Nerds on Fire (13 page)

They picked up forks and both ate,
sort of. Trixi managed three bites before her stomach sent up
warning signs. She immediately stopped and instead drank her iced
tea. “I need chocolate.” She aimed for the display by the cash
registers.

Mark ended up in front of her and
added several more to her stash. He also sneakily paid for her
bounty. “You don’t have to pay for my chocolate fix.”

“
Why can’t I? You feed us
all the time.” He followed her to their table where he set the
heavily loaded tray across from Leo. Then he distributed the candy
bars.

“
Thank you.” Katy moaned as
she ripped open her bar.

The chocolate went down so smoothly
Trixi stole the last of Mark’s, and watched with some amusement as
Katy wrestled the last of Leo’s. Katy ate it with a triumphant
air.

“
You two had better sleep
tonight,” Mark warned them.

“
Give us a chance to get
through today.” Trixi loved neonatal, but the work was daunting on
a good day. Haziness from lack of sleep did not improve the
situation.

“
I’ve certainly had better
working days.” Katy scrubbed her face.

Trixi went in search of another cup of
coffee, or better yet, a double. She had small patients who were
counting on her and she would give them her very best if it took
all the coffee and chocolate in Hershey.

When they got home that evening, it
was to find an agitated Gran. She tried to hide it, but that she
was worked up was obvious to both of them.

“
What happened?”

“
Nothing.” Gran sounded
firm, but...

“
You’re worried about
something.” Katy brushed hair off her cheek, her full attention on
Gran, as was Trixi’s.

“
There’s no reason for it.”
Gran blew out a frustrated breath.

“
I understand,” Trixi
mumbled.

Since the night and morning had been
offset by broken windows and police, there wasn’t time to think
about supper. Now as she rifled through the fridge, she couldn’t
care less about eating.

“
Let’s just order pizza.”
Katy’s suggestion made sense.

Gran seconded this so Katy ordered it
on her phone. “It’ll be here soon.”

Trixi took out the makings for a
salad, relieved she didn’t have to think about food tonight, other
than this salad.

Katy and Gran helped her and Katy
hurried off to answer the door when the bell rang. Gran set the
table and it didn’t take long for them to eat.

None of them appeared to have much
appetite.

“
I think we all need an
early night.” Gran chased some stray cheese around her plate with
the pizza crust.

Trixi pinned her with a determined
look. “What have you done?”

Gran looked put out. “Nothing you need
to be concerned about, missy.”

“
Gran,” Katy said, huffing
a little.

“
I asked Leecher to come
and watch over the property tonight so we get some
sleep.”

She hadn’t finished speaking before
Trixi relaxed. “A wonderful idea.”

“
I thought so.” Gran patted
her hand and Trixi shared a relieved smile with Katy.

Leecher was a middle-aged man who had
been with the family long before Trixi and was devoted to her
grandmother. There wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for her. What he
lacked in youth he more than made up for in street smarts,
experience, and determination.

“
This means we’ll be useful
tomorrow at work.” So much relief threaded Katy’s voice they could
set a coffee cup on it.

“
Yes, thank goodness.” This
reprieve made her a bit giddy. Trixi took a healthy bite of her
pizza and it actually went down okay.

Both Gran and Katy appeared to be
eating as well. Maybe they weren’t out of the woods yet, but at
least one night of sleep was welcome.

Chapter 14

“
Did you two get some sleep
last night?” Mark demanded as soon as they entered the hospital the
next morning.

Trixi eyed him dubiously.
“Yes.”

He handed her a cup of coffee. She
waved her travel mug at him. Nodding, he drank the one meant for
her instead.

“
What happened last
night?”

“
Leecher, Gran’s
devoted...” Trixi paused because she couldn’t think of what to call
him.

“
Butler, handyman,
chauffeur...” Katy trailed off when both Mark and Leo
nodded.

“
Our parents have one of
those.” Mark and Leo traded a look Trixi couldn’t read, but it
didn’t matter.

“
Anyway, Leecher kept watch
and we all finally got a good night’s sleep.”

“
I only had one interrupted
night. You and Gran have dealt with this off and on for a couple of
weeks,” Katy reminded her.

“
It was nice to get some
real sleep last night.”

Mark’s eyes were narrowed on her face,
but before he could comment, he got paged.

“
Time to get to work.” He
didn’t have to sound so cheerful.

Trixi swallowed more coffee, before
turning toward her unit. It was going to be a high-octane day. She
drained her mug.

“
How’d your morning go?”
Leo asked at lunch as they dropped into the chairs clustered around
the table they usually claimed.

Trixi rifled through her lunch bag as
Katy answered.

“
Still learning the
ropes.”

Yes. Unlike Katy, her placement was
permanent, but it seemed she had so much more to learn.

Leo drank some of Trixi’s tea, and
made a face. “Yeah, I didn’t think I’d like this.”

“
Katy hasn’t decided yet.
But she makes the same face whenever she tries it.” Trixi pried the
lid off her salad container.

Mark sat beside her and helped himself
to her bottle of salad dressing. He stirred his and then began
eating.

Katy helped herself to Leo’s tea and
then stared at her salad. “Trix, did you bring salad dressing,
because I forgot it.”

Since he was sitting across from her,
Mark passed the bottle over. “Thanks.”

“
You’re welcome,” Trixi
answered.

“
Why didn’t I put salad
dressing in?” Katy dug through the greens with her fork.

“
Because Gran challenged
you to a race car derby with that matchbox car you found in the
cereal this morning.” Trixi’s voice sounded dry even to her own
ears.

“
Oh, yeah.” Katy laughed
and turned to Leo. “She won, but I think she cheated.”

“
She is a wily lady,” she
reminded Katy.

“
Too true.” Katy ate a bite
of her salad. “I still think she cheated. But it was
fun.”

“
I like your Gran.” Leo
stabbed some of Katy’s salad then devoured it.

“
Have I met her?” Mark
seemed more interested in the salad in front of him. After a little
pause, he helped himself to a bite of Trixi’s. “Yours is better
than mine.”

“
Trixi knows food.” Katy
took another sip of Trixi’s iced tea and made the same face. Trixi
reclaimed the bottle and slid Katy’s drink, one Katy actually
liked, toward her.

She didn’t mind the tea Katy kept
trying to drink. It wasn’t her favorite, but it was one she
obviously liked better than her roommate.

Mark finished his salad and started in
on a brownie Trixi had been eying. She waited until he took a bite
before she gave in to temptation and broke a piece off.

It melted in her mouth. “Hey, this is
good.”

“
It’s good, but not as good
as those cookies you made us,” Mark coaxed. He ate more brownie,
and sent her a hopeful look.

“
I’ll bake you something,
but not tonight. We won’t be home tonight.”

He nodded happily.

Leo shook his head. “You can bake, you
know.”

Mark swallowed some of his tea. “Can I
bake like Trixi can?”

“
Of course not. No one
can,” Leo scoffed.

Pulling into the garage of his
childhood home felt absolutely right. After Trixi came home from
college and took her rightful place in the home of her ancestress,
her house had begun to not feel so much like home.

In truth, he hadn’t much been looking
forward to moving into the guesthouse. Mostly because the place was
now Trixi’s home, as it should be. He was welcome there; of this he
had no qualms. Yet a budding sense of restlessness plagued
him.

Perhaps that was why he had gotten
engaged.

His recent fiasco came from not
feeling content with his life any longer. Fortunately, the new
sense of discontent had largely dissipated because of his ownership
of this house. The old place had passed through his family for
generations and he was thankful to become the chamberlain of such a
beloved estate. He and his mom had signed the papers and since they
both knew people, Wintermyer was officially his.

The move made him happier than he had
been in a few years. His mother choosing to move in with Trixi had
sealed the deal, so to speak. Now his precious daughter and mother
were together, and from what he could tell, they loved living
together. He could gauge for himself since they were all coming for
dinner tonight.

He didn’t have to do anything other
than show up, since his mother’s impressive staff had all elected
to stay on with him. Rylan had known most of them since he was a
boy.

The transition had been smooth. All
he’d done was move his personal belongings in. There were two
master suites in this house. The one his parents had used he kept
now for a guest suite. He preferred the other one so used
it.

His father’s old study, after moving
the furniture around to suit his work style had become his, but
with the precious memories of his father lingering. Rylan shut off
his car and hit the button to lower the garage door.

He grabbed his briefcase from the
passenger seat and strolled into the house. There were smiling
faces to greet him and he returned their greetings with his own. He
deposited the briefcase in the study then made his way upstairs to
his suite.

With guests scheduled to arrive soon,
he needed to clean up and dress for their arrival. As he went
through the mindless task of preparing for the evening, his
thoughts centered on Nina. The most beautiful woman he’d met in
years, one who would look perfect in this house.

Chrissy would have wanted to change
everything. That was unacceptable. This house needed a woman who
saw it for the treasure it was. Nina would likely want to make
changes, but reasonable ones. Like moving the furniture and
paintings around to suit the new lady of the manor.

Perhaps he should ask her out on a
date. Here he was making plans for them, and he had yet to actually
approach her to see if she was interested.

Asking a woman for a date was the
typical first step. Before he made his request to Nina, he needed
to inquire if his daughters were open to him dating Nina. Hopefully
they were, Nina was willing, and this was the end of his mid-life
crisis.

He descended the stairs, enjoying the
stately home and its refinements. The doorbell rang just as he
reached the bottom rung. Since he was here, he waved away the
faithful Leecher who felt it was his duty to open the
door.

When he opened the barrier it was to
reveal a hissing Chrissy. “You’re living here now?”

“
Yes. This arrangement
happened after we broke up.” Rylan didn’t move out of the
doorway.

“
You bought this place?”
Her voice rose into the shrill range. “After you told me we
couldn’t buy an estate like this. This is the most well known home
in the county, if not the state.”

“
Chrissy, I didn’t buy
Wintermyer.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re just
renting it?”

“
No. Remember how I told
you I had two places to maintain?”

She nodded, lips tight.
“Yes.”

“
I maintained Trixi’s house
and this one, which was where my mother lived. It has been in my
family since it was built.”

“
This is the Wintermyer
Estate. You’re not a Wintermyer.” Her voice bordered on
accusatory.

“
Yes I am. My
great-something grandmother was a Wintermyer. It came to me through
her side of the family. Her brothers were killed in the war, so it
passed on through her. She was a direct descendant of the man who
built this home. Therefore, so am I.”

Chrissy looked like she was about to
hit the screech zone, but his daughters and mother pulling into the
circular drive distracted her.

He could only count his blessings it
had been a moonless night when he brought Chrissy here for dessert
soon after they became engaged. She had been nervous about meeting
his family and he came via the back access, not from the front,
which had been a wise decision, since Chrissy obviously recognized
the estate.