‘You do know how much I appreciate everything you do for me, don’t you?’
‘Mmmmhmmm.’
When she didn’t reply with actual words, I looked at her again. With some expert planning on her part, her mouth was now full of pins and she had effectively found her way out of the conversation.
‘But it’s not necessary, I’m not your problem.’
Her kind eyes, framed by her ridiculously long lashes, found mine and she hurriedly took out all the pins from her mouth.
‘You’re right, you aren’t my problem, you’re my family. I promised your aunt when she popped her clogs that I’d always look out for you, you know that. You help me and I help you, that’s how we work.’
‘I know.’ I sniffed, trying to dislodge the feeling of helplessness that engulfed me.
I had been her neighbour ever since my mom had taken too many pills and checked out of her life, and I’d moved in with my aunty. But given our ages I knew I was the one that should be providing for her. I did at times, but right now I was going through another bad patch and without anything being spoken between us, she instinctively seemed to recognise it. For the past couple of months, she had been providing most of my meals, saying they were new recipes she was trying out and she’d cooked too much, or that the flavour wasn’t to her liking. I knew better, but indebted to her I hadn’t questioned her lies. Because ever since my aunty had died ten years ago leaving me her condo, this is what we did for each other. Our relationship was like a seesaw, when she struggled with her depression I was there for her, when I struggled with my gambling addiction she supported me.
‘Have you spoken to Brody?’
‘No, I can’t. This time I need to sort it out myself. I know you think I should call him, but I can’t.’
‘He’d want to help, Bee.’
‘He’s far too busy with his own life.’ I didn’t mean to sound so accusing, but even I heard the bitterness in my voice. Our lives couldn’t have been more different now, yet once all we had was each other. We’d been two American kids growing up in England on a USAF base and our family had been falling apart, making us cling to each other. But he had moved on, leaving me behind him and floundering in his wake. He was the lead singer with one of the U.S.’s top rock bands, Default Distraction, and was travelling the world. Whereas I was struggling to hold down a croupier’s job in Vegas with no disposable income, and an addiction to gambling that was threatening to engulf me. Sure, he’d thrown money at me before, paid for rehab and got me out of debt. Then once I was dealt with, he’d pulled himself away from having any real regular contact. Right now, we were back to Christmas cards and the money he would put into my bank account on my birthday. Somehow, I always managed to find myself back in trouble and this time I wasn’t going to be asking him to bail me out.
Shaking my head, I dislodged my melancholy thoughts.
I walked the few steps over to where she sat, placed a quick kiss to the top of her soft hair and moved away quickly. I knew that no matter how much she liked the affection she would chastise me afterwards, as her life hadn’t taught her how to willingly accept human contact.
‘Get off, you dafty, you need to get to work, your shift is eight p.m. until three a.m. isn’t it?’
‘You been checking my diary, Pearl?’
‘I just like to know when you’ll be home, that’s all.’
She stopped pinning the material for a second and looked up at me. At the same time my phone pinged with an incoming text message. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I glanced quickly at the words on my screen.
Your time is up. I want my money by tomorrow.
I read the words hurriedly and tried not to show Pearl my reaction to them.
‘Yes, that’s my shift. I’ll come straight home, I promise,’ I answered Pearl.
Then I looked down and typed quickly into my phone.
I’ll get it.
I pressed send and hastily dropped the phone back into my pocket as if holding on to it any longer might cause it to brand its cautionary threat into my palm.
‘Never make a promise you can’t keep, Barbara. I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Pearl called out as I left her condo quickly, fighting the rising panic inside me.
Chapter Three
Nico (present day)
I closed the zip on my brown leather holdall and knowing I was still expected to have dinner with my grandmother before I left to fly home, I left it on the bed. I hated to admit it, but I was enjoying my bi-monthly visits to see her more and more. My property on this beautiful island was nearly ten months old now and I felt more comfortable here every time I came to visit. Crossing the room, I went to look out of the window at the views I knew I’d miss the moment I touched back down into the dry heat of Vegas.
A tap on my bedroom door caught my attention and I turned around to answer it.
‘Yes.’
‘Mr. Morello, Mrs. Morello wanted me to let you know your friend Carter has arrived.’
I felt my forehead crease into a frown as I puzzled on the maid’s words.
Trip was early?
‘Thanks,’ I replied and hearing him laugh with my grandmother, I took the stairs two at a time to find out what was going on. I reached the bottom of the stairs, crossed the large tiled hallway and found them both in the kitchen.
Sure enough, I found Trip resting his long, lean frame over the huge island in the centre of the room, wearing his navy Pilot’s uniform and twirling his white cap over and over on one of his fingers. I could see by the way my grandmother was fawning over him and the phone he was holding out in his other hand for her to look at, that he was showing her updated photos of his four-year-old son, Bruce, and his beautiful wife Kendall.
‘There you are, Nico. Come and see the new photos of Carter’s family.’
Trip looked sideways up at me and grinned. Out of my grandmother’s view, I shook my head and mouthed, ‘Asswipe’ at him.
‘Sure.’ I reluctantly walked nearer to them and held out my hand for his phone. I moved the phone to get a better look at the two people I knew I’d find there. The image on the screen that met my eyes showed his beautiful wife, Kendall, holding Bruce, sat on the beach near to where they lived. She was a beautiful woman and their son was apparently as good looking as his dad, or so Trip said. But, it did nothing for me. Maybe I hadn’t been made in the same way everyone else seemed to have been, but I really couldn’t see the attraction of linking up into a monogamous relationship and producing small replicas of yourself. Because, even with all the best care in the world, they could end up inheriting our defective DNA and become yet another bastard in the Morello family lineage.
It all ends here, because it has to. I shook my head to dislodge my thoughts.
‘They’re very nice,’ I offered, trying to make my voice lighten up.
‘Honestly, Nico, look at them harder, see the joy there, feel their love for each other,’ my grandmother encouraged. ‘You do see it, don’t you?’ she questioned with a pain threading through her tone which let me know that even at thirty-five years old I still concerned her. She worried that perhaps her grandson was so broken he actually couldn’t feel or see exactly what love was. She was right to worry, because I was convinced it was the one hundred percent truth, although I’d never admit it to her.