Secrets or Surrender

by Mary Tribbey

  Chapter 12

  As he drove home, he swore angrily as he realized he wasn't any closer to finding out what was going on with her. She seemed too honest to be hiding a live-in boyfriend, but why else would she lie about where she lived. Nothing makes sense. She seems so truthful, so open, but she is hiding something important. He swore angrily as he realized that as long as she kept George a secret, he couldn't trust her or tell her how he felt about her. He knew it took every ounce of his strength to keep from kissing her until she let him make love to her. He felt instinctively that if she were involved with George and it was a serious relationship that making a move too quickly would scare her away. As much as he hated the waiting, he decided it was the only way to go for now. “I don’t understand. I gave her a perfect opening to tell me about George when I asked her if she needed to tell anyone else before she left on a business trip. Why didn't she tell me? Is it possible she’s not as honest and real as she seems? She is a beautiful mystery that I'm going to solve or die trying,” he vowed.

  The sound of the telephone startled her out of her state of drowsiness and brought her back to the present. It was nearly 10:30 p.m., Tuesday evening, when she realized she had dozed off while studying the clippings in Dave’s scrapbook. It wasn’t because she found the contents boring. It was the extra-long hours she had been putting in at work over the last two weeks had finally caught up to her. They had been working a lot of overtime trying to finish the yearly inventory. In the evenings, she had stayed up late getting the Sunset Magazine article ready to be submitted. She had turned it in on Monday, so she was beginning to work on researching the article about Dave.

  Joan shook herself awake and grabbed for the receiver.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Joan, I hope I didn’t wake you or disturb you. This is Cindy. Did you watch the TV news tonight?” Cindy asked.

  “No, I didn’t have the TV on at all tonight. What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Then you haven’t heard anything about Dave’s accident? Good. Hopefully, it’s not as serious as they made it sound. I was afraid you might have heard it and been upset by it,” Cindy said.

  “Tell me what happened,” Joan asked quickly.

  “They were practicing this afternoon. It was just a routine scrimmage, but something went wrong. One of the linemen ran into Dave. When Dave fell, Alonzo was knocked back on top of him. Apparently his passing arm was trapped behind his back. He couldn’t move it and he was in extreme pain, so they rushed him to the emergency room. The doctor said it looks like a shoulder separation. They took x-rays, gave him some pain medication, and sent him home. ”

  “What does that mean, Cindy? Is it serious?” Joan asked.

  “It depends on a lot of factors. He’s been put on the injured list. He can’t practice or play for at least a week. At the end of that time, the doctors will recheck it to see if it has healed enough to let him play. This is his first injury as a pro. After all the playing he’s done, that is remarkable, but I know he is going to be pretty upset. I thought you might want to know. He’d probably appreciate hearing your voice. You might be able to cheer him up. I know how much he likes playing football, so I imagine he is pretty down tonight.”

  “Have you talked to him since it happened?” Joan asked.

  “Yes, Lyle and I were over at his house earlier this evening. He told us about the article you are writing about him. I think he could use some TLC,” Cindy added.

  “I don’t know, Cindy. I feel strange calling him,” Joan stammered, “after all, we only met recently and are just friends.”

  “Come on, Joan. I know you really like him, and I know he likes you. Isn’t making a phone call the kind of thing a person would do for a friend?” Cindy asked.

  “Of course, you’re right. Do you think it is too late to call him?”

  “No, he was pretty wound up when we left a while ago. I think he’d like someone to talk to. I just thought I’d pass the information along. It is up to you to decide if you care enough about him as a friend, of course, to call,” she added.

  “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll try to call him.”

  “Do you have his private number?” Cindy asked.

  “Yes, he gave it to me Sunday. I was supposed to call him when I had time to look over some of the material he gave me to study. That would be a good reason to call. I’ll let you know what happens,” she said as she hung up the receiver.

  Joan looked at the phone for a few moments as she organized her thoughts before dialing Dave’s number. After about seven rings, he answered.

  “Hello, Dave, it’s Joan. Cindy just called and told me about your shoulder. How are you doing?” she asked.

  “Joan, it’s so good to hear your voice. I’m OK, I guess. They gave me a shot at the hospital, so I don’t really feel any pain now, but emotionally I’m feeling rotten. We’ve been doing so well all season and have a good chance to be in the playoffs. I feel like I’m letting the team down. I’m going to go stir crazy here during this week knowing I should be there practicing with the team. We only have five more games before the season ends and we’re only one game behind the 49ers,” he griped.

  “Dave, it was just a freak accident. You didn’t do anything wrong to disappoint anyone. It wasn’t your fault. Cindy said it isn’t a serious injury. Was she wrong? Is it that bad?” Joan asked.

  “It can be serious, but, since it is the first time I’ve injured it, there is a good chance it will heal without surgery. I’m just feeling frustrated and angry. I didn’t mean to complain or snap at you,” he apologized softly.

  “Don’t worry about that, Dave. I know you really love playing football and doing your best is very important to you. Just follow the doctor’s orders and take care of yourself. Just try to consider this an unplanned vacation. If you are careful, Cindy said, you’ll probably be back at practice next week. It must be hard sitting on the sidelines when you are usually out in the middle of the action,” Joan sympathized.

  “I don’t know, Joan. I’ve never been on the sidelines that much. I don’t think I’m going to like it at all. I’m not a very patient person. I really do appreciate you calling me tonight. I needed someone I could trust to talk to. You don’t know how much it means to me having a friend like you. I’d ask you to come over and see me, but it’s pretty late and I know you have to work tomorrow. I’ll let you go for now, but I’ll be talking to you soon. Sleep well, Joan,” he whispered.

  “Good night, Dave, get some sleep. I’m sure you’ll be all right soon,”she replied.

  When Joan returned to her desk after lunch, she found a note to call Dave as soon as possible. She slipped her purse in the desk drawer and quickly dialed his number.

  “Hello,” he answered on the second ring.

  “Hi, this is Joan. I got a message to call you as soon as possible. Is anything wrong?” she asked quickly.

  “No, Joan, thanks to you, everything is all right today. Well, my shoulder is still sore, but I decided to take your suggestion and consider this an unplanned vacation, but I decided to combine it with some business,” he remarked, “but, I can’t do it without you. Do you think you could get away for the rest of the week? This would be the perfect time to go do some quality research for the article. It would also keep me from going stir crazy!”

  “I don’t know what to say. There’s no way I can get off work right now. We are still working on the yearly inventory. There’s so much work still to do here. I’m afraid it is impossible,” she stammered.

  “How do you know until you ask? If you can get the time off from work without causing you problems with your boss, would you go?” he asked persistently.

  “There’s just no way that could happen,” she argued.

  “But, if it could be arranged, would you?” he repeated.

  “Yes, but,” she protested.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take care
of everything. I’ll talk to you later,” he said as he hung up the phone. Joan shook her head as she thought about all the work left to complete on the inventory and end of the fiscal year reports. “I don’t think it would be safe for me to be alone on a trip with him, either,” she sighed.

  Joan sat and looked at the phone. “Why did I say I’d go with him?” She asked herself. “I thought it was a safe answer since we are so busy right now. There’s no way I could get off work to go on a trip with him! Besides, I’ve got too many feeling for him right now; the less time I am around him, the safer my emotions will be.”

  About twenty minutes later, Mr. White called Joan into his office. He closed the door behind her after she was seated. He looked flustered and upset.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you know Dave Allen? He’s the best thing that’s happened to the Rams in 30 years! He just called me. You could have knocked me over with a feather! Imagine that. He said you’re writing an article about him for “Sports Illustrated”. Why didn’t you tell me about the research problem? We have the inventory nearly finished. Besides, if we don’t get it done this week, we can always finish it next Monday. I told him it was fine for you to take the rest of the week off. Can you believe it! Dave Allen talked to me! He’s sending me tickets for the next two home games. I can hardly wait to tell my stuck up brother-in-law. He thinks he’s such a big shot. He’ll turn green with envy when he hears it,” he smirked. “Dave said he’d call you as soon as he got the reservations made to let you know when and where to meet him.”

  Joan stumbled back to her desk in a daze. As she sank into her chair, the phone rang. “Hello,” she mumbled.

  “Go home and pack your bags, Joan,” Dave laughed smugly. “We leave from LAX at 7:30, but you need to be there by 6:30 to get your boarding passes.

  “I can’t just pick up and leave on a minutes’ notice,” she sputtered.

  “Why not? Is there someone else you have to check things with?” he asked quickly. “Your boss said there was no problem giving you the week off. You said you’d go if you could get the time off work. Besides, I’m giving you about 5 hours’ notice, not a few minutes. Are you backing out on your promise?” he asked seriously.

  “This is moving too fast, Dave. Where are we going? How long will we be gone? My head is spinning,” Joan sputtered.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve taken care of all the details. We are going to the Tampa Bay area first for a few days, and then we’ll make a stop at Seattle on our way back. Take whatever you think you might need. If you need anything extra, there are plenty of stores in both places. We’ll get anything else we need there. I’ll give you $3000.00 advance on the article. That should take care of anything you need to cover here. Besides, I’m paying for all your travel expenses. Don’t you think you’d better hurry home and start packing?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “Do you always move this quickly?” she asked.

  “Only when I need to. I’ll pick you up at your apartment at 6:00. That should give us plenty of time to get to the airport,” he added.

  “No, that’s out of your way. I’ll catch the airport shuttle and meet you at the terminal. Just tell me where and when and I’ll meet you there,” she said as she frantically wrote down the terminal and flight numbers and times. Joan felt her head spinning as she grabbed her purse, covered her typewriter, and gave her stack of inventory sheets to her boss.

  “Have a good trip. I want to hear all about it when you come back,” he said.

  Joan rushed to her apartment and began packing for the trip. She wasn’t sure what she “needed,” but she didn’t have that many clothes. She packed what she could. She didn’t have anything fancy, but she figured she probably wouldn’t need it. She made it to the airport shuttle with ten minutes to spare. When she walked into the terminal, she checked in her luggage and walked quickly to the terminal waiting area. When she arrived at the gate, an airline hostess escorted her to the VIP lounge. Dave was pacing up and down inside watching for her.

  “I was afraid you might not show up. I know I acted like a steam roller out of control. I’m sorry about that, but this is the perfect time to work on this article,” he said as he reached for her hand.

  Her hand trembled at his touch, but he held it firmly in his. “I said I’d be here. Like you, I keep my promises. My problem is I didn’t think there was any way you could keep yours about arranging for my time off from work. Next time, I’ll be more careful before I make any promises,” Joan said grudgingly.

  Dave laughed and gave her a quick hug. “Well, I guess you can put one fact in your article. You can tell people that I am a ‘take charge’ kind of person.”

  Joan laughed with him. “That’s an understatement, if I ever heard one.”

  Once on board the airplane, Joan noticed the envious glances of all the stewardesses when they saw Dave sitting beside her. Joan looked around curiously. She had only flown on an airplane once before, although she hated admitting her lack of travel experience. Dave noticed her uneasiness and took her hand in his as the plane began taxiing down the runway. She squeezed his hand when she heard the engines revving up for takeoff.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve flown hundreds of time. It takes some getting used to, but everything is going normally. Relax. Try to think of something pleasant. I’ve heard that kissing is a great way to get over nervousness of flying,” he teased.

  Joan laughed and said, “I doubt that’s true, but I’m sure that blonde stewardess would be willing to experiment with you to see if it really works.”

  Dave raised his eyebrow and chuckled. “That experiment is only for passengers, like the beautiful woman I’m travelling with.”

  Joan blushed and clutched his hand. By the time they had taken off and reached their flying altitude, Joan released her grip on Dave’s hand. “I’m sorry; I’ve rarely been in an airplane before. I hope I didn’t hurt your hand,” she apologized.

  “Don’t worry about it. Anytime you feel like grabbing my hand (or anything else), please do,” he answered with an easy smile.

  Instinctively, Joan grabbed Dave’s hands when the plane began its steep descent into the Orlando Airport. When they left the plane, he kept his hand protectively on her elbow as he guided her through the terminal to retrieve their luggage and find their rental car. It was parked at the curb waiting for them. He helped her in, deposited their luggage in the trunk, and climbed in beside her. “Now for the most dangerous part of the journey,” he said solemnly.

  “What’s that?” Joan asked anxiously.

  “Getting out of the airport terminal traffic in one piece and finding our hotel. I always get turned around down here. You’d think after all the times I’ve flown in here, I’d get it straight. It just seems like every year or so, they start more construction and I’m lost all over again.”

  Joan laughed and felt some of the flight tension easing out of her body. “At least, now I’ll be able to see what hits us or what you hit. And, it isn’t as far down to the ground either,” she said with a giggle.