Page 21 of Her Frozen Heart

“I’m just making conversation,” Jessie said with a forced smile. “Why ignore the elephant in the room?”

“What elephant?” Caitlin had appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a glass of red wine, which she silently handed to Nikki. “What did I miss?” She smiled sweetly at Jessie, her tone just perky enough for Nikki to pick up on the sarcasm. Liam lingered behind her and grinned at Nikki.

She forced a return smile, but the guilt inevitably welled up at the sight of him. Liam’s concussion had happened because Nikki had sent him alone into a situation, and Liam had been lucky he hadn’t been beaten to death. He’d told her a thousand times that she’d made the right decision splitting them up, and that he would have done the same thing at the time. It didn’t help alleviate much of Nikki’s guilt.

“Tell me, what’s the elephant?” Caitlin pressed again, looking straight at Mark’s girlfriend.

Jessie shrugged. “Just how Nikki and Rory met.”

“We all know the answer to that.” Caitlin sipped from her own glass of wine, her arm linked through Nikki’s.

“Liam, how are you feeling?” Nikki changed the subject before the tension got any worse.

“Pretty good today,” he answered. “I only had a couple of dizzy spells. I had cognitive therapy yesterday, and my memory’s improved significantly. The issue is the headaches and falling asleep, but that’s gotten better in the last week or so.”

“Only because I watched you 24/7 and made sure you didn’t exert yourself,” Caitlin said. “He’s the worst patient. I’m thinking of slipping him an Ambien so he’ll stay in one spot for more than thirty minutes at a time.”

Nikki laughed. “Good luck. He’s so tall it would probably take a massive dose. Then there’s the ginger thing. No soul makes it harder to get the dose right.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that a hundred times in my life.” He glanced at Lacey as she skipped by with napkins and silverware. Ruth had taught her how to set a fancy table, as Lacey called it, and she took the job seriously.

“She doing okay?’ Liam asked quietly.

Nikki nodded. “We’ve tried to encourage her to talk about how she feels without constantly reminding her that Tyler’s gone.”

Rory’s mother announced dinner and shooed them toward the table. “Dinner is a bit unconventional.” She laughed. “I cooked a ham, but since it’s Mark’s first Christmas home, I also made homemade lasagna. It’s his favorite. And, of course, Lacey wanted lots of sweets, so we have lots of sugar cookies.”

“I’m so glad she has sweets here since we don’t have any at home,” Nikki said dryly. “But that’s only because she and Rory hoover up a batch of a cookies in minutes if I don’t keep an eye out.”

As the plates were filled and various dishes passed around, Nikki tried to focus on the food and conversation, but her thoughts refused to cooperate. She couldn’t stop thinking about Kesha’s battered and defiled body or the pain in her parents’ faces when she and Miller had spoken to them earlier. Christmas would never be the same for any member of Kesha’s family, for Dion and his family, along with Kesha’s friends. For the rest of their lives, the holiday would be tainted with the memory of Kesha’s life being cut short.

“Nikki, are you crying?” Rory’s dad asked. He was the quiet one in the family, but he was also extremely perceptive.

Lacey’s fork paused mid-bite. “Mommy?”

“No, no.” Nikki dabbed at her eyes. “Just allergies.”

“In December?” Jessie asked.

“I guess so,” Nikki answered. Jessie gave Mark a knowing look, but he shook his head and pointed to Lacey.

“Ooh, Santa’s delivering presents in the UK right now.” Rory held up his phone. “Santa tracker.”

“How come they get stuff first?” Lacey asked.

“Because over there, it’s almost midnight,” Rory said.

“Oh yeah, time zones. We learned about those in school.” She speared a large piece of ham from the platter. “I’m still starving.”

“Me too.” Rory helped himself to a large portion of lasagna, earning a dirty look from his brother.

“That’s for me, and I want leftovers,” Mark said.

“There’s half a pan left,” Rory retorted.

“Yeah, and if no one pays attention, you’ll eat it all.”

“Now I might.” Rory took a large bite and smirked.

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