Chapter Ten
The call came in as he left the bar, on his way to Dame Philomene’s place. Nate would like to call it a house, but Phi’s Folly defied any attempt to put a name on it.
“Two-thirty to four-fifteen.”
He answered the radio. “What’s up, Gabby?”
He did it to mess with her. Deputy Gabby had a thing about proper radio protocol. “Four-fifteen, we have a possible—”
“Cut the crap, Gabby. What’s going on?”
“Headlights.” She nearly spat the word. “Seems she’s had her regular prowler around again tonight. Want me to send someone else?”
Shit! Gabby must be having a horrible day not to get on him about procedure. “Nah.” Nate didn’t have the heart to do that to Jeff. “I’m going right by there on my way. I’ll look in.”
“Ten-four.” Gabby’s voice crackled.
The street looked quiet as he pulled up, but no big surprise there. Liz was a couple of days late on her call-in.
Liz opened the door, bright red underwear, which answered the question loud and clear as to how she’d earned her nickname, escaping her bathrobe.
“Sheriff.” She purred and did this rubbing thing against the doorjamb. “If I’d known you would come, I would have worn something more appropriate.”
Ah, hell no. Nate dug his hands into his utility belt. He didn’t even want to think what Headlights considered appropriate. “Gabby says you have a prowler. Again.”
She glared at him. “I do.”
“Uh-huh” He had a schedule to keep here. “Liz, my family is waiting for me. Can we get to the problem?”
“I’m invited too, you know.” She straightened and twitched the collar of her bathrobe into a more modest position. “And I really did see something. At least, I think it’s a prowler.”
They were breaking new ground here. Normally, Liz invited him into the house to show him from which window she’d seen the prowler. Depending on how feisty she felt that night, it could be any room in the house. Nate paid better attention. “What do you mean, you think you have a prowler?”
“Not me.” She grabbed a coat from the rack next to the door and slid it on. “I thought I saw someone over at Bella’s.”
“Bella’s?”
“I’ll show you.”
“That’s okay.” Nate blocked her exit. After all, the boy who cried wolf had seen that wolf eventually. “Why don’t you tell me where you thought you saw this prowler and I’ll take a look?”
“Round back.” Hunching her shoulders, Liz shivered. She had to be cold in those red bits of nothing. “Near the kitchen window.” She frowned. “I’m not sure, though. It was a shadow really, there and then gone.”
“I’ll check it out.” Nate leaned in and shut her front door. Shit! He really didn’t like the sound of this. And he’d put his balls on a block that Bella hadn’t learned to lock her door yet.
* * *
Bella was running late, what with this being the festive season and a few last-minute shoppers looking for that perfect dress to wear to ring in the New Year. One of the best parts of owning your own clothing store was never being short of a quick change when you needed it. Slipping into a return she rather fancied, Bella freshened her makeup and locked up the store behind her. Her new Christmas wreath twinkled at her through the window, simple, elegant, and classic. Nana would hate it.
The car parked beside her own looked a lot like Adam’s Lexus. In a town like Ghost Falls, coincidence didn’t really factor into things, and she peered through the window.
Smiling, Adam waved back and motioned to the phone at his ear.
She waggled her fingers good-bye and drove to the diva’s house.
Where else would Pippa have a get-together but at Phi’s Folly?
Bella pointed her car down the sweeping, tree-lined driveway. With the house set barely a hundred feet from the road, the serpentine drive had always mystified Bella. But then, after you’d met Phi a time or two, nothing much surprised you anymore.
She’d grown up with the infamous Diva Philomene St. Amor as Ghost Falls’s most illustrious resident. The diva had been born and raised in Ghost Falls and had retired here several years ago now. Bella hadn’t really gotten to know Philomene—or Phi, as everyone called her—before she’d grown close to Pippa when she’d returned home under the cloud of being America’s most hated celebrity.
The drive wound its way onto a wide, turning circle in front of a part Gothic mansion, part gingerbread house. People milled about in the light spilling through the windows. Phi threw a great party and, by the looks of things, nobody had turned down Pippa’s invitation.
Bella parked behind a compact CUV and did one more hair and makeup check because there was a good chance Nate would be there. She might be over her crush on him, but a girl still liked to put her best foot forward.
“Ma petite Belle!” As she crossed the threshold, Phi descended on her. Swathed in gold spandex and glittering to rival the massive Christmas tree in the entrance hall, Phi tugged her into a patchouli-scented hug. “So small and sweet, like a special Christmas bonbon.” Phi beamed at her. “We need to find some big, strong man to gobble you up.”
Bella’s cheeks heated. She never knew quite how to take Phi. The diva winked at her, eyelids encrusted with sparkling gold shadow, and chuckled.
“Dear God, Phi.” Pippa emerged from the crowd with a rescuing arm. “Bella hasn’t even stepped in the door and you’ve got her blushing.”
“I simply cannot resist.” Phi conducted the air in a clash of bracelets. “She wears that glow of radiant innocence.”
Did she? Bella tripped after Pippa as the other woman led her into the throng.
“I’m going to need you,” Pippa whispered. “Cressy is here and she’s in fine form tonight.”
Matt’s mother had moods: a lot of them, all the time. After her husband’s death, she’d clung to her oldest son. The arrival of Pippa, and Matt and Pippa’s subsequent relationship, had exacerbated Cressy’s moods.
As she and Pippa reached the midpoint in Phi’s cavernous salon, Bella spotted the problem. Cressy had taken up a position by the bar. Dressed tonight in head-to-toe black, she peered into the throng with a palpable air of martyrdom.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Bella said. She and Cressy had a weird bond. They’d both been struck in the past by the death of a family member.
“I owe you.” Pippa gave her a fierce hug. “Get yourself a strong drink while you’re there.”
“I’m fine.” Bella had to smile at how grateful Pippa looked. She couldn’t help it; she felt sorry for Cressy. Yes, she knew how toxic she could be, and she totally saw how difficult she could make life for Pippa, but Bella’s heart went out to her. She couldn’t help but think how unhappy Cressy must be to make life so difficult for herself and her five grown children.
“Bella.” Eric Evans stepped into her path with his signature bad-boy smirk. In a beautifully tailored pair of black pants and a button-down, the second-oldest Evans brother had a definite edge to him that had most of the Ghost Falls female residents catfighting each other to get closer.
“Eric.” He still managed to pull a flirtatious smile from her. Just by being Eric. He could make a nun bat her lashes.
Taking her hands, he held her away from him. His hot dark eyes wandered her from top to toe with a gleam that made her blush. “Damn, girl. You are looking fine tonight.”
It was like a shot of adrenaline straight to the ego and she’d have to be long dead not to appreciate it. “You say that to all the girls.”
“You’re right.” Eric grinned. “But I only mean it when I say it to you.”
God help the woman who ever fell for that line. Bella chatted to Eric for a bit longer before threading her way over to Cressy. She knew a lot of the people here and she always enjoyed catching up.
In response to her greeting, Cressy gave her a sad smile. An attractive woman in her late fifties, all the Evans brood had inherited her dark hair and impeccable bone structure. Bella didn’t remember Mr. Evans well, but he’d been a big man with a great smile and an easy laugh.
“Pippa tells me you’re all alone for Christmas,” Cressy said as Bella accepted a glass of wine from the barman. Typical; Phi had hired a barman who looked like you could bounce a coin off his abs.
“Yes, Nana and my parents went down to Florida. Nana says the cold makes her arthritis worse.” Bella tried to inject a little enthusiasm into her voice, but the topic didn’t lend itself to bubbly.
Cressy’s eyes went huge. “What will you do? All on your own?”
She made all on your own sound like a chronic condition. “Oh, I have a plan,” Bella said, feeling a bit like a chirping canary. Whenever she got around Cressy, her natural instinct to jolly the older woman along kicked in.
Cressy dug into the dip with a chip and crunched. “What sort of plan?”
“I got it off the internet.” She made it sound like a miracle cure, but Bella couldn’t seem to get a grip on her tone. Cressy and her glass-half-empty approach pinged her need to make happy. “It’s a series of ten things to do if you find yourself alone on the holidays.”
Cressy went for another chip and chewed like it was the Last Supper.
Jolly Bella went in for another try. Part of her brain—the part not twittering like a demented sparrow—wished Liz would get there and slap her. “First, I decorated the house. I put up a tree, decorated. I even managed to get some lights on the outside.” All on its own, Bella’s head bobbed up and down. “Well, actually, there’s a funny story about my outside lights.”
“Oh?” Cressy’s mouth turned down at the corners. “I love funny stories.”
“Well . . .” Dear God, could someone please stop her? “There I was on top of my roof, and you’ll never guess what happened.” Now she sounded like she was entertaining the first-grade class at Ghost Falls Elementary. “I got stuck.”
“No.” Cressy paused with her chip midway through the dip. How the woman managed to still fit into a size two with the way she shoveled up Tostitos and spinach-and-artichoke dip baffled Bella.
“I’m scared of heights.” An honest-to-God titter escaped her. She had no backbone. Even Dr. Childers would be itching to kick her butt right now. “My neighbor had to call Nate.”
Cressy’s eyes sharpened. “Nate came?”
Uh-oh! One thing you never did was bring up any of her sons to Cressy. Every girl who’d grown up with the Evans brothers, especially those who aspired to date one, knew that. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“It’s his job.” As fast as her four-inch heels allowed, Bella backtracked. “I’m sure the last thing he wanted to do was rescue stupid me from my roof.”
“You should be more careful.” Apparently pacified for now, Cressy went back to the dip. “Nate doesn’t have time to rescue people who do silly things. He’s the sheriff. The youngest sheriff in county history.”
They stood in silence for a while. Bella finished her glass of wine. “So, how have you been?”
“Fine.” The corners of Cressy’s mouth headed south. “As good as I can be under the circumstances.”
“Is something wrong?” Across the room, Pippa caught Bella’s eye and grimaced.
Cressy took a deep breath. “I don’t like to air my troubles in public. Especially not at a party.”
Appeasing Bella had wrestled control once more and said, “It’s not good to bottle these things up.”
“You’re right.” Cressy sighed and accepted a glass of wine from the bartender hottie. “But it’s what I do.”
“Oh, well, if you don’t want to talk about it.” Liz had arrived and was being greeted by Phi. A fairly typical Phi greeting, if the bemused expression on Liz’s face was any indication.
“It’s just that he still hasn’t called,” Cressy said.
“Sorry?” Bella hid her grin as even Liz went beet red. The diva could make anyone blush and had a wicked knack for finding the right trigger. Dark and dirty, Phi’s laugh rolled over the room. In her fantasies, Bella had a laugh like that, and she spoke like Phi, not giving a darn who heard or what they thought.
“He’s my youngest, you know, and a mother never loses the desire to protect them from life.”
“Absolutely.” Now Phi peered down the front of Liz’s dress, as she motioned toward her impressive rack. Phi looked enthralled.
“I suppose many would say it’s because I coddled him too much. I only tried to protect him from the harsh realities of life.”
Slipping into the Appeasing Bella personality was a godsend sometimes because she managed to say, “Who could blame you?”
“Eric does.” Cressy’s wrathful tone penetrated and dragged Bella’s attention away from what looked like a great conversation happening between Phi and Liz. “He’s always telling me to let go. He says I’m smothering all the children.” Cressy grabbed a handful of chips and dipped. “It’s so easy for him to speak. He doesn’t have children; he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t even have a dog.”
“Isn’t he allergic—”
“I knew something was wrong, and I tried to tell all of them that. Do they listen?”
Phi motioned Pippa over with an imperious wave.
“Does who listen?”
“Everyone.” Cressy sniffed. “Something is very wrong with Isaac and nobody will listen.” Jabbing herself in the chest, Cressy blinked away tears. “I’m his mother and I can feel it.”
So, that’s what they were talking about. Isaac had left town about the time Pippa came home. “Surely if something bad had happened—”
“Matt is too busy with his married life now. I love Pippa; I really do.” Cressy paused for effect. Not even Appeasing Bella could respond in the affirmative to that one. Cressy would toss Pippa off Lover’s Leap if she thought she could get away with it. “Now they’re having this party and they won’t even tell me what it’s about. You would think I would be the first person they’d tell if they had something to share. Not just fling me an invite along with everybody else.”
Pippa stared at Phi, openmouthed.
Phi motioned to Liz’s breasts and then her own.
Half-laughing, Pippa shook her head.
Bella so wanted to hear what they were talking about.
Nate walked through the door.
Cressy carried on talking, but Bella didn’t hear a word.
Even beating Liz to the punch, Phi descended on Nate.
Still in uniform, cheeks wind flushed and hair tousled, he sent a quiver of lust through her that made her thank God for the drink in her hand.
“Nate’s here.” Bella cut across Cressy’s soliloquy. “Maybe he’s heard from Isaac.” Look at her multitasking. Some of what Cressy had said must have penetrated. Then again, Cressy did tend to pick at the same scab over and over again.
“He might have.” Cressy motioned to Nate. “But then, why would he tell me?”
Nate caught sight of his mother and stiffened slightly, but he still made his way over. Then his eyes met hers and he crossed the room with a lot more purpose. No, he didn’t. Old habits were making her think he hurried a bit to reach her.
“Bella.” He rose from kissing the cheek Cressy presented to him. “I’ve been looking for you,” he said in that slightly raspy voice that made anything sound naughty and delicious.
Cressy locked eyes on them.
Nate’s hand fastened around her arm, and the heat of it shot through every nerve ending Bella had. Every. Single. One. More Dr. Childers loomed in her future. Like tonight, as soon as she got home.
Nate’s gaze bored a hole into her. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yup.” It was all she had.
“I checked your door again tonight and it wasn’t locked.” Nate had his angry face on. Bella finally recognized it through the cloud of unfortunate lust surrounding her.
“What were you doing at Bella’s house?” Suddenly all ears, Cressy’s sharp glance darted between them.
“Liz called in a prowler,” Nate said.
Well, there was nothing new in that.
“And I think, this time, she might have actually seen something.” Nate cut off the dismissive reply Bella had all ready to launch. “You really need to be more careful.”
“I’m fine. I’ve lived in this town my whole life and been fine.”
Nate’s brow clouded over in a ferocious frown. Wow, he even looked hot when he glared at her.
Her phone chimed a perfect rescue. “Excuse me.”
Adam: You looked beautiful in that blue dress.
See, someone appreciated the dress. She shot a look at Nate.
He blinked at her. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Adam lit up the screen again: Let’s set another date.
When? she typed back.
Now :) The sooner the better.
Could he be any sweeter? She smiled down at her phone.
“Are you texting while I’m talking to you?” Nate looked more pissed off, hence even hotter.
Bella tucked her phone behind her back. “Someone texted me. I had to reply.”
“Is that him?”
Bella shoved her phone in her purse. “What? Who? Him?”
“The guy from the bar.” Raising one dark brow, Nate crowded her. “The one Jo saw you with.”
“Bella has a man?” Cressy sounded as if such a thing lay beyond the bounds of possibility.
Combined with Nate’s bossiness, it lit enough of a fuse within for Bella to say, “Yes, I have a man.”
“A hot one too.” Liz sidled up, eating the little air between her and Nate. She eye-stripped Nate and pursed her bright pink lips. “Seems like he has money too.”
“You know this guy?” Nate switched his grumpy face to Liz.
“I’ve met him.” Liz shrugged. “If Bella hadn’t gotten in there so fast, I might have tapped that.”
Cressy gasped, her hand stopping midway between the dip and her mouth. She sniffed at Liz. “That’s a bit vulgar, Liz. Especially at our age.”
Bella braced for a gale.
Liz cocked her hip and jammed her hand onto it. “Cressy, you’re about ten years older than me and we both know it.”
Say what you would about Liz, she looked incredible for her age. Especially tonight, when she’d gone for a figure-flattering black dress that had Pippa screaming from every refined seam.
Liz stuck out her chest. “Got rid of the old and now I’m going to get me some.” She eyed Nate like an ice cream cone. “Might as well make it young and tasty while I’m doing it.”
“Don’t you dare.” Cressy dropped a gooey, dip-laden chip onto Phi’s lurid, floral rug. “Elizabeth Harper, you go near my son and I’ll . . . I’ll . . .” She opened and shut her mouth. “It’ll be very bad.”
She stalked off, grinding chip and dip into the carpet.
Hitching up her boobs, Liz grinned at Bella. “Worth every penny.” Turning away, she gave Nate a ringing slap on the ass. “For the record, pretty boy, you’re too young for me. Helluva fun to drool over, but I like a man with more tire tread on him.”
Bella snapped her mouth shut as Liz sashayed away. One thing you could say about Phi, she never threw a dull party.
Nate took her arm and steered her a little ways away from the bar and into a quieter corner. “Tell me about this guy you’re seeing.”
What the hell? Nate never showed any interest in the men she dated. Not that there had been that many, but there had been some. A few. Okay, a very few. Three. She didn’t so much date as get into tepid relationships that dribbled a long way past their sell-by date.
“I like him.” She pulled her arm free. The lingering warmth from Nate’s fingers still tingled on her bare arm.
“But what do you know about him?” Nate got right into her personal space bubble.
How many times had she wanted him right here, but now that he was, Bella had to suppress the urge to shove him away. Especially when he wore that carrot-up-his-bum lawman face. “That’s why we’re dating.”
“My friends.” Phi’s voice cut through the chatter. For a woman who could bring Covent Garden to its knees, a Ghost Falls party, however loud, presented no problem. She clinked a fingernail against her glass. “I suppose you’re wondering why I called you all here tonight.”
“I called them, Phi.” Pippa stepped up beside her grandmother.
Matt got between the two women and slid his arm around Pippa. “Why don’t we get to our news?”
Bella got an inkling as Matt and Pippa exchanged a sweet look. The sort of look a girl went to bed every night dreaming about. “She’s pregnant,” Bella murmured.
“Eh?” Nate glanced down at her.
“I’m going to be stepping down from the show for a while.” Pippa beamed.
A low grumble of protest greeted her words. Pippa had soared from America’s most-hated celebrity to one of its best loved, her show ringing rating bells season after season.
“Because I’m going to be taking on a new role.” She cuddled into Matt. “Matt and I are having a baby.”
“Darling!” Cressy plowed through the crowd and flung herself at Matt. “I’m so pleased for you. You’ll make a marvelous father.” She glanced at Pippa with a tight smile. “Well done.”
Nate groaned. “Mom just can’t help herself sometimes. It’s bigger than she is.”
“I propose a toast.” Phi raised her glass. “To the parents-to-be. And to me.” A naughty grin slid over her face. “It took me years to get them to this point.”
Bella lost Nate in the hugging and kissing fest that ensued. She made her way closer to Pippa. She waited patiently for others to hug Pippa. Finally, Pippa turned to her and her face softened. “Can you believe it?”
“Yes.” Bella swayed her from side to side as they hugged. “You’re going to be a great mother.”
“And I’ll be there every step of the way to see that she does,” Cressy announced, raising her glass.
“Oh God,” Pippa whimpered against her shoulder. “Both of us aren’t going to make it through this pregnancy.”
“Of course, women today think they can have their career and raise children,” Cressy said to the group at large. “We didn’t have those options.”
“Oh yes we bloody did.” Phi looked angry for the first time since Bella had known her. Face haughty, she was every inch the diva who had terrified conductors throughout the world. “There are always choices, if you’re prepared to live with the consequences.”
Cressy paled and slid back into the crowd.
“Now,” Phi threw her arms wide, “we drink. All except Pippa, who won’t be drinking for months.”
“You were right about Liz,” Pippa said under the congratulatory hiatus of people heading for the bar. “She’s nice when you get to know her.”
“Nice?” Bella tried that word on for size with Liz. “No, she’s not nice. Nice is your Sunday school teacher. But she is very genuine and she has a big heart.”
“Speaking of,” Pippa rolled her eyes, “Phi is now convinced she wants her boobs done. She was asking Liz about her surgeon.”
Bella giggled. Look out, Liz’s plastic surgeon.
Pippa’s smile disappeared. “Did you know Liz had breast cancer?”
“No. I always thought she had them done after her divorce.” Bella found Liz in the crowd, making eyes at Eric.
Eric seemed to be giving as good as he got. He had his face very close to Liz’s neck, whispering something that made her giggle.
“You don’t think she’ll sleep with Eric, do you?” Pippa worried her bottom lip.
“She might.” Bella shrugged. “Who could blame her?”
“Bella!” Pippa choked on her soda and came up laughing. “I’ve never heard you say anything like that.”
“It’s the new me.” Bella grinned.
“I like it.” Pippa gave her a hug. “And Eric looks like he can handle himself just fine.”
“Eric looks fine. Period.” Bella surprised herself at her own daring.
“Stay away from Eric.” Nate appeared at her elbow, still glaring, only it seemed to have gotten worse now. “He’s a manwhore.”
Bella shook her head, not sure she’d heard that right. “So are you.”
Nate clenched his jaw. “That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?”
“Yes, Nate.” Pippa cocked her head and grinned. “What is the point?”
“The point is,” he dragged in a deep breath, “Bella needs to be careful of the men she chooses. She has terrible taste in men.”
“I had a crush on you forever.” Bella couldn’t believe her own balls, but she rather liked having them.
“Exactly.” Nate peered down his nose at her. “Find me when you’re ready to go home. I’m coming with you.”
He stalked off into the crowd.
“Somehow I don’t think he means what you want him to mean.” Pippa frowned after him.
“Wanted.” Bella tested the new sense of freedom inside her. “What I wanted it to mean. Not anymore.”
Pippa eyed her skeptically. “Really?”
“Okay, maybe not quite yet. But I’m almost there.”