Hurt (6 page)

Great
, she thought.

Nicole slammed shut the hatch and then turned to smile at her sister-in-law Amy as she stepped out of the late model car. She didn’t dislike the slender woman with curly hair and a tendency to wear too much perfume—not really. Nicole knew that her brother was crazy about the annoying woman and so, for his sake, put up with her as best she could. Still, knowing the way her sister-in-law went out of her way to let it be known that she didn’t approve of Nicole’s ‘lifestyle choices’, Nicole was sure that the woman was not stopping by for a social visit.

“Well, hello Amy, this is certainly a surprise,” Nicole said sweetly.

“Hi Nicole,” Amy said, bounding out of the car. “I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time?”

Not that you would care if you did…

“Not at all. I’m just getting back from a showing and dropping off some open house signs I picked up earlier today. What are you up to? I didn’t know that you were going to be in town.”

“I met some friends for lunch and we did some shopping. I was hoping to catch you at the office before you went home.”

“Oh?”

“Mm-hmm,” Amy said nodding. “I picked up Nana a new robe while I was out today. I was hoping you could drop it off to her whenever you go by to see her next.”

“Oh, that was sweet of you. Of course I don’t mind,” Nicole said.

Amy stepped to the trunk of the BMW and hit a button on the key fob, opening it. She reached in and pulled out a small bag.

“Thanks,” she said, handing Nicole the bag. “The last time I stopped by without the kids she threw a box of raisins at me. I know that you’re bringing her to the house at Christmas, but I thought she could use it before then. She’s always telling your brother how she has nothing to wear.”

“Oh, I know how she is,” Nicole said with a little laugh. “I’m sure I’ll have time this weekend to drop it off to her.”

“Fantastic,” Amy said. The slender woman looked over at the open house signs leaning against the outside of Nicole’s office. “Do you need some help getting those inside?” she asked, surprising Nicole.

“Uh, sure. If you want. You really don’t have to, but I appreciate the offer.”

“Anything for my favorite sister-in-law.”

Your only sister-in-law
, Nicole thought. She had the distinct feeling that Amy was up to something, but wasn’t sure just yet what that was.

“Here, let me unlock the door,” Nicole said. She opened the front door of her Honda and tossed the shopping bag in the front seat and then pulled the office keys out of the cup holder. Walking to the heavy glass door, she slid the key in the lock and then swung the door open, kicking down a stopper that was attached to the lower edge.

Amy picked up two of the signs with a little grunt that made Nicole smile.

“Thanks, again,” Nicole said. “They’re not so much heavy as they are bulky. You can just put them over there by my desk.” She motioned to the left side of the office, picked up the other three signs and followed Amy inside.

“Here fine?” Amy said, and then placed the signs down at Nicole’s nod.

“Thank you, again.”

“Of course. You know, you two make a cute couple,” Amy said, gesturing toward Nicole’s desk. Nicole followed Amy’s wave and saw that she was pointing at the photo taken of Nicole and Jamie last Christmas that Nicole kept in a small acrylic picture frame on the corner of her desk. On their way to the mountains, she and Jamie had stopped by one of the many tourist traps in the area to pick up a few supplies. As they were walking back to the car, Jamie had asked another tourist to take their picture with the mountains in the background.

Ok, now I know she’s up to something
, Nicole thought.

“That’s very sweet of you to say.”

Amy smiled and then dusted her hands off on her blue jeans.

“You know, as a matter of fact, I saw Jamie today.”

Nicole raised one eyebrow.

“Oh really?”

“Yes,” Amy said. “While I was out shopping with the girls. She was out in front of the bath store over by Northgate Mall.”

“The bath store? Are you sure that was Jamie?”

“Oh, it was Jamie. As tall as she is and with that hair of hers, she’s kind of hard to miss. I didn’t talk to her, though. She seemed to be…tied up in a conversation with some woman outside the store.”

Nicole took a step toward the door and was hoping that Amy would get the hint and follow her. Nicole was happy to see that she did. She’d already spoken more to her sister-in-law in the past twenty minutes than she had in the past two years, so she was more than ready to see the woman on her way. Especially since Nicole had a pretty good idea now of why Amy had suddenly decided to make the impromptu visit.

“Oh,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “It was probably something for work, then. You know she spends half the day running around town interviewing witnesses and what not.” She held the door while Amy passed through, then locked it behind her.

“No, I don’t think it was that sort of conversation,” Amy said, drawing out the words. “At least not from what I could see. Unless Jamie is in the habit of hugging her witnesses.”

Nicole turned and stared at Amy.

“Amy, what are you trying to insinuate?” Nicole asked sharply.

Amy smiled sweetly. “I’m not trying to insinuate anything. I just thought you should know what I saw. I know that I’d want to know.”

“You’d want to know what?”

“I’d want to know if someone saw Steven draped all over some strange woman in front of a bath store.”

Nicole gripped the office keys tightly in one hand and held back the urge to throw them at Amy’s smug face.

“What did this woman look like?”

Amy shrugged. “Short, curly blonde hair, a little hippy but definitely not lacking in the looks department, if you know what I mean.”

Nicole crossed her arms and twisted her lips. That didn’t sound like anyone she knew, but she wasn’t going to give Amy the pleasure of knowing that.

“I know exactly who that is,” she lied. “And while I appreciate your concern, I can assure you that whatever you
thought
you saw, you did not.”

Amy shrugged. “Hey, that’s fine. I didn’t mean to upset you,” she said.

Then what did you mean to do
? Nicole thought as her sister-in-law continued.

“Like I said…anyway, I need to hit the road if I’m going to make it home before dinner. Traffic on the interstate can be a bear this time of day.”

“It was nice seeing you,” Nicole said, although she knew neither of them believed her words. “I’ll be sure to let Nana know that you sent the robe when I give it to her.”

“Thanks, Nicole,” Amy said sweetly, sliding into her BMW.

“Bitch,” Nicole muttered as she watched her sister-in-law back up from the parking space and then drive away.

Chapter Eight

Jamie stepped out of the Ford Explorer, still humming the Johnny Cash tune that had been playing on her stereo during the drive to Nicole’s house. She reached across the passenger seat and pulled out two small, white plastic bags and then kicked the car door shut with the back of one foot.
Shifting the bags in her hands, she walked up the driveway toward the modest ranch style home flanked by azaleas and dogwood trees. Black shutters framed the windows and a bright blue flag with a snowman in its center hung from the front porch.

Jamie had not quite made it to the porch when the front door burst open and Nicole stepped out, watching Jamie as she climbed the steps.

Jamie smiled as she met Nicole on the porch.

“As promised, your General Tso’s chicken,” she said, lifting the bags slightly in her hands.

Nicole looked at her with a blank expression and nodded, motioning Jamie into the house.

“Sounds great,
darlin
’.”

Oh shit
, Jamie thought as she heard the words leave Nicole’s lips and then felt her stomach drop.

When Jamie first began dating Nicole, it had come up that Jamie had a borderline obsession with Johnny Cash. One night Nicole had picked up Jamie after work to go to dinner—it was their fourth or maybe fifth date—and announced that even though she truly hated country music, she had burned a CD of the Man in Black to play in the car just for Jamie. When Nicole hit the ‘play’ button on the car stereo and Conway Twitty’s “Hello Darlin’” began to belt out, Jamie had burst out laughing. After that, Jamie began calling Nicole by the term of endearment, and what began as a joke soon became Jamie’s pet name for Nicole. Occasionally, however, Nicole would also use the term. But, when Nicole said the word, it only meant one thing—that she was pissed off at Jamie.

Jamie walked into the house, chewing her bottom lip and trying to think what she could possibly have done to get Nicole riled up. As Samuels had mentioned earlier in the day, there weren’t any birthdays or anniversaries that Jamie could have forgotten. She tried to remember if she had may have said something on the phone earlier that could have been taken the wrong way, but came up empty. It was possible, she thought, that Nicole was upset about meeting at her house rather than Jamie’s, but that didn’t really sound like Nicole.

“Do you want to eat out of the box, or I can go grab some plates from the kitchen?” Jamie asked, deciding to test the waters. Maybe she was just imagining things.

“Whatever. I don’t care,” Nicole said quietly as she closed the front door. Loudly.

Yup, she’s pissed
, Jamie thought. For a moment Jamie wondered if Nicole had somehow gotten wind of Jamie’s contact with Gina Southerland. That would certainly explain her apparent anger. Still, even if Nicole was initially mad that Jamie had gone behind her back, as it were, to contract out with a competitor to sell her house, Jamie would have thought that Nicole would at least be a little bit happy that Jamie was finally taking that step forward in their relationship.

“Okay,” Jamie said and placed the bags on the coffee table. She silently walked into the kitchen and pulled out two cans of Diet Coke from the refrigerator before heading back to the living room. Nicole was already sitting on the tan leather couch, so Jamie took up the space beside her, being sure to leave several inches between them. She handed Nicole a soda and sat her own on the coffee table.

Jamie quietly unpacked the white and red Chinese take-out boxes from the bag and placed them on the table. She turned over the bag, spilling out two pair of chopsticks and a few packets of soy sauce. Jamie reached down and picked up a pair of the chopsticks from the table, contemplating if she should speak or wait for Nicole to explain what she was upset about as she broke the slender wooden sticks out of their paper container.

Nicole decided for her.

“So, what did you do today?” the petite blonde woman said, flashing stormy green eyes in Jamie’s direction. It occurred to Jamie that it wasn’t so much a question as it was an accusation. She popped the top on her soda and took a sip before answering.

Maybe that’s what it was, Jamie thought. She was supposed to have done something that she hadn’t. Jamie decided her best course was to lay the day out from beginning to end and maybe that would jog some memory.

“Well, after I left here this morning I stopped by the coffee shop and picked up a latte. They were out of the pumpkin spice, so I just got a hazelnut. Then I headed into the station. Samuels was late getting in, something about a poker game at the Major’s house last night.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Then I spent about a half hour on hold with the crime lab just to hear that they didn’t have the results I needed for a case. They really need to add on some people there. It shouldn’t take three weeks to get toxicology results back,” Jamie said. She saw Nicole’s expression hadn’t changed and took another sip of soda.

“Really,” Nicole said, sounding almost bored. Not a good sign.

“Yup. So then Samuels and I headed out from the station and did the grand tour of some of Chattanooga’s finest pawn shops on the home invasions we’re working. We actually did locate some of the stolen property and get a few good leads,” Jamie said.

Nicole continued to stare.

“Anything else?” she asked, arching one eyebrow.

Jamie shrugged.

“We stopped and ate lunch at Mario’s while we were out.”

Nicole pursed her lips and Jamie threw her a small smile, wishing she knew what had Nicole upset.

“That’s it?” Nicole said sharply.

“Pretty much,” Jamie answered. From the look on Nicole’s face she could tell that wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

Jamie sat on the couch, staring at Nicole, who stared blankly back. After several awkward moments, Nicole stood and crossed her arms.

“You know, I’m really tired. I think I may just go on to bed.”

From the way she said it, Jamie knew that Nicole wasn’t extending an invitation for Jamie to join her. Jamie ran a hand through her hair and nodded.

“Okay,” she said in a quiet voice. “I’ll just head on back to my place.”

“That may be for the best.”

Jamie bit her lip, ignoring the stinging feeling she suddenly felt in one eye. She rose from the couch with a sigh. Jamie looked down at the coffee table, briefly wondering if she should just leave the food or offer to clean it up before she left. Her eyes caught the second bag sitting unopened on the edge of the table.

“Oh, uh, before I go, I got you something today.” She reached down and picked up the bag. Jamie pulled out the slender, pink plastic bottle from inside and held it out to Nicole. It wasn’t exactly the circumstances she had intended on giving it to her, but decided it would have to do.

“What is it?” Nicole asked frowning.

“Bubble bath,” she answered clearing her throat. Jamie stared down at the bottle as if it might gleam some clue as to what they were fighting about. “It’s the not the kind you usually get, but I ran into a girl I went to high school with out in front of the store. She and her husband have just moved back to Chattanooga, and we spent a few minutes catching up. After that, I didn’t have a lot of time to shop, so I just picked up the first bottle I came across. You may not like the way it smells, so don’t feel like you have to use it or anything. I just thought after the other night—”