22. CODY
The sound of the shower starting was my cue. I was on a mission to make this weekend unforgettable for Danielle, and dinner tonight was just the opening act. Penguins. She adored them. That casual comment from Alex months ago had been tucked away in my brain, waiting for its moment.
Where the fuck am I going to find penguins in Colorado?
Then, as if the universe itself was eavesdropping on my mind, a search result came up for Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Problem solved.
"Huh. Well, that was almost too easy," I said aloud, glancing towards the bathroom door to ensure Danielle was still occupied.
To be safe, I waited until I got in the car to make the arrangements.
A few minutes later, it was booked. The plan was coming together in my mind.
Dinner, a scenic drive to Colorado Springs, a hotel for the night, and then the pièce de résistance—Danielle, enjoying a private picnic lunch surrounded by waddling penguins.
It had cost a small fortune to reserve the penguin exhibit exclusively, but the thought of her face when she saw them made every penny insignificant.
It wasn't like I was struggling for money, not with Alex paying me weekly.
Most of that cash just sat in a growing pile I hadn't found a purpose for.
Until Danielle. She was priceless, and this gesture felt like the least I could do for someone so deserving.
I pulled up to the same department store Danielle had bought the red dress at, the one with the ring that I couldn’t get out of my head.
I didn’t know when I’d give it to her, or if, or in what capacity, but I couldn’t get the thought of giving it to her out of my head.
It was, really, the perfect ring for her.
“Back so soon, I see.” The same woman who was working yesterday was staring me down with a shit-eating grin, just knowing I had come back for the ring.
“Yeah, I couldn’t get that ring out of my head,” I admitted as the flush heat entered my cheeks, glancing at the case to make sure it was still there.
“Can’t get the ring out of your head, or can’t get the lucky woman you’re here because of out of your head?”
“Both.” I looked up, feeling a smile form at the edges of my mouth. I couldn’t help but smile anytime I thought of Danielle.
“Well, you’re in luck! It’s still here.” She pulled it out of the case and held it up for me to see.
It was even more gorgeous up close; so perfectly Danielle.
There wasn’t a single ounce of doubt or hesitation in me as I bought it.
Someday, when she was ready, I’d put it on her finger.
I hid it in the far back corner of the glove box before I pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward the house.
We spent the remainder of the day snuggled on the couch, watching movies and enjoying the simple, profound act of just being.
Being present in each other's space. Being held by each other.
Being undeniably safe. And, dare I even say, being loved?
The admission, however reluctant, settled in my mind with an unexpected comfort.
She felt like home.
But then, a selfish thought began eating at me.
What if we simply stayed? Could we exist in this bliss indefinitely, never having to test if this feeling was just a product of our situation?
The real question, the one that killed me, was, would she still want me when this was over?
It was the answer I craved above all others, yet each time the thought surfaced, denial shoved it to the back of my mind.
We’d opted for an early dinner so we had time to drive to Colorado Springs, check in, and get some rest before the real surprise the next day.
The bathroom door clicked open, and Danielle emerged, a vision.
She was wearing a damn cute sundress that somehow managed to look both innocent and incredibly sexy.
But let’s be real, she could have stepped out in a burlap sack, and my heart would have done the same stutter-step.
"Danielle," I breathed, the word catching in my mouth, daring me to let it out. "You look… stunning." I stood up and offered her my hand, drinking every bit of her in.
Her cheeks blushed in an instant. "Thank you," she replied, a little shy. "I don't think I'll ever get used to you saying things like that."
"Good," I grinned, bringing her hand to my lips for a kiss. "Then I'll just have to say them even more until you do."
I opened the car door for her; a small gesture, yet one that felt significant. She deserved a lifetime of these little considerations and things she'd never been given before.
Dinner started out well as laughter and light conversation flowed between us.
But beneath the surface, that damn question still gnawed at me, and it was starting to give me anxiety.
No matter how hard I tried to push it away, to be fully present, it was still there.
I wasn’t hiding it well. I could see the concern in Danielle’s face when she thought I wasn't looking. She knew something was off.
“Are you okay?” Danielle raised an eyebrow as the concern became apparent from across the table.
Is she reading my fucking mind?
“Everything’s great. It’s just, well, something has been bugging me.” I had to be honest with her. It was the only way she’d learn to trust me. “This… whole thing. Is it because we’re stuck together?”
She looked at me, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“I guess I just want to know if, when this is all over, are you going to forget me and go back to your life?” A sinking pit was growing in my stomach.
The question was out, irrevocable. If her answer wasn't what my heart begged for, I knew I'd have to somehow find the strength to absorb it and move on.
“Cody. Let me tell you something. I may be physically healed, but if I’ve learned anything the past few weeks, it’s that you might be the one to take away the pain. I don’t want to let you go.”
The moment her words registered, the world stopped. The very air around us seemed to recede into a muted background. It was just us, suspended in that confession.
An undeniable and absolute voice in my head told me that she was the one.
Any thought of resistance felt laughably distant; there was no fighting this.
She loved every fractured piece of me, just as I adored every facet of her.
Whether the words "I love you" ever passed her lips didn't change the truth I felt resonating in my soul. I just knew.
The drive to Colorado Springs was long, five hours long to be exact, but it would all be worth it.
She had no idea what I was up to and spent a good bit of the drive trying to convince me to tell her.
Once we got to the hotel, we settled in and watched a bit of TV before she fell asleep in my arms with her head resting on my chest.
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. Danielle was still fast asleep on me, and I had to shift her to the other side of the bed to answer the phone.
“Alex is calling, I’ll be right back,” I whispered as I kissed her forehead. I went outside and called him back. He picked it up in half a ring.
“You let her fucking use her credit card?!” Alex yelled through the phone at me.
“Whoa, Alex, calm down. She hasn’t used the credit card. I pay for everything.”
“You sure about that, Cody? Because I’m standing outside the interrogation room, where Thomas just told me that she swiped her god damn credit card at a convenience store and Landon took his car to the airport to go after her.”
“Wait, what?” I thought for a minute. I was racking my brain trying to come up with a time when she was alone or didn’t have cash with her.
“Shit. Breakfast yesterday. She must not have had enough cash on her. It’s the one time I wasn’t with her.”
“Get her the fuck out of there. Find somewhere else to go.”
“Relax. We’re not there. We’re in Colorado Springs. I’ll find a reason for us to stay here longer. But I’m not going to tell her what you just told me. She doesn’t need to worry.”
“You better fucking hope so.”
I hung up and worked quickly to pull up the number for the zoo and dial it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, this is Cody Morgan. Listen, that thing I was planning, we’re going to have to move it up. Can you have it ready in an hour?”
“Are you serious? You want me to shut the park down earlier?”
“I’ll throw in an extra thousand, now, can you do it or not?”
“Yes…fine.”
I hung up the phone and went back inside, trying to pretend like I wasn’t crumbling to pieces on the inside.
I didn’t really need to move the plans up, but I didn’t want to linger in any one place for long anymore at this point, and if the timing I had calculated was correct, Landon was already in Colorado.
I was flying by the seat of my pants at this point, already trying to figure out what to do next and how to move us again without Danielle being suspicious.
“Everything okay?” Danielle was awake now, sitting on the bed, picking at a muffin.
“Yeah, he was just checking on us. Hey, when we’re done here, I have one more surprise for you.” That was the first lie I ever told her, and it tasted like vinegar leaving my tongue. I didn’t want to lie to her ever again, and I hated that I had to do it now, even if it was to protect her peace.
“Really?”
“Yeah, but we have to leave now.”
She cocked her head as a small crease formed between her eyebrows. “I thought we didn’t have plans until later today.”
I shrugged my shoulders, hoping the casualness of my voice would keep her from questioning the sudden changes further.
“Change of plans. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
I made the choice then and there to not tell Danielle a word of any of this.
Perhaps it was a flawed decision, a morally gray path, but my priority was absolute.
I wouldn't be the one to send her back into the abyss of fear because of that fucking piece of shit.
No, I was going to offer her the joy she deserved.
And if the price of that sanctuary was my own life, if I had to become an unbreachable wall between her and the bastard intent on ripping everything away from her, then so be it.
I'd make damn sure she stayed safe, even if it killed me.