Bubba promptly hit him on the back of his head with the flat side of his palm.
“Hey!” But Robbie looked back again and rubbed, absentmindedly, behind his head.
“There’s a reason why you were named Baboon,” Aiden pointed out.
“For my grotesque ass?” Robbie joked.
“Yes,” Aiden said seriously.
Dani caught sight of Jake with Julia and took a deep breath. “I’ll be right back.”
“May the force be with you,” Aiden remarked.
“No doubt,” Dani murmured underneath her breath, but she put on a brave face as they turned and watched her approach.
“Did you win?” Dani asked Jake.
“There wasn’t a winner. Jonah interrupted the game before Jeffries went all out.”
“Yeah. He’s…I don’t really know who the guy is.”
“He’s a good poker player, I’ll tell you that. He’s smart.”
Julia asked abruptly, “What do you want?”
Dani readied herself and murmured, “You guys can sleep in Trenton’s office with whoever else he puts in there.”
“No thanks,” Julia said promptly. “We’ll take the atrium with all the other lowly beings.””Julia.”
“No, Dani. Stop it.” And she left. Dani watched as she joined company with Lari, who stood just in front of Boone.
“So,” Jake breathed out. “Your ex-fiancé walked away from our game before.”
“I know.”
“I’m trying not to wonder what that was about,” Jake confessed with a wry shake of his head. “But, it’s not working.”
Dani chuckled, a genuine laugh, and shrugged, “It had nothing to do with you.”
“That’s what I meant.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Dani stiffened, “What do you want?”
Jake chuckled and shook his head, “That’s just like you. You immediately go on the defensive.”
“Jake.”
“No, forget it. I was trying. Friends, right?”
“I don’t know,” Dani confessed.
Jake closed his eyes and shifted away, but he stopped himself and said, “I lost you for five years and I’d really…I need you in my life—somehow.”
Dani wiped at a tear and moaned, “Jake, you just…”
“Cut the heart of you, huh?” he teased.
Dani swiftly punched him and laughed, “I hate you sometimes.”
“Yeah.” Jake caught her fist and yanked her in for a hug. He wrapped two strong arms around her. “If you would just not care, it’d be a whole lot easier.”
“What’s Julia going to say?” As Dani wrapped her own arms to return the fierce hug.
“Eh, she can moan or cry, but she knows I love her. She can’t get rid of me,” Jake teased as he set away. “Seriously, you looked good with that flamingo on your head. You should wear it more often; visit Kathryn with that. Give it to her as a gift.”
“No, no. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy and I’ve grown fond of Shelly.”
Jake laughed.
“I wouldn’t force a Kathryn visit on any inanimate object.”
“Only inanimate objects?” Jake laughed. “The animate objects are just fine, though?”
“Well, yeah. Their animated. They can withstand the Kathryn glower.”
“Because they’re animated?”
“Yes. They’re jaunty and they dance and the stand still enough to feel the full power of Kathryn’s Glower.” Dani chuckled.
“Jaunty?”
“Jaunty.”
Jake looked thoughtful and murmured, “You know what else is jaunty?”
“What?” Dani waited in earnest.
“The Chapel of Love.” Jake gleamed in excitement. “Right? Am I right?”
“Oh my god.” Dani laughed loudly, she couldn’t contain it. “I’ve forgotten about that song.”
“The Chapel of Love dances to all music.”
“Only until you broke it and it died and withered away,” Dani pointed out. “Remember? That stupid thing went off and you got so mad, you threw a rock at it. Smashed it to pieces!”
“Well, yeah…because we were in the middle of being…”
Intimate.
Jake sobered instantly.
Dani coughed and looked up, “Uh…Kate’s probably looking for me.”
“Yeah.” Jake nodded.
Dani turned and left, but Jake caught her shoulders and turned her in the right direction.
“What’s up?” Kate asked, expectantly, as she handed a cup of coffee to Dani.
Dani took it gratefully and asked, “Can guys and girls ever be…this is so junior high, but…can the opposite sex ever be friends?”
“Yes.” Aiden and Kate nodded.
“No.” Bubba and Robbie answered promptly.
Dani sipped her coffee and Jonah arrived with a radio in his hand.
“Okay,” he started, “you guys can bunker down in my office.”
“What about you?” Aiden asked her brother.
“Uh…” He met Dani’s eyes briefly. “Save me a place, but I’m going to be up for a while.”
The rest nodded and filtered off. Dani asked as she remained, “Is everything okay?”
“Um…there’s no good way for me to answer that so, get a good’s night sleep. For me.” Jonah offered a tentative smile before he turned and forgot she stood there.
Trenton met him halfway and their heads bent together.
Hawk moseyed to their group and the scowl was as evident as it was instant.
Instead of moving into Jonah’s office, Dani grabbed a blanket and found herself wandering to the back halls of their headquarters.
She wasn’t moving to a specific target, but she found herself blinking in surprise as she gazed in wonder at a freshwater tank that was an exact replica of Falls River.
And it was complete with the black mussels that Dani helped finance with her donation of fifty thousand.
A few had opened and the black pearls stood prominent amongst the sand and dirt that surrounded them.
They were beautiful and masterpieces that explained why a necklace could cost over $12,000.
Dani didn’t think of the monetary implications. She didn’t think how that little round piece of pearl might save Craigstown and Falls River from any financial burdens. She saw instead the life they offered.
She remembered Jonah’s words that they were cancer-free and that is the true reason why Dani offered her money.
It struck her, as it had throughout her life, how rich and life saving the smallest morsel on the earth may be.
The smallest treasures sometimes meant the most of all.
The tank ran the entire wall of the room and it circled around much how the river winded along their state’s border. It was magnificent and there was even a model of Craigstown with Mae’s Grill making an appearance beside Tenderfoot Rush.
“So this is what your boyfriend does.” Julia cleared her throat from the doorway and Dani’s momentary amazement vanished.
“What do you want, Julia?”
Julia closed the door behind her and tiredly ran a hand through her soaked hair. She tightened the blanket around her and cut to the chase, “Stay away from Jake.”
“First you don’t want me at the house and now Jake? I believe you’ve already tried this trick. It didn’t take,” Dani clipped out.
Julia chewed at her lip, but bent to look where Dani had just been.
“Those are mussels?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re ugly,” Julia said flatly.
“And only you would judge them on their appearances.”
“I’m just saying they’re ugly. They are.”
“Did you want something else or was it just a routine ‘stay away from Jake’ threat?” Dani asked, just as tired.
“What’s your problem?”
“I’d answer you, if you were my friend. You’re not.”
“N
o, Dani, I’m your sister.” Julia shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You just…you’re so melodramatic sometimes.”
“And you’re not?”
“Right now? No. You’re being the dramatic one.”
“Go away,” Dani said briskly.
A sister’s mutiny stood in place and retorted, “No.”
“Go away…please.”
“No.” Julia heaved a deep sigh. “Please.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“So what? Neither does this whole night.”
“Hmm. Party. Drinking. Angry words. Rain. Flood. And now we’re here. It makes perfect sense.”
“You’re such a…never mind.” Julia moved towards the door, but stopped short and whirled around, “You could have called—once—to tell us that you were alive, but you didn’t. Shows me how much you cared.”
“Kathryn knew I was going.”
“Yeah, well, Kathryn can be a manipulative bitch at times,” Julia clipped out.
Dani sucked in her breath, shocked.
“What? Like that’s news?” Julia cried out. “We both know what she’s like.”
“Yeah, but…” Wow.
“Whatever.” Julia turned back, but stopped again. “You get on your high horse about how you’ve been the one left out. Like we did it on purpose, but it wasn’t us, Dani. You pulled away. You pulled away from everyone—even Mae. No one connected to you—”
“Jake did.”
Julia stopped short, frozen at her words, but she shook herself free and said quietly, “And that about sums up our relationship. My future husband will always know my sister better than me. How sad is that?”
“I never felt a part of the family.”
“Because you put yourself there. You pulled away. We’d be downstairs and you would go up to your room. You always did it. You never stayed and spent time with us. What were we supposed to do?”
“It’s—I’m not like you guys. I don’t like the same stupid shows or…I didn’t care about who was dating who. What was I supposed to do? Suck it up so that you guys felt connected to me?” Dani cried out.
“You know,” disdain dripped from her voice. “It’s pretty pitiful that I’ve gotten to know you through my fiancé.” She wiped at a tear and added, hoarse, “And I think it’s just…pathetic that you haven’t visited your own aunt in the hospital. She’s dying, Dani, and you haven’t stepped one foot in that hospital.”
“She wouldn’t see me if I did go there,” Dani countered. Just as fierce. “And you know that. Why would I volunteer for that humiliation? To be turned by Bernice?”
“Bernice doesn’t work there anymore,” Julia corrected her, absentmindedly. “And how do you know Kathryn would turn you away?”
“Because she’s a manipulative bitch!”
“She’s dying! Dani. She’s dying and she’s already lost two nieces. I’d like her to feel as if she’s been given one back before she goes.” Julia let the tears slide down. She cried out, “She—I thought I was going to be the last one.”
“What?”
“I thought—” Julia gulped back the tears, but whispered, raggedly, “I thought I was the last one. Erica died. We were sure you were dead. I knew Kathryn was dying and Mae…Mae doesn’t care about me so I thought, I thought I was going to be alone.” She sniffed, “I still think that at times, so forgive me for being more than angry that you suddenly come back home and expect the welcome wagon to be pulled out. You don’t deserve it and I deserve something…”
“…Julia…”
“Shut up.” Julia sniffed and wiped at her nose. She turned away. “Just…shut up.”
“What do you want from me?” Dani cried out. “I—what do you want from me?”
“You’re supposed to know!” Julia rounded and screamed at her. “You’re supposed to know what to say to your sister that you left five years ago! If you don’t know what to say, you’re goddamn selfish, that’s what you are.”
Dani was struck back and she blinked in horrified amazement.
Her sister might as well have struck physically because her words punctuated worse.
“I’m…” Dani couldn’t talk over the knot in her throat.
“And don’t you goddamn apologize now. You can’t do it now because that’s cheating.” An older sister scolded her younger sibling.
“Shut up!” Dani retorted, feeling her own sibling irritation. “Just…you can’t tell me when to say it or what to say.”
“I’m telling you when not to say it. You can’t say it now.”
“As if I would.”
“You were going to,” Julia retorted, defiantly.
“I really hate you sometimes,” Dani groaned.
“I know!” Julia said hotly.
Dani turned away, but swung back, an ever-evolving door, “Look, this—between you and me—it’s our family’s fault. It’s not ours. We were raised to be like this and that’s wrong.”
“Well…” Julia sobered. She might as well have said ‘duh,’ because the look was there.
Dani pushed forth, “I’m sor—”
“You can’t apologize now!” Julia cut her off. “I mean it!”
“Well, I’m not selfish, Julia! So I’m not going to sit back and take it.”
“Oh my—you didn’t say two words to me when we were growing up and now I can’t shut you up!” Julia cried out in annoyance.
“What are we arguing about?” Dani shouted.
“I don’t really know,” Julia shouted back. “But those things are ugly and you can’t get mad at me for saying that.”
“Yeah, well, those things are cancer-free.”
“What?” Julia was stunned. The anger was gone. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” Dani calmed a bit, but was still a little irate and a lot tense.
“Those things? Those ugly as hell things?”
“They’re not that ugly.”