By one of those curious quirks of Fate or whatever, as Robert was barrel-assing up the mountain in his brand-new pickup pursuing DJ, Nikki was driving down the mountain with Cas in her compact Honda at a more leisurely rate of speed. She intended to show him the place where the road would be so he could understand what all the fuss was about. That he would be with her, alone, in the woods, on a beautiful, warm spring day with no one else around for miles, was a perk. It was certainly not the reason she had suggested this little outing. Not at all.
The real reason had more to do with avoiding the empty Band House and another scene like that of the night before.
Cas, for his part, was content to be where he was and with whom he was – at least for this moment he was. He liked Nikki. In fact, the more time he spent with her, the more he liked her. For a beautiful girl, she was surprisingly unspoiled. He couldn’t imagine her having a tantrum over somebody spilling wine on her dress, for example.
More important, she seemed to genuinely like him still, and it had been 24 hours. That was usually when the girls he spent time with began to have doubts. Nikki had doubts but fewer now than the night before, and that was a whole new experience for Cas. He was starting to relax. He was starting to enjoy it. He was starting to enjoy her. Anywhere she wanted to take him was fine. Morocco would be a good start.
“What the hell–?” Nikki exclaimed suddenly.
Cas came out of his reverie in time to watch a pickup truck zoom by them doing at least 80. Uphill. “That truck must have a hell of an engine in it,” he said.
“That was Robert’s truck,” Nikki said. “He doesn’t drive like that. Unless–“
“Unless what?”
“Unless something is wrong,” she answered slowly. “He’s Amos and Molly’s grandson and their farm is down that way. He could be coming from there.”
“You think something’s happened to one of them? Accident, heart attack, something like that?”
“Why else would he be driving so fast? But that doesn’t make any sense. He’s going the wrong way. The nearest hospital’s in Winslow and the nearest doctor is in Tully. Wilbur doesn’t have either one. If somebody was hurt or sick, he’d be going down the mountain, not up.”
“You’re a detective, too,” Cas said with genuine admiration. “So what do you want to do about this little mystery? Solve it or forget it?”
“What do you want to do?”
“This is your turf, kid. And your car. I’m just along for the ride.”
She pulled the car onto the narrow shoulder and jerked to a stop. “You can be the most frustrating man!” she cried. “We’re together, aren’t we?”
“Yes, but–”
“Then quit acting like you’re not here and it’s none of your business and anyway you’re on your way to Australia.”
“What?”
“Are you just going to watch life roll by forever or are you going to join in at some point and be part of it?”
“Nikki–“
She took a deep breath, lowered her voice, and spoke as calmly and rationally as she could considering how badly she wanted to scream. “You’re with me. Here. We’re in the car together. We experience something together. I tell you it might be important and you go out of your way to tell me it’s not your problem. Are you always this–” she grappled for the right word “–disengaged? Look, I’m asking you what you think. You’re the thinker here, not me. So pretend like you’re a living person and think.”
“You were doing fine.”
She reached for the key in disgust. “Forget it.”
He stopped her by taking her hand, an act that surprised even him because he hadn’t known he was going to do it. “Nikki. I have a feeling I’m losing you here, and I don’t know why and I don’t know what to do to stop it but– I want to stop it. I don’t want to lose you, not like this.”
She smiled but it was awfully small and awfully quick. “Cas, I think you’re a good man and I think maybe I love you but from what I’ve seen so far I’m not sure it would make any difference one way or the other. You seem to live your life as if it was happening to someone else. It isn’t. It’s happening to you. Do you think you might get around to noticing that one of these days? Because if the answer is no, that’s a really big rabbit hole to go jumping down, and no matter how I feel about you I think I’d rather not.”
“I understand,” he said.
“Wrong answer, kid,” she said sadly, and reached for the key again.
“I think,” he said, forcing it out in short bites because he hadn’t had time to formulate it fully and research all the variables, “I think we’ve already lost any chance to tail the truck anyway, and I think– I think if Molly and Amos are what’s important, I think maybe we should go there and see if everything is alright. That’s what I think.”
Nikki stared at him, a light in her slate blue eyes that he couldn’t read. “Cas. You did it.”
“I did?”
“You did. You sonuvabitch. I asked you to and you did.”
“Well, I–“
She wasn’t about to give him the chance to take it back if that’s what he was going to do, so she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him so hard he felt his molars touch the back of his throat. When she finally let go of him to breathe, she was lit from within like a full moon had taken up residence in her chest. “I do love you,” she said. “I think. Do you think you might be in love with me? Just a little?”
“Nikki, I– We just met. I mean, I know we knew each other in high school – sort of – but we’ve really only had about 24 hours together and we hardly know each other really and–“
She squeezed his hand and backed away. “Alright. You’re right. You think we need to take more time to get to know each other and you’re absolutely right. We should. That’s fair.”
“Yes–“
“I said it was. I’m agreeing with you.”
“No–“
“No what? Yes, no, yes, no. You’re not going to start dithering again, are you?”
“Yes. I mean, no. You don’t understand.”
“Enlighten me,” she said, and it was a clear challenge.
“I meant, yes.”
“Yes, it’s fair?”
“No. Yes, I think–“
“What? You think what?”
“I think–I might be in love with you, too,” he mumbled.
She laughed and kissed him again, gently this time. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“You’ll never know,” he sighed.
She shook her head and started the car. “This is what they call a Red Letter Day,” she said. “I got Cas Girard to commit himself. Twice. I’m a goddamn miracle worker, I am. Let’s go make sure Molly’s alright.” She hit the gas and sped down the hill faster – if that’s possible – than Robert drove up it.
