The Best of Us

by Ursula Gorman

  “No, nothing like that. She’d also planned out her wedding, her children’s nursery,” Daniel gave a snort, “If it could be planned, she planned it. It’s all in the scrapbooks she left at mom and dad’s house.”

  “I knew about the wedding plans. We both did that in high school; but to plan your own funeral.” Carly shook her head.

  “That was our Jenna.”

  Conversation returned to normal topics while they ate lunch. They were both still reconnecting to old friends and learning what had been going on while they had been gone. They filled each other in on what they’d been doing with their lives, but not getting too personal.

  “Oh, Trent said a couple other things that I didn’t understand.” Carly said as she started picking up their trash from lunch.

  “What’s that?”

  “He said he and Jenna had been negotiating for him to buy this place and then she said he said he’d see me at the ball.” Carly cocked her head slightly, “I’m not sure I believe the first and I don’t understand the second.”

  “I agree with you on the first. Jenna had no intentions of selling and if she had, it wouldn’t have been to Trent!” Daniel didn’t say anything for a moment. “And I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the other.” He cleared his throat, “The annual Fireman’s Ball is next weekend. Jenna used to help with all the fundraisers and they want to honor her at this year’s ball. Normally I wouldn’t attend, because I don’t like such events, but it’s in Jenna’s honor this year.”

  “That’s great! Jenna loved dances almost as much as you hate them.” Carly couldn’t help but smile at the memories of school dances with Jenna. “She also loved helping at the fundraisers. She used to fill me in during our weekly phone calls.”

  “Well, they’ve asked me to speak and unveil a plaque in her honor.”

  Carly knew how much he hated public speaking. Daniel had always been a ‘behind the scenes’ kind of guy. “You’re going to do it, right?”

  “Yeah, I don’t really have a choice. Mom, Dad, Carter and Harm will all be there, but since it’s my station house, they’ve requested that I do the honors.” Daniel hesitated. “The thing is…I don’t want to go alone.

  “Okay, so…?” Carly didn’t know where he was going with this.

  “Glynna will be there.”

  Carly couldn’t help but give a little laugh. She still had horrible memories because of Glynna, but Daniel’s facial expression was too much at the mention of his long ago ex. While Daniel was glad he could make her laugh, he wished it was for another reason. Glynna had found out Daniel was back in town and had been calling him ever since. Apparently, since she was divorced for the second time, she wanted to pick things up where they had left off eight years earlier.

  “Oh come on Daniel, you aren’t afraid of one little lady are you?” Carly was intrigued by the idea of facing Glynna again. Carly wasn’t a young, innocent girl anymore and she’d like to see Glynna try to bully her around now. Glynna had single handedly ruined her prom and inadvertently caused her to avoid Daniel, and in essence, her hometown for eight years and she was sick of it.

  “In a word…yes. When it comes to Glynna and her getting what she wants…the woman is a barracuda!” Carly giggled again. “Please go with me Carly. If we’re together, she won’t hit on me. Please, I need you.”

  Carly quit smiling and just stared at Daniel, didn’t he know how much that hurt to hear? Why couldn’t he be asking me out on a real date? Carly thought.

  “She knows who I am and that there is nothing romantic between us.” Carly said quietly, thinking that it hadn’t stopped her eight years ago.

  Daniel guessed Carly might still have feelings for him and lately he had started to notice her in a whole new light, and he did love her, but wasn’t sure it could ever be the way she wanted.

  “Yeah, I know, but she will still respect that we came together. Come on Carly, please.”

  “Yeah, like she respected that we went to prom together?” Carly couldn’t believe she’d just said that. Thinking it was one thing, saying out loud was another. She hurried on to add, “Yeah, alright. I’ll go with you.”

  “Great, thank you Carly,” Daniel leaned over and gave Carly a kiss on the top of her head, ignoring the prom comment for now; it wasn’t the time or place, but they would talk about it. “I owe you one.” With that, he turned around to clean up the mess from lunch.

  As Daniel finished cleaning up, his phone rang. After a moment, he hung up. “I gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Without thinking, Daniel leaned over and gave Carly a quick hug, then headed out the door.

  Carly stood there, watching him leave, all the while telling herself not to let him break her heart again, because this time it would be broken beyond repair.

  Carly’s phone rang making her jump. She had been lost in her thoughts and the sound was so unexpected in the silence of her car that it had startled her.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey baby.”

  “Mom.” Carly hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days and just realized she needed to hear her voice. “Mom, it’s good to hear from you.”

  “How are you doing? Your dad and I were just thinking about you. We know you’ve been open this week and we wanted to see how it’s been going.”

  Carly couldn’t help but smile. She had talked to her parents a few times since she had opened the store and they always asked how it went.

  “It’s been okay. I still don’t know if I want to keep the store. It has gotten a little easier as each new day comes but it isn’t the same without Jenna.” Carly found she could say Jenna’s name without choking up now.

  “Just don’t do anything rash honey. We want you to be happy but we don’t want you to do something you will regret later.”

  “I know mom and I promise, I will think long and hard before I make any decisions.”

  “Good! So, anything new going on?”

  Carly laughed, her mom tended to jump all around in conversations and today wouldn’t be any different.

  “I have a date.”

  “A date? With who?” Carly knew her mom’s radar was on full alert now.

  “I’m teasing. Daniel asked me to go to the fireman’s ball with him as a favor. He needs a bodyguard.”

  “A bodyguard? Daniel? Whatever are you talking about?”

  “Glynna”

  That’s all Carly had to say and she could hear her mom roaring with laughter. Everyone knew what that one name meant to Daniel and everyone but Daniel thought it was funny.

  “Well honey, you be sure to have a great time.”

  “I’ll try. It isn’t like it’s a real date.”

  “Just let your hair down baby. You will be in safe hands with Daniel.” Yeah, that’s exactly what Carly was thinking, just like if he were her own brother. Carly let out a sigh.

  “Are you headed home?”

  “Not yet. I have to go find a dress for the event so I’m headed to a couple of stores to see what I can find.” Carly and her mom said their goodbyes as Carly pulled into a strip mall.

  Carly spent the next couple of hours trying to find an appropriate dress for the ball. She never realized how much she had relied on Jenna to help her with these kinds of decisions until now.

  Carly finally found a dress that the sales clerk promised would be perfect and guaranteed that it would turn heads. Carly doubted that, but she did like the dress, so she spent a hundred and ten dollars on the dress and sixty five on the shoes. “This had better be a head turner for that kind of money.” Carly muttered to herself as she got back into her car and headed home.

  Daniel was sitting on the couch in the living room of Jenna’s, now Carly’s, apartment looking at pictures Jenna always kept on the table and didn’t hear Carly come in.

  “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Daniel stood up, and froze. Carly cocked her head slightly in a silent question trying to figure out what was wrong.

  “Daniel, are you ready?” />
  He continued to stand there and stare. The only indication he gave of movement was his eyes. They moved up and down her body making Carly slightly uncomfortable.

  “Umm…is everything okay?”

  “Your dress…” Daniel finally managed to say.

  “I knew it! It’s all wrong isn’t it? Is it the color? Does it fit badly? Man, I knew I should have gotten the other one. I didn’t like the color or style of the other one as well, but it was safer.” Carly shuffled from foot to foot. She was so busy trying to figure out what else she could possibly wear that she almost didn’t hear what Daniel said.

  “You look gorgeous! What did you do? I mean, I’ve never seen you like this.” Daniel couldn’t help it; this wasn’t the Carly he knew.

  She had a killer blue dress on that matched her eyes perfectly. The front wasn’t low, but it was lower than what she normally wore. She didn’t need it to be low with the way it clung to her breasts. When she turned to look at herself in the mirror, he noticed the back was cut very low to show a toned and tanned back. There was a slit up the right side of her dress that fell open as she walked and showed her very long and equally tanned leg. He didn’t know much about shoes, but he thought that the strappy little heels she was wearing were sexy as all get out.

  Carly turned back to him and couldn’t help but honor him with a megawatt smile. First, she had never had Daniel look at her like this and second, she had actually made Daniel flustered. “There’s a first time for everything.” Carly thought.

  Daniel took Carly’s arm as they headed down to the store. He kept looking over at her the whole time he walked her to the car and helped her in. “This is going to be a long night!”, was the only thought running through his head as he walked around to get in the driver’s seat.

  When they walked into the ball, several heads turned to look at them and most of those heads came back for a second look. Much to Daniel’s dismay, it irritated him. Making it even worse, Carly didn’t even seem to notice. There were several of the guys on the fire department that stopped Daniel to speak to him, which wasn’t unusual. But what was unusual was the fact that as they talked to him, they stared at Carly.

  Daniel put his arm around Carly’s waist and rested his hand on her hip, it was a possessive gesture and every guy in the room recognized it for that, everyone that is but Daniel. Carly figured Glynna had been spotted and Daniel was making sure she knew that they were together even though she hadn’t seen her yet.

  Daniel didn’t really give the possessive gesture much thought, all he knew was that he didn’t like the way several of the guys were eyeing Carly. He tried to convince himself that he was just protecting her, like a big brother would naturally do for a little sister that was in over her head.

  The evening progressed smoothly, there was a lot of ‘meet and greet’ going on at the beginning. Slowly people started finding their seats for the presentation. Carly sat with Daniel at the front by the podium and recognized a lot of familiar faces she hadn’t had a chance to say hello to yet.

  Daniel’s parents and two brothers were up at the front. Carly couldn’t help but think of how the brothers were so different, yet the same. Carter, the youngest of the boys was the fairest of them all. He had very light brown hair, almost blond. He was smaller than his brothers, but still very masculine. He topped off at six foot, and while he wasn’t muscular like his brothers, he was sinewy. He resembled a runner. While Carly didn’t doubt he had muscles, they just weren’t obvious.

  Harm, on the other hand, was the most rugged. Yes, that is how Carly would describe him, rugged. He had the biggest build of the brothers and hair so dark, it was almost black. He almost always had the sexy, need to shave, look to him. He was about a half inch taller than Daniel, making him the tallest of all the Wayne’s. Carly couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the Wayne boys. They all looked alike, yet, so different. Carter was the pretty boy; Daniel was the handsome and respectable one; Harm was the rough, tough and rugged one. Carly loved them all, but was only in love with Daniel. Man how she wished she wasn’t; how she’d hoped she wasn’t…it hurt too much, even after all these years.

  Carly made eye contact with Harm and Carter and they both winked at her. She was used to the two men teasing her so she winked back. As she turned to look at the speaker, she caught Daniels eye, he looked ticked off. She didn’t know what had happened in the last couple of seconds. He was fine just a moment ago and no one had come by them. The thing of it was his anger seemed to be directed at her. Before she could ask Daniel what was wrong, the speaker began and the room fell silent.

  Daniel was introduced to thunderous applause and after he made his speech the applause was even louder and was accompanied with a standing ovation. Maybe Carly imagined Daniel being upset, he seemed fine now. Daniel came back to sit beside Carly, no, she wasn’t wrong, he was still upset and it wasn’t just the nerves about speaking.

  “That was a perfect speech.” Carly whispered to Daniel when he sat back down. He didn’t respond except for an acknowledging grunt.

  “Is something wrong?”

  Daniel didn’t know what to say. He was ticked off and couldn’t explain it to himself, so how could he explain it to Carly. He had seen his brothers tease Carly hundreds of times, so why did it bother him now? He didn’t know what was wrong with him, ever since he saw Carly for the first time this evening, he felt protective over her. And yes, he had to admit, jealous of other men she gave attention to.

  “Daniel?”

  Daniel realized he still hadn’t answered her. “I’m fine.” He turned to look at her and gave her a smile. “Really, I’m fine. Sorry.” He reached over and patted her knee in a gesture that was taken as pure brotherly love, but at that moment, Daniel wasn’t feeling brotherly.

  “Can I have this dance?”

  The ball was now in full swing and people were having a great time. Daniel was acting a little more like himself but Carly kept noticing him watching her strangely from time to time.

  “Of course.” Carly got up to dance with a man she had been introduced to as Rick. He was a new fireman at the same station as Daniel. He was a good looking guy, about twenty five, tall and blond with baby blue eyes. Carly had no problem saying yes to the handsome man and headed out to the dance floor.

  “Wow! Look at Carly. What has she done to herself?” Carter asked his brothers. They were all still seated at the table Carly just left. Daniel was trying not to show how much he hated seeing Carly dance with anone else. But it was his fault, he hadn’t asked Carly to dance one time. He felt it was safer not to hold her in his arms but it seemed that neither one of his brothers had that problem. They both had danced with her a couple of times.

  “She does look stunning. That dress is something else.” Harm said.

  “If I didn’t know her so well, I’d be trying to get her number.” Harm said and Carter laughed, but Daniels jaw tightened. What was wrong with all of them? This was Carly they were talking about. She’s like a sister to them and they’re acting like she is just some woman…Okay, so she is a woman, and a very attractive one at that. But still, this was Carly.

  “Daniel, you’re an idiot.”

  Daniel turned to look at Harm, “Excuse me?”

  “Oh come on. You know Carly has had a thing for you since she and Jenna became friends. Look at her man! She’s stunning.” Harm and Daniel were both watching Carly.

  Carter noticed the look on Daniels face and elbowed Harm, Harm turned to look at their brother. It wasn’t sisterly love that was on his face, it was jealousy. They both smiled and Harm winked at Carter.

  “Excuse me,” Daniel got up and made his way to Carly. “May I cut in?”

  Rick turned to the intruder ready with a negative reply until he realized who it was. “Of course,” Rick turned back to Carly. “Please save me another dance later.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Rick turned to leave and Daniel took Carly into his arms. He still didn’t look happy.r />
  “What’s wrong? Is Glynna giving you problems?”

  Daniel took Carly awkwardly in his stiff embrace. He held her at arm’s length, his right hand on her left hip, his arm all but locked at the elbow. He held her right hand in his left, out away from their bodies. He kept about a foot of space between them, which to anyone watching, such as Carter and Harm, it looked very uncomfortable and awkward. Of course Carter and Harm were enjoying their brother’s discomfort a little too much.

  Carly felt Daniel’s body stiffen, even as far away from him as she was. Looking up at him she noticed he was looking over her shoulder with narrowed eyes. She started to turn to see what had caught his attention, but at that moment, he moved his right hand around to her the small of her back, pulling her up against his chest. He pulled his left hand in, bringing her right hand to his chest, and held it there.

  Carly couldn’t help but notice that this embrace made it so that Daniel’s cheek rested at her temple and his warm breath was right at her ear, playing havoc with her thoughts. His warm breath caused goose bumps on her arms. Daniel must have noticed, he asked, “Are you cold?” Carly didn’t trust herself to answer so she just shook her head. Daniel pulled her even closer anyway.

  When Carly couldn’t take it any longer, she turned her head and rested it on his shoulder. She couldn’t help but resent that the only reason he was holding her like this was because he was avoiding Glynna. What she couldn’t have known was that Daniel hadn’t seen Glynna. He’d seen another man heading their way and he wasn’t going to let anyone else cut in on their dance. In fact, when the song ended and went into another slow song, they continued to dance, holding each other.

  After several minutes of silence Daniel said, “You’ve been getting a lot of attention tonight.”

  What an odd thing to say, Carly thought, but since she didn’t know how to respond, she didn’t.

  “You look absolutely stunning.” Daniel said as he stopped moving and Carly looked up at him. They were so close that for the space of a heart beat Carly thought he might actually kiss her.