Mae busied in the kitchen, producing two drinks in hand. Motioning with her elbow to the front porch, she commented, “Might want to grab a blanket with you.”
Settling on the porch, drinks in hand, Dani pulled a blanket around her frame. “This is great.” She sighed, reminiscent. “Just like old times, Aunt Mae. Two ‘nightcappers.’ You and me. And the stars. That’s all we need.”
Mae watched her. “Sooner you talk about what’s keeping you from staying in that bed of mine, sooner it’ll stop. I can guarantee that. Hell, I’ve wrote the book on avoiding conversations like those. I could write an even better book on how it’s stupid and avoiders are just morons.”
“It’s nothing.” Dani took a sip and watched the stars.
Aunt Mae didn’t waver. “I know it must’ve been bad. And I know that you did not know about Erica until you were on your way home. Not a living soul knew where you were so there’s no way you could’ve been told about Erica dying.” She reached for her glass. “So I can imagine the place you’re in right now. You were already coming home to escape something, something probably pretty bad—from the looks of you—and you just found out about your little sister. A sister that you assumed had been happy, living with your man all these years and now he’s with the third O’Hara—”
“You’re not helping.” Dani met her aunt’s gaze. “You’re not helping.”
“No, child.” The sound was an endearment, but it put Dani in her place. “I see the signs because I recognize them in me. You’ve walked through hell and back. I see that anguish and suffering in your eyes because it’s been in mine for years now.” She pointed with her glass. “You talk and you talk and you talk again. You talk until you don’t got no more to talk about.”
Dani was silent.
Mae settled more comfortably in her chair. “Then when you’re all talked out, you find what else you need to do to better that pain inside of you. You gotta admit that your world was ripped to shreds and now it’s been stomped on. You did not know about Erica before you got here and we both know it.”
Dani looked away. The drink was forgotten on the table. Alone.
“I don’t meaning to be harping on you,” Aunt Mae sounded gracious. “But…you’re mine. When my little Danielle passed, Kathryn got the likes of all of you guys. You became mine while she had the other two. And you and me—we’re alike, Dani. We just express things differently. I’ve been through a whole hell of lot in my life and I’ve had my own stint in counseling to know that I lash out to avoid pain. You absorb it and push it down. You always have and even though you’re a changed person, those styles of handling things—they don’t go away. You gotta let some of it go, Dani. Whatever is keeping you from sleeping might just go away after a while.”
“Aunt Mae.” Dani shook her head. “I’m exhausted. I’ve been traveling for four days and I just want…I want some time to sit in silence with my favorite aunt who was like a mother to me at times.”
“Oh—you know just what to say, you know that?” Tears came to her eyes. “That’s not fair.”
“Let’s save the ‘pushing’ for later. It’s my first night, Aunt Mae.” Dani grinned across the table and the moonlight skimmed over her features, giving her an ethereal look. Beautiful.
Mae grunted, settling farther in her chair. “Alright, but one of these days you’re going to have to tell me what happened to you out there and you’re going to talk about your sister.”
“Not tonight.”
“Fine.”
“So Jonah Bannon rode shotgun in Jake’s cruiser when he told me Julia’s message.”
“What?” Mae spit out her drink. “What?!” She sputtered again. Slamming a hand down on the table, causing the drinks to rattle, she exclaimed, “That—that—damn him! I told that Jonah to leave you alone. I told him that you were to be left alone.”
“Why?”
“Because Jonah talks a smoother game than he should be able to handle.” She cursed underneath her breath and pounded the table. “He’s too much for you, Dani. You don’t need that trouble right now.”
“What trouble are you talking about?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I love that boy. I surely do, he’s got a heart in the right place.” She shook her head. “But he don’t got no intention of settling down and having a bona fide relationship with a woman. The type that deserves a commitment. Only commitment Jonah has is ensuring Falls River is kept clean and undamaged from all those business owners who want to build on it.”
“I thought he collected classics.”
“He’s the head-hunter in some ways for the River Natural Resources on Falls River. It’s becoming a big tourist attraction and the dam helps a lot. You know how popular Tenderfoot Rush is with the locals and tourists. It’s gotten more popular with the entire state. That dam—it keeps the river with that turquoise color in it, but there’s a lot of businesses that want to move in and make a profit. Falls River is clean and pretty—everyone likes what’s clean and pretty. Jonah’s job determines if they’re going to hurt the river or not. If he feels they will, he’s the one who says they can’t build or he makes them change their plans until it won’t.”
Dani sat back and frowned.
“It takes a lot of balls to go head to head with some of those millionaire execs, but Jonah handles ‘em right good. He makes sure the river is patrolled by the Riverfront Guard. He trains them every six months, but…I still don’t want him around you.”
“I told him I didn’t need his charm.” Dani earned a surprised look from her aunt. “I know what he is, Aunt Mae, and thank you for trying to protect me. I don’t need it. I just left a good man behind me. I’ve got enough on my plate right now, but I can handle him if I need to.”
That earned her a blinding smile from her aunt. “You’ve changed ways that I hadn’t pinpointed. I really want to be there when you go head to head with that sister of yours. Fireworks in the sky. That’s what it’s going to be like.” She splayed her hands out in a circling gesture. “Fireworks.”
Dani flinched at her words. There had been fireworks that night. The people who sprinted for their lives were etched in neon lights. She sighed. She wanted the fireworks to go away.
She was in the grocery mart when she heard Jonah Bannon’s slow drawl. “Milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, and let me guess…you can’t forget the chocolate. Every female I know has to have chocolate.”
A small grin came to her, but she opened the freezer for a bag of frozen vegetables. “I heard you were a top negotiator. I’m sure being able to identify food products should be listed at the top of the resume.”
Jonah cut a grin. “I heard you were the nice shy O’Hara. You’re not nice and shy now.”
“That’ll do a person when they got to protect their prized possession against the likes of you.”
“Your Mustang?”
Dani moved down the aisle. “If you’d like to call it that and no, I meant my frozen peas.”
“You’re funny too. I’ve never met an O’Hara who was funny.”
Dani stopped and turned at that. “You didn’t think Erica was funny? Everyone thought Erica was funny.”
“Erica thought she was funny. That’s good enough for most.”
“But not you?”
His grin slipped a notch. “Are you trying to trip me up? Is that what this is?”
“I just want to hear some truth. I didn’t know a person could speak badly about my sister.”
Jonah searched her face. “All right…no. I didn’t think Erica was funny. That’s my truth.”
He looked good in the early hours of the morning, but Dani wasn’t surprised. Jonah always looked good. That was the real golden rule of their valley. Jonah Bannon couldn’t not look good.
She turned and passed to the checkout counters. “I’m not selling you my car. That’s my truth.”
“Oh. My. God,” the clerk gushed as she spied Dani and Jonah’s approaching figures. She slapped her hands on the counter and jump
ed over. “If it isn’t little Dani O’Hara!”
It took a little bit, but Dani finally recognized her. Mrs. Tatums. She taught piano lessons to all three O’Haras. Julia and Erica had excelled while Dani quit after five years.
Mrs. Tatums grasped Dani’s face in her hands and shook her. “I cannot believe it! It’s been ages! How are you?” She pulled her in for a hug.
Against Mrs. Tatums’ shoulders, Dani murmured, “I’m good. Thanks, Mrs. Tatums.”
“Oh dear!” she gushed again as she pulled back and held Dani at an arm’s length. She scrutinized her features up and down and then again. “Mmmm mmm mmm. The rumors are indeedy true. You, my dear, left an ugly duckling and returned a swan. My oh my. I cannot get over this.”
Then her eyes fell on Jonah and they went flat.
Even her tone went flat as she clipped out, “What are you doing here, Jonah?”
His grin was easy. “I’m shopping for my early morning breakfast, Karen. I loved that coffee cake so much that I ate it in one sitting.”
Her cheeks blushed. “Stop playing with an old lady.” She was proud of her coffee cake. “I have my momma’s talent. The best coffee cake in seven counties now. It won the champion flag at the fair last year, you know.”
“Let’s hope it wins again.”
“Oh…,” Mrs. Tatums tried to look disapproving, but the coffee cake won out. “Oh, you, Jonah. You know how to charm the ladies.”
He certainly did, Dani thought to herself as she grabbed her bags and escaped. A second later, Jonah caught up. “Hey!”
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“I didn’t have to dodge the inevitable question. Thank you.”
“Where you’ve been the past five years?”
“Yeah.” Dani sighed, stowing her bags in the backseat.
“Where have you been? It’s the talk of the town.”
“It’s not a story that needs to be shared.”
Her aunt Mae wouldn’t agree.
Jonah narrowed his eyes. “Bet it’s a place not many can understand anyway.”
She was startled to see understanding and…commonality, but it was true—most wouldn’t understand.
“Yeah,” Dani murmured.
Jonah shifted on his feet. “How about a spin?”
“What?”
He knocked the car with his knuckles. “The car. How about a spin around? I’m a safe driver and you can’t deny the fine luxury of driving a car like this, can you?”
Dani studied him, seeing the same reckless courage that had always embodied Jonah Bannon. But she saw slight mixtures of a man in his depths too. It unnerved her. She could flirt, if she wanted. She could spin this, draw it out, and probably get a chaser out of him. That wasn’t why she was home. She left a good man behind. She had no intention of replacing him—maybe ever.
“I don’t think so.” Dani sighed and grabbed her keys.
“What? Why?”
“Because…” She met his eyes. She wasn’t there for games. He was. “I didn’t come back to get a man or to compete with my sisters in some rivalry. I didn’t come back to make the ‘catch’ of the season and show off the local badboy hero. I left a really great man behind and I…I didn’t do that to find a replacement for him. I’m not home for any of that.”
She moved to close the door, but Jonah caught it and held it. Dani had already sat down, so he bent down. “I know what my reputation is and sometimes it’s earned and other times it’s the furthest from the truth. Here’s my advice to you—you don’t have a reputation yet. People can’t figure you out right now because you’re not the same as when you left. That could be bad for you.”
“People don’t like what they can’t understand.” Erica said the same thing to her. Seven years ago.
“That’s right...and my advice for you is to be as nice as can be to everyone.”
“I know that a lot of people think I’m back for Jake and that I’m intending on breaking him and Julia up. It’s not true.”
Jonah took that and said, “Look—I really like your car and I really would like to take it for a drive someday. And…yes,” he acknowledged, “the owner intrigues me too. But, small town person to the next, it might not hurt you to be seen with someone other than Jake Sullivan.”
“Jake was my best friend all my life.”
“He’s engaged to your sister.” Jonah was blunt.
“You didn’t strike me as a guy that was so on top of the local gossip.”
“Please.” Jonah brushed it off. “It’s my business to know what goes on in Craigstown. I run this river and everyone around it.”
“I heard that about you.”
“So I’m not the only one listening in on gossip.”
“The car’s not for sale and I’m not interested.”
“You’re going to need friends.”
“You offering?”
“If I can get a joy ride in this magnificent piece of machinery…then yes. I am offering.”
She didn’t buy it. It was too…innocent. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch. Just friends.”
“You sure your reputation is only half true?” Dani grinned as she started the engine.
Jonah chuckled. “Can I come by the cabin later tonight to check this baby out? I’m itching to get underneath the hood.”
“Sure. I’ll be around the cabin this evening.”
“Sounds good. See you around six and I like my steaks medium-rare.”
It wasn’t a date, but Jonah had already darted across the parking lot and was inside his own car. A sweet ‘73 Impala, black model. They could trade joy rides one night. That was fine with Dani. Before she could reverse, she heard a short warning signal of a cop’s sirens. In the side-mirror, Dani sighed, seeing Jake pull up next to her. He had a partner in the passenger seat. She cut the engine and sat back to wait. Jake looked like he wanted to have a few words. Those looks hadn’t changed over the years.
“Hey.”
Dani watched his partner. “Who’s that?”
“My partner.”
“Is that…” Dani squinted, trying to get a better look.
“Yeah,” Jake remarked, a bit sheepish. “That’s Kate Daily.”
“Wow. Kate Daily’s a—” Kate Daily was the rebel. She probably felt the counselor and principal’s office was a second and third home to her own. She’d been known cutting class, smoking on school property. Rumor had it that she slept with the entire football team, plus the basketball team. The wrestling team didn’t want anything to do with her. But, thinking back, Dani knew the girl had been into more than just sex, cigarettes, and skipping school. The tracts on her arms announced it to the world.
Kate Daily was now a cop. Dani was stunned.
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know small town cops got partners.”
“It’s new. We’re trying it out.”
“Julia likes that you have a female partner?”
“Dani.” He shook his head. “Don’t start. Please.”
A silence fell over them. Dani watched him, her head against her seat’s headrest. Jake watched her.
Jake began to drum his fingers on the door. Dani grinned. That was his thing whenever he was anxious, but didn’t know what to say. His fingers would drum up and down on whatever surface they were resting upon. Jake always prided himself on being a stellar poker player, but it just wasn’t true. She knew all his tells.
He cleared his throat. “You sleep good last night?”
“I slept all right.”
“I know that cabin is a long way from civilization so, if you’re ever scared, you know, just give me a call.”
“And wake Julia? And have her know that you’re running off for me?” Julia would throw a fit and they both knew it. “So the next time I wake up at three in the morning, I’m supposed to call you and Julia will be okay with that?”
“Don’t play this game. I know what you’re doing. You’re pushing my button
s and you’re trying to piss me off.”
“Is it working?” It wasn’t worth it if it wasn’t working.
“It’s too early for something like this. I don’t want to play