by D L Lane
After parking his car behind Mrs. Lorry’s old clunker in the driveway, Gage clambered out, the late January chill smacking him in the face as he tugged the collar of his coat up to his chin and hurried to the front door. Jabbing the bell, he opened the storm door and waited, shifting from foot-to-foot, hoping someone would show up soon, then gave in and punched the bell again.
“Gage?” Mrs. Lorry had opened the door, a frown marring her forehead. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I need to speak to Danica. It’s important. Is she home?”
“No.” She shook her sandy-blonde head. “I’m sorry, she’s not.”
Disappointment stabbed him. “Will you tell me where she is?”
“Come in. It’s too cold out.”
“No. It’s okay. I can’t stick around. But I do need to talk to your daughter.”
“She’s at school. Practicing for that musical she’s in.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll catch up with Danny there. Thanks.”
He started to turn, but she stopped him when she said, “Gage?”
He glanced at her. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Don’t break Danny’s heart again,” she said with a quiet authority.
His eyes widened, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to do or say. Any heartache Danny felt, she wouldn’t have confessed to anyone, not even her mother. Gage knew her well, and she was the mistress at keeping things bottled-up tight.
He realized Mrs. Lorry was watching him process this, with a knowledge only a mother possessed, so with a sincerity that bubbled up from his soul. He said, “I won’t.”
“See that you don’t.”
He nodded, then turned, jogged to his GTO, slipped inside, and headed for Cedar Point High.
~
Danica saw him the moment he walked into the auditorium. As he came down the aisle and took a seat in the middle row, her voice wavered for just one moment while she sang. But by pulling all her attention back to the task at hand, she was able to pretend he wasn’t there and continued with practice.
“All right, everyone.” Mrs. Bisbee clapped. “That was great, but it’s time to call it a day. Don’t forget to be here at four-thirty instead of three-thirty when school lets out tomorrow. Be safe getting home.”
Taking her time, Danica considered leaving through the backstage exit, but Gage would notice and do what he needed to do to get to her back there. If she did that, the two of them would be secluded, and being alone with him was something she sure didn’t want.
She let out a breath.
In a perfect world, she didn’t want to speak to Gage at all, but he’d obviously come to talk to her. She couldn’t imagine any other reason for him to show up at a practice for the school play.
With a thousand hot needles poking her spine, she followed the rest of the cast, taking the steps as slow as possible, trying to put off the ‘up close and personal’ with Gage as long as she could.
Danica kept her attention on her feet until she came to the first row where she’d left her coat. As if she were feeble, she picked the thing up from where she’d discarded it in a chair, slipped one arm into the garment, then the other. She pulled her long hair free of the restraint, releasing it—the dense strands tumbling down her back, slipping along the material.
“Danny.”
She spun to the sound of Phillip’s voice. “Yeah?”
“Do you need a ride home? I’d be happy to—”
“I’ll take her,” Gage said, striding up to them, making her beating heart stutter before resuming its normal pace.
“Dude.” The two of them bumped fists. “I didn’t know you where here.”
“I came to talk to Danny, so I’ll give her a lift home.”
Phillip’s gaze bounced between her and Gage, then landed on her. “You good?”
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Gage sounded none too happy with his friend’s question.
“I get you’re all ‘big brother’ protective of Danica, but back off!”
Her eyes widened. She never knew Phillip could put some bite into his words. He was usually a ‘go with the flow’ kind of guy.
Gage stepped up to him, and Danica put her palm on his chest, stopping Gage from making a butt of himself. “I’m fine, Phillip,” she said, then glanced up, avoiding any direct eye contact with the boy who broke her. “And you need to chill. If I want to accept a ride from Phillip, I will. You don’t have a say in the matter.”
“Dann—”
She shook her head and held up her palm. “Don’t.” She couldn’t believe what she was going to say, but there it was on the tip of her tongue, getting ready to spill. “I’ll let you take me home. Emphasis on the ‘let’.” Danica slid her attention to Phillip. “Thank you for offering, but I’m good.”
She wasn’t, not really, but whatever, she was going to attempt to pull off the fib.
“Sure?”
She nodded.
“All right.” Phillip’s gaze bounced between them again. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“See you,” she said, watching him go before she started to follow.
Gage stopped her with that big hand of his, wrapping over her shoulder, which she shrugged off, eyes snapping as she looked up at him. “Don’t touch me!”
He let her go, hand up mea culpa. “Sorry.”
Pulling her gaze from him, she made her way to the exit, walking at a brisk pace, Gage trailing along beside her, quiet. He tried to open the door for her, but she pushed on the lock-bar with force, stepping out into the evening air—the chill hitting her.
“Where are you parked?” she asked, her tone clipped.
“Over there.” Gage pointed to one of the lot lights, his cherry-red GTO highlighted by the beam.
Straightening her shoulders, Danica didn’t stomp, but she wasn’t heading over at a reasonable pace either. Gage jogged to get in front of her to open up the passenger door, the only time she slowed so she could get inside.
She didn’t bother to tell him thanks, she just took the seat, looking straight ahead and crossed her arms.
A few seconds later, he was behind the wheel. “Thanks for agreeing to this,” he said.
She didn’t take the bait, just kept her attention trained out the front windshield, hearing his exasperated sigh.
“Do you think you might look at me?”
She didn’t respond.
“Please?”
“You wanted to take me home, so take me,” she said.
“I will, but I want to talk first.”
“I don’t recall ‘talking’ as part of the deal.”
“Danica Dawn, look at me.”
His stern softness penetrated the fortress of anger she’d built around her, making her shoulders slump.
“Please, Danny.”
She closed her eyes and dropped her head, her hair shifting to form a curtain between them.
“Please,” he said again.
“I don’t want to.”
“I get it. I do, but I want to see you. Don’t shut yourself off from me.”
It took all of her strength not to cave and look at him, but if she did, she’d fall into the depth of stupidity, and she wasn’t going to do that again with him. Ever.
“All right.” Gage sighed. “I’ll talk. You listen.”
The childish part of her wanted to stick her fingers in her ears, but she wasn’t going to stoop that low, so she just nodded.
“I know I have confused you with my hot and cold behavior, but I wasn't being a giant jerk, I was fighting a battle with myself.”
That did it. She lifted her head and turned to look at him, but remained quiet.
He smiled, but it was sad somehow. “See, I made your father a promise. It was a simple one at the time. I would look out for you, and I’ve done my best to do that. But somewhere along the way, I developed feelings for you I couldn’t ignore, though I needed to.”
“Why would you need to?” Danica asked.
“Because the fe
elings I had were the type of thing your father wouldn’t be too happy about, especially since you were too young for me to be having them.”
“So you…” She shook her head, confused.
“I didn’t want to break my promise to him, but so many times I was on the verge of doing that, of stepping over a line I wanted to cross so badly with you, but if I did—”
“You’d break your word.”
Gage nodded. “But, Danny, I came so close to shattering it.”
She gave in and locked her eyes with his silver gaze, fastened on her.
“When we kissed,” he said, “I was ready to go to places with you that wouldn’t have been appropriate. I knew I had to do things right, so I backed off.”
“Clearly.”
“I was waiting for you to turn sixteen so we could date. So, I could make you my girl officially.”
Every part of her body stilled, maybe even her heart.
“But I did something monumentally stupid when I left your house after kissing you.” Gage grabbed the steering wheel, white-knuckling it.
“Jenny,” she whispered, her gut twisting.
“Yes.”
Danica glanced down, the pain slicing into her at the thought of Gage touching someone else with the hands she wanted to feel—of him doing other things with that girl.
“I’m so, so sorry for hurting you.”
She was sorry too, but even though she was hearing he cared for her, any momentary joy she’d felt vanished with the introduction of Jenny Lansing into their conversation. But, wouldn’t she be forever part of it, whether spoken or unspoken?
Yes. Jenny will always be the thorn in my side.
With tears swimming in her eyes, Danica said, “Sorry really doesn’t fix anything though, does it.”
“Maybe not, but there’s something you need to know.”
“What?” she asked, looking up at him once more.
“The baby isn’t mine.”
She blinked, letting those four words sink in. “How do you know that?”
“It’s obvious when you look at him.”
“Him?”
“Jenny gave birth to a boy,” he said.
Regardless of the baby being his or not, the damage between them couldn’t be undone as far as Danica was concerned.
“She named him Justin.”
“Oh,” she mumbled.
“But, back to your question. I know for a fact the baby isn’t mine because my father insisted from the start on a paternity test once the little one was born.” Gage started to reach for her, then stopped. “I received the test results today. He isn’t mine.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, not sure if she was or wasn’t, but she figured getting the news Jenny had been messing around on him wouldn’t have been something he wanted.
“Don’t be.”
She frowned. “But your girlfriend was unfaithful. That has to be hard.”
“She wasn’t, and isn’t, my girlfriend.”
Danica shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
“You do, Danny.”
“Are you saying you have no feelings about her and the baby?”
“No. I’m saying we were never together in a boyfriend/girlfriend type of way.”
She wasn’t sure if hearing that was worse. “You just had sex with her. That’s what you’re saying.”
Gage looked uncomfortable, shifting in his seat, hand going to the gearshift. “We hooked-up some, but I’d put an end to it when I realized how important you were, and still are to me.”
“Evidently not,” she spat, anger popping like effervescent bubbles inside of her.
“I already admitted I made a horrible mistake, and I can’t undo that. I would if I could but—”
“Take me home,” she said, turning back around to stare out the windshield.
“Danny, I—”
“You talked. I listened. Now I’m ready to go home.”
“But, we’re not done—”
“Oh, but we are, Gage. We’ve been done since you came to my house and told me Jenny was pregnant.”
“Justin isn’t my baby, Danny. Please.”
The pleading in his voice did nothing. Meant nothing.
“Take me home, or I’m getting out and walking.”
“Danica, listen to me—”
Quick as could be, she lifted the handle on the door and was out of the car, hearing the echoing slam behind her as she took off running at full speed. If Gage were going to follow her, he’d have to do it on foot since she weaved her way through the few remaining cars in the lot, and jumped the chain-link fence into the football field.
“Danny!” Gage’s bellow came, but he wasn’t close, and she wasn’t going to turn around to see how far back he was either. She just put on more speed, heading for the opposite fence where she’d jump again, escape into the trees.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The annual Trick or Treat Street the shops put on was happening, so Main Street was buzzing. Gage was glad he had an extra patrol on shift for the night. Tapping his brakes, he slowed and came to a stop at a red light, watching the pedestrians pass by the front of his vehicle—little Bailey Johnson, dressed like a fairy princess, waving at him. With a smile, he waved back as she hopped alongside her mother, holding her hand.
Making an effort to be extra diligent, he drove like a little old lady, putting on his turn signal. He’d park in the newspaper’s side lot and then head down to the Choc-Oh! Cottage, see how things were going there with Mason and his crew. Maybe even help with giving out candy, since Dixie and one of his rookies had matters handled if anyone brought their kids by the station. But mostly, people stuck to the downtown stores, and the police station wasn’t on the main drag.
After parking, he grabbed a few Tootsie Rolls and some assorted suckers, shoving them into the pockets of his coat, then slid out of his SUV.
He was hit up by one of the kids the moment his foot hit the sidewalk in front of the building.
“Trick or Treat, Chief?”
“Hi, Kallie.” He pulled a candy from his pocket and dropped it into her outstretched bucket. “That sure is a pretty crown you’re wearing.”
She smiled up at him, too cute with her missing two front teeth. “Thanks!”
“You sure are welcome.”
“Thank you, Chief,” her Mom, Victoria said.
“No problem. You both have a good night and be safe out here.”
“We will,” the woman said before tugging her daughter alongside her, heading for more loot.
With a few more stops to give out the candy he’d stashed, he finally stepped inside Mason’s shop, the smell of chocolate and coffee always a great scent.
Kasey came over wearing a black cat getup. “Happy Halloween!”
“Right back at you.”
She grinned and glanced down.
He heard, “G!” and turned to the sound of Mason’s voice, the man smiling from ear-to-ear.
“Hey, brother. Where’s your costume?”
“You know I’m not the costume kind of guy, but wait until you see Breck.” Mason shook his head, an indulgent grin on his face.
“Boo!” Breck yelled, jumping out from behind a display case, looking like one of the zombies on The Walking Dead, but she was too happy to pull it off completely.
Gage chuckled. “Now, that’s a costume.”
“Do you like it?” She spun around for his inspection.
“Very undead.”
Breckin clapped and bounded to her husband. “I told you it wasn’t too much.”
Mason kissed her makeup-smudged forehead. “You’re crazy, but I love you.”
Gage looked away when they went into their little snuggle-box of two, not jealous, but sometimes wishing he had just a slice of what they did.
“Sorry I’m late!” Danny came through the door, pushing the double stroller, and he grinned. Not only had she dressed up, jet-black hair and all, but her twins were decked out like two of the seve
n dwarfs, though he didn’t remember there being a girl dwarf.
“Gage,” she said, coming to a halt.
“Snow White,” he returned, before squatting to peek in at the babies. “And who do we have here. Sleepy and Doc?”
Ari burst into giggles as he tapped the tip of her button nose, Aaron tossing a fist and grinning.
“I don’t know how you do that,” Danica said unbuttoning her coat, right as the sirens started.
Gage straightened, listening to the distinctive sound of the fire engines. A second later, a cell phone pinged, Mason’s shop phone started ringing, and then the com Gage had attached to him went off.
Concerned, he stepped to the back of the shop, picked up the handset from his shoulder, and spoke. “Harrison here.”
“Chief,” Dixie said, “there’s a fire at Doctor Harding’s place. I’m worried about Danica and the babies.”
Though he knew they were okay, something twisted in his gut at the word fire.
“They are all fine,” he said into the little device, “I’m with them now at Mason’s shop.” He scowled, looking over at Danica, who was staring at her phone, deep grooves on her forehead. “Is the house on fire?”
“No, just one of the trees on the front of the property. Probably Halloween pranks gone bad, but the fire department was dispatched.”
“I’ll head over, too.”
“All right, Chief. Be safe.”
“Will do.”
Striding back to Danica, she looked up at him, her face ashen. She held out her phone so he could see the screen. There in front of him, sure enough, he could see one of the large trees in her front lawn blazing. “My security feed from the house.”
“What’s going on?” Breck asked, coming to her sister’s side.
“Someone has set fire to a tree in front of Danny’s home,” Gage said. “I was just talking to Dixie. The fire department has been dispatched, and I’m heading out as well.”
“I’m going with you,” Danica said, then looked at her sister. “Will you take care of the twins for me?”
“Of course.” She hugged Danny. “You be careful, okay?”
Danica nodded, appearing stunned as she stepped back, then glanced up at him. “Let’s go.”
