“I’m vice president of new business at K.C. Swann’s.” The upscale department store chain he worked for was expanding to the West Coast, starting in Beverly Hills.
He returned to the sofa and handed her the makeshift cold pack. “Here, this should make it feel better.”
“Thanks.” Bethany applied the wrapped peas to her jaw. “I’ve seen signs and fliers announcing the grand opening on Saturday.”
“It’s good to know our publicity’s getting noticed.”
Moving so far from his wife and child violated every principle his late
papi
had instilled in him about being a good father and an honorable man. “I would’ve turned down the promotion and stayed in Pennsylvania to try to work things out, except Sam insisted she wanted a divorce anyway.”
According to her, his accepting the transfer was just one symptom of a much larger problem. However, if he’d turned down the promotion, he never could’ve supported two households. So he’d had no choice but to man-up or, as his
papi
would’ve said, grow a set of
cojones
and do what was necessary to take care of his family. “With any luck, my next assignment will be closer to Dani.”
“You must miss her like crazy. We had a blast when I took her to the beach last spring.”
“I haven’t seen her since then.” His daughter had canceled her August visitation at the last minute and had been avoiding his calls. It seemed Dani blamed him for leaving and had no idea that, if he had his way, they’d all be living together in California.
Chewie nudged his hand and whimpered, reminding Nick of their nightly run. “Anyway, make yourself at home, and I’ll be back in a half hour or so.”
“I’ll walk him for you. It’s the least I can do.”
He didn’t live in the best neighborhood for a woman to be on the street alone at night—even with an attack dog. And Chewie definitely didn’t qualify.
“That’s okay. We both need the exercise.” If he didn’t work off the testosterone surge thinking about Sam always produced, he’d be awake half the night. “If Samantha should call, please don’t mention I’m out with the dog. She doesn’t know I adopted him.”
Even though he might enjoy rubbing it in that he now had the pet she would never agree to, he refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing how lonely he was. At any rate, with Sam’s propensity for reading a hidden agenda into everything, she would undoubtedly interpret the announcement as him throwing his newfound freedom in her face, which would do nothing to promote the reconciliation he wanted more than his next breath.
Leaving the apartment, Nick glanced back at Bethany huddled on the couch. Her defeated posture reminded him of Sam’s dejection in the weeks following her parents’ death when she’d sat alone on her aunt’s porch every evening.
He’d felt sorry for her until he discovered she was a rough-and-tumble tomboy, who was as comfortable in her frilly dresses as a linebacker in a tutu. Yet, by the time she entered high school, she’d transformed into a feisty, totally feminine beauty. And
El Capitán
—as she nicknamed his penis on their wedding night after she insisted his stiff erection reminded her of a brave wooden soldier—had snapped to attention in her presence ever since she was fourteen.
On their day in court, Samantha looked stunning and sexier than ever in a clingy dress that had left him, the judge, and both lawyers squirming in their seats. Suppressed anger, jealousy, and bitterness simmered inside Nick after months of getting the cold shoulder from her. Consequently, when the judge banged his gavel and announced their divorce final, Nick’s rage spewed from him like hot lava.
“Thank you very much,” he snarled at Sam. “At least now I have a choice about who I sleep with. I’m free to hook up with every babe I meet.”
“As if you haven’t already,” she snapped, indicating she must have bought into the illusion he’d created—by working extra late—that he’d been getting his needs met elsewhere since she’d rejected him. “Go ahead. Enjoy yourself in California!”
Upon landing at LAX airport, he intended to do exactly as she’d suggested. But now, a full year later, his boiling fury had cooled, and his resentment was no longer directed exclusively at Sam. He was even madder at himself for his inability to do whatever it took to save his marriage and, more specifically, to move on.
It had taken only one embarrassing date with a Lakers cheerleader for him to admit the woman he’d lost was the only one he wanted in his bed.
~*~
“Wait, Mom! It’s me!”
“Dani?” Sam released the breath she’d been holding and groped for the light switch. Shielding her eyes against the sudden glare, she gasped at the sight of her daughter drenched to the skin. Her short dark hair was plastered to her head, and her plum-colored tank top stuck to her body like a spray-tan. Not that the shirt had been all that loose dry. Dani’s physical development had occurred later than average, so her post-pubescent growth spurt during the last six months had left most of her summer clothing too small.
What had she been doing outside in the rain? Narrowing her gaze, Sam flung open the child’s door and glared at the hairy, purple cocoon that had warmed her to the core earlier. Acid churned in her stomach, turning her belly into a bubbling cauldron.
“Where have you been, young lady!” She tossed the bat on the mattress and snatched the wad of hair from the tangled sheets. “And what do you call this?”
“A wig?”
“Don’t get wise with me.”
“Well, y-you asked,” Dani muttered past her chattering teeth.
“Just answer my first question.” Sam yanked the child’s bathrobe out of the closet and shoved it at her. “Where were you?”
“Haley and I went bowling with Allison.” Dani peeled off her wet shirt and jeans before pulling on the dry robe.
Bowling? It was nearly a half-hour drive to the closest lanes and movie theaters. “You know you’re not supposed to go out on a school night—especially not somewhere that far. You had me so terrified, creeping in at this hour, I nearly bashed you over the head.”
“What’s the big deal? You never cared if I went out when I was being homeschooled.”
“The big deal,” Sam said, drawing little quotes in the air, “is you have to get up at six to catch a school bus now. How do you think being out in the rain and getting only a few hours sleep will affect your health? Do you want to be sick again?”
Dani merely shrugged, nibbling one of her mauve fingernails.
“And I don’t appreciate you sneaking out while I’m on a date.”
“I didn’t sneak out.”
“Really? Then what was the point of doing that?” Sam jerked back the bedcovers, revealing a herd of stuffed animals rolled up in the sheets.
“I didn’t want you to worry if you came home early.”
“Oh? Was your hand so incapacitated you couldn’t call or text me? If so, how did you expect to bowl? Be honest, Dani. You set up this scene so I wouldn’t know you were gone.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I was supposed to be home way before you. But Allison’s mom got a flat, and it took forever for the auto club to get there.”
Sam was thrilled to have Dani back in school and making new friends, but ever since the term began, the child had been surly and defiant.
“I don’t care about your excuse. You weren’t supposed to go out in the first place, and you knew it. Consider yourself grounded for the next week.”
“
Whatever
.” Dani huffed and shoved past her to flop onto the bed.
A whiff of tobacco assailed Sam’s nostrils. She leaned down and sniffed her daughter’s breath. “Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to start smoking.”
“Okay.” Dani thrust her chin out at a belligerent angle. “I don’t smoke. The smell must be from my friends’ cigarettes.”
Sam’s palm itched to slap the
so-there
smile off her daughter’s face. Teenagers were, without a doubt, the most effective form of birth control. If they’d had a fourteen-year-old two years ago, she never would’ve objected to Nick using condoms.
“That’s it!” She slashed her hand through the air. “If I smell tobacco on you again, you’ll be grounded for a month. So I don’t suggest you even hang around anyone who smokes. And you can bet your father’s going to hear about this.” Not that she was looking forward to telling Nick how badly she’d lost control of their daughter, but she needed him to back her up.
“Fine! Go ahead and tattle to the bastard.”
“Watch your mouth. He’s still your father, and you’ll respect him.”
“Why should I after he left me?”
“Oh, cut the theatrics, Dani. He didn’t leave you. Your daddy loves you and calls you every single day.”
Dani stared through Sam as if she were listening to the empty squawking of an adult voice from a Charlie Brown cartoon.
“And speaking of your dad, he’s plenty annoyed with you right now for not answering his calls. You’ll be lucky if you still have a cell phone next—”
A loud pounding in the foyer downstairs cut her off. “Samantha,” a deep voice called from outside the front door. “It’s Jack Wallace. Is everything all right?”
Every muscle in her back contracted. Oh, jeez, no. In her fury, she’d forgotten all about the 911 call. At least they’d dispatched Jack, an officer she knew from Nick’s membership in the local volunteer fire department.
“You haven’t heard the end of this,” she called over her shoulder to Dani, as she stopped in her bedroom to grab her robe before dashing down the stairs. “Get ready for bed while I keep Sergeant Wallace from busting down our door!”
If there was ever a time she needed her stash of peanut butter cups, this was it. Maybe if she shared with Jack, he’d forgive her cry-wolf call.
Then again, a stint in jail would buy her some time before she had to admit to Nick she was a miserable failure as a single mom.
CHAPTER 2
Talk about cutting it close.
Dani sprinted to the corner seconds before the school bus pulled away. “Wait!” She ran alongside the huge vehicle, her two-ton backpack bouncing on her shoulders as she pounded on the bus’s side. The driver took pity on her, stopped, and reopened the door.
Blowing out a lungful of relief, Dani tossed her Greek omelet on multigrain toast into the drainage ditch where she’d thrown all her other discarded breakfast sandwiches. She climbed aboard the bus, smiled her thanks to the driver, and plopped into the third seat beside her best friend.
Haley Simmons handed her a warm, fudge toaster pastry, the likes of which Dani’s mom swore could rot the teeth on a zipper. “What’ll you do when your mom figures out you’re throwing away all those nutritious breakfasts she makes for you?”
Only eight months ago, Haley’s mother had been killed by a drunk driver. Dani suspected her friend was secretly envious of the disgusting, all-natural meals Sam forced on her.
“The only way the Food Nazi will find out is if you or the bus driver tells her.”
“Or we could get a flash flood,” Haley suggested. “Imagine how busted you’ll be when your mother sees two weeks’ worth of sandwiches floating in the ditch.”
Dani laughed, picturing a little veggie armada sailing along the rural road past their house. “I’m already grounded. She caught me coming in last night. She must’ve heard me yell when I slipped on the wet porch. Would you believe she actually called the cops?”
“Crap. Now she’ll call my dad and Allison’s mom, and we’ll be in trouble, too.”
“Don’t worry. She’s too ticked at me to think about ratting either of you out. Instead, she’s calling
my
father tonight.”
“You’ve got to talk to him before she does. Parents never get as mad if you confess.”
When the bus pulled in front of the high school, Haley nudged Dani in the ribs and motioned toward the window. Lounging against the brick building’s side stood the entire reason Dani had risked her freedom the night before.
Ryan Flynn already stood almost as tall as her dad, who was over six-feet. The hunky junior’s gaze shared the sapphire blue of her mom’s eyes, a color Dani regretted she hadn’t inherited.
His dark blond hair matched the length of hers, which wasn’t saying much. Even though her curls had grown back during her maintenance chemo, her hair had been so thin and dull she’d been forced to keep it extra short. Fortunately, since Dr. Chase had taken her off the drugs, her waves had regained their thickness and luster but still barely covered her collar.
“Do you think he’s waitin’ for you?” Haley whispered, scrambling off the bus right on Dani’s heels.
Oh, man, she sure hoped so. Except, if he asked her out now, she’d have to tell him she was grounded. He hadn’t said two words to her at the bowling alley last night, but every time she’d looked over at him and his group of friends, he’d been watching her.
“Hey, Dani.” Ryan fell in beside her as she and Haley headed for the door. “You left last night before I could come over and say hi.”
She shrugged, playing it cool, even though every nerve in her was partying. The teen magazines said the fastest way to turn a guy off was to seem too interested—like some stalker-chick. “Well, hi, then.” She headed in the direction of her locker, praying he would follow.
She had one objective for her first year of high school. It wasn’t to make the honor roll, win a spot on the cheerleading squad, or even land the lead in the spring musical. The only thing she wanted was for Ryan Flynn to ask her out and maybe take her to the junior prom in the spring. And if he turned out to be as nice as she suspected, she eventually wanted to hook up with him.
Granted, she might be a little young to consider going all the way, but she didn’t have the luxury of taking it slow like most fourteen-year-old girls. Everything she’d read about her illness on the Internet said, since she’d already turned eleven when she developed her leukemia, she had a lower survival rate than younger children. If she relapsed, which was more common at her age, there was a good chance she wouldn’t live long enough to go to college—particularly since she didn’t have a compatible match within her family for a bone marrow transplant, and her haplotypes weren’t common enough to hope the donor registry would provide one.