“Don’t know what happened between you and Dani or how it got messed up, son, but I’ve heard stories. Whatever you did, I suggest you fix it.”
I turned my exhausted gaze to my dad. “I’m tryin’. It’s not that easy.”
“Then try harder,” he insisted. “’Cause I can tell you now, you weren’t the only one who benefited from havin’ that woman in your life. Those kids need that kind of light just as bad as you do.”
After that shot, he turned and followed after the kids, leaving me rattled at just how right he was.
Chapter Twenty-One
Danika
“I think I might have gone a little overboard,” I mumbled as I looked at the table laden with sweet treats.
Tonight was the first game of the season for the high school’s baseball team, which meant it was also the night of the bake sale. A huge part of me wanted to back out. I hadn’t seen Hardin in the two weeks that had passed since that run-in outside my parents’ house, and I didn’t want to risk him seeing me there and getting more upset than he already was. The only reason I decided to go through with it was because I wanted to do my part and help him and his team raise the money they needed.
Sage plopped the container of coffee cake squares on the table and turned to me, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. “You think? I just helped you lug twenty boxes from the parking lot to here. I should’ve made you pay me for my help.”
The folding tables were set up in a cluster near the concession stand, and as I looked around, I noticed most of the people at the tables around me had stuck with one or two kinds of pastries.
I not only had the coffee cake squares but also chocolate chunk cookies, double fudge brownies, blondies, and—only because I knew they’d sell like hotcakes and make the baseball team a buttload of money—cronuts.
I looked down at my table, by bottom lip clamped between my teeth as I realized I’d baked so damn much, you could barely see the surface.
I was just starting to contemplate packing some of the stuff up and taking it back to the shop when I heard a boy shout, “No way! The Muffin Top lady has a table? Awesome!”
He and his friends came running up, and after that, there was a crush of people. The game hadn’t started yet, so everyone was gathered around the tables, buying treats before heading off to the bleachers.
I was in the zone, working alongside Sage and selling one individually wrapped item after another when I heard a familiar voice call out loudly.
“Dani!” I looked up and over, the smile on my face slowly bleeding away when my gaze collided with Leo’s.
I knew I was going to see him. Hell, I’d spent the whole day psyching myself up for it. I’d had myself convinced that I’d be just fine, but the idea of something was never the same as the reality.
He looked just as incredible as always. Even in faded jeans and a long-sleeved tee, he managed to take my breath away. It didn’t matter what the man wore, hell, he could be marching around in a potato sack and he’d still be the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. His dark hair, still in need of a cut, blew in the breeze and I was reminded of how soft those strands felt as they slid between my fingers.
I forced my gaze from its perusal and looked up to find him staring at me with a tender expression that hit me right in the chest.
Tearing my focus from him, I let it fall down to his girl as she came rushing to the table with a huge grin on her face.
“Hey, sweetie. How are you?”
“Great! Daddy said you’ve been real busy lately, but do you think we can have our next baking lesson soon?”
“Oh, um . . .”
God, that hurt. No. That killed. I’d had more fun during those hours we’d spent together than I’d had in all the years I’d baked in my kitchen at Muffin Top. I loved my kitchen, but teaching her everything I knew, and watching as she did her best to soak up every single thing with such enthusiasm filled a place inside of me I hadn’t realized was empty.
“Honey, I’m not really sure—”
“It’s just that . . . éclairs are Hardin’s favorite, and his birthday’s coming up soon. He’s turning sixteen and I want to make some for him.”
There was no way I could possibly say no to that. Her heart was so big and so full of kindness, of course she’d want to learn to do something strictly for her brother’s sake. I knew from Leo’s schedule back when we were together that the kids were going back to their mom’s in a couple of days, so I offered, “Tell you what, sweetheart, I’ll talk to your dad, and we’ll figure out a time for another lesson the next time you’re with him. Sound good?”
“Perfect! Thanks, Dani.”
She skipped off after that, having spotted a bunch of friends. Together, they headed for the bleachers. I watched after her while keeping Leo in my periphery. When I noticed him start in my direction, I quickly moved to another group of kids standing in front of the table and started helping them, hoping he’d get the message and walk away. It had been weeks since our relationship ended, and while he’d texted and called, I hadn’t answered or called back, and every message was left sitting unopened in our text thread, every voicemail unheard.
After a minute, I chanced a peek. He was gone, but Hardin was there, almost right where his father had been standing, staring at me with an expression on his face I couldn’t get a read on. He quickly glanced farther down the sidewalk, and I followed his gaze, spotting Leo’s back. When my attention returned to him, his eyes was back on me.
That pressure returned to my chest and with it, the overwhelming urge to cry, but I forced it down, giving Hardin a gentle smile before turning my focus to the people waiting in front of the table.
“Coast is clear,” Sage said few minutes later as I was counting the cash we’d made so far.
I twisted my neck in her direction, feeling my brows pull into a frown. “What?”
“Mini-Leo’s gone. You can stop pretending you’re so busy you can’t lift your head.”
“I wasn’t—”
“You were, honey,” she said softly. “And I can’t say I blame you. But I saw what just went down between the two of you.”
“Nothing went down between us,” I said as I stuffed the cash back into the money box and slammed the lid closed. The game was about to start, so most everyone was in their seats, with only a few stragglers left behind, not nearly enough to get me out of this conversation.
“Well I don’t know what you were seeing, but what I saw was a kid who sure the hell look like he regretted being mean to the sweet, shy, coffee lady.”
“And I think your head’s a bit cracked, because none of what you just described actually happened, weirdo.”
She shrugged and started for the other end of the table. “Whatever you say, but I’m a very intuitive person. So when it turns out I’m right, and it will, just a heads-up, I’m not one to take the high road. I’m throwing that crap right in your face.”
“Why are we friends again?” I asked, but I couldn’t hold down the bubble of laughter that came up with those words.
“Because I rolled into town in my sweet ride, and you instantly saw the cool that was me just like everyone else who crosses my path.”
I wadded up one of the little paper bags I’d brought along to stuff the treats in and threw it at her head, which she easily batted away.
We got hit with another crowd just then, so I got back to business, but I did it feeling the tiniest bit lighter.
I’d been doing my best to keep track of the game, catching bits and pieces when I could. It had been a serious nail-biter, at least for me, who wanted so desperately for Hardin’s team to win, so when the final score showed they’d won by four runs, I’d been over the moon.
Sage and I, along with the rest of the bake sale people had hung around until the very end so we’d be there for the after-game rush, and just as we’d hoped, they crowded the tables on the way out, hopped up on adrenaline after the win.
I was nearly out of everythi
ng, feeling proud that I’d cleared the table and helped raise money for the team when a voice spoke up and burst my little bubble.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve being here.”
My head whipped around at the malice dripping from those words, and when my eyes landed on Whitney standing just across the table from me, I got the sinking suspicion something bad was about to happen. Her face was twisted with anger, her blue eyes throwing so much hate my way it felt like shards of ice pricking my skin.
“Excuse me?”
“Everyone in this town knows who you really are, Dani. They know you’re a slut and a homewrecker. I can’t believe you’d actually show your face here.”
Sage suddenly appeared beside me, her voice laced with anger as she warned, “I don’t know who you think you are, lady, but you need to walk away right now.”
Whitney turned her callous stare on my friend. “No one’s talking to you,” she shot back before returning her fury to me. “It’s bad enough you were screwing my husband, but now you come to my son’s baseball game? Why don’t you just stay the hell away from my family, huh?”
“Lower your voice,” I hissed, placing my palms on the table top and leaning forward. “You need to turn around and walk away right now. There will never be a time or place for me and you to have any conversation, but especially not now. There are young children all around who don’t need to hear whatever garbage you’re geared up to say.”
“You think I care about any of that?” she snapped, her voice rising with each word. She’d had her little posse behind her since the start of this, the same girls who’d followed Whitney around like brainless lemmings all through high school, and even they were starting to look uncomfortable as a crowd began to form around us and people started whispering.
“Well I care,” a woman nearby declared. “Not only ’cause I don’t want my child hearin’ your trash mouth, but ’cause you’re full of it, calling Ms. Parrish names.”
Whitney pinned the woman with an icy glare before turning back to me. “You need to back off. Stay the hell away from my husband and kids.”
“Ain’t your husband anymore,” a man in the crowd stated. “And after this little scene, I can sure see why.”
“Mind your own business!” Whitney clipped at him.
“You made it our business when you started your little drama,” another woman said. “And just to say, poor taste, tryin’ to pick a fight at a high school baseball game.”
Whitney crossed her arms over her chest and swiveled to face the crowd. “This has nothing to do with any of you, so you need to go the hell away.”
God, this woman was still as big a bitch as she was when we were teenagers. “Fine, you know what? If you won’t leave, I will. Come on, Sage.”
I grabbed my friend’s hand and started to pull her away when Whitney spoke again. “Look at that, Danika Dough Girl’s still the same pathetic loser she was in high school.”
“Mom!” At Hardin’s voice, I whipped around, the muscles in my body locking tight when I saw the rage on his face, rage that mirrored his father’s to a T. But it was the fear and uncertainty mixed in Macie’s expression that broke my heart.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” I said to her, smiling in the hopes of eliminating that fear. “Everything’s fine.”
“Don’t you talk to my daughter,” Whitney snarled. “Don’t even look at my daughter!”
“Whitney, that’s enough,” Leo barked. “You need to leave, right now.”
She threw the same hate that had just been directed at me in Leo’s direction, lifting her chin in the air before looking to kids. “Hardin, Macie, let’s go.”
“They aren’t goin’ anywhere with you,” Leo growled. “My week isn’t over yet. You’ll get them back Monday. Now leave. I won’t say it again.”
“Kids, now,” she barked. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
“Hardin,” Leo said, sounding a thousand times calmer than his ex. “Bud, take your sister to the truck now.”
He stood a bit taller but there was no missing the red in his cheeks or the slight tremble in his voice as he said, “It’s Dad’s week, Mom. Go home. We’ll see you Monday after school.”
She stared after her son for several seconds, the atmosphere all around going electric. Sage and I stood silent, along with everyone else, and I held my breath in fear as to what would happen next. Finally, she spun around on her heel, sending her blonde hair flying as she stomped off toward the parking lot.
It took a few more seconds, but the rest of the crowd finally began to disburse. Macie’s whole face had grown pale, and I hated Whitney more for doing that to her. I gave her the biggest smile I could muster in that moment and reached into one of the boxes Sage and I had been packing up before everything went down. “Hey, I thought you might be in the mood for something sweet after the game, so I stashed a couple cookies away for you.”
She didn’t brighten any, but she at least reached out and took the cookies I’d wrapped just for her, so I tried another tactic.
“You’ll have to let me know what you think of those. If you like them I’ll teach you how to bake them. Deal?”
That earned me a tiny smile, and some of the tension that had twisted my shoulders into knots over the past few minutes finally started to loosen.
“Deal.”
“Hey, kiddo,” Sage said, jumping in to lighten the situation. “Feel like giving me a hand? Dani kinda went nuts and baked enough to feed an army for this thing, and I could really use some help getting all these empty tray containers back to the car.”
“Yeah sure,” she chirped. And just like that, the Macie I’d come to know was back. She whipped around to Leo and asked, “Dad, can I?”
“Sure thing, baby girl. I’ll meet you over there in just a second.”
She and Sage loaded their arms up and headed for the parking lot, and I turned my attention to Hardin. “Congrats on the win, Hardin. That was a great game.”
“Thanks,” he answered, his voice gruff with emotion. He hesitated for a beat before asking, “You good?”
“I’m good, honey. You don’t need to worry about me, I swear.”
He studied me for a few seconds before finally nodding. “You need help carryin’ anything else?”
I felt my face go soft as my lips turned up. “I think we’ve got it all, but thanks for offering. And you should probably get home and relax. You played great tonight.”
He nodded again, and when he spoke next, it was much quieter. “Thanks, Dani.”
Leo stayed back as Hardin started for the parking lot, his expression filled with concern as he asked, “You sure you’re good?”
“I’m fine, really.”
He took a step closer to the table, lowering his voice so the people around us wouldn’t overhear. “I wasn’t there for the start of it, but Hardin was.” Damn it. That poor boy. “But what I saw was bad enough.”
“It was an ugly situation, Leo, but nothing I won’t get over by morning. Believe me, that was just typical Whitney.”
“She treated you just like that back in school.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, a realization he’d just come to, and judging by the look on his face, it really pissed him off.
“Yes,” I admitted. “All the time. But if it’s all the same to you, I’d really like to stop talking about that vile woman now.”
He hesitated, and I could see he wanted to press, so I spoke again in the hopes of finally ending this whole thing. “You should get back to your kids. I’m good, don’t worry about me.”
“Danika—”
“Really, Leo. Go take care of your kids.”
His chest rose on a deep inhale, and for a second I thought he was going to push harder. Then he took a step back. “I’m sorry, sweetness. For so much.”
I slowly inhaled, fighting back the burn in my chest. “Yeah, me too,” I whispered.
His hazel eyes warmed as he issued, “Drive safe, baby.” With that, he turned and headed off t
o his kids.
Leo
I was doing my nightly walk-through of the house, checking locks and turning out lights later that night. When I checked in on Macie, she was out like a light, but when I peeked my head into Hardin’s room I was surprised to find the lights were on and he was lying in his bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling.
“Hey, bud. Lights out soon, yeah? It’s gettin’ late.”
“’Kay.”
“Night, son. Love you.”
I moved to back out, stopping when he called out, “Hey, Dad?”
“Yeah?”
He turned his head, his eyes filled with an emotion that made my chest tighten. “The stuff Mom said tonight, about Dani . . .”
“Hardin, I don’t want you thinkin’ about that.”
He sat up, spinning around to hang his feet off the side of the bed. “No. Dad, I want to know. I need to know.” His gaze drifted off on an inhale so big his chest expanded. I waited silently as he summoned the strength to ask what he needed to ask. Finally, he looked back. “Mom was a bully, wasn’t she? She bullied Dani, and probably a bunch of other people.”
“Bud . . .” I let out an exhale, moving toward Hardin’s bed and sitting down beside him. “I told you before, I’m not gonna speak ill of your mom to you. That puts you in a place you don’t deserve.”
“This isn’t about talkin’ trash,” he insisted passionately. “I heard what she called Dani tonight. She called her a slut and a homewrecker and”—he swallowed, curling his top lip up in disgust—“what grown woman calls another woman a dough girl? That’s some shit the mean girls in my school would say, not an adult. So I know she probably said all those nasty things to her then too. And Dani said she was kind of nerdy back then.”
There were times when I forgot how smart my son was, when I kept picturing him as my little boy. Sometimes his intuitiveness scared me.
I reached up, raking a hand through my hair before giving it to him straight. “Yeah, son. Your mom was mean to Danika, but it was a long time ago. They were kids—”
Waiting for Forever (Hope Valley Book 8) Page 17
