Nick opened the door as soon as he heard the knock. Jennifer stood there looking absolutely breathtaking. Her dress was pink and short and flowed beautifully. He thought maybe it was chiffon. Chiffon was a thing, wasn't it? It was one of those words he'd heard but never quite understood. Whatever it was, it was beautiful. The pink seemed to highlight the golden hue of her skin and hair. Beautiful.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
He realized that he'd opened the door and just stared at her. He blinked back to consciousness and nodded. "Yeah, come in while I grab the hamper."
Jen followed him inside the house. She smiled, hearing the faint hum of that dining table. There were other indicators in the house about Nick's connection to the forest, but that table was the loudest of them. She'd not been as attuned to it the first time she'd been there, too focused on being able to escape without detection when he'd sweetly patched up the cut on her leg.
Nick returned a moment later with a large basket. He approached her and wrapped his free arm around her waist and leaned in to kiss her softly. "I've missed you," he whispered.
She gazed up at him in slight awe, amazed at this beautiful man and his kind, romantic nature. "Me too," she admitted. "I've been looking forward to this."
He nodded and pulled back. "Then let's go."
They drove out to the woods. Jen had flown this route a few times now, leaving Nick's house to return to the realm. But it was different being in a car.
As he drove, Nick's mind was stuck on how bloody wonderful this was. He'd had a hell of a week with the case, all embroiled in drugs and murder and prison politics. And if it wasn't bad enough that a prison warden had killed a prisoner and one of her own guards, Nick had been put right back in the midst of Dane bloody Majors. Ten years and that case still couldn't leave him alone. But enough of that. It was put aside for now. Time to enjoy a picnic in the woods with Jennifer.
He parked and they walked around for a while. Jen seemed to have some idea of where she wanted to go, and Nick was happy for her to lead the way.
"You spend a lot of time in these woods, don't you?" he asked.
She smiled back at him. "Yes," she answered simply.
"Live nearby?"
Once again, she only said, "Yes." But then they entered a small clearing shrouded in shadow from the overgrown trees and she stopped. "Here," she announced.
This was as good a place as any to Nick's mind. He put down the hamper and set out the blanket he'd brought. Jen helped him take everything out and started to make plates for them.
She noticed cold glass bottles and put them out with all the other sandwiches and foods Nick had packed. That must be beer. Curious. She'd have to watch him to make sure she didn't give away that she'd never had such a thing before. Jennifer had realized she needed to be extra careful around Nick with his power of observation. But hopefully she could take some of his attention off of her.
They sat together eating. Jen had her legs stretched out in front of her and crossed that the ankles, since her dress was so short. She should have thought through that better, but she thought Nick might appreciate seeing her this way. And since his eyes kept glancing down at her bare legs, Jen could see she was right.
"So," she began, watching him take a sip of his beer after popping the cap off each of the bottles. "How's work been since I saw you last?"
"Difficult," he confessed.
Jen tentatively took a sip of her beer and tried not to cringe. It was a flavor and texture she'd not expected. It was liquid but somewhat frothy. Thick and a little bubbly. There was an earthy taste that was wholly foreign to her. But after she'd swallowed it down, she had to admit it was oddly refreshing. And the lingering feeling in her mouth made her want to have some more. The second sip was better than the first. She got used to it quickly.
Nick continued, seeing that she would not take his one-word answer. "I had to go to the prison and I saw someone I arrested about ten years ago. Dane Majors." He was curious to see if the name sparked anything in her. It was a long time ago, but the case had been huge.
Jennifer felt like she knew that name. It was familiar and she didn't know why. She frowned, trying to think. "What did he do?"
"He was a famous cricket star and he killed his wife. She was a model. Young and beautiful. It was absolutely awful. He called the police, crying and in shock, claiming he'd come home and found her with her head bashed in on the floor. But we figured out that he'd been abusive to her before, that she'd often show up with cuts and bruises from him batting her around. Her father had been worried about her for a while and he knew that Dane had gone too far, only we had trouble proving it. Dane claimed he didn't do it, but who else could it have been? It wasn't till during the trial that my boss told me to go back to the house one last time, check everywhere, even in the trees and on the roof, anywhere we could look to find the murder weapon. And that's how I found the golf club. The medical examiners matched it to the injuries on Tahnee's head. And Dane's been in prison ever since."
She listened to his story trying to hide her horror at such a terrible thing. At least he was in prison. But she could not understand why she knew the name Dane Majors. The case certainly wasn't familiar to her, and she didn't know anything about cricket. But she'd worry about that later. "And you had to see him again this week?"
Nick nodded, taking another swig of beer. "He wouldn't talk to me, which is fine. But having to see him and hear his voice again was hard. He ended up not having anything to do with the case we were working, which was fine. But then this journo…" He trailed off, realizing he perhaps shouldn't tell Jennifer about the journo.
"What about the journo?" she pressed.
He'd have to be somewhat delicate about this. Some young, beautiful woman batting her eyes and smiling at him, wanting an interview about the Majors case. He'd brushed her off, since he didn't have the time to talk about cases that weren't the one he was trying to solve. But of course then her editor had called Wolfie and Nick was forced to go meet Juliette Gardiner to discuss the Dane Majors case ten years later. He'd not been happy to do it and he'd been a bit short with her. But she just took notes and asked questions and acted all sweet and soft and gentle. And all Nick could think about was how horrified he would be if she tried to flirt with him, tried to make a move at all, tried to show her interest in him. Perhaps he'd flattered himself with that thought since he was probably close to two decades her senior. But of course she had asked him out. Texted him Friday and asked if he wanted to get a drink.
At the moment he'd received that text, if Nick had wanted to get a drink with anyone, it was Jennifer. Obviously they weren't exclusive or serious or anything like that, not yet. But Nick wasn't too concerned with any agreement they did or did not have between them yet. All he knew was that he wanted to spend time with Jennifer. And because of that, Juliette Gardiner held absolutely no interest for him. He'd texted her back saying 'thanks, but I don't think so.' He didn't have plans Friday night, but he was looking forward to seeing Jennifer the following day.
And here she was, having a picnic with him in the woods, asking him about the journo. He answered carefully explaining, "She saw me at a press briefing for the case I was working on, and she asked me about Dane Majors. Its about to be ten years since he was sentenced, so her newspaper is doing a feature about the case. I didn't want to talk to her, but my boss made me go give an interview. So I did."
Jennifer could see there was slightly more to that story than Nick was letting on, but she didn't push him on it. "I can see how it might be uncomfortable having to talk about it again, especially after so long."
"Yeah," he agreed. "And just…I dunno, being with that journo made me think of you."
"Me?" she asked in surprise.
He reached out and gently stroked her bare arm. "Just…made me wish I was with you."
She smiled. "Well, you're with me now," she answered softly.
"Jen, I really like you," he told her quietly. His hand on her arm gave her a gentle squeeze of affection.
A slight breeze kicked up, blowing back his hair, and Jennifer realized it was her own invisible wings fluttering. She had to concentrate on keeping them still. But his words and his closeness and his touch was almost overwhelming. Jen put her food and drink aside and scooted herself closer to him on the picnic blanket. She put her hand on his face and said, "I really like you, too."
Nick leaned in to kiss her, wanting to do so very, very much. Her eyes closed and she met his lips. The breeze blew slightly stronger, but Nick didn't mind.