“I know. Jonah. You’re helping him.”
Dani kept quiet through the rest of the afternoon. Aiden was right. Kelley Lynn impressed Dani with her resources, and she pulled out all the stops. By the end, the pool table was delivered, and the Jacuzzi had been rejected graciously since Robbie already had two. All the beds were changed and readied by the time Aiden arrived to Robbie’s mansion with a chandelier in her backseat.
Jonah found Dani and Kelley Lynn in the kitchen where they were packing Robbie’s non-extravagant dishes to make room for the extravagant ones Mae offered up.
“Hey,” Jonah grunted a hello, holding some boxes. “Where do you want this?”
Kelley Lynn pointed to the table. “Leave it there. We’ll put it away when you bring all of the boxes in.”
Jonah nodded, and as he left to move another box in, he walked behind Dani. His fingers caressed her backside. Dani watched him go, feeling a spark. He glanced back just before he turned the corner, a cocky smirk in place.
She rolled her eyes, but she had to admit that he got to her. She was already thirsting for him, wanting his hands on her body. He only held her last night. Her body was reminding her of that fact.
“Hmm huh.” Kelley Lynn harrumphed.
Dani gritted her teeth. “I don’t get why everyone cares about my business.”
“Are you serious?” Kelley Lynn placed the last of Robbie’s dishes into a crate.
Aiden bounced into the room, but stopped short. Her eyes skirted between the two.
“Yeah. I’m serious.” Dani ceased caring that Jonah’s sister stood in the room. “I’m a little tired of having people care who’s in my bed and who isn’t.”
Aiden’s mouth formed an O.
Kelley Lynn snorted. “Get used to it because it’s never gonna go away, especially when you have who you have in your bed.”
Jonah stopped behind his sister. Neither Bannon commented.
“Are you actually doing this for Jonah, or are you doing this for Erica? A little bird told me that Erica made you promise to be nice to me.”
Kelley Lynn went still, then slowly moved her box aside before she faced Dani. Her petite shoulders lifted up, taking in a pocket of air. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.” Kelley Lynn nodded. “You’ve been pissed at me ever since you saw me in the bank. Let’s do this.”
“Do what?”
Kelley Lynn stopped the riddles. “I’m not doing this for Jonah, and I’m not doing this for you. You’re right. It’s because of Erica, because of a deathbed wish she forced out of me.”
Dani was suddenly wary.
Kelley Lynn shook her head, her eyes grew haunted. “Erica wanted you to feel included and not left out, like what she did to you when you were growing up. That was her dying wish to me. I was supposed to do that.” She skimmed over the Bannon siblings. “It’s not ironic that the group that never liked Erica welcomed you first.”
Aiden spoke, “She’s my friend.”
Kelley Lynn swept a scornful gaze toward Aiden. “You’re friends with Dani because everyone knows about the O’Hara rift. You hate Julia because Bubba flirted with her when you two were having problems.”
“What?” Dani’s mouth fell open an inch.
Aiden narrowed her eyes. “Julia was a little too friendly, so yes, I’m not a fan. That’s not why Dani and I are friends. I like Dani because…”
“Because she’s a walking wounded,” Kelley Lynn finished for her. “Because she’s got what it takes to make your brother fall in love. You know that Jonah likes a challenge, and Dani’s the best challenge that came to Craigstown in a long time. That’s why you’re friends with her, and don’t even lie, Aiden. You told Katrina that the day that Dani got here. I know because she told me at our bar-b-que that night. She said you gushed how Bryant was going on and on about this ‘hot chick he saw driving a Mustang.’ You said that it would take someone incapable of life to make Jonah fall hard and fast.”
Aiden sucked in her breath.
Jonah remained quiet. He watched Dani.
Dani said slowly, “‘Incapable of life?’”
“It’s not…I didn’t mean…it’s not like that, Dani,” Aiden finally answered. “Yeah, that’s what I’d been hoping for at first, but I consider you a friend now.”
“Incapable of life?” Dani asked again.
Aiden frowned.
Kelley Lynn cut in, “It’s all over town that something happened to you. Everyone knows it. We can all see it. We don’t know what it is, but you are the walking wounded. You look like a lost little lamb begging for someone to bandage up your broken limbs.”
Whatever ‘broken limbs’ that Dani might’ve had healed in anger. She straightened. “Say that again?”
“Please. You know exactly what I’m talking about.” Kelley Lynn flushed, but moved back a step.
“I might have taken it before, but you’re right. Something did happen, and I’m not the same Dani O’Hara who left like a wounded puppy with her tail tucked between her legs.”
“I’m not saying you are.” Kelley Lynn shifted back a second step.
“You just did.”
“You kinda did,” Aiden said.
Kelley Lynn stuck a hand on her hip and lifted her chin up. “I’m not here to be on trial. I came to help out. If you don’t want my help, then…” She started to slide from the room.
Dani got in her way. “You started this. Don’t leave before the fireworks start.”
“I didn’t come here to be attacked.”
Dani straightened even farther, feeling Jonah watching her. “I’m not attacking you, but you don’t have to worry about being nice for Erica. For one, she’s dead, and two, I don’t want your sympathy vote. Not only do I not need it, but I don’t want it.”
The doorbell rang then, and Kelley Lynn heaved a sigh of surrender. “Those are the flowers that Katrina said she’d donate to the cause. I’ll let them in on my way out.” But before she did, she said, “We’re not the enemy, Dani. I’m not the enemy. I really was trying to be a friend today, and I didn’t mean anything bad when I said that you were the walking wounded. You just looked hurt when I saw you in the bank when you came back. Erica was always a brat. I know that. It’s why we were friends. We were childish, immature, and cruel when we were younger, but Erica was hurting, too, you know. We’re not the enemy.” Her head ducked down. “Not anymore.”
The room echoed as her footsteps sounded along the marbled floors.
Two Katrina’s Blooms employees brought in the vases of floral arrangements. They were quiet and quick as they placed six vases onto the dining room table.
Once they were gone, Aiden started. “Dani, I—”
“It’s okay.” Dani held a hand up, cutting off Aiden’s apology. “I knew from the beginning why you liked me. Kate wasn’t exactly quiet about her obvious delight that I was going to take Julia down a peg or two. I didn’t know that you and Bubba went through a rough period, though.”
Aiden blinked in shock. “It was about two years ago.” She laughed. “Well, that whole conversation kinda came out of nowhere.” Aiden glanced sideways to her brother. “I’m going to finish up, but I think we’re almost all done.” She placed a hand on his arm. “See you tonight?”
He was staring right at Dani when he answered, “Yeah. See you tonight.” There was a determined look in his eye, and Dani knew her afternoon of confrontations wasn’t done. They waited till Aiden left the room before he asked, “Can we go outside?”
She looked out the window. “I think it’s raining.”
He grabbed her arm. “Even better.” And he half-walked her, half-dragged her out the door. Once outside, he kept going, moving until they were under a veranda. Rain was pouring down on both sides of them, almost forming a complete wall that gave them some privacy.
She let out a soft breath. “Why are you angry with me? Shouldn’t I be the one mad at you?”
His hair was wet, and his eyes
were stormy. He ignored the bait and slid his hands into his pockets. “How does it feel?”
“What do you mean?”
Jonah stepped closer. “You were Erica’s ghost. How does it feel?”
Dani rolled her eyes and moved back, but Jonah caught her elbow and held her firm. He said again, “Don’t push that off.”
Dani looked from her arm to his hand and wrenched free. “Don’t grab me like that.”
Jonah crowded her. “You mattered to her. How does that feel?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“You mattered to her.”
“Stop it.”
“You mattered to her.”
“Stop it, Jonah!” And Dani shoved him back. “What are you doing?”
“I want to know how it feels to know that you mattered to someone. You mattered to her. You mattered to Mae. You mattered to a lot of other people—you didn’t need to leave for ten years to make people care about you. She already cared about you.”
“Where’s this coming from?”
The wind picked up, sending bursts of water over. The windows on the house rattled from the rain’s force, but they were oblivious. They were caught in their own storm, and then Jonah said, “I want you to let people in. I listened to you last night. You talked about this crazy grandmother. You talked about your two aunts. You talked about all this really heavy shit, but you did it matter-of-factly. And it scared the hell out of me, because I realized last night that you don’t let people in. You’re shaken by people. You care about them, but you don’t let them in. You don’t let people in.”
“Are you talking about you? About us?” She shoved his chest. His words stung, but she wasn’t focusing on that. Her anger helped. She’d cling to that and when he fell back a step, she became the aggressor. She got in his face. “Let’s talk about you. Let’s talk about the fact that your dad is coming. You didn’t say a word. I was spilling my guts out to you last night and not one word about your own family.”
He snorted. “Right. Of the two of us, I’m the one who has a sharing problem?” He put his face right in hers. Their noses were almost touching. “Guess what? My dad’s coming today. I didn’t tell you because I don’t give a shit, but you know what else? I’m not going to run away because of him.”
A pent-up growl exploded from the bottom of her throat, and she grabbed the front of his shirt. She hauled him close, debating what to do. Push him away. Pull him to her. Hold him tight. Shove him back. She couldn’t make up her mind.
As if reading her thoughts, Jonah smirked. “What are you going to do, Dani?”
Her eyes clung to his. She had no idea.
He added, his voice so soft, “What are you going to do if you find out another person cares about you? What are you going to do? Are you going to leave?”
“What are you talking about?”
His eyes darkened, and he clenched his jaw. But he only said, “You know what I’m talking about.” Then he made the decision for her. He dug into his pocket and tossed his keys to her. “Here.”
Dani caught them. “What is this?”
“You can take my car. I’ll get a ride with my sister.”
“I’m helping—”
“No, we’re okay.” Jonah was already turning back to the house. “This is a family thing. We’ll manage.”
What the hell just happened?
Her head was hurting.
A sane person would want to figure out what happened, but that was the problem. Those were her personal problems, dealing with her feelings, her thoughts, and her issues. Nope. She wasn’t going there. She wanted to deal with someone else’s issues, someone whose life was even more messed up than hers.
Her grandmother’s.
Once she was back in the mental hospital’s lobby, that same blank nametag was placed in front of her. Same Phyliss smiled at her, but different greeting. “Your grandmother doesn’t remember your last visit.”
“Maybe that’s for the best.”
The sharpness returned to Sandra O’Hara’s gaze when they got to her room. Her grandmother pushed herself off the mattress with her skinny arms that looked like bird’s legs. Her muscles shifted and Sandra O’Hara plopped in the lounger beside her bed.
“Well, come on. Bring it over.” Sandra pointed to the second chair. “Pull it around. Take a seat.” And as Dani did, Sandra pinned her down with an intense stare. “What happened?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t play dumb. What happened to you? You look all upset.”
“It’s my second visit—”
She was cut off by Sandra’s snort. “It’s your third. That’s what Phyliss said.” Her grandmother shifted on her seat and reached for a blanket to wrap around herself.
“Right, well.” Dani shifted to get more comfortable. “I wasn’t really here last time.”
“Your mother was.”
“You remember that?”
Sandra snorted, pushing off the floor with her feet. She wore hospital slippers, and she began rocking her chair back and forth in a slow and steady rhythm. Dani wondered if this was what she did when there were no visitors.
“It’s easier to lie to them than tell the truth.” She peered at her granddaughter. “I remember some of it, in patches. Some I don’t. I can get legit cuckoo sometimes. From what I remember, you handled me just fine.”
“You’re no high Mrs. Bendsfield, but it was fine.” Dani grinned. She liked hearing her grandmother say the words ‘legit cuckoo.’ It reminded her of Mae.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What do I owe you? This is your third visit. I owe you something.”
“You promised to tell me who my father is.”
“Oh,” Sandra cursed under her breath. “I promised you that? Didn’t I let something slip last time? Does that count?”
“It doesn’t. You called him ‘Emmy’, but I don’t know any Emmy.”
“Sure you do. You just don’t know their full names.”
Dani’s eyebrows pinched forward. She frowned. “Are you going to tell me who my father is?”
“No.” Sandra plopped her foot onto Dani’s lap. “I need to raise my legs. My doc said something about elevating the edema.”
Her hands came to rest on her grandmother’s feet. “You promised me.”
“I’m a liar. Part of the reason why I’m in this place.”
“I deserve to know—”
“You don’t deserve a goddamn thing.” Sandra pulled her feet down and leaned forward. She shouted, “I deserve to have my daughters by my side, but where are they?!”
“One’s dead. Another’s dying. And who knows when Mae’s name is up.”
Sandra fell still.
Dani knew she was supposed to stop. She shouldn’t talk like that to her grandmother, but she couldn’t. The words spilled out in rhythm with her heartbeat. It was speeding up. She was fed up. “You already lost one daughter. Maybe you could begin bridging the gap with your family by starting with me.”
“By telling you who your daddy is?”
“Yes!” Dani shoved out of her chair. It screeched across the floor and hit against the wall with a bang. “Shit.” She bit down on her lip. She hadn’t meant to do that.
“If you pick it up and slam it against the wall, it feels a lot better.”
“What?”
Her grandmother didn’t blink. “I’m serious. You could even throw it at the window—won’t do a darn good. They got ‘em covered with thick plastic or something so no one can throw themselves out the window. We just bounce off like rubber birds. It’s not a good feeling when you go splat on the floor.”