by Dianne Drake
“I hate house-cleaning, but I do it because I don’t want somebody else coming in and poking around my things.”
“Like your flower bed?” he asked, adjusting his walking pace to hers.
So far they were on a moderate walk, not leisurely, but not too fast. Only for a few moments, though, because once they rounded the first corner Zoey launched into her power walking with a vengeance, leaving Daniel behind. It took him several seconds to catch up to her, and that was when she noticed that he was holding up his end of the walk quite admirably for someone who’d probably never been power walking before. It could be he wasn’t so out of shape after all.
She glanced down at his legs. Tan. Nice. Well-muscled. Thank heavens for athletic shorts as they gave her a good view of his lower body. She took a nice, appreciative look “I’m not particular about my flower bed one way or another. In fact, it’s a leftover from a couple years ago, when I actually took the time to plant a few things. The house was new to me then, and I was a little more enthusiastic about outside chores and perennial plants.”
“But not anymore?” he asked, finding his stride nicely next to her.
“I mow the yard when it needs it. Prune my shrubs when I get around to it. Pull weeds when I have to.”
“So what you’re telling me is that you lost your enthusiasm?”
“What I’m telling you is that I’m not domestic, and I probably should have bought a condo, where much of the maintenance is done by the condo association, rather than investing in a house.”
“It’s never too late,” he said.
“Maybe it’s not, but I’m settled now, and I’m not really good at making major changes in my life.”
“Tell me about it,” he said, almost under his breath.
Taking her eyes off the course ahead of them, Zoey glanced over at Daniel. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“As Dylan Thomas might have said, you don’t go gentle into that good night.”
“That’s referring to death.”
“Maybe so, but I’m paraphrasing it into meaning your life.”
“OK, so I find it hard to make changes. Big deal. We’re all allowed to have our foibles, aren’t we?” She wasn’t angry, but she was put off by his keen observation of her. Honestly, she hadn’t known he was looking that closely. Why was he? she wondered as they rounded yet another corner and headed in the direction of a neighborhood park.
CHAPTER NINE
OVERALL, ZOEY WAS generally pleased with the way her walk with Daniel went. They hadn’t chatted too much, as it distracted them from what they were doing. Zoey was fine with that, however, as the quietness between them gave her more time to think about how much she enjoyed his company. Daniel was an interesting man and it was easy to see why Elizabeth had fallen for him. In a subtle kind of a way, he was someone who truly didn’t know his effect on people. Humble. Smart.
He had an interesting face, too, and she’d had the chance to study it along their route, catching sideways glances of him every now and then. The way he concentrated—with a slight frown and a firmly set mouth—was downright irresistible, as far as Zoey was concerned. Oh, and his wrinkles—new ones around his eyes—made him look wise and distinguished. They added character to an already handsome face, and they looked so good on him. Did they come from stress, though? Zoey wondered about that as she thought about all the stress that had mounted up in his life this past year.
Anyway, as it turned out, Zoey had planned for a one-time walk only, assuming that Daniel would get bored with it, or her, and not want to come back. But that was not the way it worked out. No, not at all. In fact, midway through their jaunt, he’d told her he was eager to walk with her again. Make it a regular date, perhaps.
That did catch her by surprise and, while the prospect of having Daniel with her every time she walked excited her, it also filled her with a modest amount of trepidation as he would be seeing her in her rawest of states on a regular basis. Her walks were a no-makeup, messy-haired, dress-down kind of affair, when she honestly paid no attention to how she looked. But she wanted to look good for Daniel, and that was what worried her. Walking like she did, she couldn’t present herself the way she wanted, and that was something Daniel was sure to notice. But she couldn’t dress up for him for those five miles, as that would be putting on airs she truly didn’t own.
Well, so be it. He’d just have to see her the way she was and she’d have to live with the consequences.
“We could do that again,” Daniel commented after they made their round of the park and ended up back at Zoey’s house. He glanced at his watch—a new device that tracked his exercise, steps, movements...pretty much everything he did. “We’ve got plenty of time.”
“Sorry, but I can’t. I’ve got time to shower and get ready for work, and that’s about all,” she told him, fully intending not to invite him inside. It was too early in the day to get that involved.
Daniel must have taken the hint at the door for, as she turned her back to him and went inside, he stepped aside when her screen door almost banged into him. “I think I’ll shower when I get to work. It’s easier than going back home.”
“But home is only a mile away.”
He grinned. “Home is where my bed may call me back for another ten minutes, which will turn into twenty, which will turn into thirty, making me late to work.”
“You really hate mornings, don’t you?”
“I don’t hate them. I just try to avoid them.”
“But your job requires you to be up bright and early.”
“And your walking requires me to be up even earlier.”
“Then sleep in. You don’t have to come with me next time I go.” A small part of her wanted him to take her up on that un-invite, but a larger part of her wanted him to greet her, pulled weeds in hand, ready to walk again. Wanting and not wanting...this was beginning to be such a battle in her; she didn’t know how she could keep up with it.
Zoey turned around to face Daniel, realizing that she wanted him more than she didn’t want him. “This morning was...pleasant,” she said, hesitantly.
“You sure won’t commit to anything solid, will you?”
“Pleasant is solid enough.”
“Pleasant is noncommittal. You could have told me you enjoyed spending the last thirty minutes with me, or that you look forward to walking with me again. That would have been committal.”
“Committal?”
“You know...committing or entrusting.”
“Well, I’m entrusting to you the task of coming back next time I walk. Are you committed to that?”
Daniel raised amused eyebrows. “Fancy words, lady.”
“Your words, not mine.”
“Actually, my only word is yes.”
“Yes, as in, you’ll be back?”
“Yes, as in, I’m looking forward to seeing you again.”
He was lingering, on purpose, and attempting a conversation that would allow them a little more time together. It was a deliberate ploy, one she could see right through, and one she didn’t mind in the least as she didn’t want him to leave her quite yet. More and more, she was enjoying her time with Daniel, always mindful that it could turn into nothing. Or everything, if they could both get past their self-made obstacles. “That would be...”
“Pleasant?” he interrupted.
A smile crept to Zoey’s face. “I was going to say nice.”
“Well, that’s better than pleasant.”
“Look, Daniel, I don’t know what you want from me. I mean, I thought we were going to be friends, but this is turning into something that goes beyond friendship. At least, you’re dropping all kinds of hints that it could.”
“And you’re opposed to that?” he asked.
“I don’t know what I am.” That
much was true. The further she got into this relationship with Daniel, the more confused she was getting. Was he truly ready to move on now? Did she want to be his first since Elizabeth? Of course, there was still that big question that had plagued her since they’d met that day in the coffee shop: could she measure up? That, if nothing else, put a damper on any forward progress she might want to make with him. That obstacle she alone had to get past.
“How about I go away and let you figure that out? Then maybe we could have dinner sometime, once you know.”
“Are we dating, Daniel?” Blunt question, but she had to ask it.
“More like skirting around dating, since I’ve never asked you out on a proper date. Which I would, if I thought you’d accept.”
So maybe there had been no formal attempt at dating, but lately she’d spent an awful lot of time with Daniel and, to her, that was almost the same as dating. “Skirting is good,” she said.
“But what if I asked you out the way most men ask women to go out? None of this chance meeting or planned activity rubbish we’ve been doing. Would you accept?”
“Probably,” she conceded.
Daniel couldn’t hide the look of surprise overtaking his face. “Is that closer to a yes or no?”
“Closer to a yes.” This was so bold of her, and so unlike her. But she liked the change happening within her. Liked it a lot.
“Then will you go out with me? Just me...no Maddie. No power walking. No hospital or patient business.”
She didn’t even hesitate before she answered. “Yes. I’d like that.” Said with no momentary qualms, even though she knew those might set in after she’d had time to think about this.
“Friday night? Maybe we can go down to the pier and have a nice dinner, then take in the sights. You know—keep it simple.”
“Simple’s good,” she said, preparing to shut the door. It was time to get ready for work. No more putting it off even if she would have liked to linger at the door like she was, talking awhile longer to Daniel.
He smiled and started to back away. “Well, then... Friday.”
“Friday,” she repeated, then closed the door. Zoey’s first inclination was to hurry to the window to watch him walk down her steps, but she didn’t do that, as her knees were too wobbly to carry her even that short distance. So instead, she simply leaned against the door for a minute, willing her nerves to settle down. But they didn’t as, the more she thought about what she’d just now accepted, the more her nerves ran uncontrolled through her entire body. “OK, calm down, Zoey. It’ll be fine.”
Fine? How was this going to be fine, when her stomach was already in a knot over it? For that matter, how was this going to be fine when she knew that Elizabeth still stood as an obstacle between them?
Yeah, right. Fine! Nothing about it was fine, yet she wasn’t going to do anything to stop it.
* * *
Two days to figure it out. Two days to convince himself he wasn’t doing a bad thing.
Daniel sighed impatiently as he perused one of his patient’s charts. He needed to change the antibiotic order as Mrs. Jenkins in Room Seven-Ten seemed to be having an allergic reaction to the one he’d prescribed earlier. She hadn’t told him about her allergy until after the rash had popped up, and only then did she admit that erythromycin had caused this in her before.
“You should have told me,” he mumbled as he scribbled the new order.
“Doctor?” the nurse seated next to him at the nurses’ station asked.
“Sorry...talking to myself.”
“Whatever keeps you sane,” she told him, then turned her attention back to the notes she was charting.
Sanity...such a sketchy concept sometimes. What was sanity, anyway? Sometimes he wasn’t sure he knew. So had he been lacking in sanity when he’d asked Zoey out on a proper date? He might have been. Certainly, he’d never intended to date anyone so soon. In fact, his general life plan had been to wait until Maddie was older before he pursued anything. Yet his plans had been flying out the window since the first moment he’d spotted Zoey in that coffee shop.
Slowly, Daniel trudged his way back down to Mrs. Jenkins to inform her that he was changing her medication. “Any other allergies I should know about?” he asked.
“Peanuts,” she said. “Oh, and pollen. I get bad hay fever in the spring and autumn.”
She pulled her blanket up to her chin and wiggled down into the bed. “When will I get out of here, Doctor?” she asked.
Patients always wanted to go home, even before they were cured. He couldn’t blame them as home was where he wanted to be right now. Home playing with Maddie. Fixing her spaghetti. Brushing her long hair. Doing all the things Elizabeth used to do. “Day after tomorrow, if I get your rash under control.”
“Could I go home and get it under control there?” she asked him.
“I want to keep an eye on you another day or so, in case the rash gets worse.” His mind was totally not on Mrs. Jenkins’ rash. Not on anything hospital-related.
* * *
“I really need a day off,” he told Abby later that day when he went to get Maddie.
“You look tired,” she replied.
“Tired of the routine.”
“Daddy!” Maddie squealed, jumping into his arms as he bent down to catch her. “Can we go for pizza?”
“You’re going to turn into a pizza if we’re not careful,” he teased.
“She needs a proper meal,” Abby interjected. “Not pizza every night. Maybe I should do more cooking for her—send it with you when you come to get her.”
“She gets a proper meal almost every night,” Daniel said, trying to stay calm. He simply wasn’t in the mood to have Abby come at him right now. Wasn’t in the mood to fight back, either. It was too difficult, too painful. And Elizabeth would have hated this little back and forth he and Abby always seemed to get into. But Abby was suffering in ways he couldn’t even understand. To lose her only child... His heart did break for Abby as much as his heart broke for himself. Which was why he never walked away from her. She needed her family, and he and Maddie were her family. “Speaking of which, could you watch her Friday night?”
“Do you have to work late?” Abby asked him.
There was no easy way to do this. No easy way to tell her that he was beginning to move forward. He didn’t want to hurt her, but any way he put this he was afraid he would. “I...um... I have a date.”
“A date?” Abby’s face drained of all color. “I... I didn’t expect that so soon, Daniel.”
“Neither did I. But it just sort of happened.” He sighed. “It’s time, Abby. What can I say? I loved Elizabeth dearly, still do, but I need to move on with things now.”
“I know you do. It’s just that...things are changing so quickly. I don’t have Elizabeth anymore. Maddie’s growing up. And now you...” She brushed back a tear that was sliding from her eye. “Is she a nice woman, Daniel?”
“She is. In fact, you know her.”
“One of Elizabeth’s friends?”
“No, not one of her friends, exactly. It’s her nurse, Zoey Evans.”
“Zoey? I don’t understand. Have you been keeping up with her all along?”
“No. I haven’t seen her since Elizabeth died. But, recently I bumped into Zoey at a coffee shop and we seemed to hit it off.”
“I knew you’d move on. Elizabeth wanted you to. She told me to help you through it if I could. But, Daniel, this scares me. I’ve already lost Elizabeth, and the next thing you know, I’ll be losing you and Maddie, too. And now that you’re dating again, it seems so...close.”
“You’re not going to lose either one of us, Abby. We’re family, and that’s not going to change.”
“But if you remarry...where does that leave me?”
“The same plac
e you’ve always been—important to us. Nothing I will do in the future is going to change that. Maddie needs you because you’re her grandmother, and I need you because we’re both so connected to Elizabeth, and that’s something only the two of us can share.”
“Then you won’t take Maddie away from me? Because I love having her with me every day. Love that more than anything else in my life.”
“No, I’m not taking Maddie away from you.”
“Even if you marry a woman who doesn’t want me around because I’m your first wife’s mother?”
“First off, I’m not getting married right now. Not even thinking about it, as I haven’t even dated. But in the future, if I do marry again, it will be to someone who accepts you as part of my family. Because you are.” Daniel leaned over and pulled Abby into his arms. “But you are going to have to quit spoiling Maddie the way you do.”
“I spoil her?”
He chuckled. “Quite a lot. And, while I know grandmothers have the right to spoil a grandchild a little bit, you’re way out there with Maddie. Once in a while, tell her no. Don’t always give in to what she wants. Don’t think that you have to earn her love with the things you give her, because she’s going to love you just because you’re her grandmother.”
“But I want her to have everything.”
“So did Elizabeth and I, but we also wanted Maddie to be strong and independent, and it’s hard for that to happen when she’s got you to fall back on. You taught Elizabeth how to be strong and independent and, whatever you did for her, that’s what I want you to do for Maddie. She needs that from you, Abby. Because, apart from me, you’re the only other connection to her mother she’ll ever have, and I want her to get to know Elizabeth through you.” This was the talk that Zoey had suggested he have, and he felt good about it. It was time for him to move forward with Abby, without resentment. “Anyway, can you watch Maddie for me Friday night, or do I have to find another babysitter?”
“Of course I can watch Maddie. And I hope you and Zoey have a nice time. She was so good to my Elizabeth...”
