Nearlyweds (18 page)

T
he flowers started arriving at nine a.m. on Friday morning. Roses, poinsettias, irises…every hour, on the hour. Ted, the delivery guy from Florrie’s Flowers, walked into my shop with a new bouquet. Ted and I developed a chummy rapport as the morning went on.

“Here’s another one,” he announced at noon, hefting a glass vase full of pink tulips onto the counter. “Nice. Spendy. Tulips are tough to get this time of year.”

“Thanks.” I glanced around the shelves, trying to figure out where I could fit another lavish arrangement. The smell of rawhide and kitty litter had been overpowered by sweet, rich florals. “They’re beautiful.”

“Yeah, well, wait till you see the one o’clock delivery.” Ted tapped his pen against his clipboard. “It’ll really knock your socks off. Hope you like Casablanca lilies.”

“I do, but I feel awful for you, having to trek back here every hour. Why don’t you just drop the whole order off at once?”

“Can’t. Your husband left very specific instructions—he wants ’em delivered one at a time, all through the day. Either you’re a very lucky woman, or he must’ve done something really bad.”

I smiled sweetly. “He’s not my husband.”

Ted winced. “Must’ve been really, really
bad.”

“You have no idea.” I waved good-bye as Ted headed for the door, then sternly ordered Cash to “Leave it” as he wandered up and started sniffing the tulips. Stella had asked if she could leave the dog with me for the day while she worked at the preschool, and I’d said sure. He was a good dog (well, he tried, at least) and I needed the company.

“Mr. Basketball Star thinks he can make me forget all about the last six months with a few dead plants,” I said to Cash. “But we’re not so easily bought, are we?”

Cash licked his chops and fixed the poinsettias with a hopeful stare.

“Forget it, those are poison. I told your mom I’d take good care of you.” He trudged over to the dog bed behind the counter and curled up to pout.

“I know, you’re so deprived.” I straightened up as the door chimes tinkled and Mindy Janowitz walked in. Tall, blonde, and a size six even after having two children, Mindy still looked like the cheerleader she’d been in high school. She was married to one of Nick’s high school buddies and had no doubt heard all about the war raging in the Keating household.

“Hey, Mindy, how’s it going? Did your dog like the grain-free kibble?”

“Oh yes, she loved it. And her ear infections cleared right up.” She paused, looking expectantly at me.

“Good.” If she was waiting for me to volunteer some new gossip to spread around town, she was going to be disappointed. “So what can I help you with today? I just got in some great all-natural training treats. They’re made with liver and free-range chicken…”

She appraised the bouquets with the practiced eye of a long-time marital mercenary. “Wow, these are gorgeous, Casey. Are they from Nick?”

“Yeah.”

Her eyes widened. “So that’s how he got permission.”

I blinked. “For what?”

“To go deer hunting with Rick and Gil down at the pond.”

I felt like the top of my skull was about to blow off. “Nick went
deer hunting
? Like, with a
gun
? Are you sure?”

Her grin vanished. “Uh-oh. I thought you knew.”

“Where the hell did he get a gun?” I demanded. “And why isn’t he at work?”

“God, I’m sorry; I thought you knew. Me and my big mouth.”

“I will kill him.” I seethed. “
Kill him
.”

“Okay, well, gotta run. Bye!” Mindy fled out the door and around the corner.

I grabbed the vase of roses and dumped it in the trash can
with a crash that roused the dog from his nap. Then I snatched the card out of the arrangement of tulips, preparing to call the florist and cancel all afternoon deliveries.

But before I could pick up the receiver, the phone rang.

Stay calm, be professional
. “Good afternoon, Alden Pet Supply.”

“Casey? It’s Nick.”

I hung up. Thirty seconds later, the phone rang again. I let the call go to voice mail. But the phone kept ringing. And ringing. And ringing.

Finally, I let my rage get the better of me and snatched up the receiver. “
What?
”

“Don’t hang up!”

“Give me one good reason why not.”

“Because I love you?” He sounded like a man on his way to the gallows.

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“Casey, come on. Don’t do this.”

“You have thirty seconds to make your case,” I snapped. “After that, I am taking the phone off the hook.”

“Did you get my flowers?” he asked.

“Yes, actually, I did. But all the flowers in the world aren’t going to make up for what you’re out doing right now.”

Silence.

“Uh-huh.” My voice shot up about two octaves. “I ran into Mindy Janowitz. She told me all about your little bonding trip with the guys.”

He exhaled slowly. “I know it sounds bad—”

“Yeah, it does. So you might as well tell me. Did you blow Bambi’s mom away yet?”

“I’m not shooting anything,” he insisted. “Swear to God.”

“Oh please. You honestly expect me to believe you took the day off work and headed into the woods with a rifle, but you’re not shooting anything?”

“That’s right.”

“So the rifle’s for self-defense? Against the deer?”

“No.” He was getting surlier by the second. “I came out to Waronoke Pond because I needed some guy time. To think about stuff. I needed to get out of my parents’ house. My dad’s driving me crazy. And yeah, I borrowed a rifle from Rick because that’s what you’re supposed to have when you go hunting. But I’m not shooting anything!”

“Nick. How stupid do you think I am?”

“I don’t think you’re stupid, Case; I’m telling the truth. I’m sitting here in the tree stand, talking to you on my cell phone while Rick and Gil are off tracking some wily ten-point buck! How could I talk on my cell phone if I was trying to sneak up on a deer?”

Hmm. A decent point.

“I’m going to prove myself to you,” he insisted. “What do you think all the flowers are about?”

“Guilt.” I paused. “And your desire to continue eating my homemade apple crisp.”

He laughed. “Your apple crisp is pretty damn good. But that’s not why I want to stay married to you.”

I cut him off before he could even start down that road. “Forget it, Nick, no. And any chance you had of saving this relationship died a gory death when you went out in the forest to slaughter innocent animals.”

“For the last time. I am not slaughtering anything, except my dignity. I am sitting here on the tree stand, freezing my butt off and thinking about you. I miss you. Please take me back.”

“Stop,” I said softly.

“You want me to beg? Fine, I’ll beg. I don’t care! Rick and Gil are miles away by now, it’s just me and my cell phone in the middle of nowhere. So fine, Casey, I will beg for you if that’s what you want.” I heard the rustling of bulky winter clothing and the creak of old wood. “Here I am, getting down on my knees—”

The explosive crack of a gunshot thundered through whatever he’d been about to say.

I pressed the phone close to my ear. “Nick?”

He didn’t respond.

“
Nick?
” The roar of blood in my ears drowned out the silence on the other end of the line.

I commenced hyperventilating. Cash trotted over to investigate.

“Nick?” Shouting into the receiver hadn’t gotten me any results so far, but maybe if I kept getting louder, my luck would change. “Are you okay? Answer me, Nick.
Answer me!
”

There was a faint, faraway groaning noise from his end of the line. My heart started beating again. He wasn’t dead.

Yet.

“Come on.” I clipped a leash onto Cash’s collar, locked up the store, and dashed out to my truck. “We’re going to Waronoke Pond. Let’s hope there’s some tracking dog in you, buddy.”

I found Rick Janowitz’s red SUV parked by the side of the road near the trail leading to the pond. Muddy footprints were tracked through the snowbanks piled by the trail’s entrance, but the warm temperatures over the last few days had melted much of the snow on the ground.

“Okay.” I let Cash take a good sniff around the SUV. “There’s the scent you’re looking for. Do your thing.”

He looked up at me blankly.

“Come on, let’s go! Time’s a-wasting!”

More blank staring. He sat down and whined for a treat.

“No, Cash, it’s not snack time. We need to find Nick. Find Nick!” I tugged the leash and started down the path toward the pond. “He’s got to be around here somewhere.”

We loped toward the pond, stopping to investigate every time Cash showed interest in a new scent.

“Did you find him?” I crouched down to see what the dog was pawing at.

A gray squirrel streaked out from under a gnarled tree stump, and the leash snapped taut as Cash strained to pursue him.

“No!” I cried, dragging the dog back to the path. “This is life and death, and you’re chasing after some stupid squirrel? Let’s go!”

When we reached the frozen pond, there was no sign of Rick, Gil, or Nick. I scanned the foliage but couldn’t find any sign of the tree stand.

So I did what any reasonable woman would do under the circumstances. I started screaming at the top of my lungs.

“Nick!”

His name echoed through the cold, still valley.

“Rick! Gil! Anyone! Hello?”

Cash joined in, howling along in a low, mournful dirge.

I shushed him and cocked my head, listening. But there was nothing. Just me and the dog and the fading afternoon sunlight that would soon give way to darkness.

A whimper escaped my throat. What if I couldn’t find him? What if he was all alone out there, bleeding to death and thinking I didn’t care enough to look for him?

Cash yipped and jerked the leash so hard that he broke free of my grasp. I watched him disappear over the ridge, my terror snowballing into hopeless panic.

Okay. Okay. Stop freaking out and
think.
Maybe racing around the woods screaming bloody murder isn’t the absolute best way to approach this. I should call someone. Erin. She’ll know what to do. She can call the fire department or the EMTs or
somebody
and have them organize a search party.

I fished my cell phone out of my pocket and scrolled through the directory until I found Erin’s number. Ever the go-to girl, she picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Thank God.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you at work right now?”

“No, I’m down at the courthouse with Stella and we’re having a little problem. Well, in actual fact, it’s more of a big problem.”

“Okay, well, I need your help,” I told her. “Nick’s lost in the woods. And I think he might have been shot.”

“Oh my God, who shot him?”

“I’m not sure; he may have shot himself. But anyway, I can’t find him and I need you to—”

“He tried to kill himself because you won’t take him back?”

“No, no, it was an accident,” I explained in a rush. “I think. I don’t know what actually happened because I can’t find him. All I know is that he and his friends were hunting out by Waronoke Pond and he—”

Woof, woof, woof!

I cupped my hand over the cell phone. “Shut up, Cash, I’m trying to do your job here!”

Woof, woof, woof!

And then I heard it: the thin, strangled moaning drifting over from the other side of the ridge.

“Hang on,” I yelled into the cell phone. “Stay on the line, okay? Stay on the line.”

I scrambled up the face of the slope, slipping in the mud. When I reached the top, I saw Cash standing over a body. A body encased in camouflage and bright orange accents, with limbs sprawled out at awkward angles.

“I found him,” I reported to Erin.

“How is he?” she asked.

“He’s not moving.” I fell twice more in my haste to get down the other side of the ridge. When I reached Nick, his eyes were closed and his breathing was labored, but he was alive.

“He’s breathing,” I said. “And I don’t see any blood.”

“None at all? Well, that’s good. If he got shot, you’d expect to see blood.”

“Hang on, I’ll turn him over and check his back.” I reached out to flip him onto his side, but Erin stopped me just in time.

“No! Don’t move him. If he’s got a spinal injury, we don’t want to jostle him around.”

“Well, what should I do?” I made a concerted effort not to start hyperventilating again.

“Stay with him.” She had her ER voice on, brisk and authoritative. “Give me directions to the pond and I’ll call an ambulance.”