Chapter 32
Danielle
The car felt too close, even though it was on the far side of the parking lot. Danielle wanted the walk to last longer. To have a few more minutes with the woman beside her.
Melanie had offered to let Lila spend the night, but Lila wasn’t having it.
She wanted to stay up late and see her mom right after the big night to hear all about how it was.
Danielle wasn’t so sure about recounting everything, especially not so late in the evening, but she figured it was easier to pick her up on the way home than to go out again the next morning.
“Well, here it is,” she said when they reached her car. “I’d better take off before it turns into a pumpkin.”
Morgan smiled. “I don’t see the problem. A pumpkin car would be cute.” Her dark eyes softened with understanding. “But I know you want to get back to Lila.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay if I leave a little early?”
“Yeah, sure,” Morgan said. “Lana’s gonna drop me off at my car back at the church after the whole sparkler send-off thing.”
“So this was fun.”
She hadn’t realized how long it had been since she’d had actual grown-up fun. Hanging out with Gerri and Melanie and Kim was fun, but in a relaxed book club kind of way. And Lila-fun was great, but movie nights with her thirteen-year-old weren’t quite the same as a wedding with a date.
Was she really calling it that now?
Before she could broach the subject, Morgan spoke first.
“It was fun,” Morgan said. “And if you’re up for it, I’d really like to see you again.”
Danielle’s heart fluttered inside her chest as a wave of emotions crashed over her.
This was what she wanted. She knew that much now for certain. She just wasn’t sure what that might look like.
“I’d like that, too.” She took a deep breath and said the most vulnerable truth she’d said to anyone in a long time. “I really like you.”
Morgan gave a smile that nearly cracked Danielle open. “I really like you, too.”
“I’m not sure what my life looks like with a relationship, though. This was great, but I can’t do this all the time. Not with Lila.”
“No, and that’s fine.” Morgan thought for a second. “How about brunch tomorrow? You can bring Lila. She’s already met me, so is that okay?”
Was it okay?
Morgan was right. She’d already met Lila, and Lila adored her. But it felt awkward to have a meetup with her daughter and a date. Like that would be too much too soon.
Or maybe that was her fear talking.
“You wouldn’t believe how hard Lila has been pushing to see you again. To see us together, really.”
Morgan laughed, her dark eyes shining with amusement. “Then let’s give the kid what she wants. What we want.”
Only a moment or two passed before Danielle took the leap. “Okay. Let’s do it. Brunch tomorrow. You, me, and Lila.”
“Great! Text me what time you want to meet up. Unless you want me to pick you guys up? I’m good with that, but I don’t know if you are.”
“We’ll meet you.”
Danielle felt confident this would go well, but her practical brain still wanted to make sure she had an exit plan if things went south for some reason she couldn’t predict.
“Okay, then. It’s a date.” She laughed. “Sort of.”
“I like the sound of ‘sort of,’” Danielle said. “It sounds slow and easy.”
“I’ve got a history of fast and impulsive, but slow and easy sounds really nice, too.”
At that, Morgan leaned forward and kissed Danielle, a slow and easy closed-mouth kiss that felt more intimate than anything they’d done before. Danielle melted against the softness, and she pulled back before she let herself consider anything more right then.
“I’d better get going.”
“Right,” Morgan said. “Pumpkin.”
Danielle smiled. “Pumpkin.”
Then she got in the car and drove away, waving to Morgan as she left and trying to calm her racing heart so she could focus on the road. The night had been so perfect. And tomorrow morning somehow sounded even more perfect. So perfect that she couldn’t wait to wake up and see her again.
Danielle could barely feel the cement meeting her shoes as she exited the car in Melanie and Kim’s driveway. Every step was light as air, making her worry she might trip in her dreamlike state.
Somehow, she made it to the front door, and it opened before she could even knock. Melanie’s beaming face appeared in the doorway as she motioned for Danielle to come inside.
The room was half-lit, with a warm glow coming from the standing lamp on the opposite side of the couch from where Kim lay curled up. She had obviously fallen asleep during whatever card game they had splayed out on the coffee table.
Melanie wasted no time in getting right to the point.
“Soooo how was it?”
On the other side of the coffee table, Danielle saw Lila sitting on the floor, eyes wide with anticipation for the answer.
She might be all soccer and snakes, but she loved weddings, even though she still wasn’t into the dresses aspect.
She’d only ever been to Melanie and Kim’s wedding, and while that had been a beautiful event, it was nothing like the wedding Danielle had just been to.
Lila had been dying to hear all about the flowers and the dancing and especially the cake.
“It was lovely.”
Lila rolled her eyes. “Mom, that’s what you said about your earrings. Everything can’t be lovely.”
But it could. And lately it was.
Danielle stood with her hand on the top of a wingback chair and kept her voice low so as not to wake Kim.
“Fine. It was beautiful and elegant and totally over the top.”
Melanie gave a maternal smile. “More importantly, did you have a good time?”
“I had a lovely time.”
“Moooom,” Lila groaned.
“Okay, I had fun.”
“Fun is definitely good,” Melanie said. “You need more fun in your life.”
Danielle was beginning to see that.
“Okay, kiddo. Party’s over.” Danielle pointed at Kim, still asleep on the couch, worn out from an evening with a thirteen-year-old who liked to talk. “Time to go.”
“All right,” Lila said. Then, she held her bare foot in the air from behind the coffee table. “But I’ll need a little help.”
“Get your shoes and let’s—”
Danielle stopped short as she realized what Lila was trying to tell her. Or rather, show her. From across the room, she spotted white tape wrapping Lila’s last two toes and some bruising on the tiniest one.
“What happened?” She tried and failed not to shriek, and the sound roused Kim, whose body shot up as she blinked herself back into awareness.
Melanie shook her head. “Poor kid was chasing Prince and had a ramming contest with the patio post. The post won.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” A flurry of emotions swirled around Danielle, everything from panic and fear to disbelief and slight anger that she hadn’t been informed of the accident.
“It wasn’t a big deal. We didn’t want to bother you with it.” Melanie picked up the melting bag of peas Lila had placed beside her on the floor.
Kim sat up a little straighter. “I had the same thing happen last year. Jammed my toe pretty good against the sofa leg chasing him when he got hold of a bagel I’d dropped.
Went to the clinic, and they gave me a prescription for ice, ibuprofen, and rest. Not much else they can do for it.
Can’t splint it, so tape is the next best thing. ”
“And since the clinic is closed by this time, we figured the last thing anyone wanted was to see the poor girl waiting in the ER for who knows how long on a Saturday night for x-rays to tell her the same thing they told Kim. You can take her to the clinic in the morning if you feel you need to.”
The logic was sound. Danielle knew that. Still, she couldn’t help being annoyed.
“You still should have called.”
Melanie looked stricken. “I’m sorry. I really thought it wasn’t a big deal. And we wanted you to have fun. Especially if there was nothing you could do about it that we weren’t already doing.”
“But I should have known.”
More to the point, she should have been available to know. If she hadn’t been out and if they hadn’t thought the night was so important, they would have let her know. Even if she couldn’t do anything about it, she should have known. She would have come home immediately.
And that’s why they didn’t tell her.
“Come on. Let’s get you home.”
She grabbed Lila’s backpack and reached a hand to help her to her feet and hobble toward the front door. Melanie and Kim watched wordlessly before Melanie opened the door for them.
“Thanks for watching her,” Danielle said.
She tried not to sound bitter. Really, she did. But her emotions seeped through the words, anyway.