DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN (29 page)

“Me?”

“Yeah, you,”
Nikki said.
 
Daniel had not only put back
on his suit coat but had on gloves as well.

Daniel
looked down, at his suit coat.
 
“I’m
fine.
 
I just as soon put it on than
throw it over a chair.”

“That’s
stupid.”

He
smiled.
 
“I know.
 
But I’m glad you’re feeling better.
 
You had the chills at one point. I don’t
know.
  
Sometimes that fireplace is
enough.
 
Sometimes it’s not.”

“It’s plenty
tonight.
 
But how did you find out about
this place?” she asked, looking around.
 
“It’s really cool.
 
Really
different.
 
Who owns it?”

“I found it through my realtor.
 
And I own it.”

Nikki was impressed.
 
“Really?”
 
She looked around again.
 
“You
have very good taste, Mr. Crane.”

“Thank-you,” Daniel said with a smile.
 
He was so pleased to see her back to her old
self again that he felt fortunate.
 
“I
thought it was a nice place.”

“How long have you owned it?”

“Oh, my.
 
Long time.
 
Almost six years.
 
I rarely got a chance to use it so I started
renting it out.
 
Mainly to some of
Dreeson’s out-of-town clients who want to experience something different.
 
They like it here.”

“I think I love it here,” Nikki said
gleefully.
 
“It’s so peaceful.”
 
Then she smiled.
 
“When you die, can I have it?” she jokingly
asked.

But Daniel wasn’t joking at all.
 
“Yes,” he said.

“Oh, please.
 
You aren’t leaving this place to me!
 
You’re going to leave it to your relatives or to your favorite charity.”

Daniel stared in her big brown eyes.
 
“I’m leaving it to you,” he said.
 
“It’s been arranged.”

Nikki paused.
 
He couldn’t be serious.
 
“Since
when?”

“Since about two years ago.
 
I got a chance to sit down with my attorney,
and put it in writing.”

She couldn’t believe it.
 
“You mean you actually have this written
somewhere?
 
That I get the cabin should
something happen to you?”

“The cabin, the houses, the cars, the
money.”
 
He looked at Nikki.
 
“Everything.”

Nikki shook her head.
 
“I was just kidding, Daniel, what are you
talking about?
 
You don’t need any
will.
 
Why would you go and do all of
that?”

“Preparation, honey,” Daniel said.
 
Didn’t she realize how much she meant to him?

But he knew what was happening.
 
She was having that crash moment.
 

“But why are you preparing so soon?” she
asked him.
 
“You’re fine!
 
I was just playing around.
 
Nothing’s gonna happen to you.”

Nikki could
feel her heartbeat quicken.
 
The idea
that he would leave her all of his earthly possessions was remarkable to
her.
 
But it wasn’t the fact of what he
had left her that had struck her so deeply, but the fact that one day he would,
in fact, leave her.
 
Or she would leave
him.
 
That death was as real at that
moment in time as the breath she was breathing.
 
And the idea that something could happen to Daniel, that he would no
longer be a part of her life, stunned her.
 
She had never even thought that it could be a possibility.

“You didn’t
have to write a will,” she said.
 
“You’re
still a young man.
 
Besides, nothing ever
happens to people like you.”

“No, it
doesn’t,” Daniel said.
 
“Until it
does.
 
I wanted to be prepared, that’s
all.
 
Everything I have, goes to you.
 
I don’t want any relatives fighting over
anything of mine.
 
It’s all yours.
 
You have to be prepared.”

Nikki looked
at the fire in the fireplace.
 
And the
remains of the day, from that mysterious phone call, to this realization that
she would be a basket case, a shell of a human being, if something ever
happened to Daniel, overwhelmed her.
 

And as if it
had been begging for attention all along, she suddenly knew what she had to do.

Later that night, she didn’t snuggle next to
Daniel the way she usually did, but lay away from him, her back to him, still
thinking as she stared at the fire across the room.
 
Daniel was surprised by her behavior, but he
didn’t press the issue.
 
He knew she was
still reeling from that phone call, and from their conversation earlier.
 

He remembered when he added her.
 
His attorney strongly advised against
it.
 
You don’t leave all of your earthly
possessions to some girlfriend, he had said.
 
And normally Daniel would have agreed.
 
But he did it anyway.

“I want to apologize to you, Nikki,” he said.

Nikki hesitated.
 
For having an affair?
 
For what?
 
“Apologize for what?” she asked him.

“For everything.
 
The neglect, the way I’ve been treating you
lately.
 
Everything.
 
I haven’t been as attentive as I should
be.
 
A girl your age needs attention.
 
And I’m sorry some female called you.
 
I don’t know who she is, or who she can
be.
 
I’ve had my people look into it, but
they turned up nothing.
 
But it’s not
true, honey.
 
I’m not having any affair
with her, or with anyone else.
 
You
understand?”

Nikki frowned.
 
Because it was different to her now.
 
She wasn’t stuck on some phone call
anymore.
 
She was stuck on her very life
right now, and how she planned to live it.
 
Her reaction to that phone call was just a symptom, she felt, of a
serious problem.
 
She loved Daniel too
much.
 
He occupied too much of her entire
existence.
 
It wasn’t healthy for him,
and it certainly wasn’t healthy for her.

She swallowed hard.
 
“I think it’s a good idea, to tell you the
truth,” she said.

Daniel looked at her, at her bare back, at
her thin neck, at part of her brown, naked behind not hidden under the covers,
and he swallowed hard too.
 
“What’s a
good idea?”

“Going slow.
 
Not rushing into anything.”

Daniel hesitated.
 
“You okay?”

“Yes.
 
I’m fine.
 
I just think . . .” She
frowned.
 
“I think you were right.
 
We ought to take it slow.”

Daniel did not respond.
 
He could tell she was emotional.
 
She was finally reaching a conclusion he had
reached a long time ago: she had to slow down.
 
She had to stop believing that the very reason for her existence was
completely tied to him.
 
Or it would
be.
 
And when he was gone, when he was no
longer on the scene for whatever reason, the foundation of her very existence
would be shaken, to a point beyond devastation, maybe to a point beyond repair.

He reached over and placed his hand on her
hip.
 
She moved slightly away.
 
“Good night, Daniel,” she said, through her
fears.
 
And he understood.
 

“Goodnight, love,” he said.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The rains came with a thunderous clap and the
huge Dreeson building went dark as the lights flicked out, and then came back
on.
 
It was eight at night and most of
management was still in the building.
 

But Daniel was looking to get out.

He shoved files into his briefcase just in
case he felt like reading over some of them at home, and began closing the
flap.
 
He was this close to a clean
getaway.
 
But Melanie, looking dashing in
a loud lavender dress, walked in.

“Well,” he said, smiling, “looks like
somebody’s going to have a big night tonight.”

“You like?” she said and turned around, as if
she was a model on a runway.

“I like.”

She walked further into the office and sat
down in front of Daniel’s desk.
 
“I hope
Edgar likes.”

“Edgar?”

“My date.
 
I’m very hopeful.”
 
She said this
and looked up at Daniel.
 
He stood behind
his desk in shirt sleeves, his briefcase closed and standing on his desk.
 
She wanted to see if there would even be a
flicker of jealousy.
 
There was.

“When did you meet this Edgar?” he asked her.

“A couple weeks ago.
 
At a book store, can you believe it?
 
He seems like a pretty decent guy.”

Daniel nodded.
 
“You need to be careful, Mel.
 
Everybody’s pretty decent when you don’t know
them.”

Melanie smiled.
 
“You aren’t worried about me.
 
Are you?”

“You’re my assistant.
 
Of course I worry about you.
 
You’re a beautiful woman in this world.
 
And susceptible to any smooth talker.”

“You mean like you?”

Daniel smiled.
 
“Exactly,” he said.

“No, Daniel, I understand what you’re
saying.
 
I do.
 
But I can’t spend another night alone.
 
That’s what it’s come down to for me.”
 
Daniel stared at his assistant.
 
She crossed her legs.
 
Daniel looked away.

“The reason I dropped by,” she said, “was to
confirm that the New York trip was still on for tomorrow.”

“It’s still on.
 
You and Max will accompany me, and I hope to
wrap up the deal while we’re there.”
 
Then he looked at her.
 
“Please
don’t tell me you can’t make it.”

“Oh, no, that’s not it at all.
 
I’ll be there.”

Daniel was relieved.
 
“Good.
 
You and Max are the only two assistants I have on staff that are fully
trained in the art of the deal.
 
I’ll need
you two to help work the room.
 
The
Japanese love to come in three different directions before they will
agree.
 
I want all of our bases
covered.
 
It’ll be the first time Dreeson
has considered partnering with Japan.
 
I
want to get this right.”

“You will.
 
You always do.
 
No, I’ll be
there.
 
Don’t worry.
 
It’s just that. . .”
  
She exhaled.
 
“I turned forty yesterday,” she said.

Daniel was surprised by this.
 
“Yesterday was your birthday?
 
Mel, why didn’t you tell me?”

“You have enough on your plate than to have
to entertain me too.
 
I’m sure Nikki
would agree with that.”

“You should have told me, Mel,” he said.

“You’ve done more than enough.
 
You’re already stretched too thin.
 
Between all we have you doing here at Dreeson
I’m sure it’s effected your personal life as it is, and your relationship with
Nikki.
 
I couldn’t bear to be responsible
for any further problems.”
 

She was fishing.
 
Luke had told her that lately Nikki seemed to
be in the best spirits he’d seen her in months, as if she was resigned to
something unpleasant, such as an eminent break-up with boyfriend, or something
wonderful, such as a certain togetherness.
 
But neither she nor Daniel were telling.
 
And Melanie had been trying daily to get the scoop.

“So,” Melanie said, deciding to beat around
the bush no longer.
 
“How’s Nikki
anyway?”

“She’s good.”