Chapter 46
Want to share a dessert?” Danny looked over the Barley and Bone menu. The upscale farm-to-table restaurant had a long list of homemade treats.
“Sure. What are you thinking?” Dot leaned in to look at their options. Her meal of wood-roasted cod, field greens, and fresh green beans had been delicious. She’d left room for the sweet course, having checked out their website earlier in the week in anticipation of their date.
“I’m torn between the citrus olive oil cake or the chocolate espresso tart,” Danny said.
“Wow. Tough choice.”
Dot took her time deciding. It was cherry season, and she narrowed her choices down to three: the chocolate pot de crème with cherry compote, the Door County cherry cheesecake with a gingersnap crust, and the cherry Danish kringle, which had to be good.
“I’d usually go for chocolate,” she said.
“Noted for the future.”
“There’s a future?”
“If you play your cards right with this decision.”
“Then I’ll place my bets on . . . the cherry cheesecake this time around,” she said.
“And we have a winner.” Danny signaled to their server and ordered.
“Excellent choice. I’ll bring two forks.” The waiter took the dessert menus with him as he turned on his heel, gracefully balancing a tray of cocktails for another table.
“I love getting complimented by a waiter.” Dot refolded her napkin over her lap.
“I like learning these things about you,” he said.
“You do?”
“I do. Tell me more.”
“Oh. Okay.” She thought for a minute. What was worth telling him?
“Well. I mentioned I have a younger sister. Anne. She’s in Colorado working as a hiking and skiing guide.
She’s incredibly good at skiing and prefers powder to ice.
She couldn’t wait to get out of New England.
Anne’s the family favorite, and I’m not even mad about it. ”
“She sounds great. I’d love to meet her one day. What else?”
“Well, I think you know I like to read. Fiction, mostly. I consume so much news during the day for work that I like an escape at night.”
“My mom was a reader. She loved historical fiction.”
“That’s one of my favorite genres. I love reading about Tudor England.”
“Who’s he?” he said. “Kidding. I know the time frame. Henry the Eighth. Had a lot of wives. Unfortunate end for most of them.”
She liked how he made her laugh so easily.
“I should read more,” he said. “It’s just that after the long days working on houses, I keep falling asleep when I read at night.
Without fail, I’ll read the paragraph I left off on the night before, a new paragraph, and start another before I find my eyes closing.
Then the next night I do it again. It takes me ages to get through a book. ”
“Ever tried listening to a book? I love it. It’s like story time.”
“I should give that a shot.”
“I’ll set up an account for you.” She made a mental note and already had a couple of books she could put on his list.
“Okay, I’ve got another very important question.” Danny looked very serious as he held a forkful of dessert near his mouth.
Dot braced herself. “Sure. Ask me anything.”
“Dog or cat?” he asked, taking a full bite of cake.
“Dog.” She didn’t hesitate.
“Good answer.”
“Is this a girlfriend screening?” she thought. Not that she minded.
They bantered a bit more, and when they got down to the last bite, Danny put his fork down.
“It’s all yours,” he said.
“Oh, I couldn’t. You have it.”
“I insist. Around the Taylors’ farm, we called the last bite on a plate ‘The Shame,’ and we usually fought over it. But someone’s gotta eat it.”
She realized he wasn’t going to budge, so she bent down and made a show of having the last bite. She closed her eyes, swallowed the cake, and raised her fork in triumph.
“Oh, the shame. Delicious!” she said. “I have to say, the food in Wisconsin has been a wonderful surprise,” she said.
“Glad to hear it. What else surprised you?”
“That’s a good question. I’ve been so busy with For the Win that I haven’t explored as much as I’d like. But my biggest takeaway is that no matter who you meet, people act like they’re already your friend.”
“Wisconsin nice is a real thing,” he said.
“Yes! You get instant connections here. A lot of people in New York have an edge—they kind of have to. It’s a game of survival. But here, people you meet for the first time invite you to dinner before you say goodbye. That’s how I felt about the Jankowskis and the Taylors.”
“The Jankowskis adore you. They’ve started to think of you as the daughter they never had,” Danny said.
“That’s really sweet. It’s too bad they don’t have anyone to pass the store to once they retire,” Dot said. “The community has really rallied around the shop since the remodel.”
“It’s true. Cedar Falls really is a great place to grow up.
And it’s a great place to raise a . . . family.
” He winced in pain and Dot caught it immediately.
She was sensitive to his past heartbreaks, and she let the silence hang for a respectful moment.
Danny was miles away in an instant, the sorrow she’d first noticed in his eyes back in a flash.
She let a few moments pass, not sure how to fill the silence. Finally, she decided to ease back into the conversation. “Are you okay?” she asked gently, reaching out to let her fingertips touch his forearm.
He was slow to look at her, his eyes deep and dark and sad in the moment.
“I know Grace told you all about what happened to me and my . . . fiancée. And our daughter.” He took a breath and caught himself before tearing up.
“It’s been a few years, but even so it’s not easy.
I admit that it’s still sometimes hard to close my eyes. I’m afraid of what I might see.”
She focused intently on him, letting him talk.
“That’s why I work a lot. And I often go over to the Taylors or to the Jankowskis for dinner or just to help them with whatever they need doing around the house. It’s easier than going home.”
“I can understand that.” She placed her hand, palm up, on the table. He rested his on top of hers. She squeezed gently. He squeezed back and held on tightly.
“For a while I just wanted to be left alone. But lately, I’ve been wanting to get out a bit more.”
Dot felt a shot of hope that she had something to do with that.
“You know that weekend when we fixed up the store—well, I think that might be the first time I really felt . . . alive since Sadie and the baby . . . since they . . . since the accident.”
She could tell how hard it was for him to say the words. She decided to go ahead and ask the question that had been on her mind.
“Earlier, when you said that Cedar Falls is a great place to grow up. When you think about your own future, do you still want to do that? To raise a family one day?” The question was a bit forward, but she wanted to know.
Danny took a beat before answering. “It was always my dream. I knew I was never going to go pro, but playing football helped me get a degree. And I knew if I had that, then I could be the dad I didn’t have.
I always dreamed about a house filled with love and traditions.
For the mother of my children not to have to worry about working double shifts to make ends meet to feed a hungry kid.
I wanted a chance to do better as a man.
To be more like Joe Taylor, to be honest.”
“Joe and Grace Taylor would make anyone want to be better people. They’re a lovely couple.”
“I owe them a lot,” he said. Catching himself letting the dinner date slip into melancholy, he shook himself and sat up straight. “But hey, enough about all that.”
He took the credit card receipt out of the small holder and Dot noticed he was a generous tipper.
“It’s getting late.” He checked his watch. “And I know we both have work tomorrow. Shall we get you home?”
“Of course! I’m all yours.” Then catching herself, she said, “I mean, I’m all here. I’m all fine. I’m . . . oh, let’s just go.”
Danny laughed and reached for her hand.