the rodeo.”