AKA Lexi Frost (Lexi Frost Series) (11 page)

They headed out to the car and Nicholas slid behind the wheel. Pulling out onto the street
, Teri heard him take a breath to start again.

“
Do his kids know about you?”

“
I don’t know. If they’re not talking to him, I doubt it.”

“
He didn’t want to talk about them.” Nicholas nodded.

Teri half wished she hadn
’t told Nicholas now. Nicholas was on Paul’s side from the beginning, so his support meant a lot to her. The thin relationship between Paul and his kids made her feel sad for them, but it was making Nicholas start to jump at shadows.

“
It’s not that he didn’t want to talk about them. I think if I asked he would tell me anything. It’s just . . . Nicholas, it’s like when he thought about them, he wasn’t my Paul. There was a sadness that he was trying to hide. I don’t want to see him sad, but seeing him try to bury it is worse.”

“
But you want to know more about his kids.”

“
I want to know more about
him
. When I’m with him, he wants to talk about me. Or not talk. I’m partially to blame for that.” Teri felt herself blush.

“
Fine. He found out all sorts of stuff about you, I’ll do the same.”

“
Nicholas, I don’t know . . .” Teri wasn’t sure about that. It felt weird to think about digging into his background uninvited.

“
Turn about is fair play. If nothing else, it’ll give you an idea if you want to question him or not. Could be we’ll learn enough that you’re fine letting it go. Besides, it’s my decision, not yours.”

“
How is it not my decision?” Teri looked at him, heat rising to her face.

“
You’re not asking and you can’t stop me. I’ll do what I feel I need to. Besides, it’s not like I’m a private eye. I’m not likely to find out anything that isn’t available on the Internet anyway. I wouldn’t have the faintest idea where to look.”

“
You’re right, you’re harmless,” she smiled, relaxing again.

“
Mostly harmless,” Nicholas agreed.

They arrived at a park that had a cement skateboarding area sculpted into the landscape. A large crowd gathered around the event and parking
spaces were nonexistent. Teri noticed a news crew was there and panic spread through her thinking there was some incident until a roar from the crowd indicated their appreciation for something that just happened. Some trick she’d have a heart attack watching Dev do, no doubt.

“
You know what? I’m just going to drop you off and wait in the car,” Nicholas said after he’d circled the park twice.

“
Like I would want to watch.” Teri looked at him in amazement.

“
It’d put Dev in a good mood.”

“
Fine, meet you back here?” She sighed.

Nicholas nodded and Teri got out. She slipped through the crowd looking for familiar faces. She saw more than she expected. It looked like almost half of Dev
’s school was here. She passed one girl that she actually knew by name and asked her where the boys were. Armed with vague directions, Teri forged on.

“
Teri!” Bryan’s voice caught her ear. She looked ahead and saw him standing up on a garbage can to get her attention. She waved that she’d seen him and to get down. It would be just her luck to have two of them break legs.

“
Hi, boys,” Teri smiled as she finally reached Bryan, Kenny, and Jess. Jess was busy getting phone numbers for a couple of girls standing beside him looking hopeful. Teri frowned.

“
Don’t worry,” Kenny assured her, “I made sure he has protection, although he can’t go play until after Dev’s event. Support-the-kid kinda thing, you know?”

“
I do.” Teri looked around for Dev.

“
He’s up next,” Bryan told her.

“
You probably don’t want to watch,” Kenny said.

Teri looked at Kenny for some clue as to why he would say that. Normally she didn
’t watch. Actually, it was decided by unanimous vote, minus Teri and Dev because they were too involved to be impartial, that it would be better for everyone if Teri never watched Dev skateboard at all. Her little shrieks of worry would almost certainly distract him and make her fears come true.

All this flitted through Teri
’s mind; she acknowledged it was legitimate, and Kenny was probably simply reminding her.

“
Just look the other way.” Kenny put a hand on each of Teri’s shoulders and turned to her face Bryan, the opposite direction of the smooth gray surface behind her. Bryan reached forward to hold her wrists. Kenny pulled Jess back, putting one of his hands on Teri’s right shoulder while he moved to her other side with a hand on her left.

All in all
, they smoothly made sure she couldn’t watch what her little boy was about to do. Realizing this made Teri even more nervous, and she tried to turn as the crowd cheered again. The boys easily kept her facing the wrong way.

“
So, are you here to earn points before you tell him about the – Oh! That was a good one!” Kenny got distracted, but Teri understood.

“
I usually hang around these things waiting for an ambulance to show up, just not this close,” Teri admitted.

“
I’m not sure if I should tell Dev that,” Kenny said. “On one hand, it’s nice for you to care; on the other, it demonstrates a lack of confidence in his ability.”

“
He’s my baby, Kenny. I can’t help it.”

“
Don’t let him hear you say that.”

“
I know, he hates that baby-of-the-family label but it’s not like it’s going to change.”

“
Well, maybe now . . .” Kenny let the statement trail off.

“
No.”

“
Kenny’s hinting at something,” Bryan said in his usual off-handed manner.

“
Later,” Kenny said. Bryan dropped the subject, and Teri was grateful for his mellow nature. She flinched as the crowd yelled their appreciation of something someone did.

Jess leaned close so he could talk to Kenny on her other side.
“It’s amazing Dev even attempted that, what with his arm and all.”

“
What?” Teri’s body went rigid until she realized Jess was teasing her. Kenny reached behind her to punch Jess’s upper arm.

Teri closed her eyes and went over her grocery list in her mind. B
esides not liking to cook, Becca didn’t like grocery stores either. Her late brother’s wife was always completely up to date on celebrity news, but wasn’t overly domestic. She continued to survey the house’s deficiencies in her mind while ignoring the crowd around her. Despite Becca’s reluctance to cook or shop, there wasn’t a lot to be addressed, so it didn’t take long before Teri’s mind stopped wandering.

She chanced a quick glance to either side. Jess was flirting with a different girl than before and Kenny was more relaxed
, so Teri assumed Dev was done.

Kenny wasn
’t thrilled about Dev’s chosen sport. Teri knew he was concerned about Dev breaking an arm or a hand, not for the sake of her son’s wellbeing so much as he wouldn’t be able to play his guitar until he healed. Dev was shy though. No matter how much practice Kenny put him through, he sometimes froze while playing in front of anyone he hadn’t known for years. So Kenny took the risk as a trade off to get Dev comfortable with crowds. Maybe if Kenny let Dev take his skateboard on stage . . . Teri pushed the random thought aside.

“
Kenny? Is it over?”

“
Dev is off now, but he’ll go again.”

“
Okay.”

“
That was your cue to say ‘Yeah, I knew he could do it!’,” Kenny said with a sly smile.

“
Right. That. How long is this going to last?”

Kenny looked at his
watch. “Couple more hours. They have newbs showing their stuff but let the regulars go on in between to keep people’s interest. Dev puts on a good show and the girls love him, so they’ll keep asking him to go again.”

Teri didn
’t want to pull him away, but didn’t really want to stand here facing away from the action for the next two hours either.

“
Maybe you should watch one of the other guys,” Kenny suggested.

“
I’ve seen them. Then I picture Dev speeding around and not keeping four wheels on the ground and I want to scream.”

“
Yeah.” Kenny seemed to be thinking about how to make a suggestion, selecting his words more carefully than usual.

“
Oh spit it out!” Teri snapped at him.

“
Go home. If he sees you, he’ll either break concentration or leave early when he doesn’t want to. We’ll watch him, we’ve been doing it for awhile now.”

Teri nodded.
“Fine. Dinner’s in two hours.”

“
Okay, we’ll bring him home in one piece. We’ll even make him wash his hands.”

“
Dev remembers more often than you do.” Teri patted Kenny’s shoulder and headed out of the crowd to meet Nicholas.

The casserole was overdone, reheated twice, and dry by the time everyone was home and ready to eat. Whether they were glad to see her back or glad it wasn’t pizza Teri wasn’t sure, but the kids didn’t complain. She waited until everyone was served and started eating.

“
I wanted to put you all on notice, I have a friend coming into town in a week.”

“
A friend? Like a boyfriend?” Jess asked suspiciously.

Teri considered throwing something at him but smiled patiently instead
, just like she used to at her kids when they were small and asked prying questions.

“
Wait, what?” Dev looked up at Jess, then at her. Teri took a breath and told herself to just back up. She addressed the group as a whole, careful not to single out her son.

“
A few months ago I met someone. He wanted to get to know me better. I was a hesitant at first. I’ve been out of that game for awhile, but I saw him again in Miami and we had a nice lunch.”

“
And dinner,” Nicholas added. She shot him a brief look to shut up.

“
And dinner. Then he flew to London to see me, and I stopped over in New York, and we -”

“
Why not here?” Dev interrupted.

“
He lives in New York.”

“
So why Miami?” Jess asked.

“
Why Miami? Hell, why
London
?” Dev asked, his voice rising in pitch and volume. She waved her hand to shush him.

“
I was – no, he – you know what? Never mind that. The point is, he hasn’t been back in Seattle because he was giving me time and space,” Teri continued.

“
Didn’t want to make you think he was a stalker,” Jess nodded knowingly. Kenny elbowed Jess hard in the ribs. Jess gave a small ‘oof’ as Kenny nearly knocked the wind out of him.

“
What? He’s a stalker? I thought he was only calling,” Bryan said, and Teri realized Paul had been calling nearly every night. She wasn’t sure whether to be concerned that out of six teenagers even one noticed, or that
only
one noticed.

“
A stalker?” Dev started to stand. She waved her hand at him to sit back down and brought her mind back to the problem at hand.

“
Oh, Dev, stop. It’s kind of romantic,” Cassie dismissed her little brother’s concern.

“
What?” Dev asked, horrified.

“
What?” Kenny asked at the same time in disbelief.

Bryan
snickered into his root beer.

Cassie elaborated with Tiffany nodding dreamily by her side.
“Mom playing hard to get and Paul flying all over begging for a moment of her attention.”

“
Paul? You knew about this? How come
she
knows?” Dev demanded, turning to Teri and standing to stare down at her. The panic was gone, but Teri wasn’t fond of the outrage that replaced it. She kept her cool.

“
I spoke to Cassie when I decided to stay over in New York. Miami wasn’t planned, London wasn’t planned. New York was, so I explained. Sit please.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me?” Dev reluctantly sat.

“
You didn’t answer the phone.”

“
Why didn’t Cassie tell me?”

“
You wouldn’t have listened. Can we get back on topic please? What I’m trying to say is Paul Lovett is flying in next week and I want you boys to be -”

“
Us boys?
What about them?” Dev was on his feet again pointing at his sister.