Between Friends (37 page)

“Just one.”

Having won this small victory, Megan was satisfied. Munching on the crisp bacon, she left the kitchen.

Dallas sat in silence. She was going to give Valerie a chance to speak first. There was something that had strained their visit ever since Valerie and Megan had arrived the night before.

“I’ll clear the table,” Valerie said.

Dallas put her cup down. “You were very hard on Megan. And I don’t understand why you’re cutting the weekend short. We made plans months ago.”

Valerie silently scraped her food remains into her daughter’s empty plate and stacked them.

“What’s the matter, Val?” Dallas asked calmly.

Val’s mouth tightened. She shook her head as she reached to gather the silverware. “I don’t know what you mean. I need to get home, that’s all.”

Dallas reached out and grabbed Val’s wrist. They stared at each other. Now Dallas could see it clearly. Suppressed anger made Valerie’s eyes sparkle, heightening the color in her cheeks.

“Talk to me, Val,” Dallas whispered uncompromisingly. “You’ve been unusually quiet and distracted and, quite honestly, not very good company. You’ve snapped at Megan for the littlest thing, and treated me as if I were invisible. What is the matter with you?”

Valerie didn’t hold back any longer. “It’s not me, it’s you. You’ve been seeing Alex Marco, haven’t you?”

Dallas didn’t betray her feelings of guilt. Her immediate response was to deny Valerie’s claim. But it wouldn’t have been true. She wasn’t sure what she and Alex were becoming to each other, but she did sense they were moving beyond friendship.

“What are you talking about?” Dallas asked.

Valerie pulled her arm free, setting the plates back on the table. “Alex broke a date with me last week. I know he was with you.”

“I don’t know about any plans he had with you, Val,” Dallas protested. “But he did stop by my parents’ house to see how my father was doing. He was visiting Lillian and Vin. They told him what had happened.”

“How come you and Alex didn’t tell me?”

Dallas was nonplussed. “I can’t speak for Alex, but I don’t see why I should have.”

Valerie leaned across the table toward her. “He hardly knows you. Why would he care about your father?”

Dallas stiffened. This was territory she had avoided for so long. “Why don’t you ask Alex why he did? I only know he was kind and sympathetic.”

Valerie got up impatiently. There was not enough room in the kitchen for her to place enough distance between her and Dallas. Dallas watched her friend closely. She knew, of course, exactly what this was all about. But she was going to make Valerie say it out loud.

“I think it’s more than that. He’s always asking me questions about you. I mentioned you were divorced, and he wanted to know about you and Hayden. He wanted to know about Dean and your parents. Were you dating anyone now …”

“He’s just curious. Just like Ross is so curious about you.”

Valerie blushed, momentarily surprised. “How do you know that?”

“From the day Megan and I went to the aquarium.”

Valerie made an impatient sound and averted her eyes. “This isn’t about Ross …”

“And it’s not about me,” Dallas said firmly. “I know you like Alex. You’ve made that clear. I … know he likes you …”

“I want to marry him,” Valerie blurted out defiantly.

Dallas felt a peculiar tumbling in her stomach at this announcement. She didn’t know how to answer.

“Alex wants me,” Valerie said.

“Well, if he wants to marry you, then it doesn’t matter what happened last week.”

“He hasn’t asked me yet,” Valerie corrected, annoyed. “I just don’t want you to do anything to mess this up for me.”

“I don’t think I like you telling me that. I resent you thinking that I’d do anything to get between you.” Dallas stood up to face her.

“Remember when we were in high school? You used to work overtime to make sure that any white boy you wanted didn’t notice me. Is that what this is about? You making sure that I remember my place?”

Valerie flushed deeply. “That’s not true. I didn’t want to see you get hurt, that’s all. Going with white guys would have caused a lot of trouble.”

“I don’t need you to decide that for me. I can choose for myself who I want.”

“As long as it’s not Alex,” Valerie said succinctly.

Dallas shook her head as she and Valerie faced one another. “We’ve been friends all our lives. You know more about me than even my parents. But don’t make the mistake of believing you know what’s best for me. I don’t need your approval, permission, or advice to conduct my life.”

“I’m just telling you, Dallas, to stay away from Alex Marco.”

“Why? Because he was kind to me? Or because he’s white?”

“I’ve already told you.”

“And I’m telling you I don’t like it.”

“This isn’t about you! This is a chance I’ve been looking for since Megan was born. I don’t want anything to ruin it.”

“What can I—”

“Can you do this for me?” Megan asked, suddenly appearing in the kitchen again.

By silent agreement the conversation ended between Valerie and Dallas. Megan presented her back to Dallas.

“What do you want me to do?” Dallas asked quietly. Valerie resumed the clearing of the table.

“Could you French braid it? Mommy doesn’t know how to do it like you.”

“Are you almost ready?” Valerie asked her daughter.

“Yeah. What were you talking about?” Megan asked.

“What?” Valerie frowned at Megan.

“You were talking real loud. Were you two fighting?”

Valerie turned to the sink and began rinsing the plates. She didn’t respond.

“Of course not,” Dallas said. “Like you said, we were just talking loud. Do you have a barrette or something to hold the end of this?” she asked, finishing the style in an extended braid that hung down Megan’s back. She took the offered rubber band and secured it around the tail of the hair.

“I wish I could wear extensions like some of my friends in school,” Megan observed, facing Dallas.

“Do you?” Dallas asked.

“Why?” Valerie added, genuinely curious.

“Because it stays one way for a long time. It’s really cool that you don’t have to comb it every day,” Megan answered simply. “Thank you,” she said to Dallas when she was done, and then quickly left her mother and godmother alone again.

Dallas and Valerie exchanged glances. Dallas wondered if they had crossed a line, if something was changing between them.

“If Alex Marco is in love with you, Valerie, if he wants to marry you, then your suspicion about me was uncalled for,” Dallas said in a soft voice. “I don’t think we should say any more, or we’re both likely to say something we’re going to regret later. I don’t want to do that.”

Valerie looked stubborn and began shaking her head. “I’m almost thirty-two years old. I already have a teenage daughter, but I’ve never been in love. I’ve met so many guys who were immature or dishonest. I could have a real chance with Alex. I really want this.”

Dallas shook her head sadly. “If it doesn’t happen, you can’t blame me.”

Valerie stared at her for a long moment, indecisive and conflicted. Then her expression hardened. “Megan?” she called out. “Are you ready? Let’s go …”

Valerie walked out of the kitchen, leaving Dallas alone. She remained, considering all the ways their friendship had been tested over the years. How ironic, Dallas thought as Valerie and a bewildered Megan left her apartment, that when push came to shove, friendship couldn’t hold out against the overpowering need for love.

A
LEX SQUINTED THROUGH THE
wet windshield, trying to keep on the alert for any nearby craft. Rough waters rocked the boat, adding to the task of keeping it on course. He gripped the wheel, holding the boat steady as it plowed through the choppy waters at the mouth of New York harbor. He used a hand to wipe excess water from his face, only to be immediately splashed over with rain.

“There’s a coast guard cutter on the way,” Ross shouted from below, his voice bellowing to be heard over the engine and the sound of the rain.

“How bad is it?” Alex shouted back as the bow of the boat bounced up sharply on the crest of a wake. It came down heavily, the boat displacing a wall of water on either side.

“It’s down. A bird with two on board.”

“How long do we have?” Alex asked rhetorically.

“We don’t. In this weather as soon as it went in the drink the passengers were in trouble. Unless they got lucky and got out in the first thirty seconds, we’re talking bodies.”

In the distance could be heard the eerie whine of a siren. The urgent sound faded in and out as it was carried on the wind. Alex glanced in the direction of the signal, trying to spot the boat, but visibility was cut by the sheets of rain. It was late in the day. Already under cover, the sun would set in another twenty minutes. What would have been a difficult rescue even under optimal conditions was going to become extremely difficult.

“I checked the tanks. We’re okay. See anything yet?” Ross asked, joining Alex at the controls.

“Not yet.”

“I think they’ll get there before us. We probably won’t have to go in,” Ross said.

Alex nodded shortly. “Yeah, we do.”

Ross slapped him on the shoulder in reassurance. Alex wasn’t concerned about taking part in a rescue, but that he would fail, and someone’s life would be lost again. For the past six years there had not been a single dive that he did not think of Kuwait and the mission that had gone wrong.

Alex was soaked under the slicker. Not from the rain, but from nervous sweat.

The boat pitched up again, matching the roil of tension in Alex’s stomach. He’d never been seasick, not even his first time out on a boat. He wasn’t going to let it happen now. But he was gripped by the need to redeem himself.

“There she is,” Ross called out, pointing beyond the windshield.

A peculiarly twisted clump of material appeared to be floating on the surface. It looked like a giant insect that had been swatted into the water, a main rotor blade broken at an odd angle, another torn off completely. It wasn’t going to stay buoyant for long. Slowly circling the downed copter was a tugboat, and a recreational craft with two young men looking for adventure.

Alex cut the engine and let his boat drift to within a hundred feet of the chopper.

“I’ll get on the horn and see if the other boats found anything.”

Alex held the boat steady as Ross got on a bullhorn and communicated through the wind and rain.

“You got anything?”

“Yeah,” came back the amplified voice. “We got the reporter. The pilot is still out there.”

“Still on board?”

“Can’t tell …”

The copter was partially submerged with the main fuselage upside down in the water. The tail rotor had snapped off. It was hard to tell what was still inside. The siren grew louder, but the hulking gray cutter was still not visible. The police marine boat had also not arrived, although one of their Bell 206 helicopters was positioned overhead. It stayed to the side, about a hundred feet up to cut down on the angle of rotor-wash near the downed craft. Alex anchored their boat.

Protocol dictated that in lieu of a police presence, the coast guard was in charge. But Alex and Ross knew there was no time to play top dog. There was still a man missing. They were already preparing to do down. They were donning the rest of their equipment when the coast guard arrived with two ready divers of their own. There was quick assessment, and a decision about using a pattern line for searching. And then, one by one, the divers dropped into the water.

The four divers swam around the copter before signaling to pair off. Then they disappeared below the surface.

Dallas stepped out of the small room that served as a lounge, dunking a tea bag in and out of a cup of steaming hot water. The hum of office activity seemed a strange anecdote to the inner turmoil that had plagued Dallas for the past week. Her anxiety had not been helped by her father’s insistence on returning to work. With only two more weeks to the spring semester the doctors had given permission. But there would be no summer teaching, he had been told.

Matty abruptly rushed in front of her, heading into the conference room, where Peggy, Nona, and several other staffers were watching the TV.

“Sorry ’bout that,” Matty apologized as he adroitly avoided a collision.

Dallas smiled vacantly at the others in front of the set. “News flash?” she asked.

“A news helicopter crashed in one of the rivers,” Matty responded.

At first, Dallas was only mildly interested. She watched the reporter, huddled under an umbrella, relating the known details of the crash. But she was too distracted by the recent events in the lives of people she knew to care much for perfect strangers. The journalist in her couldn’t be objective. Until the reporter mentioned that the rescue teams searching for the pilot consisted also of two area tech divers recently featured on the network. Dallas, curious at last, drew closer to the screen. She looked closely at the indistinguishable black forms bobbing about in the water. But she didn’t have to hear names to know that Alex and Ross were somewhere out there.

“Has anyone been hurt?” she asked.

“I think they got the reporter who was on board,” Nona said. “At least one other person is missing.”

It wasn’t the kind of story
Soul
covered, and after another ten minutes with no new developments, the staff drifted back to their own routines. But Dallas stayed behind, watching the screen until the segment ended and the news went to another story. She went in search of Peggy, finding her and Letty in conversation outside the conference room.

“Peggy, I’m sorry to interrupt, but is anyone using the car tonight?”

“Not that I know of. Matty just got in from his shoot. Did you put in a request to use it?”

“No. But I just need it for tonight.”

“Is this business?” Peggy asked.

Dallas sighed. “No, it’s not.”

Peggy hesitated, finally nodding. “Please return it tomorrow.”

Alex knew they weren’t going to find the pilot alive.

That meant the task was just to recover the body. In the opaque river water Alex could barely make out the other divers, huge black monsters with snouts attached to hoses and tubes of the Aga masks that allowed them to breathe. Lights affixed to their heads helped minimally as they each tried to cover an area where the body may have settled. There was a possibility that, weighted down, the body might have sunk and drifted with the current.