Playing for Keeps (9 page)

“Gracie! Gracie… I know you’re home. I feel you listening to me.”

I rolled my eyes. Celeste was such a freak. I reached for the phone because I knew she’d just plague me until she got a hold of me.

“Pick up. Grac—”

“I’m here.”

“I knew it. Your vibes are so strong.”

“Must be all that tai chi I do.”

“Whatever. Listen, I had a dream about you this morning.”

Uh-oh. Celeste’s dreams always had to do with sex. The last time she had a dream about me, she said I was going to meet a blond man who was going to knock the socks off me in bed. She made me go buy a fortune in useless underwear and a new comforter. Then I did meet a blond man who asked me out. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to dazzle me with his sexual prowess because on our second date he told me he’d really
connected
with the waiter who served us on our first date and that they were dating.

I could only imagine what she’d conjured up this time. “I don’t want to hear about it.”

“Come on, Gracie. It’s a good one this time.”

“Not interested.”

“You’re so stubborn.”

“It’s my best trait.”

Celeste harrumphed. “Fine. I won’t tell you that I dreamt about you and a dark, brawny man getting it on like no one’s business.”

I groaned. I knew who she was going to say the dark, brawny man was.

“I mean, you’re right. If you don’t want to know how
hot
he was and how he made you scream in eight different languages, I won’t tell you.”

“I don’t know eight different languages.”

“It’s a metaphor, Gracie.”

“I hate metaphors.”

Celeste’s sigh sounded like a hurricane-force gust over the phone. “I don’t know why I try.”

“I don’t know either.”

“What are you up to today?”

“I’m getting a pedicure, then I have a date with Bruce Willis all night.”

“The Die Hard Trilogy?”

She knew me so well. “Is there anything better?”

“Colin Farrell in anything.”

“You and Nell.” They shared a thing for bad boys. The guys Nell dated were never actually bad—she just thought they were. Celeste, on the other hand, went for the genuine article. And she was mystified as to why she had men problems.

I didn’t get why bad boys were so tempting. I mean, why would you willingly subject yourself to someone who’s going to rip out your heart and stomp on it? Good guys could be just as sexy. Look at Pete.

I shook my head. I didn’t need to look at Pete. He was my
friend
. Period.

Celeste sighed again. “I wish I could come over and hang out with you.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Gotta work all day for Luna. She’s going to the psychic fair downtown.”

“I’ll save some Godiva chocolate strawberries for you.” Sometimes I couldn’t resist taunting her. I figured it was part of the job description of a best friend.

“I love you, you know. That’s the only reason I put up with this abuse.”

Laughing, I hung up and looked at the clock. Time for my pedicure.

I grabbed my bag, rummaging for my car keys as I opened the front door. I didn’t notice I wasn’t alone.

“Thank God!”

I jumped back, keys in hand, ready to defend myself. Then I peered closer. There was something familiar about the woman standing there. In fact, she looked an awful lot like Nell.

I shook my head. Couldn’t be. Nell was always impeccably groomed and super stylish. This woman was in baggy sweats with her hair sticking out every which way and no makeup. Nell put makeup on the second she woke up in the morning.

“Gracie, I need your help.”

“Nell?”

She grabbed my arms and shook me violently. “What the hell is your problem? Snap out of it! We have an emergency!”

Okay, now I recognized my sister.

Feeling a rush of worry, I pulled her inside. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not effing okay.” She raked her hand through her hair only it was so natty it got tangled and she had a difficult time extracting it.

I lowered my voice and spoke calmly. Hey, it worked for wild animals. “It’s going to be okay.”

“
It’s not going to be okay
. Riley’s parents are here.”

I wasn’t sure what that had to do with this catastrophe but I wasn’t about to question her in this state. No telling what she might do. “Do you want some tea? I have some great green tea.”

“You have to help me.” Her grip on me tightened. She wasn’t very big but she was very strong.

“Of course I will.” I tried a soothing, psychiatrist-talking-to-psycho-patient voice.

It worked. She relaxed a little and didn’t sound nearly as panicked. “I knew you would. You’re the best sister.” She hugged me fiercely.

Uh-oh. My intuition rang a warning bell. What had I just promised? “Nell?”

“Yes?” She pulled away from me and wiped the tears leaking from her eyes.

“What am I helping you with?” I had visions of corpses and clandestine midnight grave digging.

“With Riley’s parents.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound too horrific.

“They need a place to stay.”

Okay, I might reconsider my last thought.

“We weren’t expecting them to arrive so soon so they kind of caught us off guard. I thought since there’s more room here, they could stay with you guys.” She gave me her little girl smile before she rushed on. “They’re only in town for a couple days before they go on to their conference in Mexico, and they’re great people. You’ll hardly notice they’re here.”

I shook my head emphatically. “No. No, no, no.”

“Gracie—”

“No.” I cut off her protests. “They’re your responsibility, not mine. I shouldn’t have to take care of them.”

“They won’t be any troub—”

“No.”

She pouted and stared me with her round green eyes. I wondered if she learned that look from George or if George got it from her.

I looked behind her. “Where’s that mutt?”

“In the car.”

Sure enough, there he was, pressed against the window, looking as pathetic as his owner.

I turned back to Nell in time for her to cut my knees out from under me. “If Mom were alive, she’d let them stay here,” she said.

Low blow. The worse thing about sisters is that they know exactly where to stick the knife for optimal damage. “When do they arrive?”

She squealed and threw her arms around me. “I knew you’d help.”

Like she gave me a choice.

“They should be—”

A horn honked from the street and an old blue VW van pulled into the driveway. Two people beamed and waved manically from the front seat.

“—here any moment,” she finished lamely.

My plans to pamper myself went up in smoke. I glared at Nell. “Short notice, don’t you think?”

She had the grace to look abashed. “I’m really sorry. They showed up suddenly and we had nowhere to put them.”

“Yeah, Riley’s apartment is
so
small.”

“The thing is, they wouldn’t stay with Riley.”

“What’s wrong with him?” There had to be something if his own
mother
didn’t want to stay with him.

“Riley doesn’t have a backyard.”

“Oh, it’s all clear now.” Sometimes I’m really good at sarcasm.

“They aren’t used to sleeping indoors. They sleep outside all the time, so they need a backyard. They’ll love your garden.”

I groaned and rubbed my forehead. First, vegetarians. Now, perpetual campers. What would be next? And how was I going to break this to Daddy?

Okay, the camping thing he might be down with. After all, he was a Marine—they do that sort of thing. If only I could think of some way to cover up that they’re vegetarians.

I was doing some fast brainstorming when Mr. and Mrs. Neill got out of the car.

Holy Christ, they were wearing tie-dye.

I whispered furiously at Nell. “They’re
hippies
?”

“Shh.”

“Don’t shush me.”

She smiled big for her future in-laws. “Hi. Did you find it okay here?”

“Oh yes, dear. Leif has an excellent sense of direction, don’t you, honey?” Mrs. Neill gazed warmly at her husband.

Leif? I mentally groaned. There was no hiding any of this from Daddy. He was going to hit the roof.

I feel compelled to defend my dad. It wasn’t that he was prejudiced or anything. He was one of the fairest, most accepting people I knew. I remembered him telling me from the time I was little that all people were equal, that everyone had their own skin color, kind of like eyes and hair, but that we should never judge anyone based on superficial qualities like that because it was what was on the inside of a person that counted.

That said, Daddy had a
huge
bias against hippies. He didn’t talk bad about them or anything but whenever he saw someone who looked the part, and in Portland there were many, his jaw clenched and the vein in his forehead throbbed at triple time.

I was about eight when I noticed this for the first time. I asked Mom about it and she said it had to do with Vietnam. At the time, I didn’t understand, but now I got it. My dad served in Vietnam and, based on the news footage I’d seen and what I’d read, I was sure he encountered not a small amount of bashing from so-called hippies. Of course that’d set him off.

One thing about my dad, he loved the United States
deeply
. If he’d been around when the country was formed, he’d have been on the forefront of all the action, beating back the British with everything he had. He regarded his time in the Marines as a privilege. He was honored to defend his country. Based on the few comments I’d heard him say, I didn’t think he agreed with the politics behind going into Vietnam, but to him that didn’t matter because his country called him up and he had a duty, right or wrong.

Duty was big with my dad. Those in the military had a duty to stand and serve. Civilians had a duty to support their troops.

So the hatred aimed at vets during and after Vietnam from so called hippies really pissed him off. So much so he could barely look at someone who resembled a flower child. He barely refrained from beating them to a pulp.

Mr. and Mrs. Neill definitely looked the part. Mr. Neill—Leif—had scraggly hair, longish and sticking out in all directions. He was a couple inches shorter than me with a jolly belly barely covered by his T-shirt. His jeans were ripped in the knee and his Birkenstocks looked like he’d walked thousands of miles in them. On top of all that, his eyes looked suspiciously bloodshot.

Mrs. Neill was a little better. More kempt, her grayish blond hair was subdued in a braid that trailed down her back almost to her waist. She wore a tank dress tie-dyed in subdued blues that made her eyes twinkle brightly.

Never in a hundred years would I have pegged Riley’s parents for hippies. How did two flower children spawn a yuppie like Riley?

Frowning, I looked around. “Where’s Riley?”

Nell waved a hand dismissively. “He had to work.”

“On a Sunday?”

“He’s a lawyer. They work long hours.”

Convenient that work popped up right when his parents arrived in town.

Mrs. Neill turned her warm smile on me. “You must be Grace.” She enfolded me in her arms like I was her long lost daughter.

I hesitated for a moment before I returned it. I wasn’t used to having strangers hug me like that.

She held me at arms length and gave me a thorough once-over.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Neill,” I said obediently.

Riley’s mom harrumphed. “Call me Fawn, dear. Mrs. Neill is my mother-in-law.”

Fawn and Leif. I bit my tongue. With names like that, how did they end up naming their only son Riley?

My mother’s spirit took over my body and I asked, “Would you like to come inside? I can make some tea.”

Fawn clapped her thin hands in delight. “Tea would be lovely, dear.”

Mr. Neill smiled and nodded.

With a look, I promised Nell retribution as I guided everyone into the house. Nell ignored me. I hated how my sisters can do that so easily.

“Your home is lovely, dear.” Fawn craned her neck, voraciously eating all the details with her eyes. “So warm. And quite big. Why, I imagine two families could live quite easily in here.”

“
No
.” I shook my head adamantly, envisioning Fawn and Leif moving in indefinitely. “It’s actually very small. The bedrooms are like closets. And the yard is tiny.”

Nell rolled her eyes at me and took Leif’s arm. “Come on. I’ll help you unload the car.”

I didn’t know what to say to Fawn once we were left alone so I occupied myself with boiling water for tea.

Fawn sat down at the table, almost primly. “I can’t tell you how happy I was when River told us he and Nell were getting married. Nell is such a lovely girl. You must be quite thrilled for her.”

“Yeah.” Thrilled was exactly what I was. Then it struck me. “
River
?”

“Leif and I believe in choice, and if River chooses to call himself Riley”—she shrugged—“so be it. But he’ll always be River to me.”

The kettle whistled, saving me from having to respond.

River
. I wasn’t sure what surprised me more—his real name or that Celeste was actually right about something. How did she know, I wondered as I poured hot water over the tea. Her “gift” was a whole lot of b.s. if you asked me.

“Here you go.” I set Fawn’s tea in front of her and sat down with my own.

“I love green tea.” She took a tentative sip and then set her mug down, looking me straight in the eyes. Her frank gaze startled me a little, it was so bright. “I know Nell and you probably have the wedding planning in hand but I was hoping you’d let me help a little.” She exhaled deeply and relaxed. “There. That wasn’t bad. I was so nervous.”

“You were?” The woman looked like she could conquer a rebellious nation with her smile. I couldn’t imagine her nervous.

“Oh, yes. I didn’t want to step on any toes. I know planning a wedding is the bride’s family’s job, but I was so hoping I could help.” She sighed wistfully. “River’s my only child and I’ll never get another chance, you see.”