***
“Come in,” Jared yelled while pulling his phone away from his ear and covering the speaker with his palm.
Nikki entered their bedroom, but before she could speak he held a finger up to silence her. He continued on with his conversation. “I’m absolutely aware of that, sir and I apologize again. I’m not sure how this happened.”
After saying a hasty goodbye and ending the call, Jared turned to face Nikki. He gestured to the phone. “That was my supervisor. You can imagine how thrilled everyone is with me right now,” he drawled sarcastically.
Nikki shrugged noncommittally and sat down on the corner of the bed. “I got your text. You said it was urgent I come over right away.”
She said it like a question and Jared inwardly groaned as he realized what he suspected was true. He didn’t know why she was playing dumb. The story about Kate working on the case was being picked up by all the local news outlets. It was almost a near certainty reporters would’ve contacted Nikki’s family for their response to the news. A migraine, slowly built over the course of the day, threatened to worsen as he looked over at her. As he watched her examine her nails with a bored expression, he saw red. Had he really provoked her to this level of callousness?
“I assume you heard Kate Edwards’ name was leaked to the press,” he said tightly.
“Yeah, I saw the paper this morning. Is that the reason you called me here? We are back to discussing Kate?”
“I distinctly remember telling you and your parents multiple times that Kate’s involvement was supposed to be confidential.” He felt himself losing his temper and wondered if another wall would wind up being punched by day’s end.
“What’s your point? I didn’t tell anyone. It must’ve been someone from the station.” She picked at a hangnail and looked uninterested at the idea of continuing the conversation. Seeming to sense his anger and refusal to back down, she demanded, “What’s the big deal anyway? The press will get over it and move on to something more exciting than a fraudulent psychic in a couple of days.”
Jared silently counted to five before speaking. “The big deal is it completely compromises the investigation. The perp knows we’re using a psychic and she provided us with a description of him and his car. We don’t know what could set him off. Who’s to say he doesn’t retaliate and hurt Cori?”
Nikki gazed at him with wide eyes and he knew he had struck a chord with her. Her lips trembled and he knew she hadn’t thought of how her sister could be inadvertently harmed because of her irresponsibility.
When she didn’t reply, he continued, “What about my job, Nikki? My supervisors are pissed that the case has turned into a media circus with a psychic at the center of it. The paper painted her out to be a con artist. This makes me and the rest of the department look like bumbling idiots. Not to mention the call I got today from Darlene Edwards. She’s threatening to sue me for breaking our agreement about Kate’s anonymity.” He shook his head at her. Lowering the pitch of his voice, he stated flatly, “I know it was you, Nikki.”
Without a reply, she turned her head to look away from him. He remained relentless. “The details in the story you gave and the timing fits. We have a huge blowout over Kate and within days her cover is blown. It doesn’t take much deductive reasoning to figure out you called.”
“What if I did? Is it so horrible the world will be able to see what a huge fake this girl is?” Her tone dripped with venom and Jared felt a sudden weariness. He’d known Nikki had a vindictive side, but had always chosen to ignore it. He should’ve suspected she would go after Kate after she had guessed Jared was falling for her.
“Yes, what you did is horrible. Your actions could harm a lot of people, including your sister. I feel like…you’re a complete stranger,” he said flatly.
“That’s funny, Jared, because I kind of feel the same way about you. You suddenly seem to care less about my feelings or desires. My sister is missing and you’re making moves on another girl.”
He cut her off. “You know that’s not true. You can’t use that as justification for what you did.”
“I asked you not to involve her and told you she wouldn’t be able to help us. Yet, you refused to listen to me and still consulted with her. And guess what? Cori is still not home. Most likely, she’s dead,” Nikki choked on the last words and continued with a strangled voice. “And you’re letting a fraud fill us with false optimism. Believing in a psychic is like believing in fairy tales. To be honest, it makes you appear foolish and causes me to doubt your aptitude to even find my sister.”
“Why couldn’t you trust me?”
“I stopped putting my faith in you a long time ago when I figured you had no intention of marrying me,” she said sourly.
Her blue eyes sent him a challenge and Jared felt a strong divide between them. The reasons for his reservations over getting married were suddenly bubbling to the surface. How could he marry someone who thought this little of him?
“Nikki, we’ve only been together for three years and living together for one. Why do you need to push this so much? Why can’t you let me propose when I feel the time is right?”
“Because I know the time will never be right.” She walked over to him. “I’ve been unhappy for months, Jared, and couldn’t figure out what it was. Being home with my parents gave me time to think about everything. I’m tired of fighting for our relationship. It’s awful the reasons why I’m home again, but it feels like a relief being away from you. If you have to constantly fight for something, maybe it’s not right to begin with.”
He gave her an uncomfortable look and wasn’t certain how to best respond.
“I think we need…a break. It will give us time to both get our heads together and re-evaluate what we want,” she said with conviction.
“We shouldn’t even be getting into this stuff right now. Emotions are high and it would probably be better to discuss things after your sister is found.”
“Jared, come on,” she said with annoyance. “Don’t pretend you’re not feeling the same way, but feel obligated to stand by me. If you were happy, you wouldn’t be attracted to someone else,” she explained.
He began to speak, but she covered his mouth with her palm to silence him. “I’m not going to debate you about Kate right now. Deny it all you want, but you’ve never been good at concealing how you truly feel about something. This is why I’m certain you don’t want to marry me. I know you’re a good guy and want to do the right thing. However, staying with me out of pity isn’t the noble thing to do.”
“I never wanted it to be like this. I really wanted to make things work with you,” he mumbled, peering down at the floor. He couldn’t look her in the face. He had too many mixed emotions then and he couldn’t discern what his face would reveal.
“I’ll be fine. I’m tougher than I look.” She moved her arms around his body and gave him a tight hug. “I know you’re mad at me, but please don’t give up on my sister.”
“Never,” he swore.
She pulled away and tears began to pool in her eyes and a glimpse of the Nikki he knew from years ago made a brief reappearance. With a nod, she left the room and hurried out of the apartment. Sitting in the same spot for a long stretch of time, Jared was unsure of how to feel about what had just transpired. It was glaringly obvious he had made the right decision when the strongest emotion he experienced was relief.