*
I throw on a rain parka and quickly evaluate my outfit in my mirror. I’m not that into fashion—I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of woman—but I’d like to look presentable. I look at myself in the mirror. I look casual, fun… like the nanny, I remind myself. I pull my hair out of its ponytail and brush it. I run my fingers through the thick strands. I like the way it looks when it’s down—long and wavy—I just never have the patience to tame it.
I grab my purse, and I meet Nick and Bria in the living room. Nick is reading to Bria. I stop suddenly, watching them from behind the couch. It’s Dr. Seuss. I recognize the rhyming scheme. Nick’s voice goes up and down a few octaves while speaking. Bria sees me out of the corner of her eye, and she jumps up and runs to me.
“Leth go!” she demands, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the front door.
I look up at Nick, watching for the same concerned, confused look he wore a few minutes ago, but he just looks at me blankly, so I follow Bria out the front door. I see him grab three umbrellas out of a closet, and then we’re all ducking and laughing, trying to get to the car. I follow them because I don’t know what kind of car Nick drives. They both run over to the Porsche Cayenne hybrid—the one I was supposed to park next to yesterday morning. I smile when I realize Nick drives a hybrid. I better be careful, because so far he’s checking out nicely, and that could be dangerous.
I hear the locks click open, and I wrench the passenger door out, climbing in and shutting it quickly behind me. Bria giggles as Nick buckles her into her car seat, and soon Nick is in the driver’s seat. We’re all soaked already. Nick starts to laugh, looking back at Bria.
“Good thing the big wheel is open, rain or shine,” he says and grins at me.
“Ok, you guys have to tell me… what is the big wheel?”
Nick starts the car and backs up, putting his arm on my seat. I try not to notice how close his hand is to my hair.
“The Seattle Great Wheel?” he asks, eyeing me. “Heard of it?”
“Oh, that Ferris wheel thing? On the pier?”
“Yep,” he says. I look away. “You look disappointed,” he states, and I keep my eyes on the road ahead of us.
Dan took me there for our seven-year anniversary a few months ago.
Nick must be able to read it on my face because he turns to me at the stoplight.
“Time to make some good memories, eh?” he wiggles his eyebrows. I can’t help but laugh. “We’ll get some hot dogs, some cotton candy, and we’ll welcome you into the family. What do you say, Bria?” Nick says, but he never takes his eyes off of mine.
“Yeah!” she shouts, bouncing in her seat.
I smile and mouth thank you. He just nods his head once and turns his head forward as the light turns green.
The whole drive there, the windshield is inundated with large raindrops. I hate driving in this kind of rain, so I’m glad Nick is driving. He seems confident but also a little tense—he’s taking in all of his surroundings, concentrating hard on the road. I wonder who was driving the car that killed Isabel and Matthias. I hate that I’m wondering, but something tells me it was Nick. The way his eyes watch every other car around him, the way his eyes shoot up to the rearview mirror every ten seconds… he’s a person driving defensively. He’s a person actively trying to avoid an accident.
Another accident.
Eleven.
Nick
I hear Bria unbuckle her seatbelt. She mumbles something about a stuffed animal, and I watch her in the rearview mirror as she bends down in her booster seat.
“Seatbelt on at all times, Bria,” I bark, probably a little too loudly.