Unbreakable (10 page)

But I'm upset, too!
Nina's mind wailed. But outwardly she remained silent in the face of her grandmother's words.

"Do you understand?"

Jacie's eyes flickered to Nina, and she wondered what she'd say. She'd seen her friend glance longingly at her mother through the door and knew Nina had only barely kept herself from rushing to the woman's side, despite the fact that she was afraid to go inside.

Nina didn't understand at all, but she swallowed hard and mumbled a soft "y-yes" because she could tell that was what her grandmother wanted to hear.

Imogene smiled gently. "That's my brave girl."

It only took them a few moments to be shuffled through the gathered people and into Nina's dark bedroom. They both sat down on the bed, not knowing what to say. Only a handful of heartbeats had passed when the bedroom door opened slowly and Agnes Chilton came inside.

"Nina?" she whispered brokenly, her throat raw from crying.

"Oh, Mommy," Nina jumped off her bed and propelled herself into her mother's legs, wrapping her entire body around her much the way she'd done with her grandmother. "I knew you wouldn't l-l-leave without say-saying goodbye!"

Jacie smiled in relief and felt a twinge of jealousy even under these terrible circumstances. She wasn't at all sure her mother or father would have come to her if the situations were reversed. Her father forever had his face in the newspaper and her mother seemed to be more concerned with her social life within their church than anything else.

Jacie could see Nina's father standing in the doorway, watching his wife and daughter with hollow eyes. But the man made no move to be part of the physical comfort nor to join in the softly spoken words of love and compassion. His tear-filled gaze lifted to meet Jacie's and he gave her a curt nod. Jacie took it to mean she had permission to stay the night.

Finally, Mr. Chilton whispered something into Agnes's ear and, with a tender pat on Nina's head, the adults were gone, leaving the girls alone in the room where no one had bothered to turn on the light.

The dark wasn't so scary when they were together and the window provided enough light to see into the shadows.

"Are… are you okay, Nina?" It seemed like a stupid question and Jacie kicked herself for not being able to think of anything better to say.

"I-I don't think so."

"Oh." Jacie felt like she was floundering. "Do you wanna take off your makeup?" Nina's tears had painted stripes through the black makeup and the haphazard effect actually made Nina look more like a real hobo than she had before, but Jacie knew its cause and hated it. The white streaks of pale skin nearly glowed in the blue-tinted moonlight and she thought idly that Nina's freckles had somehow disappeared.

Nina nodded and accepted Jacie's pillowcase/would be trick-or-treat bag. Without water the cloth only served to smear the makeup around her cheeks, but neither girl particularly cared and the attempt to get clean was half-hearted at best.

Silently, Nina pulled her nightgown from her top drawer while Jacie shrugged out of her Halloween costume. She let Jacie pick from her pajamas; the auburn-haired girl selected a baby-blue nightshirt with a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front. She didn't particularly like Mickey, so she turned the shirt inside out.

They crawled into Nina's twin bed together, and Nina snuggled close, wanting and receiving unconditional comfort from her friend. Jacie, she realized, acted tough, but when it came down to it, she was kind and gentle and it was a shame that no one knew that but her and maybe the other girls in their club.

"Will your m-mom get mad?" Nina whispered into the dark, holding Jacie close and trying not to think of her sister in a coffin like Dracula, or whether it hurt to die, or if something extra creepy happened to a person who died on Halloween.

Jacie pulled up the bed sheet, mindful of its incredible power; knowing that nothing could hurt them if it was pulled all the way up to their eyes. "When we were on our way to your room I told your granny my phone number." Her breath caused the sheet to billow in front of her mouth. "She said she'd call my mom for me. My folks won't care if I stay." It would be, Jacie realized, the first time she'd ever stayed the night here without Katy or Gwen or Audrey being here, too.

"I'll n-never see Ja-janet again."

There was a long pause before Jacie tried to be convincing and said, "Maybe in heaven you will."

Nina hitched herself on one elbow, worried eyes boring into Jacie. "You don-don't think there is one?"

"There could be, I guess," Jacie allowed slowly, not wanting to dash Nina's obvious hopes. She figured she was going to be worm food, just like animals were when they died. Plus, she'd stopped believing anything her preacher said when she'd caught her mother having to slap the old man's hand away when they were supposed to be in the church office counting the weekly donations.

"Hmm…" Jacie's answer wasn't all she'd hoped for, but it was better than an outright no. Nina's heart began to pound as she considered the possibility of truly never seeing her sister again. And someday her parents would die, too. And all her friends. It was too much and her chest jerked with a sob, startling Jacie with her sudden outburst. "I'm sorry I wrecked Hal-Hal-Halloween!"

Helplessly, she started to cry again and Jacie felt the salty tears dampen her nightshirt. Unbidden, Jacie's own tears came, but it was dark and Nina was crying so hard herself that she didn't feel embarrassment. "It's okay, Nina." Her chest felt heavy and she adjusted her casted arm, moving it in case that was the problem. It didn't help and she tried to think of something to make Nina feel better. Anything. "It's not your fault."

"I know," Nina sobbed out. "But I-I'm still s-sad."

Jacie didn't tell her not to cry. If she'd had a sister who died, she figured she'd be sad, too. So instead, she cried with her friend for a very long time.

The moon hung higher in the sky by the time the last of the snuffles had turned into soft hiccups and then even those melted into quiet breaths as an exhausted sleep began to steal over them. "I'm sorry about your sister," Jacie finally whispered, realizing she hadn't said it yet, though she'd been thinking it all night. Her voice was a little raspy and her dark eyes trained themselves on the window as she spoke. "She was really cool, right?"

Nina nodded a little and this time when her eyes slid closed they stayed that way. She felt safe with her head resting on Jacie's shoulder and the stomachache she'd had since she'd seen the police car in her driveway was beginning to ease. Her whispered voice was slurred with sleep. "Almost as cool as you, Jacie."

Present Day
Clayton, Missouri

In Nina's mind her sister would forever be a teenager and Jacie, no matter what, would always be her hero.

The silence in the room stretched out for a few moments as Agnes and Nina stayed lost in their own thoughts.

It was Agnes who was first to pull herself from the past. "Well…" She exhaled slowly and let the memories fade firmly back into the recesses of her mind. "I hope you reconsider meeting with your old friends." She jingled her keys lightly. "But it's your social life, honey. Well, at least that part of it is yours. The romantic part I'm meddling in–whether you want me to or not."

Nina gave her a rueful, lopsided grin. "My good luck just never stops."

Unrepentant, Agnes grinned back. "Too true."

Nina retrieved the last dinner plate from the table and shook her head over the pile of Brussels sprouts still sitting there.

"Why do you bother fixing them? You've hated Brussels sprouts since you were a baby."

"I do hate them. But Robbie loves the nasty things so I always put a little on my plate too and try to stomach one or two." Nina smiled to herself. "It's a small price to pay for someone I love." Moving a glass aside, she placed the plate on the counter and approached her mother. "Good night, Mom."

The phone rang just as she was kissing her mother's cheek.

Agnes waved her off. "Shoo…Go get that before they hang up. I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon."

Nina nodded and offered a final wave before turning off the faucet and running for the phone in the hallway. Even after unpacking every box, she was still missing two phones, a planter, her ice cube trays, and all her white socks. The mysteries of moving never ceased to amaze her.

She leaned against the wall and wiped her wet hands on her t-shirt, wishing her grandmother had believed in dishwashers as she pressed the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

Nothing.

"Helloooo?"

She was met with a long silence. Having run out of patience, Nina was about to hang up when she heard a throat being gently cleared and then what sounded like a dry swallow. "Hello?" she tried one last time, now listening intently out of pure curiosity.

"Nina?"

Blue-green eyes slammed shut as the achingly familiar burr traveled through her ear to pierce her heart. Her knees gave way, and she slid down the wall to the floor, her bottom thumping loudly against the cool wood.

"Nina, is that you?"

She had to swallow a few times before she could speak. "Yeah, Jace," she finally said softly, her world turned upside down. Again. "It's me."

"Nina–"

A surge of panic struck Nina so hard she wasn't even aware of what she was doing. "I can't talk now." She slammed the phone down, panting. It took her only a few seconds for her to regret what she'd done. She moaned. "Brilliant, Nina."

The phone rang again, causing her to jump. She held her breath and with a trembling hand, placed it to her ear, a million unanswered questions roaring in her head. "H-Hello?"

"Hi. Nina?"

Nina exhaled heavily, not sure whether to cry from frustration or relief. The voice on the other end of the line wasn't Jacie's, but it was still as familiar as her own shadow. "Katy Schaub?"

"Are you surprised?"

Nina swallowed thickly. "Yeah. You could say that."

Present Day
Salt Lake City, Utah

"C
OME TO BED."

Audrey frowned as she ran a brush through shoulder-length brown curls. She sat down on a low padded bench, her back to the bed, and stared off into space. The room was dimly lit, and the sounds of crickets and buzzing insects drifted in through the open window. "In a minute, Enrique."

The man sighed and flopped back on his pillow, his longish dark hair falling into his face. "Not in a minute," he said, but there was no heat in his words. "It's late."

Audrey's brushstrokes were short and frustrated, and she grunted as she encountered a small snarl near her left ear. "I don't know where she gets off. Who does she think she is?"

Enrique closed his eyes and yawned. He was wearing a pair of black silk boxers and the bedding felt cool and soft against his skin. "Who gets off?"

"Gwen." Frowning, she set her brush on the table in front of her and turned around to face her husband. Her eyes were flashing. "Who else?"

"Why are you still thinking about her and her invitation?" He threw his arm over his face to block out the weak light spilling from the bedside lamp on his wife's side of the bed.

"Humph." Raising an eyebrow at Enrique, Audrey turned back around and faced the mirror in silence. She picked up the brush again, then changed her mind and set it down in favor of a tin of rose-scented powder.

The man cringed, not needing to see his wife's face to know that the silence that had met his last words was not a good sign. "You know what I think?" he murmured.

"Most of the time." She sprinkled some powder into her upturned hand and tugged on the string that held closed the front of her nightgown, partially exposing her chest.

"Funny." He sat up and looked at the mirror, catching her gaze in the reflection. "I think you want to go." The rest of what he was going to say completely fled his mind as he realized where Audrey intended to apply her powder. His eyes darkened a shade.

Audrey's mouth dropped open and the hand that had been on the way to her neck and chest froze.

Enrique frowned.

"I do not!"

"Sure you do," he insisted absently, still avidly watching his wife's unintentional but surprisingly erotic display. "I love you so much and you are so beautiful."

"Err… thanks, honey." She was a little surprised by his sudden declaration of devotion. But she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth either. With a delicate touch, she applied a small bit of powder to her neck, then her hand drifted slightly lower and Enrique stifled a groan.

"Here," he scrambled down the bed and jumped off, tripping over his own feet as he stood. "Let me help you."

Audrey's eyebrows lifted and she glanced up at Enrique who was already at her side. "Are you okay? God, I haven't you seen you move that fast in ages." She gave him a confused look. "I don't really need any more pow–"

"A little more is always okay, right?" he asked eagerly, nodding in answer to his own question. "It can't hurt."

"Well, I guess it can't–"

Deciding he'd been granted permission, he snatched up the tin of powder. What he didn't realize was the lid was already off. Powder flew everywhere, but mostly over Audrey. "Oops."

"Enrique!" She waved her hand through the thick cloud of powder that now hovered around her head. And she began to cough.

"Sorry, sorry. Here, let me rub that in." He reached out for her with both hands, his fingers spread wide apart and a sexy smile curling sensual lips.

"Enrique, you pervert!"

"Whaaaat?" he complained, trying to look innocent. "I'm helping."

She started to laugh, but soon that shifted into violent coughing. Then a split second before his hands reached their prize, she slapped them away.

"Oh, come on." His voice was pleading. "I'm a good helper!" He blew a stream of air in Audrey's face, trying to disperse the powder, but only managed to send more of it up her nose and into her lungs.

"I don't need anymore–" A cough. "Of your." A cough. "Help." Then her face twisted. "Aaaaaaaaaaachu!"