Maybe it was my table, too. How often did the family oddball know they were the oddball? Hmmm. “Am I weird?”
“Yes,” Pauley said, separating his corn and salad with a knife.
I chuckled and dug into my macaroni salad. It was Nana O’Shea’s recipe, and she still thought her several tablespoons of sweet pickle juice was a secret, so we let her have that one.
“Man, he’s hot,” Tessa said over her glass of tea.
I didn’t need to look, but I did anyway. Nick stood over by the barbecue talking with my dad. He was just as spectacular out of his suit, wearing dark jeans and a black golf shirt with a logo from a Palm Desert course. It stretched nicely across his chest, and the hand holding a beer bottle looked strong. Masculine. “You’d make a nice couple,” I said, ignoring the stress that would put on me since I worked for the guy.
She coughed. “I was talking about you. Geez. Can you see me with a guy like that?”
I paused and turned to stare at her. “Yes.” Tess was smart and kind and wild. Truly beautiful with red-blonde hair and green eyes. “Why not?”
She shrugged and took a bite of her burger. “He’s a lawyer.”
I rolled my eyes. “So am I. It’s not that hard.” Then I sighed. Tess had a hang-up because she hadn’t gone to college, and I just didn’t get it. “You’re really smart.”
“I know.” She set the burger down.
But she didn’t. Not really. It was weird to be in the position of trying to encourage my older sister. She’d always been my protector, just as fierce as Donna. “Tess. If you’re having a hang-up about college, go get a degree. If not, then don’t confuse education with intelligence. Some of the dumbest people I know are lawyers.”
“Like you,” Pauley snorted.
I shared a smile with Tessa. A joke from Pauley, a real joke, was a rare and special treat. “I’ll think about it,” Tessa said. “Though I’m not sure I want to spend four years learning about business. I might want to just start one.”
“Really?” I chewed thoughtfully. “That’s awesome. What kind of business?”
“I’ll let you know when I decide,” she said.
I nodded. “Fair enough. For now, make sure you have tomorrow afternoon off. I got us spa appointments—on me.”
She frowned. “On you?”
“Yeah. Part of a case.” I filled her in on what I could, and her eyes glimmered with the excitement of going undercover. Kind of, anyway. I had just finished when a shadow crossed our table, and I looked up to see Nick. I swallowed and introduced him to Tessa and Pauley.
He finished shaking hands with Tessa. “I have to get going but thought you could walk me out. Have a couple of thoughts about our cases.”
Our cases. I liked the sound of that way too much and had to remind myself that one of the cases was about Aiden, who’d just kissed me the day before. Really well.
“Sure.” I stood and took my paper plate over to the garbage. My legs were a little tingly. There were a zillion good-looking guys in the world, but this one was smack dab in the middle of mine. And I didn’t know a thing about him—not really. “Good idea.”
You’d think leaving a family barbecue, one held every Sunday, would be easy and quick to do. You’d be wrong. It took nearly twenty minutes for Nick to make it from my table, across the lawn, and finally through the house, saying goodbyes and coming up with plans. Finally, we stepped outside and walked toward the Koi pond.
“It was nice of your family to invite me,” he said.
“I work for you and you’re single,” I said easily, dodging over the rocks.
He chuckled. “Yeah. That’s what I figured. Silverville really never changes.”
No. It didn’t. I turned and shielded my eyes from the sun with one hand. “You wanted to talk about the Devlin case?”
“First thing tomorrow,” Nick said, the sun behind him creating a fit outline of his muscled body. “We’ll set up a war-room and go over the information I received from the county police about Scot Peterson as well as Aiden Devlin, since I believe the cases are related. I’ve also called in a couple of favors with the DEA for any of their surveillance on Devlin and the Lordes.”
The net was definitely tightening around Aiden. Considering Scot had been killed, was Aiden in danger as well? Was it possible the cases weren’t somehow connected? “I’ll be in