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“They’re out by the pool.” She points to the wall of windows and Renie and Nicolas on the other side.
“Where’s he?”
Scarlett shrugs. Keeping tabs on Redix isn’t her job. And disclosing her client’s personal life could make her lose it.
I walk across the living room and notice the furniture Redix has bought. That hurts. We were supposed to pick it out together. We were supposed to do a lot of things together.
“Hey,” I call out to Renie when I open the sliding glass door and step onto the pool deck.
“Well, hey, yourself.” She sits up taller on her lounge chair.
“Hey, Cade!” Nicolas shouts from the diving board.
“Hey, buddy!” I shout back.
He jumps in and swims to the side while I sit beside Renie and quietly update her on Derek and the other cases in New York.
“I guess when I’m honest with myself,” Renie tells me with her eyes glued to Nicolas, “he did it to me, too. I never did say no, but I never said yes either, and he sure didn’t ask. I was too drunk and later too devastated to admit it.”
“You’re not alone, unfortunately,” I reply. “It sadly happens like that a lot. You’re not to blame. It’s the criminal who didn’t ask for consent who is.”
“I know that now,” she says. “Nicolas!” She shouts. “Stop running!”
He’s throwing a beach ball in the heated pool and running around the wet edge to the diving board to jump on it.
“But at least I got him.” Renie can’t help but smile.
Nicolas is a cute boy. He’s got her DNA and laughing eyes. He doesn’t look a bit like his evil father. No, he looks a lot like Redix did at that age, which melts my heart. I want to ask her where Redix is. Maybe he’s on set, but I don’t.
“He didn’t come home last night.” She reads my mind. “He’s never done that before, and it scares me. Makes me worry he’s drinking again.”
“I’m sure he’s fine.”
Did I want to know that? That Redix stayed out last night. He’s not drinking again. I can sense that. But who was he with? Silas, I hope. Not with that woman.
“Nicolas!” He’s running again. “That’s the last straw, young man. You’re in time out.” Renie jumps up like the good mother she is. “You’ve got five minutes,” she tells him. “Sit right there on that chair.” She turns back to me. “I gotta get him a dry towel. I’ll be right back.”
She disappears inside while I smile at Nicolas. His knees bounce, and goosebumps rise across his skinny shoulders in the cool spring breeze.
“Watcha doing here, Cade?” he asks. “How come you don’t come over no more?”
Because I love your uncle so much, I sacrificed our future together so he could have one.
“I’m just catching up with your mom,” I say. “Sorry, buddy. Sometimes work keeps me busy, too.”
“Let me show you my new trick!” He jumps up like he already forgot he’s in trouble, and he’s fast.
Running around the pool’s edge again, I shout, this time at his wet feed padding across wet pavement, “Nicolas! Stop running, please!”
And it happens so fast. Like we feared it would. He slips. Falling over the edge as he turns its corner, he smacks into the water after knocking his skull against the pool’s concrete edge.
“Nicolas!” I jump up.
Without a thought, I dive in. He’s knocked out cold, and blood smokes in the water around his tiny head. I get to him fast and flip him on his back so he can breathe.
“Nicolas!” Renie shouts, running back outside.
“Call nine-one-one,” I tell her, swimming with his tiny body to the pool steps. “He’s breathing, but call them.”
