Читать книгу The Nurse And The Single Dad - Dianne Drake, Dianne Drake - Страница 11
ОглавлениеTHE INSTRUCTIONS ON his invitation were perfectly clear. He was to be seated at table seventeen, the table all the way to the far right of the immense banquet hall, halfway from the front and halfway from the back. Two years ago, when he’d attended the hospital fundraiser with Elizabeth, they’d been seated near the front, directly in the center of everything, at a table with three other couples and a clear view of the podium. From prominent to insignificant, he thought, as he started looking for his table.
Daniel was never particularly keen to go to these kinds of affairs, especially ones that required a tuxedo. But Elizabeth had loved getting all dressed up and attending, so he’d been dragged along compliantly for her sake. He thought back to the lovely floor-length strapless blue satin gown she’d worn at their last hospital banquet together. It was stunning on her. His wife had been a head-turner, a real looker, with her long, flowing, sunny blond hair and inviting smile. Someone everyone had noticed, and envied. And he’d been the envy of every man there, having a woman like Elizabeth on his arm.
“Go on without me, Daniel. Continue to do the things we loved to do together.”
Because she’d loved that night so much, and it had shone on her face, he’d been happy to be there with her. Proud, in fact. Then last year he hadn’t attended as a single. It had been too difficult. Too many memories. And so much had happened in that year that the annual fundraiser had been the farthest thing from his mind when it rolled around again this year. Now, here he was, asked by his department head to be here.
“You’re not getting out enough,” Walter Downing had said. “I’m worried because, ever since Elizabeth, you seem to be retreating from the world. You need to shake up your life and get it going again.”
Well, things in his life were shaking up, were gradually falling back into normal place. He supposed he should look at coming to this fundraiser as part of that.
Daniel did have to admit that this event was always a nice affair. The food was good, the entertainment was above par and the speeches urging those in attendance to do their part toward the benefit of the hospital were neither grueling nor long-winded, thank God! Tonight, though, he had an idea that he was to be seated at one of the notorious singles tables as he had not marked off the “plus one” option on his RSVP. Daniel Caldwell, alone. Damn, he didn’t like the feel of that.
Sighing, Daniel made his way through the crowd and past the bar, where there were long lines of people waiting to be served. He bypassed the alcohol altogether, not that he would have minded a good, stiff drink to get him through the evening, and went off in search of his seat. The number 17 was clearly marked on a placard in the center of the table, right next to the centerpiece of pink and white carnations mingling with red teacup-rosebuds and snuggled into sprigs of greenery and baby’s breath. Two of the chairs at the table for eight were tilted up, indicating that two people had already laid claim to their spots, then wandered off. Probably to the bar, he guessed. Interestingly enough, the two reserved spots were not next to each other, so the people who’d tipped up those chairs had purposely chosen spots on opposite sides of the table. No new friendships would be forged at this table tonight, Daniel thought to himself as he pulled out a chair and seated himself.
He glanced at his watch. There were still fifteen minutes to wait. A long, boring fifteen minutes, since he doubted he’d know anyone at the table, which meant conversation would be held to a bare minimum. At least on his part it would be, as he hated shouting over the noisy crowd in the room just to be heard. Well, so be it. That was fine with him, as he didn’t have time for new friends in his life, anyway. These days, he barely had time to acknowledge his old friends, and on those occasions when he was thrown together with someone from his past it was usually someone he’d related to with Elizabeth.
Once, he’d lived in a world where his wife had been enough and now, without her, he was afraid he caused everyone around him to be uncomfortable. They didn’t know what to say or how to act since her death. There’d been some invitations to dinner or other activities at first, more out of pity than the genuine desire to entertain him. But he’d always had the graciousness to decline as he didn’t want to cause the ones asking him to feel ill at ease. Besides, he always had the excuse that he had to get home to Maddie.
Maddie might have been a convenient excuse on more than one occasion, but he truly enjoyed his limited hours with her. Wanted more of them. Envied the time his mother-in-law had with her, the parts of Maddie’s life that he was missing out on.
“Is this seat taken?” The familiar voice from beside him startled Daniel out of his deep ponderings.
He looked up, then rose slowly to his feet. “You’re assigned to the notorious singles table, too?” he asked Zoey as he pulled out the chair for her.
“Is that what this is?”
Daniel chuckled. “Always put off to the side where people don’t have to observe our awkwardness at being here alone.”
“What if being alone is a choice?” she asked, sliding into her chair.
“Then you’d prove the banquet planners wrong, since they set up all but one or two tables for couples.”
“Ah, yes. The current mindset. Better off staying home than coming alone. But you’re here alone, so how do you feel about that?”
“I’m here, but it’s not by choice.”
“You were forced?” She smiled and her blue eyes twinkled.
“Let’s just say that it was strongly recommended that I attend this year. In other words, I took the hint from my department head and came, although I’d rather be home in my jeans and T-shirt, drinking a beer, reading a story to Maddie.”
“Well, I’ve never been to one of these affairs before, so I don’t know how to respond to that.” She picked up the glass of ice water in front of her and took a sip. “But I was pleased to receive an invitation. This was my first one and I felt honored that the planners would think to include me. Call me dumb or misguided, but I’ve been looking forward to tonight for weeks. Even bought a new dress for the occasion.” She sat the glass of water down and looked over her shoulder at the crowd who were slowly migrating to their tables. “So do they expect us to whip out our checkbooks and make a contribution later on?”
“Well, they call it a fundraiser because there are a lot of dignitaries and corporate heads here, but the goal is to raise funds from them. Let them whip out their checkbooks and write the checks.”
“Then why are we here?”
“To show that we all stand behind the cause.”
“Which means they’re showing us off as one big, happy family?”
“Something like that.”
Zoey sat up straight in her seat and smiled at the man taking a seat across the table from her. “Nice size crowd,” she said to Daniel. “Is it like this every year?”
Daniel sat up straighter too but he wasn’t appraising the crowd. Instead, he was trying to catch glimpses of Zoey without her noticing. “Actually, it seems to get larger every year. I remember when they used to hold it in one of the hospital banquet rooms, but we’ve grown so much they moved it a couple years ago to this hotel.”
“Hospital services are expanding, aren’t they? I suppose that accounts for the size of the crowd—expansion equals more VIPs to court. Do you like working for such a large institution, Daniel?”
“Actually, I do. It offers a lot more medical services for its patients than a lot of other smaller hospitals can offer. So, since the goal of the hospital is to provide the best patient care we can, having better and bigger medical opportunities is a good thing. It allows me to accomplish more in the course of any given day.”
“Elizabeth was proud of your accomplishments, you know. She mentioned that several times.”
“Did she?” It was still not easy talking about Elizabeth but, surprisingly, Zoey did relieve some of that anxiety for him as she was so easy about the whole subject.
Zoey nodded. “She said you made a difference. That your work here was important.”
“Well, she was a little bit biased, I think.” He looked around at all the tables beginning to fill up, frowned and shook his head. So many tables, so many people... Not really his thing. Although, the prospect of sitting next to Zoey all evening seemed good.
“You’re frowning,” she said. “Something wrong?”
“You know, I wish they would have put me in the last row. I actually asked for that assignment, but the organizers told me those tables are reserved for latecomers.”
“The last row? Why? Because you wanted to sneak out?”
“The word sneak sounds so devious. I wouldn’t have been devious about it. Instead, I would simply have said my goodbyes and walked out the door. Tux tails flapping in the breeze, I’d be in that much of a hurry.”
“So your master plan was spoiled by your lack of proximity to the door?”
“Leaving from this spot’s not so easy.” He gestured to the back half of the room. “Too many witnesses.”
“I could almost be offended.”
“Why so?”
“You’ve got exceptional company at this table.” The table was almost full now but the only two people sat down who were talking were Daniel and Zoey. “Including me. And I take it personally that you want to escape.”
“Not escape so much as depart with an excuse.”
“Excuse?” She laughed out loud. “Like you hate banquet food, or fundraisers, or large groups of people?”
“Is this a multiple-choice quiz? Can I choose all of the above?” Amazingly, he was enjoying this conversation. As he’d noted before, talking to Zoey was so easy. He’d avoided her all during Elizabeth’s last weeks, probably because Zoey had been the constant reminder of things to come. That had been his loss, he was suddenly discovering.
“Just pretend you’re at the coffee shop right now, sitting at your table alone, reading your newspaper. Maybe that’ll get you through.”
“Right. I’m at the coffee shop with five hundred of my closest friends, all of them wearing tuxedos and formal gowns.” He cringed. “Think I’ll get myself a new coffee shop. One that’s a little more intimate and doesn’t have quite the same dress code.”
“Do you have a phobia about large crowds?”
Daniel shook his head. “Not really. It’s more of an avoidance issue, I think. I’m not a particularly good socializer around a lot of people, and I get frustrated trying to put myself out there in a situation where everyone, frankly, doesn’t care if you’re there or not. I like small groups better, and one-on-one interactions.”
“Well, I’ll bet that a couple of double Scotches will have you dancing on the table before the evening’s over.”
“A couple of double Scotches will have me dancing under the table.” The woman seated next to Zoey raised her eyebrows at the comment. “Speaking of which... Would you care for something from the bar?” Daniel stared directly into Zoey’s eyes, purposely averting his eyes from the plunge in her neckline. It was a nice dress. Golden. Formal. Glittery. It looked good against his black tux, looked so much better than her everyday work clothes, which was the only thing he’d ever seen her wear. But her dress tonight was a little more revealing than he dared think about. Temptations like that weren’t on his agenda. Not for the night. Not for the near future. And it was too soon to be admiring anything so tempting. “I’ll be glad to go get you something. A glass of wine? Maybe a mixed cocktail of some sort? Or a double Scotch?”
“I like wine, but not well enough to have you brave the bar mob. Or to risk you slipping out the side door when you have to walk by it.” She looked over at the horde of people still mingling around the bar. “You did intend on coming back to the table, didn’t you? Or were you going to use an errand of mercy as your excuse to leave?”
“I wouldn’t leave you in the lurch. You’re going to need that drink to brace yourself for the long evening ahead.”
“See, you’re spoiling this whole affair for me. I was looking forward to the evening, but you’re bringing me down with your negative attitude.” She tossed him a demure smile. “Elizabeth told me you hate black-tie affairs.”
“‘Hate’ is putting it mildly. Want me to explain how much I hate them?”
Zoey laughed. “I think you’ve already done that. Which leaves me to ask you if you’ve got a diagnosed antisocial condition?”
“Nope. No formal diagnosis. But a lot of opinion on the subject.” He smiled. “Starting with my parents and moving all the way forward to Elizabeth.”
“And you’ve always been this way? You know, crowd-hater?”
“I don’t hate crowds. I just avoid them when I can.”
“OK, then. Let’s try ‘stand-offish’.”
“It’s not so much about being stand-offish as it is being a loner. I don’t need a lot of people around me.”
“See, I’m just the opposite. I love affairs such as this one, and big crowds, and being with a group of strangers who could turn into potential friends. I’m so isolated in my work that getting out is a nice change for me.”
“You don’t date?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he frowned and shook his head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business and it was too personal.”
“It was personal. But I don’t mind you asking, because my past isn’t exactly a secret. No, I don’t really date right now. Haven’t found anyone who interests me enough to put myself out for him. And, overall, I’m not very trusting of men in general because I was married and divorced, once upon a time, and the whole situation left me nervous about trying it again.”
“It was a bad marriage?”
“Almost from the start. Which, of course, I didn’t see because I was too busy looking through the eyes of love rather than seeing what was really happening around me.”
“Consequentially, you don’t date?”
“Not that I wouldn’t date someone, if he was the right one. But after I had the wrong one...” She shrugged. “It’s left me more cautious than I probably should be.”
“So how long were you married?”
“A grand total of nine months. Six of which were long and difficult.” She took a sip of water. “He was a third-year resident who was badly in need of someone to finance his education and lifestyle. I’d just earned my doctorate in nursing so I suppose I looked like a likely candidate to him. We married fast, and divorced just as fast. And in the few months we were together he never stopped looking for his next conquest—someone with deeper pockets than mine were.”
“But were you in love?”
“Totally. For about a minute. Then I finally saw the real man behind the facade and the rest, as they say, was history.”
“Did it break your heart when it didn’t work out?”
She frowned slightly. “More like, it broke my stride. Made me jittery to try again.”
“Because you’re afraid of getting hurt?”
“Because what I’ve discovered is that, when it comes to relationships, I don’t have a clue. I made a bad mistake once and I don’t trust myself not to do it again.”
“Aren’t you being a little too hard on yourself?”
Zoey shook her head. “Better hard on myself right now than divorced another time later on.”
Daniel looked up as a tall, gawky man in a red-and-black plaid tuxedo jacket took a seat in one of the two upturned chairs, finally filling up the table. “I’m Stan Kramer,” he said, more to the air than to Daniel and Zoey. “I work in account receivables. I’m a section manager.”
Daniel extended the courtesy of introducing himself and Zoey to Stan, then he fixed his eyes on Stan’s gigantic Adam’s apple as it bobbled up and down while he gulped his cocktail. After the initial introduction, Stan made no attempt to converse any further.
After the table finally filled up, the people there began to whisper amongst themselves and, for the most part, they turned into a pleasant, chatty group. Daniel did have to admit that it was nice to be around a bunch of people who weren’t patients and who didn’t want something from him. Although, mostly, he contented himself listening to the conversations of others, only participating when someone intentionally drew him in.
“You’re not enjoying yourself,” Zoey whispered in his ear. It was a statement, not a question.
“Actually, this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
“But you’re so quiet.” She bent to the left as the waiter set a plate down in front of her—chicken cordon bleu, asparagus and balsamic tomato salad.
“Because I don’t have anything to contribute.”
“You don’t really keep yourself that secluded, do you?”
He thought about her question for a moment, then shrugged. “I suppose I do. Elizabeth used to force me into the conversation—for my own good, she’d tell me. But, like I said, I’ve always been more of a loner.” Unlike his twin, Damien, who was as outgoing as they came. Introvert and extrovert. Daniel had accepted his place as the introvert a long time ago. In fact, there were times in his life when he envied Damien his outgoing ways. Like now, when his twin was off on a medical adventure down in Costa Rica. Not that Daniel wanted something like that for himself, because he didn’t. But he did admire the kind of free spirit that could simply take itself from one scenario to another at will.
“So, other than being threatened into coming, how did such a loner get himself here tonight?”
“By sheer will. It’s an important event and, while I don’t understand how my presence here makes much of a difference one way or another, I do know that the hospital needs all the support it can get. So I came.”
“Kicking and screaming?” She laughed.
“Not so much. But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t protest a little bit.” He glanced down at the chicken cordon bleu; it actually looked good. Better than anything he fixed. His cooking nowadays consisted of whatever Maddie would eat, which didn’t include a wide variety of anything. He’d mastered spaghetti and meatballs, or “sketti,” as Maddie called it. His fridge was stocked with strawberry yogurt and there was always peanut butter. She’d eat a grilled-cheese sandwich, pizza and chicken nuggets, too. Most everything else was a struggle, so as often as not he found it easier to give in to his daughter’s limited culinary preferences. A couple times a month, though, Abby would invite him to stay for dinner when he went to pick up Maddie, and those were the times when he got to break away from his cooking doldrums. It was nice to eat the occasional adult meal, and this meal in front of him now certainly qualified as an adult meal. After his first couple bites of the chicken, he sighed. It didn’t disappoint.
“So I take it you don’t get out much,” she stated before she popped a forkful of the tomato salad into her mouth.
“With Maddie I do. On my days off. I don’t want her growing up sheltered or...well...like me. You know...crowd-hater. As much as it works for me, I see how it can be limiting, and I don’t want that for her. So I make it a point of taking her out somewhere every chance I get. Of course, I think she’s in it for the pizza she always gets afterward.”
“Maybe she’s in it because she likes spending time with her daddy.”
“That would be nice to think, but her daddy is a little stricter than Maddie likes.”
“That’s a daddy’s job.”
“Elizabeth was the soft one. Like her mother, she didn’t have the heart to refuse Maddie anything. Which put me in the position of having to be the bad guy, the one who said no, the one who enforced the discipline that Elizabeth couldn’t enforce.”
“I can’t imagine someone as young as Maddie needs much discipline.”
Daniel chuckled. “I can tell you haven’t been around kids very much. Three’s precisely the age when a child needs discipline. It’s a learning experience for them. Teach them young, and maybe you won’t have to come down so hard on them when they’re older.”
“In other words, you’re an ogre.”
“That’s a question you need to ask Maddie. She has a very distinct opinion on a whole list of subjects, and I happen to be at the top of her list.”
“Then she’s headstrong.” Zoey scooped a pat of butter off the butter plate and spread it on a roll. “Taking after her daddy, of course.”
“You think I’m headstrong?”
“I don’t know you well enough to form an opinion, but my instincts tell me yes.”
“I’ll admit it. I’m headstrong...as headstrong as you are blunt.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You intend to be blunt?”
“I’ve practiced being blunt.” Her eyes gleamed with laughter. “It’s an acquired skill that I’ve worked on over time.”
“Let me guess. You used to be shy and retiring.”
“Something like that.”
“Hard to imagine,” he mumbled as he forked up a spear of asparagus.
He regarded her for a moment as she chewed a piece of her dinner roll. Bluntness became her. She wore it well because she wasn’t rude about it. More like, she was practical or matter-of-fact. She made an observation and was honest when she called it out. He couldn’t fault her for that. Couldn’t fault anyone who didn’t skirt around the truth.
“More like hard to overcome,” she stated after she’d swallowed. “I was always reserved and quiet when I was young. Not so much an introvert like you, but always under my mother’s thumb. She’s pretty domineering and I was the recipient of that dominance. But, in her defense, I think she was that way because it was difficult for her to raise me alone and that was her way of making sure I was being taken care of.”
“Do you still have a relationship with her?”
“A pretty good one, actually. She worries about me, but the way she expresses that worry is more like...well...nagging.” Zoey laughed. “Sometimes it gets frustrating, but I’m used to it.”
“And your father?”
“He split when I was a baby. Didn’t want the responsibility of raising a kid, even though later on he got remarried and raised another family. And never had anything to do with me.”
“Not even child support?”
“Not even child support, which my mother could have used, since she worked three jobs off and on to support us.”
“So why’d he turn his back on you?”
“Who knows? Maybe guilt? Maybe he never wanted his second wife to know that he had a daughter from another marriage. I mean, I can worry myself to death over what caused him to do what he did, or I can think of all my mother did for me and be grateful she was strong enough to give me a good life.”
“It was rough, though, wasn’t it?”
“It was. But we got along. Anyway, Elizabeth said your parents live in Florida...?”
“In a condo on the beach. Living in grand style and loving the retired life.”
“Do you see them often?”
“I haven’t been down there for years, but they manage to visit Maddie and me about once every two or three months.” He had a good relationship with them. Talked to them via the Internet every few days, mostly so Maddie could keep in touch with them and have a visual reminder of what they looked like. Emailed them occasionally, texted every once in a while when something interesting popped into his mind and snail-mailed pictures that Maddie would draw for them. All in all, he was closer to his parents now than he’d been years ago, when he’d still lived at home.
And it was a good thing, as Damien had practically dropped off the face of the earth in his newest venture. Sure, he snuck into civilization every now and again to hit up a computer for an Internet chat. He emailed whenever he could. Also, he called when he was near a cell tower. In fact, Damien even went so far as writing an occasional letter—short, to the point, often lacking in detail, but always welcome. Being in a remote jungle in Costa Rica might have hampered communication with his twin, but it didn’t cut them off.
Daniel thought back to those very bleak days when Elizabeth had been deteriorating rapidly. He’d told his twin how he was feeling, how he was doing, how he was coping, and Damien had dropped everything to rush to his side to help him through it. It was such a relief to have him there—the closeness of twins couldn’t be overexaggerated.
Sighing, as he thought back on those times, Daniel recalled how grateful he’d been to his brother for the support, and now he often caught himself wishing they could live closer together. Of course, Damien was happy in his life, where he was, doing what he was doing, and that was good. What made Damien happy made Daniel happy, as well.
* * *
Zoey was enjoying the antics of the comedian on stage who touted his credentials as a couple of late-night television appearances as well as his very own special on a comedy channel. A couple of his jokes had her laughing so hard she hurt.
“He’s good,” she said, nudging Daniel. She looked over at him to gauge whether or not he was enjoying the entertainment, but she found it difficult to tell as he had a polite, fixed smile on his face.
“He is,” Daniel agreed, his facial expression remaining flat.
“But you’re not laughing.” She wondered what, if anything, ever struck his funny bone, or was he serious all the time?
“Laughing on the inside,” he said.
“Which is no laugh at all.” Elizabeth had talked to Zoey about her fears for Daniel, one being the way he drew in on himself. Was he doing that now? Feeling guilty for having fun without her?
“It’s the best I can do. I’ve never cared that much for comedians.”
Zoey sighed out loud and tried to refocus her attention to the act.
“What?” he prodded.
“Nothing,” she said, biting back her response, as what Daniel did or didn’t do was truly none of her business.
“I know what follows that kind of sigh. Elizabeth was the master of the provoked sigh, and I’ve had a fair share of them directed at me. So let me have it.”
“It’s not my place.”
“It is if I invite you in.”
“Don’t invite me in. You might be sorry.”
“Why? Because you’re blunt?”
She tossed him a tight-lipped smile. “Something like that.”
“I’m a big boy, Zoey. I can take it.”
“But we’re not really friends. Just passing acquaintances.”
“We could remedy that.”
“How?”
“Coffee later on. Something one-on-one.”
That caught her off-guard. She didn’t think he was asking her for a date, especially after what she’d told him about her dating life. Yet, whatever his intentions were, she was hesitant to be part of them. He scared her. Filled her with mixed feelings, as she could almost picture herself together with him. But there was always that one, huge drawback, wasn’t there? First her father, then Brad... The men in her life had never worked out and she often wondered if her history was doomed to repeat itself. “Sounds nice, but I’ve got an early morning ahead of me, and it takes me quite a while to go to sleep. So, unfortunately, I think I’ll have to pass.”
“Suit yourself. But at least tell me what the sigh was about.”
“Suit yourself.” She glanced up at the stage in time to see the comedian take his final bow and disappear from the stage. “You’re here in body but nothing else, and I have a hunch you won’t allow yourself to have any real fun. That guy was a riot and you never cracked your fake smile.”
He paused before he spoke and frowned. “Elizabeth used to say the same thing about me—that I don’t know how to have fun.”
“You wouldn’t know fun if it came up and bit you on the backside.”
Before he had time to reply, one of the speakers appeared on stage and waved as the audience greeted him with thunderous applause. He was the CEO of the hospital, and Zoey assumed this was where he would make his pitch for donations. She looked over at Daniel and smiled. “Guess this cuts our conversation short,” she said, leaning over so he could hear her. “But keep in mind that having fun is...fun. You should try it sometime.”
He nodded in response and relaxed back into his chair, folding his hands on the table in front of him as if he was getting ready to take in every word of the upcoming speech. Zoey didn’t buy that for a minute, though. Daniel had tuned out the room, the speakers, and probably even her, and he was transfixed in his own little world now. His eyes glowed a distant stare and she suddenly felt sorry for him.
He kept his life so compact that he didn’t know how to open himself up to other possibilities. For another woman he might certainly be a worthy project, but for her, well, she wasn’t getting involved any more than she already was. The last thing she needed in her life was any kind of a relationship that called upon her for a fix. And a relationship of any sort with Daniel would definitely require some fixing.
Not that she didn’t have issues of her own. Because she did. But she had to solve those first before she brought anybody else into her circle.
Ten minutes into a speech that touted all the high points in the workings of a busy hospital, Zoey leaned over to Daniel and whispered in his ear, “So you think his speech will last much longer?” She wasn’t exactly bored with it, but this was definitely not the high point of her evening.
Daniel laughed out loud and drew the scowling attention of the entire table. “I think he’s probably winding down. But, if he’s not, now would be a good time for you to send me to the bar to get you a drink,” he replied. “Go with me and we can both slip out the side door.”
“What, and miss the dancing afterward? You do dance, don’t you?”
“Only under the table after a couple of double Scotches. Remember?”
So he did have a sense of humor! In spite of herself, she laughed aloud. “I’ll take a glass of white wine.”
“Large?” he asked, arching his eyebrows at her.
“Bring the whole bottle if you can.”
“The offer of coffee still stands.”
“So does my excuse for not going.”
“Ah, there you go, being blunt again.”
The older lady straight across from Daniel shushed him, causing Zoey to giggle. It wasn’t the shushing so much as the incongruity of her appearance compared to Daniel’s. He was decked out in a finely tailored tux while she wore a pink, non-formal floral dress with a large, flowery hat. She had champagne-colored hair and a sour squint to her eyes—a squint she was aiming straight at Daniel.
“Maybe bring her a drink, too,” Zoey whispered. “She looks like she needs one.”
Daniel pushed back from the table and arose to all his six-feet-plus glory. He was a good-looking man. Actually, downright handsome. Someone to swoon over. And the sour lady across from him nearly melted in her chair when Daniel turned a charming smile on her and nodded.
Damn, he had a way about him.
“I’ll be back,” he said, leaning down to whisper in Zoey’s ear. “No escaping. Promise.”
She’d never doubted that for a moment. Perhaps Daniel hadn’t wanted to come tonight but he was, if nothing else, dutiful. She’d seen that in his devotion during some very rough times with Elizabeth, and she saw that now, as he endured something he hated.
Maybe she should have accepted his invitation to coffee.
“No!” she said aloud to herself. He might have some attributes she admired, but admiration from afar was all she was going to allow herself.
