A Necessary Evil

CHAPTER 91

The Omaha World Herald

Downtown Omaha

Nick Morrelli watched his sister boss around the newspaper's top photographer and the petite blonde who wrote the front-page headlines. When she headed back in his direction he caught her smiling. She was definitely in her element, or as Timmy and Gibson would say, her zone.

"I can't believe you don't write your own headlines," he said to her, feigning disgust.

"I've told you that before," she said, swatting him on the arm. "You just don't remember anything I tell you."

"Maybe I'll listen better after you win the Pulitzer."

"Yeah, right," she said, but he could see her smile again. She liked that idea even if she knew it was a stretch.

"What time are we picking up the guys for lunch?"

She checked her watch. "They get out of Explorers early today. Let me finish up one more thing, then we can leave." She pulled several pages out of a folder and started scratching notes in the margins.

"Maybe we shouldn't be rewarding them with things like lunch."

She glanced up and smiled but continued writing. She didn't think he was serious.

"I'm not joking," Nick said and this time he waited for her eyes and for her full attention. 'The other night scared the hell out of me. It was like four years ago all over again."

"But he's okay. And I really can't think of the what-ifs."

"I've been thinking maybe I should try to spend more time with him. You know, be there more often for him."

"Yeah, right." She laughed and went back to her notes. "I don't think Jill will appreciate you flying from Boston to Omaha all the time just to see Timmy."

"If I were to stick around here I wouldn't need to fly."

"Jill's not going to move back here, Nicky. I know your Jill Campbell. She might be having a lot of fun with her old girlfriends but that's wedding-preparation fun. Afterward she's going to be ready to get back to her life and her life is being a high-powered attorney in Boston at Foster, Campbell and whoever that other bigwig lawyer is."

"McDermont," Nick said, filling in the blank.

Suddenly she looked up at him as if it only now hit her. "Oh geez, are you calling off the wedding?"

"I didn't say that,"

"But that's what you're thinking?"

"I didn't say that, either."

"Is it because of Maggie?"

"Christine, all I said _ " and he put up his hands in mock surrender " __ was that maybe I should spend more time with my only nephew."

But now she was smiling at him. No, not smiling, grinning.

"Well, since you've definitely convinced me that it won't matter one way or another whether I tell you this or not, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you." She stood and leaned in close to him, glancing around the noisy newsroom even though no one had been paying attention to their conversation.

And then Christine said to him as though they were back in grade school, "Maggie told me that she didn't dump you. As a matter of fact, little brother, this whole time you've been mooning and feeling sorry for yourself, Maggie O'Dell has been thinking you were the one who dumped her."

Nick felt as if she had dropped a ton of bricks on him.

"Not that it matters who dumped who, right?" she added.