Coming Home (10 page)

She leaned down and swatted his knee. “Oh, stop it with your ego. I know you’re
capable
of doing it. I’d just rather you didn’t.”

“Why?” he grunted as he worked the wrench to loosen a nut.

“Because there are better ways for you to spend your afternoon.”

Danny lifted his head slightly, peeking out from under the sink. “You know nothing trumps you,” he said with a wink, and she chuckled.

“Stop schmoozing me. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Danny laughed as he positioned the flashlight near his shoulder. As much as he made jokes, what he’d said was the truth; there was nothing that took precedence over her, no matter how much she tried to urge him to feel otherwise, and she knew it.

“Alright, I need a different wrench,” he said, sliding out from under the sink and rubbing his lower back. “I’m pretty sure I have the one I need in my car.”

“Why don’t you take a break?” she said, handing him the glass of iced tea he hadn’t even seen her pour. He took it gratefully, leaning his back up against the cabinet and taking a large sip.

“Thanks,” he said, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth.

She nodded with a smile, shuffling over to the chair near the table. “So, did you ever get in touch with Leah?”

“What?” he asked, startled.

“For the flowers,” she said, taking a seat across from him. “Did you thank her for me?”

“Oh,” he said. “Yeah, I did.”

“She seems sweet.”

Danny took another long sip of his drink. “Yeah,” he said, reaching above him to place the glass on the counter near the sink.

“Beautiful too,” she said innocently, looking at her pants as she brushed away invisible lint.

“Gram.”

“What?” she said.

Danny opened his mouth, only to close it without answering. He shook his head as he pulled himself to his feet. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does.”

He leaned down, saying nothing as he sifted through the toolbox.

“You deserve to be happy,” she said, and he laughed bitterly.

“That’s debatable,” he said as he straightened, turning to walk toward the door.

“
Daniel
,” she said firmly, and he stopped in his tracks. “Please don’t leave while I’m having a conversation with you. It’s rude.”

He looked down with a nod. “Sorry.”

A second later he heard her come up behind him, and then her hand was on his bicep, turning him back around to face her. “You
do
deserve to be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”

His teeth came together as he tried to smother the surge of frustration he felt at her words. “Yeah?” he asked tightly. “And what about Leah? Does
she
deserve to be happy?”

“Daniel,” she said softly.

“You think getting involved with someone like me would make her happy?” he continued. “You think she’d just overlook everything that comes along with it?”

Gram looked down, twisting the ring on her left hand. “Everyone has baggage, Daniel.”

“Gram,
come on
,” he said.

When she didn’t lift her eyes, his voice softened.

“It wouldn’t be fair,” he said. “You know it wouldn’t.”

Her shoulders rose slightly as she took a breath before looking up at him. “You’re not dying, love.”

He winced as if she’d hit him.

“You still have your whole life ahead of you,” she went on. Gram brought her hand to the side of his face as she said, “Don’t miss out on the chances you have to make it a wonderful one.”

Danny shook his head slightly. “Do you hear what you’re saying? So, I’m supposed to just string her along on the off chance that everything goes my way?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off. “And what happens when it doesn’t go my way, Gram? What happens then?”

She stared up at him, her hand still pressed to his cheek as her eyes filled with tears. “My boy,” she said softly. “You can’t stop living. You’re the one who taught
me
that, remember?”

He looked down, swallowing hard. “You deserve to be happy,” she said, using her hand on his face to lift his gaze back to hers. “You deserve to be happy,” she repeated, looking him in the eyes. He stared at her as she gave him a watery smile before patting his cheek.

And then she walked past him and into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

“Fuck,” Danny mumbled, rubbing his hands roughly over his face before he walked over to her chair and dropped into it.

The absolute last thing he needed was Gram urging him to call her—because the truth was, he’d been fighting his desire to do just that every day since that goddamn lunch date, and he didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to resist that impulse with Gram’s prodding battling his common sense.

He couldn’t do it. It would be wrong on so many levels to pursue her. Even Gram must have known that. But her hopeless optimism was getting in the way of her judgment; she was still clinging to the idea that everything might work out. Danny understood why; it was the only thing that kept her from falling to pieces. She needed that fantasy in order to get out of bed every morning, and the last thing he’d ever want to do was deprive her of that.

But just because he was allowing her to exist in a fantasy world didn’t mean he wasn’t strongly rooted in reality.

Gram had said that he still had a future.

But he knew what that future was going to look like, and dragging someone else into it would be repulsively self-serving.

Danny laughed humorlessly, running his hand through his hair.

Maybe he’d gotten caught up in Gram’s fantasy world more than he’d realized, because it was ridiculous for him to even be thinking about what the fallout would be for Leah if they got involved. Once she learned the truth about him, she’d go running for the hills anyway. So none of it mattered.

Case closed. End of story.

At least, that
should
have been the end of the story.

But her number was in his phone, taunting him every goddamn day. He knew he should just delete it, but some twisted, masochistic part of him wouldn’t allow it.

He had promised himself he wouldn’t contact her again after that call about the flowers, but then he’d gone ahead and called her again on New Year’s Day, justifying it because
she
had contacted him first; she had texted him, and he was simply responding. After all, just because he wasn’t going to pursue her didn’t mean he had to be rude.

Maybe that was it.

Maybe that was how he needed to handle her. If she reached out to him, he would respond—he just wouldn’t initiate anything himself.

Danny exhaled heavily, running both hands up through his hair as he stood and made his way through the house and out to his car.

He was just going to leave it up to fate.

Danny smirked sardonically at that as he opened the trunk and sifted through his toolbox. Because if there was one thing he could count on, it would be that fate would fuck him over.

Again.

“Ugh, what a creeper!” Leah’s sister said as she shook her shoulders in an exaggerated shiver. “So he like lurks around your apartment?”

Leah sat on the counter in Sarah’s kitchen, running her finger around the rim of her wine glass as her sister opened the oven door to check the lasagna. When they first began their Monday night dinner dates almost two years ago, Leah had declared any and all conversations pertaining to Scott off-limits. Sarah was nothing if not rabidly protective, and in the weeks following their breakup, it was just a little too much for her to handle. Instead, they would spend the evening watching
How I Met Your Mother
and gorging on dessert while vowing to hit the gym the following day as penance.

But as soon as Leah mentioned that Scott had stopped by earlier that day, the door restraining all of Sarah’s venom for Scott burst clean off the hinges.

“I don’t think he
lurks
,” Leah said. “He comes to see if I’ll answer the door, and when I don’t, he leaves me whatever bullshit peace offering he brought with him.”

“And the idiot came today?” she asked, closing the oven door. “Doesn’t he realize school started back up for you?”

Leah shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe he intentionally came when I wouldn’t be home.”

“What did he leave this time?”

“He burned another playlist.”

Sarah rolled her eyes as she took a sip of wine. “Yeah, because a good mix tape will make up for the fact that he boned another girl while your father lay dying in the hospital. Oh, oh, and he couldn’t be there with you
so
he could nail said whore bag. But no, burn a CD, it’s all good.”

Leah nodded. “I really appreciate you bringing me back up to speed. I had totally forgotten about everything that happened that night until you just reminded me.”

Sarah laughed as she pulled herself up onto the counter beside Leah.

“Honestly, I just don’t get it,” Leah said. “I mean, he doesn’t love me. There’s no way he could have done what he did if he loved me, so I don’t understand why he’s still trying to get me back.”

“It has nothing to do with love,” Sarah said, reaching for the bottle of wine and refilling her glass. “It’s about power. Scott is the kind of guy who needs it to feel whole. It feeds him. He lost the power when
you
were the one who ended that relationship. I don’t think it’s about wanting
you
back at all, no offense.”

“Believe me, none taken,” Leah interrupted.

Sarah smirked before she said, “He just wants the power back.
And
if he succeeded in getting you back, he could exert that power in one of two ways. He could try to get control over you again by manipulating you, or he could end the relationship on
his
terms. Either way, he’d have the upper hand. That’s all it’s about.”

Leah stared at the wine in her glass as she swirled it gently. “You know, it’s a little freaky to hear all this psychobabble come out of your mouth, especially when it makes sense. Please tell me you don’t psychoanalyze me behind my back.”

“Never!” Sarah scoffed, taking an imaginary pencil out from behind her ear and pretending to lick the tip before she scribbled furiously on the pad beside her.

Leah laughed as she smacked her sister’s leg.

“All kidding aside,” Sarah said, “you should get a restraining order or something.”

Leah shook her head. She had entertained the idea once before, but the truth was, Scott had never been violent. He wasn’t aggressive or threatening. He was a selfish, inconsiderate asshole, sure, and he was a liar, but he would never physically hurt her.

“He hasn’t done anything to warrant that. You can’t get a restraining order just because someone can’t take a hint. I’m sure the police have much more important things to be worrying about besides my persistent jerk of an ex-boyfriend.”

“I guess,” Sarah said. “It’s just so annoying though, because I feel like if he would just leave you alone, you’d be able to move past this whole thing once and for all. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to forget about everything that happened when he keeps showing up every couple of months?”

Leah shrugged, knowing she had a point. Every time Scott decided to pull this stunt, it brought back a mess of awful memories for her, not to mention all of her insecurities.

“And it’s pissing me off that it’s happening right when you just met this Danny guy. I don’t want you to panic and bail on him because Scott’s messing with your head again.”

“Well, hold on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There’s really nothing for me to bail on.”

Despite the fact that Danny had ended the call on New Year’s Day by telling her he’d talk to her later, three days had passed with no word from him. Leah realized that
talk to you later
was a common farewell, and not necessarily meant to be taken literally, but since it was the first time he ended any conversation with her indicating they’d be speaking again, she couldn’t help but feel hopeful.

And hopeful was dangerous, because it left her wide open for disappointment.

“But if you like him,” Sarah said, “I don’t want you to not pursue it because of Scott dredging up all your old baggage.”

Leah turned to her sister. “Did you just call me an old bag?”

“I’m being serious,” she laughed. “Just promise me that if you like this guy, you’ll go for it, no matter what that dumb ass is doing.”

Leah nodded, bringing her wine glass to her lips. “I honestly don’t know how I feel about him. But if I decide I’m interested…then…I’ll try,” she said before finishing the rest of her wine.

“
You will
?” Sarah asked excitedly.

She nodded. “
If
I decide I’m interested,” she clarified once she had swallowed.

Sarah pumped her fist in the air before she hopped off the counter and grabbed the oven mitt, and Leah took a deep breath, blinking up at the ceiling.

The problem was, she had already decided whether or not she was interested.

And the answer terrified her.

Holly and Robyn—and now Sarah—were so convinced that her lingering issues with Scott were preventing her from pursuing Danny, when in reality Scott’s reappearance had nothing to do with her hesitation; what raised a red flag for her was the ridiculously inconsistent behavior she’d seen from Danny since she’d met him almost two weeks ago. He invited her to lunch and seemed to enjoy being with her, only to dismiss her at the end of it. He called her upset and curt over the fact that she’d done something kind for his grandmother, only to be playful and flirty with her on New Year’s Day. Then he told her he’d talk to her soon, but he never called.