Enki's Puzzle Pt. 16

Kate stared at him for a while. "If what we're doing is interfering with you being a..." She smoothed out her dress and chose her words carefully. "If our hang out time means you're missing out on opportunities that every teenager should have... like dating, and going to parties, and being stupid with your friends... if it's a problem... then..."

"Mom," Nick said in an exasperated tone. "I didn't want to go to the party." He put down the knife, stepped over to her, and kissed her on the cheek. "Our hang out time is the best thing that ever happened to me. Maggie can't hold a candle to that." He smacked her butt and went back to his cutting board. He slid the tomatoes into the food processor.

"See, that's just the sort of talk that worries me. I mean, it's Maggie Chalmers we're talking about. I can't have you --" Kate was interrupted by the front door opening.

"I'm home." Alyson closed the door behind her, walked down the hall, and followed her nose to the kitchen. "Late dinner, huh?" She had clearly interrupted something. Her mom looked like she was in the middle of a thought. That was good, maybe nobody would notice that she was working hard not to cry.

"We didn't want to eat without you," Kate lied. It was better than saying that they'd gotten carried away dry humping. "What's wrong, Alyson?"

"Nothing... nothing... I'm fine." Alyson waved a hand at them and blinked back tears. She wasn't going to cry. Friday was a new day. Her life was starting again. She wasn't going to spend her time crying like she had in the loops.

"Can you finish cooking dinner, Mom?" Nick left the counter and guided his sister out of the kitchen.

"Sure thing," Kate called after them.

Nick took her to the living room and sat her down on the sofa. They were out of earshot of their mother. He almost said, What did Chris do now? But he caught himself. "Tell me about it." He placed her hand on his thigh and held it there.

Still decidedly not crying, Alyson told him that she'd waited to see Chris until after his office hours. He'd mentioned her frumpy clothes and weight several times. She'd asked him if he wanted to go to couples counseling with her and he'd laughed it off. "And then I showed him the puzzle. He read it as anoint the cube with joined exultation and receive the riddle within."

"For fuck's sake, why can't Enki ever say anything clearly?" Nick frowned. "He must mean --"

"That can wait, Nick." Alyson squeezed his hand. "Chris took the puzzle from me and wouldn't give it back. He said when he'd given me the project, he hadn't known how interesting it was."

"I'm sorry, Alyson." Nick's mind retreated to the safety he knew. "We can get it back on the next today, and keep it away from him."

"There is no next today, Nick." Finally, the tears broke through and rolled down her cheeks. "Chris has the puzzle. We're screwed."

"Right. Of course, I forgot for a second there." Nick worked at controlling his anger toward Chris. He thought things over. "You know what? Good. Let him have it. We can forget the last riddle. If Enki comes to bother us, we'll just tell him your fiancé stole the puzzle from us so we can't anoint shit. We're off the hook."

"I don't know." Alyson's tears stopped. Maybe he was on to something.

"It's a classic 'the dog ate my homework' scenario." Nick nodded to himself. "Fuck it."

"Okay, but what about all my research? I was going to make a name for myself with that puzzle."

"I'm not sure about that." Nick stood up and pulled her to her feet. He gave her a long hug, careful to respect the boundaries she'd placed on their relationship. He refrained from kissing her tears away. "But we'll figure something out. You were a rising star before all this. You don't need that puzzle to do awesome research." He wasn't sure what she was doing besides the puzzle, but it sounded good.

"Thanks, Nicky." She kissed his cheek and wiped the tears from her face. "You're right. Let's forget about it. And maybe Chris will change his mind and give it back. Maybe he'll change his mind about a bunch of stuff."

"Yeah, maybe." Nick smiled hopefully. He wasn't going to offer any opinions on Chris. "We're making a Bolognaise sauce tonight. It's going to be amazing. Let's go help Mom in the kitchen. Maybe she'll open some wine. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Gratitude for her sweet brother filled her with warmth. She followed Nick back into the kitchen.