Necessary Detour by Kim Hornsby

sounded at the back door. If Pete was in the squad car, who was knocking on her door? Tony rushed to his mother and shrank in to her side.
    The video monitor revealed Pete at her back door. She disarmed the system and opened the door slowly. He stood on the threshold dripping wet, wearing only a clinging shirt and jeans, no coat, no shoes. “What’s going on?” she asked tentatively.
    “Are Connie and Tony here?” He spoke quickly.
    “Yes.” Why didn’t he know that? “Are you coming in?”
    Pete’s cheeks were high with color. He shook his head. “I shouldn’t. I’m really wet. I just came to get …my family.”
    “Step in so I can close the door. Why were the police here?” Nikki heard herself asking the million dollar question.
    Pete looked at her strangely for a few seconds. “I didn’t see them.”
    Daring him to continue to lie to her, she squinted and held her gaze. “Really?”
    “Probably a routine call.” He shrugged. “I heard they cruise around checking on people in the off season.” He stepped in and closed the door. “Connie!” he called.
    “We’re here, Pete.” Her voice was wobbly.
    Pete’s hair hung in strings and his shirt clung to his form, giving Nikki more of a view of his physique than she wanted. She gulped and retrieved a fluffy beach towel for him. After throwing him the towel she returned to the family room. “Looks like the coast is clear.”
    Connie and Tony didn’t move. Just looked at each other.
    “Maybe your husband would like something hot to drink.”
    “No.” Connie said this so quickly that Nikki stopped in her tracks.
    “I can wait for them,” Pete called from the back door, annoyance leaking into his words.
    Tony watched his mother.
    After a long pause, Connie set her mug on the coffee table and stood to leave. “Time to go, Tony.”
    The disappointment in the boy’s face prompted Nikki to tell him to wander over anytime. “Come to dinner tomorrow, if you like. All of you. I can make a pot of spaghetti.” The invitation was in the air before Nikki thought about it. It might be a good opportunity to dispel any theories she was tossing around about Pete being an abusive husband who’d just had a warning from the police.
    “I don’t think tomorrow works.” Connie patted her synthetic hair.
    “I love spaghetti!” Tony was at the window again and Connie waved him back.
    “Maybe the next night?” Nikki shrugged.
    “I’ll check with Pete, but I don’t think we can.”
    Nikki leaned in to whisper, “You could come without him.”
    Connie took her mug to the sink where she rinsed it and set it on the counter. Her delicate hands were so graceful. They were hands that would never provide protection against a man as big as Pete.
    At the back door, Connie glanced at her husband holding out her rain slicker. “We’ve been invited to dinner tomorrow, Pete, but I told Nikki I didn’t think we could.” She didn’t make eye contact with her husband.
    “Sorry.” Pete’s look of annoyance was barely masked. Why was he mad?
    Nikki threw him Burn’s bush coat. “Return it later.” She didn’t give him a chance to refuse. “How’s your writing going?”
    Pete didn’t miss a beat. “Good.” He looked at Connie. “Ready?” He opened the door and stepped out before his wife, which Nikki thought strange until she saw him scanning the forest.
    Nikki wanted to offer help, but for what? And she wasn’t even sure they needed it. She and Connie had only exchanged a look that verified something was going on.
    “Connie.” Nikki touched the woman’s sleeve as she passed. “You can always come here.”
    Pete stood on the deck with the boy. Hearing Nikki whisper, he spun around.
    “Thank you, Nikki, the tea was just what I needed.” And with that, the Bayers set off down the road through the rain without looking back. Pete’s arm around Connie’s shoulders looked stiff and assertive.
    Nikki had to remind herself to not judge their relationship