Nerds on Fire (17 page)

“
You don’t need to do
this.” She hated the men losing sleep.

Mark leaned over and kissed her nose.
“Yes, we do. We’ll be in for breakfast.”

Obviously satisfied with the lay of
the land, her dad also kissed her, then Katy, then Gran. “I’m going
to help them. There are some things I want to check on and a phone
call I need to make. I’ll also be here for breakfast.”

“
Daddy, you have your date
this morning.”

“
I won’t miss
it.”

Aware she was defeated, Trixi instead
wound her way to the coffee maker. She assembled everything and
brewed a large pot. Then she set mugs and spoons out, as well as
sweetener and some powdered creamer. “There’s half-and-half in the
fridge.” She waved toward the huge refrigerator set in the opposite
wall. She also dug out a spare key for Mark and told him the
security code for the alarm system.

All three of them nodded before
heading outside. Her father was already busy with his
investigation. Mark and Leo joined him.

That left her, Katy, and Gran staring
at each other in the kitchen. “Well, life has certainly become
interesting.” Gran kissed them both goodnight for the second time
and took herself off to bed.

Trixi turned bemused eyes on her best
friend. “What in the world happened?”

“
I haven’t figured it all
out yet, but I think we are in for an interesting time.” Katy’s
smile would have rivaled the sun, if the orb had been
up.

Since it was still dark out, Trixi
headed toward the stairs with her. “Will you sleep?” They climbed
to the second floor together.

“
I don’t know.” Katy didn’t
seem worried either way. “Since showering off the smoke, it’s more
likely.” Katy, Trixi, and Gran had immediately showered and changed
clothes, because the smoke had infiltrated their skin, hair, and
clothes.

Trixi’s thoughts turned to their new
guards. “What if they come back inside? Where will they sleep if
they finish whatever they’re doing?”

“
Leo will crawl into bed
with me.” Katy shrugged as though this was a no-brainer.

Still trying to comprehend
how she knew this, Trixi stared at her. Did Katy actually hear
herself? Did she realize what she had just said? The
huge significance
of it?
Trixi waited for Katy to comprehend, but she merely waved and
disappeared into her own room.

Trixi lingered, wondering if Katy
would pop her head out and utter her surprise at the way her
relationship with Leo was so natural.

It was so natural Katy didn’t even
think about it because the small light she had snapped on earlier
clicked off and the room nestled into the darkness.

With a shrug, Trixi entered
her own room and climbed into bed in the dark. Would Mark come
crawl in with her?
No
. Their relationship was nothing like Katy and Leo’s. In fact,
she had never met another couple
like
them.

Did they value what they had? Then
again, how could they? Neither appeared to understand how precious
their budding relationship was.

Did people value their
relationships?

Maybe she didn’t know much about love,
but Trixi vowed if she ever got the chance to be in a relationship
with someone other than Warren, she would value every moment of
it.

Chapter 17

The first rays of the sun lit her face
early the next morning. It beamed into Trixi’s eyes and woke her
moments before her alarm clock pealed. She turned off the buzzer
and slid out of bed to pop into her bathroom.

Dressing didn’t take much thought
since she tugged on socks and a warm sweatshirt and decided her
workout pants were fine for now. A quick brush through her hair
then she headed for the stairs. Trixi did peek into Katy’s room on
the way and sure enough, Leo was curled around Katy, both of them
sound asleep.

Trudging down the stairs,
Trixi heaved a sigh of...
regret, wishing,
longing
? She wasn’t certain which was most
accurate, but whatever her friends had didn’t appear to be in her
future.

Too bad
... She bit back another sigh.

When she reached the kitchen, it was
to find Mark at the kitchen table, a full cup of coffee in front of
him.

“
I heard you get up, so
thought I’d come help you.”

Her heart slid sideways before she
summoned those hard won social graces and smiled at him. The
remains of a cookie were scattered across the table in front of
him.

“
You must be
starved.”

“
I had a cookie, but yeah,
I’m hungry.” He took a long sip of coffee. “Did Leo find
Katy?”

“
He was curled around her
when I peeked in.” She thrust all needy longings from her
voice.

“
I figured he wouldn’t have
trouble locating her, even in the dark.”

She was in the middle of tugging a
casserole dish from the cupboard but something in his voice caused
her to spin toward him. “Why?”

“
You haven’t observed how
those two can find each other instantly?” It almost sounded like he
was also yearning for the same sort of relationship.

Her pulse quickened. “I
have noticed their freaky homing skills.” She set the dish on the
island before moving to the fridge to collect ingredients. All the
while, her mind turned over their conversation. If Mark was feeling
the same way about Katy and Leo...
wow
.

“
Do you think they know how
lucky they are?” he asked. When she glanced at him again, there was
nothing on his face to indicate his feelings.

“
I don’t think so.
Hopefully someday they will value it.” Out of the corner of her
eye, she saw him nod. It might have been pure fantasy on her part
that she thought he looked a little wistful.

She removed a package of sausage
patties and immediately set about arranging them in a heated
skillet. Then she quickly seared them before tucking the whole lot
into the roasting oven. Next, she made up a French Toast casserole
her father and Katy especially enjoyed. She doubled the batch and
then popped the dish into the baking oven. A quick check on the
sausages revealed they were coming along nicely. All that was left
was a fresh pot of coffee.

“
You know your way around
the kitchen,” Mark said from over her shoulder. Fortunately, she
had heard him leave the table.

“
Well, yes. I grew up in
this kitchen and I love it.”

“
I didn’t necessarily mean
this one but any kitchen.”

She stopped ladling coffee into the
basket to ponder his statement. “Oh, well, I suppose that’s true. I
do like to cook and bake.”

He used his chin to indicate her
range. “I’ve never seen anything like your range before. What is
it?”

Trixi, thankful for a reason not to
look at him, because he stirred things that hadn’t ever been
stirred before, finished adding coffee and set it to brew. Then she
escorted him to the range where she expounded on the merits of her
new addition.

Mark peeked into all four ovens and
checked out the heating plates and heat source. “You could warm
caulk on the warming plate.”

“
Probably. You can also
keep coffee and tea warm.” She placed the breakfast dishes in the
warming oven, and then piled some mugs on the warming plate he
admired.

As though the coffee had been a wakeup
call, Gran, Katy, and Leo appeared in the kitchen at the same time.
Her father breezed through the door from the garage moments
later.

Katy and Rylan set the table then
distributed filled coffee mugs. Mark helped her tug out the
casserole and sausages and they were eating soon after.

After her father gave thanks for the
meal, Katy gazed at the casserole in wonder. “You made our
favorite.”

“
I noticed as well.”
Satisfaction laced her dad’s voice. “I could eat this entire dish
myself.”

“
I doubled the batch, so
you two can still have seconds.” Trixi served everyone a generous
portion.

Leo and Mark dug in with relish,
heartened by the good reviews.

Even Gran, after the first bite
remarked, “Trixi, this is wonderful.”

“
Thank you.” Pink shot into
her cheeks. She got up to retrieve a large container of yogurt, a
bowl of fruit, and made another pot of coffee. “Did you find
anything last night?” The question was posed to the three men
seated around the table.

“
We found some things to
make us wonder,” her father answered after the three men exchanged
glances.

All three of whom danced around their
questions. “You’re not going to answer me?” For some reason her
glower landed on Mark.

His lips quirked up. “No.”

Her scowl upped in wattage. “Why
not?”

“
Because we don’t have
answers yet, poppet.” Her father and Mark exchanged manly glances
as she narrowed her gaze on her sire next.

“
We aren’t the little
women, you know. We have lived all by ourselves for years
now.”

“
Some of us longer than
others.” Gran pinned Rylan with an impressive glare. He shifted
uncomfortably in his chair.

“
Mom,” he
started.

“
Don’t you ‘Mom’ me. I want
some answers and I have more years to throw around here.” She
pointed at Mark and Leo. “I don’t know them well enough to boss
around yet, but
you...
” Gran kept her son pinned. “What did you find?”

Mark laughed outright. “I’m pretty
sure you can boss us around too.”

Leo, who was busy drinking coffee,
nodded.

“
Age does have some
benefits.” Gran mentioned this to her and Katy in an
aside.

“
I’m impressed, Gran.” Katy
leaned against Leo to pick up the creamer on his other side. With a
quick twist, she added it to her coffee and then leaned against him
again to pick up some sweetener.

As though this was perfectly normal,
Leo didn’t blink. Nor did he appear to mind her trampling his
personal space. Trixi wasn’t certain she could say he welcomed it,
yet ‘welcomed’ seemed closest to the correct word.

From Trixi’s observations, Katy felt
the same way about him trampling her personal space.

“
We did see that whoever
set the fire, did so deliberately. Even without training it was
fairly evident.” Her father admitted to his mother, who nodded in
encouragement.

“
The problem is we’re not
trained in figuring out fire scenes, so we didn’t pick up anything
else.” Mark helped himself to another sausage link.

Leo watched Katy stir her coffee. “We
have no idea if the attacks will continue or not. This one was
deliberate.”

Leaning forward, Mark fixed her with a
determined gaze. “Who have you ticked off lately?”

Not meeting his or her father’s eyes,
Trixi frowned. “The only person who has been upset by my ownership
of this house,” she turned to her father, “is Chrissy.”

Katy sat up straighter in her chair as
Rylan let out a long breath. “Of course. She tried to kick you out,
right?” Katy’s question was low.

Trixi darted a quick look at their
dad.

He caught what Katy said. “What?
Chrissy tried to kick you out of here?”

“
Yes. She wasn’t subtle
about it, either. She stated since she was marrying you it was time
for me to leave.”

A small smile twitched Gran’s lips.
“What did you do?”

“
I told her I own this
house so Dad was the one who was preparing to leave.”

“
Did she blow a gasket?”
Leo stole Katy’s coffee the moment she set the spoon on the
table.

“
Pretty much,” Trixi
prevaricated even as her father snorted.

“
She was bound and
determined we were going to move in here, instead of the
guesthouse.” He shook his head. “What she wanted is really obvious
now I look back on it.”

“
So we have a potential
suspect for this activity?” Mark sliced through the chatter to
arrive at the final conclusion.

“
Yes.” Trixi worried her
lower lip. “Yet I can’t see her actually dirtying her hands by
doing all this.”

This time it was Katy who snorted as
she tried to wrestle her coffee from Leo. Neither of them tried
very hard to win. Then Katy abruptly let go.

She wrapped her arms around her middle
as she started shivering. Leo clacked the mug on the table before
he hauled Katy onto his lap. Once she was settled, he picked up the
mug to place it against her lips. Katy sipped and he waited a
heartbeat before encouraging her to sip again. His ministrations,
along with his body heat, seemed to warm her because Katy settled
against him, the shivering slowly abating.

“
Are you okay?” Trixi
stared at her best friend, concerned.

“
Yes.” Katy ran a hand up
and down Leo’s thigh as a few residual shivers swept through her.
“I can’t imagine someone hating
you
enough to pull these tricks. I don’t like it.” Her
grip on Leo’s thigh turned fierce. He hugged her tight.