Home Torn

by Tijan

  “You know Bannon.”

  “No. Not really.” The significance wasn’t lost on her. She’d heard some, she’d seen a little, and she’d felt a bit more than she wanted to admit. In the end, though, she actually didn’t know much of his business. If it was a fight, she knew Jonah wouldn’t back down. He never did.

  “Another fight is brewing over that river of his. A conglomerate wants in. They want a piece of our land and Jonah’s got his heels in. He doesn’t want them in.” Jake leaned forward. “I know these guys. I’ve heard of their family and their dad is a shark. One scent of weakness and this could get bloody.”

  “Are you talking about illegal stuff?”

  “It’s been known to happen. Bannon means good, he really does, but he’s work for us. We gotta watch him just so he doesn’t end up dead one of these days.”

  “He works the river. How dangerous could that be?”

  “Very,” Jake said. “Falls River is a huge money market. And, especially because we’re so close to Tenderfoot Rush, everyone wants in. This is prime tourist land. People all over the nation come to visit here. You know this, Dani. Think about the multimillionaires who want to get richer and they’re being told by Jonah that they can’t. They roll over people. It’s happened before.”

  He was right. Dani had blinders on, but… “Come on, Jake. You’re talking about physical safety, right? Like Jonah’s going to get assaulted or something. That’s not going to happen. This isn’t the Wild West. There are laws.”

  “Laws that those millionaires pay a lot of money to get around.”

  Wait.

  “You’ve been watching Jonah?” She saw the confirmation. He’s known exactly where Jonah had been the past two nights. “Privacy, Jake.”

  He stood and sighed, “He’s gone and worked himself into another one of those battles. There wasn’t one too long ago that had the whole town riled up. This company is worse than them.”

  “What company? What are their names?”

  “Sheldon and Co.”

  Dani recognized the logo. They’d manufactured about a third of her belongings in that cabin. They sponsored charities for the tsunami victims. They even awarded her half a million dollars. “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” Jake shook his head. “Look…” He started to walk, but turned back. “Jonah’s going to get himself killed one of these days. I understand why he does it. I even understand why he loves that river so much. But, he’s going to end up vanished one of these days. I really, really, don’t want to be the guy to tell you his body has been found. I don’t want to be that guy.”

  “It’s not like that between us, Jake.”

  “It will be,” Jake replied. “I see it between the two of you. Everyone sees it. I’m going to go. When you talk to Jonah, let him know I talked to you.”

  “So you can mark your territory?”

  “What? No.”

  “Look, Jake, according to a few around town, you used to worship Jonah Bannon before I came to town. I’m not yours and if Jonah and I screw, then that’s our decision. You’re not going to use some business deal that could turn bad as an excuse because you’re really pissed off that we’re sleeping together.”

  “It’s not like that, Dani.”

  “Yes, it is. I doubt you’re going to be warning all of his other women. Believe me, I am fully aware that Jonah hasn’t been a saint with women.”

  “It’s not like that, Dani. I’m worried about you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “Bullshit!” she said fiercely. “You didn’t care five years ago and you don’t care today.”

  Jake froze.

  “That was different.”

  “No. It’s not. You tore me in half. You didn’t have the decency to break up with me and not date someone. You were with me when you were with her. You broke up with me to go to her that night.”

  “Dani.” She saws his hands in clenched fists. She saw the tension in his shoulders and she saw a wariness in his eyes.

  She didn’t care.

  “Don’t. This isn’t about you and me. Believe it or not, but I am here because I care about you. I don’t want you to get hurt. Stop hanging around with Bannon.”

  “Fine,” she clipped out and crossed her arms. “You stop banging Julia.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m serious.” It was reasonable. “You tell me what to do, so I get to tell you what to do. I call an even trade. I’ll stop talking to Jonah and you stop screwing your fiancée.”

  Jake gaped at her. “Who—who are you? You never would’ve said something like that before.”

  “A lot’s happened from then and today. Catch up.”

  “Like what? How? You won’t tell anyone where you’ve been. You won’t say a damn word.” He spread his arms wide. “And the one time that you are upset, you tell me to get lost.”

  Déjà vu.

  “You’re not that person.” She narrowed her eyes. “Not anymore and if that person is Jonah, it’s going to stay that way. You have no right to come here and order me around. You have a right to walk out and I’m making it my right to demand that. So get out!”

  Jake stood still, his eyes frozen on her.

  “I’m not changing my mind so stop waiting for it to happen.”

  “I want you to stop seeing him.”

  “Well—tough.”

  Jake stuffed his hands in his jean pockets. He turned his back to her, but he didn’t move to the door.

  Dani watched him from behind. “You know, as well as me, that Jonah can take care of whoever he wants to. That’s just who Jonah is. He’s always been like that and I’m guessing he’ll always be like that. You might worry about me and it might be justified, but this right here—between you and me, right now—is not just because Jonah’s into something that could turn bad. You’re here tonight because you don’t like seeing me with him. That’s the bottom line and I want you to admit it.”

  Jake remained silent and a second later he left, slamming the door behind him. Dani closed her eyes. She stood in place and realized, a second later when her phone rang, that she had held her breath. She let it out slowly and smoothed her hands down her pants. They were sweaty. She didn’t move to answer her phone. She saw it. She had placed it on the kitchen table, but she just stared.

  Her mind was still on that door, seeing it slam again and again in her mind. It stood for so much more than she had ever realized.

  When the phone kept ringing, she answered. Mae didn’t wait a second. “I need your help at the grill. We’re packed.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Dani hung up, changed again, and headed back out, ignoring the knot of dread that had taken root in her stomach. She took two steps outside of the cabin before she realized another car had pulled up.

  Then she heard him behind her. “Hello, Dani.”

  Her heart stopped and she turned, her breath in her throat, and saw her ex-fiancé standing beside her table.

  He looked even taller than she had imagined, but he couldn’t have grown any taller than his 6’5”. He’d lost weight, maybe twenty lbs. His brown hair still curled just over his forehead and framed his angular cheekbones. His blue eyes still pierced through her.

  “Boone.”

  Boone took in a deep breath and sat at her kitchen table. He seemed dejected as he rested his elbow on her table.

  “It was you that I saw before.” He looked around the cabin. “This is a nice place.”

  The moment was surreal. She’d left him when he’d been out celebrating their engagement. And he commented on her cabin? “How’d you…”

  “What?” His eyes whipped to hers. “Find you? Find this place? How’d I track you down like a hunter?”

  “Stop it.”

  “Can’t really help it, Dani.” He laughed to himself. “I saw you the other night at that restaurant and I asked around. Turns out that Dani O’Hara is quite famous around these parts. And she lives in the ‘most wonderful cabin’ in this godforsaken
secluded lake.”

  “Are you…did you…?” She just gave up.

  “I didn’t come to Craigstown for you, if that’s what you were trying to ask.” He sounded exhausted. “This was supposed to be my trip to get over you. My brother’s here on business, but I was just supposed to tag along. Heal my heart, something like that.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Quandry Inc.”

  She recognized the name. They owned resorts at the northern tip and southern tip of Falls River, but not in their area.

  “Oh,” Dani said again, connecting the dots. “You’re the guys. You want to build here, but Jonah doesn’t want you to. I’ve been warned about you guys. It’s a family business.”

  Boone shot her a confused look, but didn’t say anything. He just rubbed a hand over his face. Exhaustion fell off him, from his slumped shoulders to the bags underneath his eyes and even how he breathed. They were shallow breaths. Almost as if he wasn’t capable of deep breaths any longer. They took too much energy.

  “I don’t sleep, you know.”

  Dani closed her eyes and shook her head. She was better—that’s what she had told Aunt Mae, but with this—with Boone in her kitchen… Dani stood up and poured two cups of coffee. She needed something to do. “Want cream or sugar?”

  Her hands picked up a creamer for her cup.

  “No, but you’ll take one cream.”

  Her hands paused.

  “You used to.”

  Dani finished and put both cups of coffee on the table. Both were black, without cream or sugar. “What are you doing here, Boone?”

  He stood up and started to pace around the room. His hands stuffed in his jean pockets, he walked around, looking at nothing. “I never told you this, but my grandpa used to call me that. His nickname for me and when you just started calling me that—I liked it. It made me feel connected to him again. My family doesn’t remember that. I’m Daniel to them.”

  Daniel Quandry.

  “They call me Danny.” He chuckled. “It’s like…I don’t even know. I hear that name and I think of you, every goddamn time.”

  “I’m—” Dani started.

  Boone cut in, “Don’t you goddamn even say that you’re sorry.” He glared. “You’re not sorry, Dani. If you were sorry, you would’ve said something to me and not left a goddamn note on the table. I read it when I was drunk and I thought it was a joke, a horrible sick joke.”

  Dani took a deep breath and stared at her coffee. The steam had stopped rising.

  “What are you doing here?” He expelled a ragged breath. “What are you doing here?”

  “I grew up here. This is where my family is from.”

  “That’s right. Erica O’Hara. Julia, Kathryn, Mae, Dani…you guys are like the perverted small town Brady Bunch or something. I heard all about Jake, how Erica O’Hara loved him and took him from sweet, quiet Dani O’Hara, how he’s with the oldest one now. It’s a fucking sick joke.”

  “You have a right to be angry at me,” she began.

  “You’re damn right I have a right be angry.” His eyes were irate and anger boiled underneath his surface.

  She flinched as memories came back. “I wasn’t right and you proposed. I didn’t know what to do. Everything was…” Everything was swirling around her as she lay helpless. She didn’t have a grasp of what was going on, but she knew she needed to stop it. “I just,” Dani continued. “I just had to get out. I wasn’t right, Boone. I was barely holding on as it was.”

  A knock sounded on her door and before Dani could open it, it opened itself. Jonah stepped through, an easy grin on his face that disappeared as he took in her pale features. He looked at Boone. “Uh…” His eyes held a question for Dani, one that she was still helpless to answer.

  “Boone, this is Jonah Bannon. Jonah, this is Daniel Quandry, my ex-fiancé.”

  Boone grimaced, but nodded one jerk in greeting.

  “I’ve met your brother.” Jonah’s tone was cold.

  “Yeah.” Boone nodded and shook his head. “I, uh…I should get going. This isn’t the time for this.”

  Jonah stepped aside as Boone moved towards the door. Just before he moved through, he stopped and looked at Dani. “I…” The words died in his throat.

  Dani didn’t say anything, but she watched him.

  “Never mind.” He shouldered through the door. It slammed shut behind him too.

  “You want to talk about that?” Jonah jerked a thumb in Boone’s direction.

  She shook her head, reaching for her phone. She wasn’t going anywhere the rest of the night. She needed to let Mae know, and once she was done, she answered Jonah’s question. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  He nodded, then started to lead her towards the bedroom.

  “I’m not tired.”

  “Liar,” Jonah chastised and he turned back the blankets. Dani crawled in and looked up at him.

  Jonah stood, uncertainly, as he held her gaze.

  “I don’t want to have the nightmares.”

  The decision was made. Jonah surrendered and he toed off his shoes and pulled his buttoned shirt over his head. A plain t-shirt was underneath and he slipped in beside her. Dani tucked her head in the crook of his arm and shoulder. Jonah reached down and caught her hand while her eyes flickered shut. A moment later, her breathing evened into deep breaths and Jonah knew that she’d fallen asleep. A sense of unease had taken root within him, but it wouldn’t be fixed then and there. Jonah stayed with her for another hour before he slipped from the bed. Dani murmured a protest in her sleep as warmth left her, but she burrowed underneath the covers and didn’t wake.

  Jonah wasn’t there when she woke the next day so she went for a run, passing Mrs. Bendsfield’s home. Dani walked down the driveway. She went past the house and entered the milking barn again. The cats scattered just inside the stable door and Dani saw that Mrs. Bendsfield wasn’t in her pottery studio that day.

  The designs were beautiful and intricately made. Dani saw the artist’s eye that Mrs. Bendsfield kept hidden from everyone else. She wondered why Mrs. Bendsfield never displayed her work. Why else does an artist create if not for someone else to be inspired?

  Her eye caught on one pot in particular. It was large and oval with dolphins carved around the top brim. In between the dolphins were designs of lilies and daisies.

  They were Erica’s favorite flowers.

  They were her mother’s favorite flowers…and now, Dani remembered that she always saw Mrs. Bendsfield with those two flowers. They were either embroidered in her shirts, pants, sweaters, or socks. She had them painted on her van. Even her sign that proclaimed her false age—it was adorned with a border of lilies and daisies.

  Along her memory trip, Dani remembered that her momma had whispered one night—those flowers reminded her of a love she had once.

  “What are you doing here, girl?”

  Dani heard the harsh voice, but she also heard a slight tremor in that voice.

  She turned slowly and saw Mrs. Bendsfield with her chin raised high and a trembling arm on the milking room’s door handle. It was as if the door was for her protection—her way of escape.

  Dani asked, her voice strong, her chin high, “Why lilies?”

  “Why you wanna know?” The elderly’s eyes were intelligent and clear.

  Dani knew no hallucinations would give her answers today.

  “Why lilies? Why daisies? What do they mean?”

  “Just flowers. That’s all.”

  They weren’t that easily dismissed. Dani caught the flicker of emotion in the older lady’s eyes.

  “Why them?” Dani asked again, firm.

  She shrugged this time, uneasy. “Don’t matter.” She crossed her