Better Deeds Than Words (Words#2) (16 page)

Even though I’d resolutely refused to unpack my suitcase, by nine o’clock that night it was clear that my trip with Daniel was not meant to be. I’d heard nothing from him.

It had also become obvious that Matt had been entertaining company the night before. I wished he would come home so I could ask him about the blond hairs I’d found on the vanity in the bathroom and the lipstick-smudged tissues in the wastebasket.

Sarah had long blond hair. Was it possible they’d gotten back together? Wouldn’t that be ironic? Things between Daniel and me were falling apart, and Matt was back on track with Sarah. I’d have laughed if I hadn’t been so incredibly miserable.

Matt had left a note on top of my suitcase telling me to have a great time up north and to be careful. I wasn’t sure if he was counseling me to avoid a broken leg or a broken heart. Of course, he had no idea I wasn’t going up north now. I hadn’t seen him after this morning’s disaster. He’d been holed up in his room during the hour I’d been home, music blasting the entire time, presumably
entertaining
his lady friend. And now he was out, perhaps with her again.

In Matt’s absence, I raided his movies. I settled on
Shop Girl
, which I watched while eating chips, drinking beer, and clutching my phone, hoping that at some point Daniel would buckle and text me or call. It took every ounce of self-control I could muster to leave the ball in his court.

As I drank my beer, I tortured myself with thoughts of Daniel’s delicious Guinness kisses. And speaking of torture,
Shop Girl
had not been a wise choice. By the time the final scene rolled around and Ray Porter’s voice-over described how he felt connected to Mirabelle even though they were separated by miles and time zones, my heart was throbbing painfully.

Daniel, wherever you are, please call…

Daniel did not call on Friday or even after I broke down on Saturday morning and left a message on his cell phone.

So much for my promise to his father. What had he said to Daniel?
I don’t know what’s happened to your moral compass?
Apparently mine had gone berserk too. But surely this was different? I wasn’t harassing him to say “Let’s go out” or “Can I come over?”

I just wanted to know that the man I was falling in love with was okay.

Matt finally came home late Saturday afternoon. After having slept elsewhere on Friday night, he walked through the door looking mighty pleased with himself, but his face fell as soon as he saw me flaked out on the couch watching infomercials. I’d been lying there for hours, still in my PJs, watching drivel and dozing occasionally.

“Aubrey, what the hell are you doing here? I thought you were going away? Jesus. You look like crap.”

“Thanks, Matt, I appreciate your comforting words.”

But he was right. I looked and felt like shit. He flopped on the couch beside me to listen as I explained what had happened, including my attempts to reach Daniel and my lack of success at getting hold of him. It was a relief to pour my heart out. After being the good friend and not telling Julie a word, I’d been on the verge of exploding from holding everything in.

“So, he had some sort of breathing attack, and they booted you out, and that’s the last you heard from him?”

“Pretty much.”

“That sucks. Now you’re wallowing in Magic Bullet infomercials?”

“Yep.”

“I don’t know, Aub, that’s Stage Two if I ever saw it. That’s
way
worse than Maury Povich.”

He smiled sadly at me. I shook my head, recalling how I’d tried to joke around with Matt after his break up with Sarah. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, I was kicking myself for being such a smartass.

“Do you want me to call him?” he offered. “If he’s screening calls, he won’t recognize my number. Maybe he’ll pick up. I can try to reason with him.”

I didn’t want to put Matt in an awkward position, but…

“It’s worth a try, I guess.”

He didn’t miss a beat, handing me his phone. “Dial.”

I punched in Daniel’s number and gave Matt the phone. He stood up and paced, waiting for an answer. Then he shook his head.

“Yeah, Daniel, it’s Matt. I’m here with Aubrey, and she’d—well,
we
actually, would appreciate it if you’d call to let her know what’s going on. I warned you not to screw her around again. Leaving her in the dark like this? Not cool. Call her as soon as possible. I mean it.” He hung up and tossed his phone on the table. “Sorry, Aub.”

“Thanks for trying.”

“Look, isn’t there someone else you could call? Julie’s dating his brother, right? Maybe they know what’s going on.”

I sighed. “Julie and Jeremy are in Windsor. They’re having this big meet-the-parents weekend. I don’t want to wreck her fun.”

Matt looked at me, perplexed. “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Worry about everyone else. They’re your friends. They’ll understand. That’s what friends do for each other.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, imagining how things might unfold if I called Julie. Either Jeremy would get dragged into the middle of things, calling Daniel and trying to intervene on my behalf, or he’d find out that Daniel wasn’t well and feel guilty for being away for the weekend. Worse still, maybe he wouldn’t be able to reach his brother either and he’d drive home in a panic from Windsor—he was a nervous driver in the first place.

I shook my head. “Nope. I’m not calling Julie.”

Matt sighed. “You’re so fucking stubborn.”

“Daniel thinks so too.”

“For once we agree on something.” He paused for a second. “What about the English bombshell and Mr. Muscle? Can’t you call them?”

“I tried earlier. No answer.”

“Try again,” Matt said.

I got Penny’s voice mail after the fifth ring. I rolled my eyes at Matt. We weren’t having much luck.

“Hi, Penny, it’s Aubrey again. I’m sorry to be a pest, but I was wondering if you could give me a call back when you get a second. It’s kind of important. Thanks.”

I hung up and fell back onto the couch, sighing.

“Looks like you’ve done the best you can. Why don’t you have a hot shower? Try to unwind a bit.”

I allowed him to cajole me with the promise that he would make dinner while I got myself sorted out. After my shower, I dried off, bundled myself up in my robe, and stared at the lipstick-smudged tissues in the waste basket. It was Matt’s turn to talk. I called for him to come to the bathroom quickly.

“What is it?” he asked from the other side of the bathroom door.

I held up one of the long blond hairs and poked my hand through the door.

“My hair. I think it’s going gray from stress,” I said.

“That’s blond, not gray.”

I whipped the door open, looking at him suspiciously as I held the hair aloft. “Spill.”

He took the hair and dropped it in the garbage. “I’ll give you three guesses, and your first two don’t count,” he said.

“Sarah?”

“Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner, folks.”

Ha! I knew it!

“You want to talk about it?” I offered.

“Would you be mad if I said no?”

“Nope. Your call, dude. I don’t mean to pry. You know I want you to be happy, right?”

He took my hand. “I know. I just don’t want to jinx anything. I want you to be happy, too. I can’t believe this is happening with you and Daniel. Actually, I
can
believe it. I’ve had a bad feeling about this since the beginning, but it’s not my place to say, you know?”

“I know. Can I have a hug?”

“What kind of question is that?” He pulled me into a tight embrace, rubbing my back. “I’m glad you showered. You smelled kind of funky earlier.”

“Fuck you,” I whispered into his neck.

He laughed and stepped back. “Atta girl. Now get dressed. I’m in the middle of making you the most amazing mac and cheese. Best cure for heartache I can think of. Then you can spend all night watching infomercials. You should see if you can find one for a Tae-Bo DVD or something. You’re getting a little doughy.”

He playfully poked me in the belly and shook his head.

“One day we’ll both be happy at the same time, Aubs,” he said, heading off to the kitchen.

I tried to do homework Sunday morning, but it was an exercise in futility. I checked my email every two minutes for an answer to a message I’d sent Daniel. I’d tried to be straightforward, pleading for him to tell me he was okay so I could stop worrying. When my phone rang at noon, I almost put my back out leaping to reach for it.

Sadly, it wasn’t Daniel. But it
was
Penny, and I was almost as thrilled to hear from her.

“Aubrey, I’m so sorry, love. I’ve only just received your messages. Brad and I went out for the day yesterday, and I had my phone off. So, is Daniel with you? He was afraid to call me back after he heard my message this morning, wasn’t he? You’re still up at that bloody resort, aren’t you? I’ll never get this house painted. First Jeremy leaves with Julie, and now Daniel’s gone and buggered off too.”

“Wait. You lost me—”

“You and Daniel. Aren’t you two still up in the Muskokees?”

“Muskokas. And, no, we’re not up there. We didn’t end up going. At least
I
didn’t go. If Daniel went, it wasn’t with me. So, you haven’t spoken to him at all this weekend?”

“No, that wanker. He was supposed to call me to tell me what time he was coming over today to paint. Why aren’t you with him? He was beyond excited about going up there with you. You didn’t have a fight, did you?”

“No, we didn’t have a fight. Not really. It’s kind of complicated.”

“I’m all ears, darling.”

I told her the whole story while she occasionally interjected an “Oh no” or sighed. Penny gasped when I told her we’d had dinner at Patty’s. Once the words started coming, I couldn’t seem to stop.

“I can’t believe he hasn’t called you, of all people,” I said, after explaining how Daniel had waved me out and David had sent me on my way. “He tells you everything. Now I’m more worried than ever. What if this breathing thing got worse after I left? What if he’s in the hospital or something?”

Jesus, why hadn’t I thought of that earlier? He was probably in the hospital! That’s why no one could reach him. But wouldn’t his parents call to let people know? The whole situation was beyond weird.

My questions were met with silence, and then Penny said, “Oh, sod it,” very matter-of-factly.

“What?”

“Well, it’s just—oh, bugger—”

“Wait, don’t tell me. You
do
know what’s going on, don’t you, and you can’t say? What—is this
fence post?
Not your place to tell? Goddamn this family and their frigging secrets. Fuck the fence post, Penny!”

“That’s inadvisable, love. You’ll get slivers in places you didn’t even know you had.”

“You know what I mean. I’m going out of my mind. If you know something, please tell me!”