Chapter Twenty-One #2
“I’m kind of a homebody. I don’t normally go to strange men’s homes. Alone.”
“Am I that strange?” Ethan frowned.
“You are.” She smiled. “In a good way.”
“What if I come over and cook at your place then?”
Dani blushed and flicked her gaze to the ceiling in thought.
She knew what it meant to invite a man over to her house, especially a man who wanted to cook for her.
It had been a long time since she had been with anyone, and she was admittedly infatuated with her colleague.
And she was lonely. So lonely. After her altercation that afternoon, she didn’t want to be alone either.
But her stalker was behind bars, and Vickers was probably dead.
She deserved one nice night before disappearing forever, didn’t she?
Turning down a date with Ethan wasn’t easy, but if there was even a hint of a possibility that another incel psycho would show up at her door, it wasn’t ethical to put him in harms way too.
“How about a rain check?” She asked. “Things are kind of complicated right now.”
Ethan nodded. “I get it. Can I give you my number in case you change your mind?”
“Why don’t I give you mine?” Dani reached into her bag and pulled out a pen. She grabbed his hand, turned his palm face up and began to write.
“Old school style.” He smiled. “I like it. Maybe you can sign my yearbook next.”
Dani chuckled. “Yeah, maybe.”
“I’ve got a little more shopping to do,” he said. “Have a good night.”
“You too.”
Dani gave an awkward half-wave, her cheeks still flushed as she watched Ethan walk away.
“Well, fuck.” She sighed and shuffled toward the checkout line.
Thirty minutes later the sky was fully dark as she pulled into her driveway.
Halfway home, she began to notice a pair of headlights tailing her, or at least Dani thought they were.
Now, as the taillights pulled in behind her, Dani knew that she wasn’t paranoid or crazy.
Her pulse quickened as she pulled a handgun out of her console.
She stepped out of the car and pointed her weapon at the driver.
The headlights blinded her, obscuring her view, but Dani was a good shot.
She could take care of business with her eyes closed.
“Hands where I can see them!” She shouted.
“Whoa, whoa! Dani! It’s me!”
The headlights cut out and Dani saw stars. She kept her stance straight and evened out her breathing as the driver came into focus.
“Ethan?”
“I’m sorry I scared you!” He shouted through the open window. “I’ve been trying to get your attention since we left the grocery store!”
“Oh my god.” Dani let out a long, relieved breath and lowered her weapon. “You scared me to death.”
“Sorry, just, you dropped your wallet. I wanted to make sure you had it.”
Ethan opened his car door and exited with both arms raised. Sure enough, her black leather wallet was clutched in his left hand.
“Where did you find it?”
“In the parking lot,” he said. “Man, you sure drive fast.”
He gave her an unsure smile as he handed her the wallet.
Dani peered over his shoulder and sized up Ethan’s vehicle.
She nodded in approval, pleasantly surprised to discover that he drove an older model sedan and not some kind of pretentious, expensive luxury car.
The last guy that she attempted to date was obsessed with his car to the point of being boring; a modest vehicle signaled that at least one of Ethan’s priorities aligned with hers.
“So you really drove thirty minutes out of your way just to bring me my wallet?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I mean, I figured you probably needed it.”
“That was very kind of you,” Dani said. She glanced up and down her street. It didn’t feel safe to be outside and so exposed. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he said. “Well, goodnight.”
Dani bit her lower lip. It felt reckless to have Ethan anywhere near her, but even more reckless to leave him alone. If another podcast bro was out there watching her, then there would be nothing stopping him from following Ethan home and doing something horrible to him too.
“Wait,” she said. “I feel bad that you came all this way. Still feel like having dinner?”
Ethan’s expression brightened. ‘Well that wasn’t my intention, but …”
“But what?”
“I mean, yeah. I’d love to.”
“Come on, then. I’ll show you inside.”
Dani checked the home security app on her phone, and thankfully, nothing seemed amiss or out of place.
No alarms had been tripped, no security measures breached.
As she let him in, Dani remembered the strange scented scrunchie still sitting heavy in her pocket like evidence of her unsavory past. A promise of something bad to come.
“Should I take off my shoes?” He asked, stepping into her entryway.
“You don’t have to. I like to keep my shoes on most of the time. Never know when you’ll need to run.”
“Interesting point,” he said, glancing around the room. “Wow. Minimalist.”
“I suppose I am.” Dani placed her grocery bags on the counter. “I’m moving soon, so the less I have to take with me the better.”
“Oh yeah? Where too?” Ethan placed his grocery bags on the counter next to hers and passed her the bottle of wine.
Dani retrieved two wine glasses from her kitchen cabinet, pondering her response.
How much did she want to disclose? Jessica at work already had a vague idea about her early retirement plans, so it was likely that half the staff knew too.
The fact was, Dani was warming up to Ethan, and fast. It had been a long time since she allowed herself to be vulnerable.
She wasn’t a teenager anymore, but she was still human after all.
If there was any hope of him being more than a one night stand, she would have to open up to him eventually.
“My aunt has some property in the mountains,” Dani said. “She wants to start a survivalist school. I’m going to help her run the place and figure out how to get some subsidized funding so we can provide scholarships to those in need.”
“A survival school, huh? You mean like scouts, only for adults?”
“Yeah. She, uh … she lived off grid in the jungle in South America for a while. She learned how to hunt and build while she was there. She knows her stuff.”
“That’s so great,” he said. “Sometimes I fantasize about escaping into the woods forever myself.”
“That’s the idea,” Dani said, bringing out the wine bottle opener. “I was going to wait until the end of the school year to retire and join her, but between you and me, I might go sooner. I don’t think I can hack it anymore.”
“I get that,” Ethan said. “It’s the first day and I feel burned out already.”
Dani uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses of expensive chianti. She passed a cup to Ethan and clinked her glass against his. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” Ethan took a sip and placed his glass on the counter. “So, you’re really going to quit?”
“Yup,” Dani said. “After today, I realized I’m done. Something came up, and I just need to call it quits.”
“That’s too bad,” he said. “I was looking forward to getting to know you a little better.”
“Yeah,” she said, a sad smile set on her lips. “I was too.”
“Do you have a cast iron pan?” he asked.
“Sure. I’ll dig it out.”
Dani retrieved her only pan from her spartan cabinets and placed it on the stove top.
She attempted to relax and chatted with Ethan between sips of chianti.
He found an onion and a half-empty container of mushrooms in her fridge and diced them, all the while listening as she filled him in on which administrators were secretly dating, which instructors to avoid, and which students were her favorite.
Ethan proved to be every bit as charming and useful around the kitchen as she anticipated he would be, a fact that both warmed and broke her heart all at once.
She cleared her throat and poured a second glass of wine. “So, I watched Interference with my Aunt Lisa the other night.”
“Really.” Ethan snickered as he plated up their dinner. “What did you think?”
“I liked it better the second time around,” Dani said. “I don’t think I appreciated it for what it was when I saw it in the theater, but the story grew on me.”
“Well, don’t feel bad,” he said. “Most people hated it, even after it won all those awards. But I’m proud of it.”
“You should be proud. When you make something new and different, not everyone will enjoy it or understand.”
“That’s the truth.”
Dani took their plates to her kitchen table, her stomach a hollow, empty pit. Her desire to binge her favorite comfort snacks was gone, her hunger for food replaced with an anxious, gnawing urge. She glanced out the kitchen window and shut the blinds as a car passed by.
Ethan sat opposite of her and opened a second bottle of wine. “So, Dani Spencer. Tell me about yourself.”
Dani pushed her empty wine glass toward him. “What do you want to know?”
“Oh, the usual. Where you’re from, how many ex-husbands you’ve got buried in your backyard.” Ethan winked. “You know. Normal stuff.”
“Ha! There’s nothing normal about me,” she said. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“About your dead ex-husband's? You would be surprised.”
“No, about where I’m from. About my past.”
“I’m all ears.” Ethan smiled and forked a hunk of steak into his mouth.
Dani took a sip of wine and sighed. “Well, I grew up in California. My life was great, perfect actually, until the summer I turned eighteen.”
“What happened then?”
“Matt Vickers happened.”
“Old boyfriend?”
“No. He was a customer at the video store I worked at. He—”
Ethan gagged and covered his mouth with a napkin. His face turned red, and for a moment, Dani panicked. She stood to assist him, but Ethan put up his hands and coughed. “Sorry. My steak went down the wrong pipe.”
“Are you okay?” Dani asked.