“Sierra, are you okay?”
“Jen,” she replied.
Nikki turned around to see a handsome Japanese man-sculpted cheekbones, dark hair slicked back, brown eyes trained on Sierra’s face. Jen Yamimoto stood between the arches of the café and the hotel lobby.
Twenty-six
NIKKI stood up and walked over to the man. She introduced herself. Sierra hadn’t moved from the table.
“Hello. I’m Jen Yamimoto. I’ve come because I’ve been informed of my uncle’s death.” He looked past Nikki. “Sierra?”
She finally stood and came toward them. “Jen.”
“I didn’t know you would be here. I didn’t know that my uncle had come for a workshop. The police told me when they called me, but oh, wow, it’s so good to see you.”
Sierra stared at him.
Jen looked at Nikki, his hands clasped in front of him. “I’m sorry. Could you excuse us?” Then he looked back at Sierra.
Nikki glanced at Sierra, who was beginning to cry again. She didn’t know if she should leave her alone with a man who’d broken her heart. “Sierra, is that okay?”
“Yes,” she replied in a whisper.
“If you need me, please call my cell phone. It’s on the list that I gave everyone when they checked in,” Nikki told her.
She nodded and Nikki called for Ollie, who jumped up.
Back into a run, she and Ollie headed down to the house. She had a big meal to put together and her time spent with Sierra didn’t leave any room for her to head over to the meditation and yoga for the afternoon. Not to mention the fact that she smelled like garbage.
There were a lot of things Sierra had said that Nikki needed to process, and now with Jen Yamimoto showing up, there was an additional element racing through her mind. Jen might have had a motive to murder his uncle. Had he really just arrived in the Napa Valley?
Twenty-seven
NIKKI didn’t have as much time to prepare as she’d hoped. She hadn’t made a meal for this many people in a long time and she’d lost her knack for it. Ollie was underfoot the entire time she diced, chopped, and sliced, and she nearly tripped over his large frame more than once. She should have gotten takeout. Pizza would have been ideal.
She looked at the clock and could see she had less than an hour left. When she’d come home from her outing, she’d showered, towel-dried her hair, and donned a robe before preparing the meal. Now she needed to pull herself together quickly before the guests arrived, so she put the cornbread in the oven, stirred the chili, and headed into her bedroom. Once there, she sprayed on the perfume that Derek bought her, the one that smelled like cherry blossoms and something sweet, maybe vanilla. Oh, and did it remind her of the night he gave it to her. The night he suggested they live together.
She’d walked into his house that evening, amazed at how romantically Derek had set the mood. He’d gone all out. She couldn’t remember ever seeing it look so beautiful. Acoustic guitar played on the surround sound, candles illuminated the room, and there was even a path of rose petals. Yes, it was straight out of a romance novel, but Nikki had reveled in all of it. What she hadn’t known was what the big deal was all about. He’d told her that morning he planned to grab some steaks and they could barbeque and maybe watch a movie that night. Things had gotten serious between them, and for the past several months they’d typically spent most nights together. She even had a drawer and a portion of the closet in his room designated as her own, even though she was only up the hill at the hotel. So the minute Nikki nonchalantly opened the door to Derek’s house was the minute she knew that night was not just about barbeque.
“Derek?” she’d called out.
“Follow the roses.” His voice came from the bedroom. This was going to be good.
Following the rose path didn’t lead her straight to the bedroom, though; it led to the bathroom, where he had the door closed. Outside the door on the floor were two champagne flutes and a bottle of Dom. He’d taped a note on the door. Move in with me, it read.
Nikki had reread that note ten times in a fraction of a second, her smile growing each time.
“Did you read it?” he’d asked.
She could hear him in a bath.
“Yes.”
“I’m not good with rejection, you know, so if you’re in, then bring the champagne and get in here with me. If you’re not, go quickly so I can drown myself. But stick the champagne in here first, so it won’t be as painful.”
She’d opened the door and picked up the bottle of champagne, walking into the bathroom. Derek had sunk under water and rose with a big smile, tossing his wet blond hair. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“You knew I’d say yes.”
“I was hoping, because drowning is not how I want to go out of this world. You coming in?”
Nikki had undressed, popped the cork on the champagne, and poured them each a glass. Stepping into the warm bath, which was also topped with rose petals, she’d handed him his champagne and slid down into the water. They’d toasted and before long their glasses were empty and there was more water on the floor than in the tub.
He’d given her the cherry blossom perfume later after they’d made love-in the bed this time-and told her that he’d never been so happy. Neither had she.
Nikki missed him now, wondering why he hadn’t called her all day. She knew why she hadn’t called him; another murder would send him over the edge. She’d checked the weather report and knew he wasn’t getting out of New York tonight.
After pulling on a cute pair of dark jeans and a mocha-colored silk blouse, she brushed her hair straight back and patted on enough makeup to keep her from looking like death warmed over. Then Nikki headed back into the kitchen for the finishing touches. She couldn’t believe she’d actually pulled it together.
The food smelled incredible-cornbread, chili, and green salad. It wasn’t gourmet by any means. Just good old-fashioned cooking at its finest. She set the large dining room table for ten. Petie would probably wind up sitting on his mother’s lap. It would be an interesting evening, and Nikki wondered what everyone’s reaction would be to having Robinson join them.
The first to show up were the Sansi family and crew. Nikki was surprised to see that Jen was with them. Sierra was all smiles.
“Thank you for inviting us into your home. I hope you don’t mind that we brought an extra guest,” Lulu Sansi said, wearing one of her flowing skirts, the daisy sandals, and again a poet blouse. Nikki hadn’t gotten a chance to know Lulu or her and Alan’s son, Eli, at all. They were at all of the events but stood back from the crowd and allowed Alan to take the spotlight.
“Not at all. I met Jen earlier this afternoon. Glad you could join us.” Whatever had transpired in the last couple of hours between Sierra and Jen had obviously changed everything between them, because they looked very much together and it sent some red flags up in Nikki’s mind. How juicy was this? Long-lost love that mysteriously disappeared years ago suddenly returns? Nikki was dying to get the lowdown on this one.
But instead she played hostess, serving up the drinks and some appetizers, as Simon and Marco joined the group, all designer duded out and announcing their future plans to become parents.
“But before we adopt”-Simon placed a hand on Alan’s shoulder-“we would really like it if you could perform a partner celebration for us. A kind of marriage, well, duh, I mean a wedding, okay. It’s so hard to know what others will think and say. But who am I kidding? It’s you and me. I’m so wound up. Sorry.”
Marco put an arm around him. “Breathe.” He smiled at Alan and everyone laughed.
The laughter stopped when Robinson walked through the door.
“Oh, no,” Hayden Sansi said. “What now?”