The Best of Us

by Ursula Gorman

  They walked side by side, in companionable silence. Carly had always gotten along with all of the Wayne’s and Daniel wasn’t any different in that respect. But he happened to be the one she fell hard for. She remembered all those years ago, when she first met Jenna at the softball tryouts their fifth grade year. They had been so young, just eleven, and innocent and had hit it off right away. They had been inseparable since that day, but it had been a long time before Carly had the chance to meet the Wayne brothers.

  They were all into sports and were hardly at the house, so it wasn’t too hard for the three older Wayne siblings to avoid their little sister. Carly met Carter first since he was only a year older than they were. She already knew who he was from school but hadn’t really met him until she and Jenna became best friends.

  Carly only saw Harm, the oldest Wayne sibling, in passing. He was seventeen and the handsomest man Carly had ever seen…that is, until she met Daniel. He was, almost, fifteen and was a girls dream! He was already tall for his age, was into football, girls and fun. He was the most romantic, sweetest, kindest boy she’d ever met…at least, Carly imagined he was. Harm was too old and Carter was just another kid…but Daniel, he was perfect.

  Carly couldn’t help but smile at the memory of her first encounter with each of the Wayne siblings. She loved the Wayne family, then and now.

  “Penny for your thoughts...” Daniel said, noticing the slight smile on Carly’s face.

  Carly started, almost as if she was surprised to find him beside her. She looked up and smiled at Daniel, causing his heart to give a little leap.

  “I was just thinking of when I first met each of you Wayne boys.”

  Daniel had to smile at that memory too. His was a completely different take on the same memories. When he’d first met Carly, he couldn’t help but think that her big, blue eyes were way too big for her petite pixie face. Then he’d noticed the look of puppy love in her eyes and he spent the next few years avidly trying to avoid his sister’s best friend…it had been impossible, but before long he had come to think of her as another little sister.

  The reading of the will was a shock to Carly. When the lawyer finished reading it, Carly stood up, mumbled something unintelligible and left the room. By the time Daniel was able to get away, Carly was gone. He had wasted several minutes looking around the lawyer’s office building, thinking Carly would be sitting around somewhere waiting on him.

  Realizing she had left, Daniel headed out to find her. She had seemed shell shocked and it worried him. There were a lot of things happening to her in such a short amount of time. Daniel walked out of the buildings front door and turned left, toward Treasures. He started walking faster and faster until he was at a slow run. It had started to drizzle and the temps were lower than predicted. Since Daniel knew Carly hadn’t driven, he was worried about her being out in the cool, damp weather. She had lost a lot of weight, was over stressed and not properly dressed for the weather; she didn’t need pneumonia on top of everything else.

  When Daniel reached Treasures, Carly was nowhere to be seen. The inside lights were still off and the front door was locked. Just as Daniel was about to panic, Carly came around the corner. She was lost in thought and walking on autopilot. She almost ran into him before she noticed he was standing there.

  “Daniel.” Carly sighed his name rather than spoke it.

  He swallowed the lump in his throat, a combination of adrenalin from the panic of not finding her and the way she said his name. There was some elusive emotion that Daniel couldn’t quite grasp, but he knew something was shifting in him.

  “I’m sorry.” Carly shook her head, “I don’t know what she was thinking. I’ll find out what I need to do to fix this.”

  “What are you talking about?” Daniel demanded, on the verge of anger because he knew exactly what she was talking about.

  “I don’t deserve this. The shop, the apartment… they should go to family, not me.”

  Daniel placed his hands on each side of her face and lifted her chin until they were looking at each other. “She did leave it to family.”

  “I know she left it to you too, but…well, it should have gone to the whole Wayne family…not me and you.”

  “You were her family too. Carly, you were her sister in every way that mattered. Anyway, you heard the lawyer, there’s nothing we can do to change her will…even if we wanted to. Mom and Dad knew Jenna’s wish to leave the store and apartment to you. We are actually surprised that she also left them to me. There were times when I wondered what that girl was thinking.”

  Carly didn’t wonder…Jenna had been trying to get Daniel and her together since high school. Then after prom, she kept trying to get her and Daniel in the same town. When Carly knew Daniel was coming home, she made sure she wasn’t there. She had successfully avoided Daniel for eight years…Now Jenna had the last say; she was trying one last time to throw Carly and Daniel together.

  “We will figure it out. We can make it work somehow.” Daniel noticed Carly was shaking slightly and took a good look at her. She was wet from the drizzle, her beautiful chestnut hair was damp and her lips where trembling. Daniel pulled her into his arms for warmth; at least, that’s what he told himself. He turned, with her still in his embrace, unlocked the door with the new key Carly handed him and led her to the apartment. While she went to take a warm shower and put on dry clothes, Daniel made her a cup of hot tea and wondered what they were going to do now.

  Chapter Two

  It had been two weeks since the funeral and nothing had happened with Jenna’s case. There had been a few follow up calls from the police. They wanted to ask about this or that, they needed clarification on this statement or that statement, they received a new tip about an acquaintance of Jenna’s that they needed to ask about, etc… etc… etc… Carly was getting tired of the police spinning their wheels and not accomplishing anything. Yet she knew they were trying, but there was so little evidence to go on. Carly had always been respectful of law enforcement and the tough job they had to do, but she also understood the frustration that came to the families and friends of those waiting for justice.

  Carly had spent the last two weeks going through the apartment, looking at the things that were important enough for Jenna to have held on to. She cried over the old pictures of the two of them that Jenna had put into several scrapbooks. Carly didn’t realize Jenna had been a scrapbooker. The realization that her avoidance of Daniel had cost her precious time with Jenna made Carly curse herself. All the times Jenna has asked Carly to come home…she should have sucked it up and dealt with her problems with Daniel a long time ago. Now, it was too late.

  She was torn between staying in Landon Falls until Jenna’s case was solved or going back to her life as a freelance photographer. Her life, Carly thought, what a joke! She had made a career for herself and was becoming widely known for her photographs, but as for a life, that was non-existent! She avoided dating, she had no real social life and kept most people at arms distance. Taking a hard look at herself, she was ashamed of who she had become, a twenty-six year old recluse. How had this happened? Why had this happened?

  Carly decided to re-open Treasures and stay in Landon Falls for a bit. She still had enough unpublished photos that she’d be able to sell to magazines to keep her name out there while she took this unplanned sabbatical. She owed it to Jenna to see this through. She needed to see this through. Carly wasn’t sure what she would do when it was all over, but she knew she needed to make some serious changes in her life.

  Daniel had spent the last two weeks getting his affairs in Denver in order. He’d settled in Denver when he didn’t re-enlist. He loved the area, but he wasn’t too sad to leave; he’d been away from home too long. He had put in for a transfer to the Landon Falls Fire Department. He had worked his way up to Lieutenant in Denver and LFFD had an opening for Assistant Fire Chief, he was more than qualified for the job. He made some phone calls to see what his chance of getting the position was; he was
hired on the spot.

  Now he was driving from Denver to Landon Falls, the home of his childhood. He had always known he’d return some day, but he didn’t realize it’d be under such terrible circumstances. He needed to be there for his family…and Carly. He knew she was still in Landon Falls and was keeping to herself more and more. Her parents were worried about her. He couldn’t let anything happen to anyone else in his family, and that included Carly.

  She didn’t know he was coming home, but she would soon. He didn’t figure she would like it. She was reserved when speaking to him the last two weeks. He knew she wouldn’t have been in contact with him at all if they hadn’t had to discuss business. Jenna’s will stated that neither of them could make any changes without the others consent, so Carly had to talk to him when it came time to pay some of the bills and other minor business issues.

  Carly had called just this morning about re-opening Treasures. She had to clear it with Daniel even though he told her she didn’t need to. He considered it her store, her apartment…he wanted her to act as if it were. She refused to go against Jenna’s will, even if she didn’t like it.

  As Daniel reached the outskirts of Landon Falls, he’d made a decision. He’d lost Jenna; he wasn’t going to lose Carly too…

  It took Carly a few days to come to terms with Daniel being back, but luckily, he kept his distance, well, for the most part. He made it a point to stop by every day to ‘check’ on things. He usually came in at lunch time and brought lunch for them to share. He knew that she wouldn’t close the store for lunch and there wasn’t enough work to hire anyone to help. That wasn’t exactly true, the store was doing well and a part-time helper would have been useful, but Carly didn’t want the constant company. Not just yet anyway.

  On Friday, the bell over the door chimed, Carly looked up expecting to see Daniel. Instead, Trent walked in.

  “Hey girl, how’ve you been?” Trent had been the All American type in high school. He’d been the captain of the football, baseball and wrestling teams. He had been the prom king both junior and senior year and had received a full ride scholarship to the local university. Now he was the president at the main bank in Landon Falls and was quite wealthy. But to Carly, he was her old buddy Trent.

  “Trent!” Carly was pleased to see him. Her smile faltered a little when she remembered the last time she’d seen him was at Jenna’s funeral where he’d been a pall bearer. Pulling her mind back to the present, she walked around the counter and gave her old friend a hug. “It’s good to see you.”

  “It’s been too long. I didn’t get a chance to give you my condolences at the funeral. I’m so sorry. I know how close the two of you were.”

  “Thanks Trent.” Carly swallowed hard.

  “I was surprised to hear you were re-opening Treasures. Jenna always went on and on about how famous you were becoming. She was so proud of you.” Trent smiled at Carly. “She loved you very much. She hoped you would come back home, but didn’t really believe you would for anything other than a visit.”

  Carly knew he didn’t realize how much his words hurt, and couldn’t help but wish he hadn’t come by.

  “I had been negotiating with Jenna to buy this building. She was playing hard ball, but I think we’d finally come to an agreement on a price.” Trent said as he idly wandered around the shelves close to the register.

  Carly was surprised, as much from the abrupt change of subject as from the fact that Jenna would have considered selling her dream. “I don’t know anything about that Trent. I’m surprised she never mentioned that to me.”

  “Well, she probably didn’t want to bring it up until it was a done deal.”

  Something was off about the way Trent wasn’t looking at her as he spoke. Not only that, Jenna would have mentioned selling this place, or even the fact that she would consider it. She’d always told Carly that this was her home, what had changed?

  “Anyway, that’s not the only reason I came by.” Trent said, again abruptly shifting subjects.

  “No?”

  “No.” Trent finally looked up and made eye contact. He smiled that disarming smile he used on women and Carly knew what was coming. “I wanted to see if you’d like to go out to dinner tonight.”

  “Oh,” Carly tried to think of a way to gently refuse but was saved the trouble.

  “She can’t, she already has plans.”

  Both Trent and Carly turned as Daniel carried take out bags in. Carly absently noticed that it was Chinese food today.

  “Sorry, I didn’t know you two were dating.” Trent looked at Carly, watching her closely.

  Before she could respond to his comment, Daniel once again answered for her. “We haven’t seen you around Trent, how’s it been going?”

  “Fine. Fine. How have you been?” Trent said tightly.

  “You know, getting by.” Daniel said.

  Carly wasn’t sure what was going on. They were both acting strangely. An outsider might not have noticed anything wrong. Both men appeared friendly enough, but anyone that knew the two men knew that they were anything but friendly right now. Trent was defensive and Daniel was protective, but Carly didn’t think it was all about her.

  After several heartbeats, Trent looked over at Carly, he smiled warmly, “I guess I’d better being going. I’ll see you at the ball.”

  Before Carly could reply to his odd parting, Trent turned and left the store. Carly looked over at Daniel. He was watching the door as if he expected, or dared, Trent to walk back in.

  “What just happened?”

  Daniels gaze swung to Carly. He gave her a hard, considering stare for a moment, sighed heavily, and sat down on the stool behind the counter. “I don’t like him coming around here, around you.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake! Why not? Why did you let him believe we were dating?”

  Daniel acted as if he wasn’t going to answer, then when Carly was going to ask again, he spoke, “I don’t trust him and I don’t like him.”

  “What? Since when?”

  “Since he and Jenna dated for a while…” he paused, seemed to make a decision, “…since he hit her.”

  “What?” Carly was shocked. “What are you talking about? Jenna never said anything to me. We might not have seen each other as often as I’d have liked, but we talked all the time. She would have said something. She would have mentioned dating Trent.”

  “It didn’t last long. No more than a couple of weeks. She broke it off with him when he became abusive but tried to keep it from us. She didn’t want anyone to know that he had been hitting her. But he didn’t take rejection well. He came by here to ‘work things out’ and his methods weren’t all too nice. Luckily Carter and I had stopped by to see if she wanted to grab some pizza with us. We walked in on him backhanding her.” Daniel stopped to rein in his anger at the memory. “She begged us not to hurt him. She refused to press charges and wanted us to make him leave.”

  “You didn’t just let him walk away?” Carly was enraged at what her friend had endured at the hands of an old, trusted friend.

  “Of course we did.” Daniels tone indicated differently. “After we had a little chat in the alley.”

  By the look on Daniel’s face, Carly decided not to ask details about the chat. Carly could tell Daniel would love the chance to ‘chat’ with him again.

  “I don’t plan on letting him have an opportunity to do the same thing to you. Jenna wasn’t stupid, but Trent had her fooled. Up until he laid a hand on her that is. She thought she could handle it on her own but she found out that sometimes it helps having big brothers.” Daniel became very still and his eyes unfocused.

  “Don’t go there Daniel. There was nothing you could have done! You couldn’t be with her 24/7. She had her own life and so did you. The only person we can blame is the person that did this to her, no one else.” Carly walked up to Daniel and placed her hands on either side of his jaw and forced him to focus on her. “This is not your fault and Jenna wouldn’t want you to do this
to yourself. Place blame where it should go, not on those that loved her.”

  Daniel swallowed, and then swallowed again, trying to regain his composure. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He stood up and Carly let her hands fall as she stepped back, putting distance between them.

  “Let’s eat.” Daniel said, pulling chopsticks out of the bag he had carried in on top of the take out containers. “I brought you cashew chicken with noodles instead of rice, crab rangoons with sauce and an egg roll.”

  Carly was surprised he’d remembered her favorite Chinese dishes…but as she thought back, all of the things he’d brought this week for lunch had been her favorite. The pizza he brought had her favorite toppings on it, when he brought Mexican; he brought her favorite enchilada’s. From Mama C’s, he brought her favorite pasta dish…How, after eight years, could he remember? He never even paid her any attention when they were kids, so for him to even have known back then would have surprised her.

  “Earth to Carly.” Daniel teased.

  “You remember all of my favorite foods.” Even to Carly’s ears it sounded like an accusation rather than an observation. “How can you remember them? How did you even know them when you ignored me?”

  “I guess the same way I knew all of Jenna’s favorites.” Daniel knew that was true, but part of him was a little surprised he actually remembered them. It made him feel a little uneasy for some reason he couldn’t grab hold of.

  “I’m sorry to bring it back up, but…” Carly hedged. “Why was Trent in the funeral?”

  The anger that flashed in Daniels eyes almost made Carly wish she hadn’t asked, almost.

  “Jenna had requested it.” Daniel said between clenched teeth. “She wrote it out…everything about her own funeral was planned. She had given it to her lawyer to be delivered to the family immediately after her death.”

  “She knew she was in trouble?” Carly was shocked.