Wicked Flower (23 page)

“You hoped what, Dani?”

“I don’t know,” her voice sounded
hollow echoing back in her ears as she tried to be in the room with Stefan who
she could feel was being affected by her shock.

“Well I’ll say it then because I
was about to get to this before you bolted on me again.”

“Don’t play with me, Stefan. I
support you wanting to be with your mom. Maybe, maybe you should just take me
back to my sister’s.”

“With you acting like this, I
should take you back there.” She tried for the door but he stood in front of it
blocking her. “But not yet.”

“I can’t do this. Please just let
me out. I can’t think straight.”

Stefan’s hands cupped each side
of her face and she wanted to fight out of his grasp but he was too strong and
he wasn’t relenting.

“I don’t know what just got into
you but you will listen to me, Dani. Stop fighting me.”

She hadn’t realized she’d been
fighting him so hard and relaxed her muscles if for no other reason than for
her baby. Her heart hammered and she felt like she’d been tipped upside down
and shaken. Her world was again spinning the wrong way. Now she was losing her
job, her home and the closest thing she had to a mom but getting her baby’s
father back. “Why didn’t you just call and tell me over the phone?” A crack
splintered her heart. She was losing Stefan. Really losing him and all ties
that would have brought him back to Moonlight every now and then to visit her.

****

“Because, you stubborn woman.
You’re totally wrong about what I’m about to say. If I wasn’t so…” But the
bewildered look on her face stopped him short of telling her he was hung up on
her and that was the only reason he was in there fighting her in the fucking
bathroom. Shit.

“What?” she barely got out.
“What? I don’t…”

He took a minute to remove his
hands from her wrists and rub his face and hair. When he did that, she rubbed
her wrists too.
                      

“Fuck, did I hurt you?”

“No,” she whimpered out.

“Good. Do you promise to stand
there and be quiet and let me finish?” he asked, trying with everything he had
to be tender.

But before he could say another
word, she said, “
Stefan, that
was Thom calling me. He
left a voicemail. He wants to see me when he comes home in two months on
mid-tour leave.”

He felt his face sink and his
lips didn’t close.
The fuck?
Thom wanted to see her?
Fuck Thom. His eyes darted around the bathroom
ceiling,
aware he was having the wrong reaction but unable to accept what he was hearing.
He blinked so many times he had to concentrate on making
himself
stop and his throat had never felt so dry.
He’s
her baby’s father. He deserves a chance.
For that look on her face, the one
telling him she couldn’t possibly process what was going on because it was too
much in that one
moment,
he kissed her forehead and
then forced himself to take a step back. “That’s good news, sweetheart. That’s
a good thing.”

But the words of his heart stuck
in his throat.
 

Dani,
I brought you here tonight because I want you to consider moving to Nashville
and I want you to do that as my girlfriend.
He thought them but would not say
them. Not now. He wouldn’t put her in that position. Not on the chance that he
might
be ready to be a boyfriend. That
just wasn’t a good enough reason. He took her hand and led her out to his car
then drove her back to Daisy’s. She didn’t argue. Good thing he’d packed her
that bag.

Chapter Seventeen

Two days later…

“I think it’s time to get Dani back
here. Your nurse skills have surprised me, but you need help. We need help,”
Will said as he started the lawn mower back up and hiked it further up the hill
of Mom’s back yard. More rain, more grass on crack. Will let it die again. The
motor
chortled
a loud groaning sound then Will shouted
from the top. “I’m glad we’re here to do the yard work and I kind of like being
a handyman, but I think your mom needs a lady to help with the lady stuff. We
suck at that.”

It was true.
 

Stefan yawned,
then
hoofed it up the hill to retrieve a rake and eyeball Will who stood there,
waiting.

“Not calling her. You know why,” Stefan
said and grabbed the rake.

“You’re making a mistake,” called Will
after him.

Stefan just flipped him off as he went
over to clean out some leaves from Mom’s flower pots. He couldn’t bring himself
to fuck with Dani’s life anymore and he’d told Will why. It was time to drop
it.

He’d just gone to get the weed whacker and
start on some edging when Mom’s house phone started ringing. If she was up,
he’d learned that she would get to it rather quickly and if her balance was
off, she risked stumbling. If she didn’t, and the sun was out, she was probably
down in the laundry room, in the sound proof basement. Another thing he’d noted
about Mom being alone. That should never happen. She could fall down there and
no one would hear a thing. Luckily he’d been there when it happened yesterday. Stefan
dropped the whacker with a thud and jogged inside.

“Hello,” he said, out of breath from
sprinting down the hill and slamming inside the house’s back door. Irritated,
he picked up.

“Yes, I need to speak to…”

“Oh, I’ve got it, Son.”

Mom must have picked up one of the other
house lines. Stefan heard the caller next.

“May I please speak with Daniela
Foster?”

“Oh, she isn’t home right now but you
can leave a message with me. This is Mrs. Calderon,” his mom said. Stefan just
listened, unable to hang up because it was about Dani. He put his hand over the
mouth piece and tried not to breathe loudly.
Pathetic.

“Sorry, I actually can’t disclose that
information, Mrs. Calderon. But if you could please have her call this number
back, that would be great. The number is 878-555-0100. She can ask for Sherri.”

“Okay, thank you. I’ll give her the
message.”

Everyone hung up.

Stefan wished Benny was there. He’d find
out
who
that number belonged to. Same way as Benny had
tracked down Honey’s address back when Will’s bright idea had been to hide her
away from the band and pretend he wasn’t married. He’d done it in the name of
shielding Honey from the ugly side of their band’s fame but eventually, life
kicked everyone’s ass. Stefan understood Will’s motives so much better now.

Stefan glanced out the window and saw
Will with headphones in, making nice neat lines in his mom’s lawn. He ducked
into the living room and opened the laptop he’d bought Mom,
then
did a Google search on the phone number, hoping it was really that easy.
Holy shit.
It was. No wonder fans seemed to catch him in the
most inconvenient places these days.
Fucking technology.

The number belonged to a women’s clinic.
Had to be where Dani got her checkups done.

Was Dani okay? Was her baby okay? Why
had the clinic called and spoken so cryptically? He’d never forgive himself if
something happened to either of them on account of his stubbornness. This would
hurt, but he had to call her and pass along the message.

Stefan wiped at the sweat that beaded on
his forehead. He scrolled to her cell number on his phone and waited for her to
answer.

“Stefan?”

Fuck he still liked that she had his
number programmed in her phone.
Didn’t matter though.

“Hey, are you screening your calls
because the women’s clinic just called for you on the house phone. My mom took
the message. A lady named Sherri wants you to call her.”

The line was so quiet he couldn’t be
sure she hadn’t hung up before he’d gotten that last part out.
“Dani?
You there?”

“You know I haven’t told her yet,” she
practically whispered.

He should cuss her out for that but
hell, Stefan knew all about not wanting to disappoint his mom. “Yeah, I know.”
Did he tell Dani his mom might already know? No because he wasn’t sure. “The
lady was very discreet and only left a name and number.”

“But she must have said she was from the
clinic.”

Oh, that. Fuck.

“No, that was me. I, fuck, I Googled the
number she gave. Sorry. I was trying to help. I’m the only one who knows it was
the clinic.”

“All right, thanks for the message. So,
have you talked to your mom about Nashville yet? I’m only asking because I’m
coming back today. Out of clothes and I need to sleep in my own bed. I don’t
want to accidentally say anything if you haven’t yet.”

“No, didn’t
wanna
stress her out any worse.” And more than anything, he did not want to discuss
it with Dani. Shit, he might not even ask Mom at this point. Knowing that Dani
wouldn’t come, how did he separate them?

He heard Dani blow out and then a car
ignition started. She was coming back now?

Stefan knew what he had to do. No heart
allowed.

“Drive safe, sexy,” he said, stripping
down to the only thing he could give her for the remaining days he had here.
Play.

He hung up and then sat down and yawned.
Shit he was beat. It was tiring work doing everything for someone else.
Mentally, physically, emotionally.
He could fall asleep,
right now…

Chapter Eighteen

The next day…

Dani walked into the living room,
tired but too worn out for sleep. As was her nightly custom, she made her
rounds, making sure all the doors were locked and all the appliances unplugged.
Mrs. C’s string of rough
days
aside, it was nice to be
home. Not avoiding Stefan as much as they’d done before under the same roof was
like a fresh coat of paint in an old house.

Sure he teased her, but something
had changed with him the night of Thom’s voicemail. Stefan seemed to be trying
really hard to be nice to everyone but if she knew any better, she’d say it was
because he was avoiding things they’d discussed at their dinner date.
His plans of taking his mom.
As far as she knew, he hadn’t
asked Gina and she wondered why. Whenever she got him alone, he didn’t run but
he pulled away, like he wasn’t really there with her. It was very frustrating
because she wanted to come up with a plan. Now that the idea had settled in, she’d
begun to think that taking his mom to Nashville was a good idea and if he could
wait until she had a chance to talk to Thom in person, that she and Gina could
then make the move together. Dani had no plans of staying with Thom. She didn’t
love him like that and he had someone. She’d always let him be part of their
baby’s life but it didn’t mean she had to stay in Moonlight. Now if Stefan
would just hear her out.

Dani’s eyelids had never felt
heavier either. It had been another long day. The kind she wouldn’t wish on any
mother and son. One had seen too much, the other had revealed too much. With
the both of them trying to be strong for each other, it had worn everyone out.
Even Will who uncharacteristically had one of his legs slung up over the back
of Gina’s couch, seemed too tired to keep with his manners. His shorts were
undone and his shirt was pulled up exposing his belly and more tattoos. The trademark
pair of black rimmed glasses lay on the coffee table, just barely clinging to
the edge.

Dani saved them from falling,
scooting them to safety, and left Will where he lay and crept quietly up the
stairs. She checked in on Gina who was asleep. Then she made her way to
Stefan’s door. It wasn’t closed and she wondered if he’d left it that way on purpose.
It wasn’t the easiest thing to be sharing space with each other again. Dani
knew that was the least of his worries after today. The anguish she’d seen him
try to hide after Gina’s stumble on the stairs nearly buckled Dani’s knees.
He’d probably crashed and forgotten to pull the door closed. She gave it a
gentle
push,
wishing things were easier between them. Dinner
at Mario’s had seemed like the gateway to that but now things were weird. What
she’d give to have his wicked, playful beautiful ways back again.
 

She peered around, focusing on
where she knew furniture to be and tried to familiarize herself without the
benefit of a light. Unsure if Stefan was on the air mattress or the bed, Dani
took careful steps into the room. She squinted and once her eyes adjusted, she
could see that he wasn’t there at all. Where had he gone?

She checked her room and then
Gina’s more closely in case he’d crashed at his mom’s bedside, worried she’d
roll out of bed during the night.
But no Stefan.