A light knock at the door draws both our eyes across the room.
"That's Annie's birthday cake." Adley taps my knee. "We're going to sing Happy Birthday in French to our big sister and then we're going to spend the weekend remembering her together."
"Okay." I nod. "I'll try for Annie."
"That's all she would have wanted, Bean."
***
"What's my favorite Las Vegas security guard doing in Manhattan on a sunny Sunday evening?"
I turn at the sound of his voice. That voice. It's a voice I'd recognize anywhere. "Jersey?"
"Ellie, it is you." He pulls me into a warm embrace. "I thought I was seeing things."
I feel the same way. I've been back in New York all of an hour and I've already seen a billboard with Shelby's face in Times Square and now a much kinder face in person. I take a step back to look at him. "Why are you here?"
"My daughter's getting married." He runs his fingers through his short gray hair. "Caroline. I told you about her, remember?"
I remember everything about Caroline, including the fact that she's Jersey's oldest daughter. "Congratulations. When's the wedding?"
"A week from today." He stomps his foot on the sidewalk. "Janine wanted to get here to help with the wedding planning. By help, I mean take over but she's the mother-of- the-bride so it's expected, right?"
"It's tradition for the mother-of-the-bride to run the show." I think that it is. That's what I've seen on television and in the movies.
"Why aren't you in Vegas? Are you taking a vacation?" His eyes light up.
"I live here now." I beam. "Things didn't work out for in Vegas so I moved back here."
He winks. "Janine is thinking the same thing. She wants us back here permanently before our great-grandchild arrives."
"Great-grandchild?" My lips twist into a smile. "Is Caroline going to be a mom?"
"You bet." He claps his hands together. "She's taking the fast track. A wedding and a baby all before the end of the year."
"I'm happy for all of you." I grab his forearm. "You're going to be an incredible great-grandpa."
"That I will. I'll do my best."
"I'm meeting someone." I glance down at my watch, realizing that I'm late for my informal meeting with the woman who runs a church mission here in Midtown. I'm going to volunteer there every Saturday morning. I have the time and doing good will help me focus on moving on from Nolan. I haven't heard anything from him in a week. "I better run."
He cranes his neck so he can see my watch too. "I'm meeting someone too. Two special someones."
"Caroline and her baby?" I rub my tummy as I giggle.
He laughs. "A friend and his baby. Technically, she's not a baby. May is five now. I'm taking her to see that new musical for kids. It's her first Broadway show and I get to be her escort."
"I know a five-year-old May," I say quietly.
"May Black?"
I glance up the street to where Nolan and May are approaching, their hands held tightly together, her hair bouncing as she skips along beside him. She's wearing a red lined cape over her pink dress and a top hat. The magic wand in her hand is circling the air. I feel an urge to excuse myself and walk away before they get here, but the need to stay is stronger. "Yes. May Black."
"So you know her dad? Rigs?"
My eyes slide over Nolan as he nears.
I've only ever heard the name from Annie's lips and read his name in her journals after her death.
I saw him from a distance once as he sat on a park bench with my sister.
He had a sandwich for her in one hand and a toy for our dog in his other. He kept watch over my sister when we had nowhere to go. He gave her a safe place to be herself when she felt she didn't belong. He didn't care that she was so shy that she could barely speak or that she feared most people.
He befriended her. He cared for her and when her life was threatened, he protected her.
I should have known. I should have felt it.
He's Rigs. Nolan Black is Rigs.
Chapter 52
Nolan
It's the best fucking mirage I've ever seen. Technically, it's the only one I've ever seen. It's also the only one I ever want to see. Ellie Madden is standing next to Jersey on the corner of Fifty Second and Broadway in the same spot I met Kip.
They were talking like they were old friends until Ellie looked my way and saw my face. She has to see everything I'm feeling in my expression. She must know that I regret every single thing that's happened since I walked into that candy store.
I went to see Liam. I called him after I got his number from his brother, and he invited me to his office. The office where he sits with people who've lost those that they love. He counsels them and helps them deal with their sorrow.
That's why she was there at the candy store with him. She was trying to cope. She wanted this year to be different so that she wouldn’t feel the breath-stealing pain that she feels every year on her sister's birthday.