Last One Home

  School shopping was always the best. It went without saying that whatever they got would need to last them. Karen and Cassie claimed Nichole was the lucky one because she got their hand-me-downs. Nichole had quite a different opinion. She hated having to wear her sisters’ old clothes and getting less money to buy new things. Her clothing allowance was always less than theirs, which to her way of thinking was completely unfair.

  Cassie was the most patient of her two sisters, often bringing Nichole clothes to try on while in the dressing room. Like their mother, Karen wasn’t a great shopper. She preferred to hang out at the cosmetics counter. Funny, it’d been years since she thought about their school-shopping expeditions. It was never quite the same after Cassie left, though.

  “I scheduled a surprise for us,” Laurie said, cutting into her musings as she steered Nichole out of the store.

  Nichole glanced longingly over her shoulder. Shopping was first on her agenda. She was desperate for a new pair of jeans. Her skinny jeans didn’t fit the same since she’d given birth to Owen.

  Although she detested the thought, she might need to go up a size. The difference in her weight was only a few measly pounds, but those pounds seemed to have attached themselves directly to her hips.

  “We’ll have plenty of time to shop,” Laurie insisted, dragging Nichole into the mall.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked, enjoying the adventure.

  “You’ll see.”

  The surprise was a shop that specialized in shaping eyebrows. Nichole and Laurie giggled as if they were twenty-year-old college students all over again. Once finished, they couldn’t believe the difference a few hairs could make.

  Every minute of this day was about as perfect as it could be. Nichole badly needed this getaway for her sanity; the demands of motherhood were above and beyond anything she’d anticipated. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her son with every cell in her body, but never having a moment to herself was draining. Stealing away for these few hours was exactly what she needed. This was the first time in more than a year that she felt carefree and light.

  After they had their eyebrows shaped, Nichole and Laurie went in search of the perfect pair of jeans. While it was depressing to go up a size, the white rhinestone-studded jeans she tried on made her look a size smaller. Or so Laurie insisted.

  “I feel guilty spending two hundred and fifty dollars on a pair of jeans,” Nichole confessed, holding on to her credit card and weighing the decision.

  “But didn’t Jake tell you to go ahead and get them?”

  “Yes.” Still, Nichole hesitated.

  “Do it,” Laurie urged. “You wouldn’t see me thinking twice if my husband suggested I buy something for myself. Besides, you deserve those jeans and you look fabulous.”

  That was all the inducement Nichole needed. She laid down her credit card and added a shirt that was forty percent off to go with the jeans.

  “Now all you need are the shoes,” Laurie coaxed.

  “I couldn’t,” Nichole said, laughing. She felt guilty enough after paying such an outrageous sum for those jeans.

  “Jake would insist,” Laurie assured her.

  Her friend was right. Jake was far too good to her. He indulged Nichole’s every whim. She finally had to tell him to stop buying her gifts. Hardly a week went by when he didn’t come home with a little surprise for her. He insisted it was simply his way of proving that he adored her. He’d been like this ever since she gave him a son.

  Both Nichole and Laurie ate crab salads for lunch, with the dressing on the side, naturally. “When was the last time you had a pedicure?” Nichole asked her friend.

  Laurie set aside her fork. “You don’t want to know. I swear it’s been over a year. Lucy is two and is into everything. I don’t have a wonderful mother-in-law like certain people I could mention—I have to pay a sitter, and you wouldn’t believe what they charge these days.”

  “Then we’re going to do it today. We passed a salon in the mall that said walk-ins are welcome.” Nichole had an ulterior motive. If she did find time to shop for shoes, she absolutely refused to let a salesperson see her feet in their current condition.

  They were fortunate to find two available nail technicians who could fit them in at the same time. Not thirty minutes after they’d finished their lunch, Nichole and Laurie sat side by side with their feet soaking in bubbling hot water. The chair had a pulsating massage in the back that eased the tension from Nichole’s lower spine. If this wasn’t heaven it was mighty darn close. She closed her eyes and luxuriated in the moment.

  Just when she was certain she was about to doze off, her phone chirped. Afraid something had happened with Owen, Nichole jerked upright and grabbed her purse.

  She didn’t even bother to look at caller ID before she answered. “Hello.”

  “Nichole, this is Karen.” Her sister.

  “Is anything wrong?” Nichole asked, sitting up straight now, worried.

  “No, not really. How are you?”

  Her sister hadn’t phoned just to say hi, Nichole could tell. “Karen, what’s wrong?”

  Laurie looked over at her and Nichole shrugged.

  “I heard from Cassie.”

  The two sisters had discussed the rather awkward conversation already. “Yes, that was a few days ago, right?”

  “Right.”

  “And?”

  “Two things. I want to be sure you’re still comfortable with what we’ve done?”

  What a ridiculous question. It was far too late to change their minds now. “Of course I am.”

  “Mom wanted—”

  “We both know what Mom wanted and we both felt Mom wasn’t in her right mind. You know as well as I do that in the end she wasn’t anything like herself. Half the time she didn’t make any sense whatsoever.”

  “True …”

  Nichole didn’t know why Karen would be bringing all this up now. “Karen,” she said, lowering her voice, “it’s too late for us to have second thoughts. The attorney has already dispensed the money from the sale of the house.” She hesitated and a sense of dread came over her. “Is Cassie asking questions about the will?” It wouldn’t do her any good, and both Karen and Nichole knew it. After Cassie married Duke, their father had cut Cassie out of the will. He wasn’t looking to punish his precious, favorite daughter as much as protect her. It went without saying that anything of value Cassie inherited would quickly be squandered by her no-good husband. And he was right.

  Later, just a few days before she died, their mother asked the two sisters to help Cassie.

  “Do you think …” Karen paused, almost as if she was afraid to say the words.

  “That Mom wanted us to share everything with Cassie?” Nichole asked, completing the thought for her sister. “I don’t. I think that reaching out to Cassie and offering her Mom and Dad’s furniture is above and beyond anything she should expect. As you said earlier, Cassie put Mom and Dad through hell and beyond.”

  “She did,” Karen agreed. When Cassie disappeared, it’d been a nightmare for the entire family. Their father had been completely unnerved, unable to sleep. He lost weight and fretted endlessly. Their mother had taken Cassie’s leaving equally hard. She sat at the kitchen table chain-smoking and sobbing for days on end. The police were no help. At eighteen, Cassie was considered an adult, and the decision to marry Duke was out of the hands of the law.

  Nichole didn’t mean to be callous, but Cassie had been out of their family for so long that it was hard to even remember what she looked like. Their middle sister hadn’t kept in touch or showed any real concern when she learned of their father’s death. True, she’d reached out when told their mother was ill, but by then it was far too little too late.

  Nichole straightened her spine. “We made our decision, Karen, and I believe it was the right one. You said Cassie seemed happy to be getting the furniture, and she should be.” That sounded heartless, she realized, but she couldn’t help it. “Let’s leave it at
that.”

  Right away Nichole realized her little outburst had attracted the attention of nearly everyone in the salon. Embarrassed, she lowered her head, dreading that she might have caused something of a scene.

  “I know that you’re right,” Karen said, after an uncomfortable moment. “I just wanted to be sure you don’t have any regrets or second thoughts?”

  “None,” Nichole assured her, and she didn’t. She felt sorry for Cassie, but things could never go back to the way they’d been when they were kids. That time was long past. Cassie couldn’t show up after all these years and just assume nothing had changed. They were different people now, with separate lives.

  “She was the one who chose Duke over her own family,” Karen said, as if she needed to hear it again.

  “Yes. She wasn’t there after Dad died or to help when Mom was so sick. Nor was she there to clean out and sell the house. You and I were the ones who worked sixteen-hour days.”

  “Right. I guess I was just looking for reassurance that we weren’t unreasonable in what we did.”

  “You, unreasonable?” Nichole laughed. “You’re the most levelheaded, fair person I know.”

  “I try to be.”

  “You are,” Nichole said, although if Karen was having second thoughts, then maybe she should reconsider their decision herself. And she would, but not now, not when she was supposed to be spending a carefree day with her best friend.

  “I’m sending Cassie an email,” Karen said.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. I told her I’d pay for two months’ storage fees for Mom and Dad’s stuff and said that was all I’d be willing to do. She has sixty days to collect it and no more.”

  “It’s good to set those boundaries with Cassie.”

  “My thought, too. What I don’t think Cassie realized … well, actually, I failed to tell her. One of those months had already passed. In fact, five of the eight weeks are gone.”

  “Let her know, then. If she really wants it, she’ll find a way to get over to Spokane.”

  “It’s only fair that I tell her she has less than three weeks to collect the furniture.”

  “Or pay the storage fee herself.”

  “Should I send the email?” Karen asked.

  “I don’t know why you’re hesitating.” Nichole felt her sister was already being more than generous. It wasn’t like there was anything left that was of any real value, other than maybe the piano.

  Her pedicure had been finished by then, but she was so wrapped up in the conversation, she barely noticed. She said good-bye and dropped the cell back inside her purse.

  Laurie glanced over at her. “That was intense. I didn’t know you had another sister.”

  “I don’t, not really. Cassie ran away from home when I was fourteen; it was like she disappeared for all these years. Now she’s divorced and wants back into the family as if nothing happened. It’s been weird, you know. She reached out to us once and it was all so awkward and uncomfortable. We didn’t have anything to say to one another. I haven’t heard from her since.”

  “Have you contacted her?”

  “I tried. I mailed her a Christmas card, which was returned with no forwarding address. Apparently, my sister moves around a lot.”

  Nichole was tense and uptight, although she tried hard to relax. “I could use a fruity drink. How about you?”

  “Should we?” Laurie asked guiltily.

  “We should. It’ll wear off before we head home.”

  Laurie was game. They went into the hotel attached to the shopping mall and let a cool mojito work its magic. When they finished, they returned to Nordstrom.

  On the way into the department store, Nichole passed the purses on display and stopped cold. She grabbed Laurie’s sleeve.

  “Laurie, do you see what I see?”

  Her friend stared in the same direction as Nichole and then shook her head. “What?”

  “That Michael Kors bag,” Nichole whispered, as if she were speaking in church.

  “Nichole, they’re hundreds and hundreds of dollars.”

  “I know. I know. It’s the alcohol talking. I’d be nuts to even consider buying it.”

  “Then you’d better stop looking at it.” Laurie wrapped her arm around Nichole’s elbow and said, “Turn your head this way and pretend you didn’t see it.”

  “I can’t not look,” Nichole said in a breathy voice. “I would so love to own that bag. Go and check the price and then come tell me.”

  “You sure?” Laurie sounded skeptical.

  “I think so.” Nichole’s head was spinning and her stomach was in turmoil.

  “Call Jake,” Laurie advised.

  “You think I should?”

  “Yes. He’ll tell you you’re out of your mind, and then buy it for you himself on your anniversary.”

  “Good idea.” Nichole reached inside her purse for her phone.

  Laurie walked over to the purse on display. A sales clerk was immediately there to assist her. She asked the price, nodded, and then turned back to Nichole and held up seven fingers.

  “It’s seven hundred dollars,” Nichole told Jake, who was on the other end of the line.

  “Seven hundred dollars for a purse?” Jake repeated, sounding shocked.

  Nichole knew the price was above and beyond anything she should consider spending. “It’s too much, isn’t it?”

  “Oh honey, that’s a lot of money.”

  “I know. You’re right. I’m being ridiculous.”

  Jake hesitated and then said, “All right, baby, buy it. You’re the most amazing woman in the world and you deserve beautiful things. We’ll find a way to pay for it.”

  “You don’t mean it.” Nichole was nearly speechless.

  “Do it, honey. You buy yourself that purse.”

  That was all the incentive Nichole needed.

  Chapter 8

  Saturday night, Cassie turned off the light on her nightstand early. She was exhausted. She’d worked at the salon all week and then gone to the construction site and put in extra hours. It remained light until nearly eight, which helped. For most of the time, Cassie managed to keep out of Steve’s way. He seemed to be preoccupied with the business at hand, which was just as well. Either that or he chose to simply ignore her.

  After a hectic week, Sunday wasn’t going to be a day of rest, but Cassie wasn’t complaining. She was thrilled to have gotten work with the caterer for the Sounders soccer match.

  “Mom?”

  “Yes, honey, what is it?” Going to sleep early didn’t seem likely if Amiee was in a chatty mood. Her daughter’s shadow filled the doorway leading to Cassie’s small bedroom.

  Amiee sighed. “What was it like when you were my age?”

  Cassie sat up enough to lean on her elbow. Ever since she’d gotten the letter from her older sister, Amiee had besieged her with questions about the two aunts she’d yet to meet.

  “How do you mean?” she asked. “I can tell you right now we didn’t have cell phones.”

  “I know that. What I want to know is what’s it like having sisters. Did you share clothes?”

  The memories wrapped themselves around Cassie like curling ribbon atop a birthday gift. “All the time,” Cassie whispered into the dark.

  “Did you ever do stuff like date the same boys?”

  “Never. Dad wouldn’t hear of it. Karen and I were the closest in age. She’s two years older.”

  “Your dad used to take you fishing, didn’t he?”

  Cassie could only wonder how her daughter found that out. “How’d you know about that?”

  Amiee went silent. “You wanted to take me fishing once and Dad wouldn’t let you. You tried to explain that your dad took you fishing and Dad got really upset with you, remember? He said you were putting him down and … and he hit you.”

  Cassie swallowed against the tightness in her throat. “Yes, I remember,” she whispered. Trying to divert the conversation, she lightened her voice and said, “My da
d took the family fishing quite a bit when I was young. We’d catch the fish, clean them, and cook them up for dinner over the campfire. Those are some of my best childhood memories.”

  Amiee stepped into the room and Cassie tossed aside her covers, inviting her daughter to climb into bed with her. All too soon Amiee’s cold feet were tucked against her much warmer ones.

  “Tell me some stories of when you were my age.”

  “Let me think,” Cassie whispered, wrapping her arm around her daughter’s thin shoulders. She’d been raised in a loving home. Her mother had been a homemaker until Nichole was old enough for school and then she’d gone to work in the school cafeteria. That way she was home in the summers with her daughters. Her mother was far less outgoing than their father, who made everything fun. Cassie hated that her last conversation with her father had been an argument. From the onset he hadn’t liked Duke, and he’d done everything within his power as her father to keep the two of them apart. Sadly, his demands had exactly the opposite effect. Cassie was convinced she was in love and Duke encouraged her to meet him on the sly, which she’d done.

  “Tell me about camping,” Amiee urged, snuggling closer.

  Talking about happier times in her childhood was certainly preferable to delving into painful memories. “Dad bought a big tent the year I turned ten,” Cassie told her, pressing her head down on the pillow close to her daughter. She lowered her voice, hoping that it would lull Amiee to sleep. “I helped Dad set it up while Mom and Karen and Nichole unloaded everything from the station wagon. Mom had a folding table and a cookstove and a cooler filled with enough food for three days.” It’d been a privilege to be asked to help her father, and they’d gotten the tent set up in record time.

  “Were you in the National Forest or at a campsite?” Amiee asked.