Zenith Falling (22 page)

“Joelle how’d you like to come to a party with me?”

Joelle put down the long, gray knitting needles with three inches of yarn trailing off them. She just finished unraveling three rows, at Erica’s
unexpected interruption. Somehow, she knew that Erica’s idea of going to a party wouldn’t be the same as the parties
Zenith
used to have.

“What party?”

“Oh, just a pool party.”

“Who goes to pool parties?”

Erica laughed her breezy laugh, flashing her white teeth. “Kids do. It’s Nick’s niece’s birthday, and they’re having a giant pool party in the condo’s pool. I was invited. One of Nick’s sister’s, Rebecca, and I are pretty friendly. She’s a patient of mine, and she invited me.”

“Is that how you met Nick?”

“Yes. She introduced us. Anyway, I thought you might like to come.”

Joelle wondered on how many levels she could say no. She learned shortly after moving in with Erica, that the building they lived in had a lap pool, used by both Erica and Nick for daily workouts,
to maintain their long, lean, toned bodies and stay looking as great as they did. Joelle never went there, as swimming wasn’t her thing. To her, exercise consisted of walking in and out of the office. But attending a party for Nick’s niece, while accompanying Nick’s ex-girlfriend, and all the while Trina, her ex-bestie was there, looking on? No way.

“Don’t get all worried. Nick thought it was a good idea. Actually, it was Nick’s idea.”

“You asked Nick? You talk to Nick?”

“Sure. We broke up.
We weren’t exiled into leper colonies. We pass each other here and there and talk. Anyway, come on, Joelle. I think a bit of fun would do you good.”

“I don’t have a swimsuit.”

“You do, too! I saw it in your drawer.”

“Okay, but it’s a bad idea. Trina hates me. I ditched her when we were younger.”

“The way I heard it, she quit talking to you when you ended up in foster care, at the point when you needed her support and friendship the most.”

“Did Nick tell you that?”

“Of course, he did.”

“Great. What doesn’t Nick know about me?”

Erica smiled. “You’re coming. You’ve been avoiding him long enough.”

“Why would I be avoiding Nick?”

“I don’t know, why would you? Besides if you don’t go, it will appear to others as very obvious you’re avoiding him, and wouldn’t that be more of a big deal than just going?”

Joelle glared at Erica and Erica laughed. “It’s Saturday afternoon at two o’clock. That couldn’t possibly steal you away from too many other critical engagements.”

Joelle found herself going to a birthday party she dreaded. But Erica had a point, if she didn’t go, it might look like she couldn’t face Nick, and she could. She had to. She was in no position to indulge weird or unexplained feelings for another man, a man who happened to be her boss. Especially since she still had to figure out what she wanted from her own husband. She had absolutely no room, nor any desire for
anyone else
in her life, much less, Nick Lassiter.

Nick entered the large room, with a domed roof of glass
that looked up to the sky, under which their building’s five-lane pool glistened invitingly. The water was unnaturally blue, and looked very alluring. The Lassiter family had gatherings like no other family that Nick knew of. No holidays or birthdays ever went uncelebrated, unclucked over, or were not totally over the top. Today’s party was prompted by his sister, Sophie’s, oldest daughter who was turning thirteen. Poppy was all legs, and rather coltish in her one-piece bathing suit. She was elevated to almost hero status by her cousins just for becoming a teenager. Nick groaned inwardly at that fact. He couldn’t quite believe one of his nieces was already so old. Balloons, presents, and a cake were all set up on a card table in the corner, while myriad girls in confetti-colored swimsuits splashed and screamed in the water.

“Nick
, there you are,” his mother said as he came in. Nick wrapped a long arm around her. She was several inches shorter. He kissed her plump cheek, below her perfectly curled and sprayed brown hair. “Sorry I’m a few minutes late, I was on the phone.”

“You work too much, Nicky. But I know better th
an to pry. What else have you been up to? It seems I’ve hardly heard a word from you.”

He hadn’t been nearly as diligent toward his mother, or his sisters, as he usually was. He buried himself in work,
happily isolated and away from all women. And in all honesty, the break actually felt nice.

“How about dinner on Tuesday?”

“Well, it might be nice to get out. All right, it’s a date. And you’re forgiven,” she said, smiling.

He smiled back. He was predictably putty in any of their hands if they needed or wanted something f
rom him. Even his valuable time.

“So where’s Erica?” his mother asked unexpectedly.

Christ, they wouldn’t let Erica go. They probably invited her here. They were all convinced long ago that Erica was his soul mate, his only match in life, and they had yet to accept he’d been dumped by her.

“Mom we
–”

He
was interrupted by the pool doors opening and a rush of cool air chilling the humid entry. There stood Erica… with Joelle trailing behind, although her pace seemed rather sluggish. Nick nearly groaned out loud. No! Not both of them! He should have known Erica would accept the invitation and probably drag Joelle along. Joelle didn’t look any happier about being there than Nick was to see her. They were, as of late, beyond awkward with each other. They left things between them weird. They were not friends, but what? That was the crux of their discomfort in each other’s presence; and the easiest solution to that problem was mutual avoidance.

Nick stared at Joelle, noting her face was back to normal. All the bruising, even the last
yellowish twinge was gone; leaving her face shining, normal, and healthy. It was a beautiful sight. She also left off most of her usual makeup. Her face was scrubbed clean, and as pretty as any Nick had ever seen.

She wore a black cover-up over what he assumed was a swimsuit. Of course
, it was black; was anything she owned not black? Clutching a white towel at her middle, she appeared to be protecting herself. As always. Even there. Then her eyes met his, and they exchanged a long, intense gaze, before she looked away, blushing. How could a girl with tattoos and piercings in odd places blush simply from mere eye contact?

“Hello
, Nick. How are you?” Erica said as she came up to him. Her long body was outlined by a pretty, white-flowered swimsuit. She kissed his cheek and he smiled and responded in kind. They were already both at ease with each other over being broken up.

The only one ill at ease was Joelle. She was nearly hiding behind Erica’s long body
and kept her eyes glued to the concrete floor in front of her. Nick waited for her to look up. Finally, after the silence stretched on far too long, she did. He lifted the corner of his mouth in a half smile. “Hey, Joelle.”

She swallowed, nodded, and aimed her eyes at the pool, studying his nieces with such intense interest, it made it painfully obvious how forced her reaction was.

“What is
she
doing here?” Trina asked the crowd as she approached them.

“Who? Joelle? She came with me,” Erica said, smiling
at Trina, easily diffusing the situation with her incessantly cheerful voice. “She and I are roommates now; didn’t Nick tell you?”

“
You
are
kidding me?” Trina looked from Nick to Erica to Joelle and back.

“After Nick and I broke up, Joelle needed a place and I had plenty of room.”

Nick wished he had four brothers instead of four sisters, as, at that moment, all four of his sisters glared at him.

“Don’t I know you?” Rebecca asked
. She walked up late in the conversation, having been busy changing her daughters.

“You know her as
Joelle O’Niel.” Trina’s voice was cutting and snide.

“Your old friend? Little Joelle O’Niel? But I’ve seen you somewhere. Yes
! The Al-Anon meetings. I saw you talking to Nick there a few times.”

Joelle
hunched her shoulders, lowering her already short stature even further. She was nearly sinking back into herself. Her nerves were being fueled to anxiety by her fear. Nick was tired of anyone insinuating that they’d done something wrong or weird by attending the Al-Anon meetings. “Yes, I ran into her there, and now she works for me and lives with Erica. It’s no big deal. Let it go.”

All their mouths dropped open like a nest of baby birds waiting on their mama bird to feed them a big, fat worm.

“But how did–”

“Let it go,”
Nick repeated.

“
But–”

“We’re here for Poppy’s
swim party, remember? Why don’t we do that? Let’s swim.”

Nick motioned for Erica to take Joelle
away from his sisters’ curious eyes and their prying, wondering, nosy, catty questions. Especially Trina. Trina just glared at Joelle, and Nick, her face showing her displeasure and jealousy over his involvement, in any way, with her former friend.

Nick took his shirt off, since his swim trunks were already on, and jumped into the middle of eight squealing nieces by doing a large cannonball, much to their delight. As predicted, they screamed and splashed and whined, “Oh Uncle Nick” at him. Laughing and chattering, they all rushed toward him after he stood up in the five feet of water. Each one
of them took turns getting thrown in from off his shoulders. They splashed, played and frolicked with him; and shrieked and cried with joy until he wished his ears could fill up with water. Still, they made him laugh and smile with their girlish, unbridled adoration for him.

All the while, he
studied Joelle, who was off by herself, sitting on the edge of the pool, with her feet dangling in the water to mid-calf, or mid-rose on her tattoo. Her cover-up remained on, and she spoke only when someone addressed her.

Finally disentangling himself from the relentless throng of nieces, Nick swam over to Joelle’s hiding spot. Rising against the wall beside
her, he stood up in the water, which hit him at chest level.

“You afraid of the water?”

“No.”

“Then come in.”

“Not yet.”

“Afraid of me?”
He raised one eyebrow at her.

She stiffened her back.
“No. Of course not.”

“Then prove it. Come in.”

She stared at him, until finally, with a long sigh, she stood up, and lifted her knee-length cover-up over her head. She wore a black swimsuit, a one-piece, and the back was open, revealing the third tattoo, a large butterfly. Its wings spread across her lower back, in various shades of purple, black and red. When she turned, the front of her suit plunged down, over small, but firm breasts before modestly covering her flat stomach.

Until that very moment, he
never really had a clue of her body type. She kept her figure hidden under loose clothes: too big, too black, too insulated to reveal any clue of what she looked like. Now, Nick could see she was delicate and impossibly small-boned, with thin arms, slender legs, smooth, white thighs, a small, tight butt, and narrow, sloping shoulders. She was fragile, pale, and so beautiful.

He instantly forgave himself for staring at her. After all, he’d seen her at her worst, and every which way in between, but never like this. Healthy, normal,
and a woman he’d definitely give a second look to on the beach.

She turned, avoiding his eyes, which she was well aware were on her. She jumped in, splashing him, as she came up, and tried to stand, but the depth of the water was still several inches o
ver her head. She grabbed the edge of the pool to hold herself up.

“Happy now?”

“Quite. So where are the other two?”

Her face scrunched up.
“Other two what?”

“
Tattoos. The butterfly makes three, should I guess what and where the other two are?”

She blushed a massive red bloom that started from her collarbone, and rose up her neck to her cheeks
. He laughed out loud. “Tell me, why does a girl with five tattoos blush when I just mention them?”

“What do you want? Shall I flash you right here? With your thirteen nieces, four sisters, ex-girlfriend, and mother watching us?”

He shrugged, and an easy smile pushed up his lips. “Works for me.”

“
No way.”

“So just tell me then. What and where are they?”

She blew out a breath that fluffed her hair like a breeze. “One of them says
Zenith
, the other is a Chinese symbol that means zenith. And both are somewhere you’ll never see.”

Dunking her head under, she pushed herself off from the wall and Nick returned to the girls. Joelle finally reached a spot in the pool where her toes could touch, but she stayed on the fringes, laughing, but not joining Nick or the others. He swam around some more until he was tired. When he
came to where Joelle stood on her tiptoes, with her body rocking to the waves of water, he stopped, stood up, and grabbed her waist to steady her.

“Are you showing off?”

He smiled. “I was.”

She
smiled back, and her eyes lit up. It made him pause, seeing Joelle laugh, as even her smile was a rare thing. It warmed his heart to see her laughing, smiling, and looking normal. Not looking abused, tired, or stressed. “I never took you for such a show-off.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me. You’ll have to quit avoiding me if you want to find out.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you.”

“Oh right. We live in the same building, work in the same office, and I’ve passed you what? Three times in as many months?”

“I didn’t want to see anyone. Don’t take it personally.”

“Even him?”

Her eyes narrowed and a confused expression overtook her face. “Who? Rob? Yes, even him.”

“Good.”

“I’m glad you’re so sure; I’m not.”

He shifted, and turned, taking her with him, and holding her up when her toes no longer touched the pool’s floor. She grabbed onto his shoulders, having no choice in the matter.
His large body blocked off his family who were frolicking, eating, yelling and screaming.

His hands went around her waist more firmly, and completely. His fingers almost touched when he put his hands around her. H
e dropped his hands lower, rubbing his fingers over the butterfly wings, which were taking flight at the top of her ass. He wanted desperately to follow the butterfly’s descent beneath the black stretchy material. Her eyes grew wide, then wary at his touch, and their sudden proximity to one another. He leaned down so his lips just touched the top of her ear and whispered, “You’re not the only one who’s unsure about things.”

She jerked back, smacking at her ear as if he tickled her, and scowling at him in disbelief.
“When have you ever been unsure about anything?”

“Since the day I met you.”

Her breath caught as his hands moved lower, not doing anything, but staying there, close to her. Her gaze suddenly changed from bewilderment to panic. She always acted like a wild bird, ready to take flight at any moment. “What is this, Nick?”

“A birthday party,” he said, smiling as he suddenly lifted her up and threw her into the water. She came up sputtering, and kicking hard, but inefficiently. She wasn’t a very good swimmer, and hardly managed to hold herself up. She rather crawled through the water th
an swam.

He laughed and swam over, catching her hand
and pulling her to the shallow end. “You’re a terrible swimmer.”

“I’ve only swam about five times in my whole life,” she said
hacking on the chlorine-tainted water.

“Then you should stay here where you can stand up, w
ith the little kids. How tall are you anyway?”