Susan Mallery - Evening Stars

“I grew up there.”

Maya sighed. “Returning to the family home. You’ll be able to take long walks on the beach and write and just be in your head. I envy you. Not that I have any plans to write a book. Dear God, do you know how long they are? I have trouble with a three-part essay.” She smiled. “We’ll keep in touch via email, of course. And when you’re famous, I can say I knew you when.”

Averil tried to smile, but she was feeling too much like a fraud. Still, she needed the time away to figure out what was wrong with her. Kevin was a great guy, she loved her job, so why wasn’t she happy? And why didn’t she want to start a family?

Questions to explore over the next few weeks, she told herself as she rose.

“I appreciate this,” she said. “You’ve been so good to me.”

Maya dismissed the compliment with a shake of her head. “You’re talented, Averil. This is a great opportunity. I know you’ll use it to the fullest. We can always use your freelance articles. You know that.”

Averil nodded. “And when I come back?”

Maya hesitated only a second. “You’ll be a famous novelist.”

“Right,” Averil said, ignoring the sinking sensation in her stomach. Because while her articles would always be welcome, her job was less secure. In this business, there was always someone talented waiting in the wings. Something she worried about, but knew in the end she didn’t have a choice.

Averil thanked her again and left. As she walked to her small office to pack up a few things, she thought how Nina would have rolled her eyes to hear that kind of praise. Her sister knew the truth. That any opportunity handed to Averil had a fifty-fifty chance of being tossed aside and wasted and that what others saw as determination was merely a smoke screen to hide the truth. That Averil was simply one bad decision away from disaster.

What she couldn’t help but wonder was if the decision to go home was going to make things better or worse.

* * *

Nina sat in the car in her driveway. After a very long day at work she was tired and cranky. Steady rain danced on the windshield. It wasn’t the best time to be on the phone with Deputy Sam Payton.

“Seriously?” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “She was wanted?”

“Uh-huh. In Spokane, mostly. An assault, passing bad checks and, of course, stealing. We’re looking at four or five felonies. She was being held on half a million in bail, and then was released due to a clerical error. Now that we’ve got her back in custody, we’re sending her over to Spokane, assuming you don’t want to press charges.”

“She’s going away for a long time?”

“My guess is close to ten years.”

“I can put the stuff she tried to sell back in inventory?”

“You can.”

“Sold.” Nina opened her eyes. “Please, don’t let her escape again.”

“I didn’t let her escape the first time. She’ll be driven to Spokane tonight, in custody.” Amusement crept into his voice. “You might want to run a background check on your next new hire. You can do it online for a few bucks.”

Nina thought about Cindy, happily pricing and cleaning. There was no way she would believe the woman was other than what she said, but still...

“Any sites you recommend?”

“Sure.” He gave her a couple of names.

Nina wrote down the info, thanked him and hung up. As soon as she got inside and changed, she was going to check Cindy Yoo and confirm she wasn’t a secret serial killer. Or wanted by any law-enforcement agency.

She grabbed her bag and then dashed toward the porch. She was congratulating herself on not getting too wet when she stepped into the living room, only to be confronted by a steady drip in the corner.

“No!”

Nina dropped her bag on the floor and kicked out of her shoes. She crossed the carpet in sock-covered feet, stopping only when she felt the dampness seeping across the floor.

The roof leak. The one her mother had sworn she’d had fixed. The one Nina had forgotten about because of the shock of seeing Dylan. First, her car and now, the roof. This was not her week.

She detoured into the kitchen and pulled a card off the refrigerator. She used the landline to dial.

“Buffet.”

“Hey, Tim, it’s Nina Wentworth. I have a roof leak. Did my mom call you about it a couple of weeks ago?”

“Lemme look here.” Paper rustled. Tim was old-school and had not embraced the electronic age. He kept all the info on his customers in a ratty notebook that fit into his shirt pocket. “She called and left a message, but didn’t say what it was. I called her back and never heard from her again.”

Nina leaned against the wall and sighed. “Right. I’m not even surprised. We have a leak. It’s pretty serious. A steady dripping that looks like it’s getting worse.”

“I’m in Seattle, Nina. I can be there in the morning, but not before. Any way you can get somebody to cover it?”

This was when the concept of female equality and independence really sucked, she thought. “Sure. I’ll get a tarp on it. The back door will be open, if you need to get inside.”

“Sure thing. Then I’ll leave the invoice on the kitchen table.”

“Thanks, Tim. You’re the best.”

Ten minutes later, Nina had changed into jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. She pulled on a waterproof jacket, then went to the garage where she collected a tarp and four bricks. She’d done this drill before.

After dropping her supplies into a bucket for easy carrying, she leaned a ladder up against the house, close to the leak. She held the bucket in one hand and used the other as she climbed.

The rain was steady and damned cold. It got in her eyes and trickled down the back of her neck. As she reached the roof, her left foot slipped, and for a second, she nearly lost her balance.

She hung on and regained her footing. She pushed the bucket onto the roof, then scrambled up next to it.

The second she sat, water seeped into her jeans. Pine needles poked her fingers and covered much of the roof. They were going to have to be removed, Nina thought, thinking it was a job for another day. The shingles themselves were wet and slick. Nothing about this was very much fun.

It was also desperately unfair, she thought grimly. Bonnie had sworn she’d arranged to get the roof fixed, but hadn’t. Nina knew that when she complained to her mother about that, Bonnie would have a good excuse, or get so wounded that Nina would end up feeling like the biggest, baddest bitch in the West. If she didn’t complain, then once again her mother got away with being irresponsible while Nina took care of business. There seemed to be no win and in the end, the roof was still leaking.

Rain continued to pour onto her. She shifted to her hands and knees and moved slowly to the leaking corner. She pushed the bucket in front of her as she went. As she got closer, she tested the boards below her, not wanting to plunge through to the living room. About three feet from the actual leak, she pulled the tarp from the bucket and threw it over the shingles. She settled bricks into place and hoped it would hold until Tim arrived. Then she turned to make her way back to the ladder.

Later, she would try to figure out what had gone wrong. Maybe there was an extra coating of needles. Maybe patches of moss made the surface even more slick than usual. Maybe it was simply bad luck. But as she turned to crawl back to the ladder, her hand slipped, then her knee. Before she knew what was happening, she was sliding toward the edge of the roof, with nothing between her and hard ground but about ten or twelve feet.

Not enough to kill her, she thought as she screamed, but enough to—

“Got you.”

She landed hard but not on the ground. Instead she was caught by a man she’d never seen before. He held her in his arms and smiled down at her with an expression that made no sense. If she had to guess, she would say he was thinking he’d just won some kind of prize. And not just any prize. He looked as if he’d won a PGA tournament, NASCAR race and Quarter Finals all in one.