At Otter’s Point once again, with everyone situated, and Deke streaking back and forth once more, Nick filled Rachel in on their morning’s adventure with Jean. He avoided Jean’s statement of a career choice following in his footsteps. Nick and Gus sipped their high octane coffee, while Rachel sipped the hot mulled wine Nick had brought for her.
“I’m hungry now, Nick. All that talk highlighting you rubbing body parts with Jean’s hot young third grade teacher gave me an appetite.”
Gus took a long gulp of Bushmill’s enhanced coffee. “Uh oh.”
“You stay out of this, Uncle Whiney,” Rachel ordered. “Can you ever just say, ‘gee, I’m sorry, Jean, but sometimes grownups have to mind their own damn business’? I swear, Nick. You allow my nine year old to walk all over you. I think you and Gus need a chaperone on these walks to school with Jean the manipulator. Where’s my food?”
Nick handed a bag to Rachel. “Pancakes and strawberries for Princess Bump, and here’s your bacon, eggs, and hash-browns, Uncle Whiney.”
“What the hell? This is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Princess Bump said.
“Mine too,” added Uncle Whiney.
“Use your imaginations,” Nick replied, settling back to take a big bite of his sandwich. “If you’re all done blaming this on me, I think I’ll get to this dirty business on my laptop, and see what I can find interesting in the life of the infamous Uncle Naseer. Relax and enjoy your breakfasts. Having met Ms. Kader, I’m inclined to side with Danger on this one. She’s also engaged to Bill the Marine if patriotism can make any headway into those small minds of yours. We’re the home-front. Picture this young Marine coming back from overseas, overjoyed to finally marry his true love, only to find out that her Uncle ran over his fiancé in a parking lot while the home-front minded their own business. Shame on you two.”
Rachel glared at Nick while chomping into the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “You hear this crap, Gus. Nick pulls this dual identity card on me constantly. One moment, he’s a cold blooded killer, and the next I’m being reminded in flowery writer terms how negligent I am in my duties.”
“Welcome to my world,” Gus agreed, noting Nick’s features changed instantly from stunned outrage to resigned humor. “He shifts so smoothly, it’s like riding in a Porsche with speed shift. I have to agree with him on this one though. Jean was right about Ms. Kader’s situation, and she rolled us. We’d best let Hemingway do his thing. I see problems in Uncle Naseer’s life in the near future.”
“Couldn’t we mind our own business just this once? I bet he wouldn’t be so diligent if Ms. Kader was an ugly spinster.”
“The story Jean rolled us with was when you forced me to save that cop by the side of the freeway,” Nick said. “Maybe you were a different person then. I know I was.”
“Damn you!” Rachel leaned back, eyes closed. “That daughter of mine is a real work of art. She can’t remember to make her bed, but she can recite and feed our words back to us like sour grits. I admit I may have slipped over to the dark side a little during our cross country jaunt into hell. Grace and I thought you and Gus were dead, but Jean never did for a moment. When Grace got the call from Tim that Richert had died of a stroke or something on the side of the freeway, I started laughing. I knew you had done it, and Jean was right after all.”
“So… do we help or mind our own business? Don’t say yes now and no later. It doesn’t work that way.”
Rachel reached over without opening her eyes to grip Nick’s hand. “Please you two, don’t do anything with a prison sentence involved.”
“Now you know Gus and I are rich beyond rich. You have all my account numbers in the safety deposit box. If anything bad happens, you and Jean will be just fine.”
Rachel squeezed his hand while looking over into Nick’s eyes. “Who do I get to come over and sex Ninja me if I lose you?”
“You already have a good idea what Nick did on our research journey, Rach,” Gus offered quietly. “I think after what he just pulled off, Uncle Naseer should start revamping his thinking.”