Divorced, Desperate and Daring

by Christie Craig

  “Where’s Cary?” Danny asked before leaving.

  “He’s off today. The guy skips town and then rates a day off. What’s up with that?”

  Danny shrugged and left.

  He stopped by the bakery and bought some of the chocolate croissants she liked. They’d already eaten almost all the cookies he’d sent her.

  While driving to his place, he made up his mind. He was going to take Anna’s advice and tell Sheri what he was feeling. Tell her about Tanya. Tell her that while it scared the shit out of him, he was falling in love with her.

  When he got to his door to unlock it, he waited just a second to hear Taco’s bark and his claws clicking against the floor.

  It was quiet. She must be out walking Taco.

  He walked in. And just to be sure, he called out her name. “Sheri?”

  The silence bothered him.

  He put the bakery box on the bar and looked for Taco’s leash. It wasn’t there, so they had to be out for a walk.

  But then he looked back at the table where Sheri usually worked. Her laptop wasn’t there. And there was no coffee cup.

  He looked around for her purse. She usually didn’t take it when she walked Taco. But it was missing.

  A terrible thought hit his gut. He walked down the hall to his bedroom. Her bag was gone. In the bathroom, her makeup wasn’t scattered over his counter.

  His heart dropped.

  His first thought was of her offering to stay at Chloe’s the other night. As if she hadn’t wanted to be here. But then they’d had such a good time. Why would she . . . ?

  Fuck! What was he doing trying to figure this out when all he had to do was call her?

  Her phone rang.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Three times.

  It went to voicemail on the fifth ring.

  “Call me,” he said, suddenly unsure if . . . Unsure of what? That she’d already left him?

  He texted her.

  Held the phone in his hand waiting for a reply.

  None came.

  Damn, this felt familiar!

  He called two more times before he went back to work. No answer. He’d been tempted to stay home, but what good would that have done? Not that he was in the mood to work or deal with anyone. And that pretty much showed when Turner said something to him and he muttered, “Not now,” and left to go sit at his desk. To fume.

  What the hell had he done? At least he’d known what he’d done the last time. Or at least knew part of it.

  Was he so wrong about her?

  His chest filled with an emotion that felt like concrete. All he could do was sit there, drown in his own misery and try to breathe.

  His phone finally dinged with a text. He saw her number flash across the screen, and he couldn’t read the message fast enough.

  Back home. Call you in a few days.

  “What the fuck?” he muttered out loud.

  “What’s wrong?” Turner suddenly appeared at his door.

  “Nothing!” he snapped. “What is it?”

  Turner walked in and dropped an envelope on his desk. “The sketch.” He stood there just staring at Danny. “What happened?”

  “Not a fucking thing I want to talk to you about. Leave, and shut my damn door!”

  His friend made a face but did as Danny requested. A little harder than needed.

  Danny called Sheri. It rang once.

  Twice.

  Three times.

  On the fifth ring, it went to voicemail.

  He waited for the ding. “What’s going on, Sheri? You can’t just do this! Don’t I at least deserve to know what the fuck I did to deserve this?”

  It was the same question he’d asked his mother when he was eleven, and she’d never answered him either.

  • • •

  After lunch, which he did not eat, he went to do his job. Or at least that’s what he told himself he was doing.

  He stood in front of Mrs. Lamb’s door, but his heart and eyes were on Sheri’s. Was she there? Her car was still in the parking lot, but she might have had Chloe pick her up from his place and never went home.

  He knocked on Mrs. Lamb’s door. When the woman didn’t answer, he knocked again.

  Finally, he gave up and called her.

  She answered on the third ring.

  “Mrs. Lamb?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “This is Danny, I’m at your door.”

  “Oh, my! Danny, I’m so sorry, I completely forgot about you dropping by. My granddaughter came over, and we went for a late birthday celebration.”

  He frowned but managed to stop himself short of showing his frustration.

  “When will you be back?”

  “I . . . don’t know. I’m going to a school play my great-granddaughter is in. It could be late. Can we reschedule tomorrow?”

  In truth, Danny was about ninety-nine percent sure they had the guy, so Mrs. Lamb’s lead probably didn’t mean shit.

  “Yeah. I’ll call you later.”

  “You are such a nice young man. Sheri is so lucky to have snagged you.”

  “Thank you,” he said and hung up.

  He stared at Sheri’s door. His pride told him to leave. His heart said something completely different. He moved in and knocked.

  He heard Taco, the sound that used to greet him at his own door, but not Sheri.

  He leaned his head on the door. “Sheri? If you’re there, please open.”

  He waited another ten seconds. “Please.”

  His chest felt like it would explode. Taco barked again, but nothing from Sheri.

  He dialed her phone, thinking he might hear it ring if she was in the apartment. It rang.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Three times. He didn’t hear it.

  On five, it went to voicemail.

  “Me again,” was all he said and hung up.

  He left. He headed back to the station. He could be miserable there just as easy as he could be miserable at home. And at least he’d get paid for it.

  Everyone mostly stayed out of his way. That was just fine with him. He did try to run the lead he’d pretended to work on earlier but came up empty.

  And that was how he felt. Empty.

  He kept going over in his head what he’d done to send Sheri packing. As hard as he tried, he came up with nothing. She just left. They all just fucking left!

  When the day ended, he dialed her one more time. Like before, she didn’t answer.

  He started home, but suddenly he couldn’t do it. He turned and went to the one person who could tell him what the hell was going on.

  Chloe.

  When he pulled into the parking lot, his phone rang. He answered without checking the number. “Sheri?”

  “No,” his cousin’s voice filled the line. “I was just wanting to check in. You sounded really flustered this morning.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry.”

  The next few seconds of silence probably said more than he had.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  She sighed. “I went on my first home health care today, and you’ll never guess who it ended up being.”

  “The president?” he said, just to throw something out there.

  “No, silly. It was your friend, Ramon.”

  “That’s good,” he said and got out of his car. “Can I call you back?”

  She sighed. “Yeah. Are you going to be okay?”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “Love you,” she said.

  “Ditto.” He hung up.

  With his heart on his sleeve, he knocked on Cary’s door. Was Sheri here? Was she right now running into one of the back bedrooms?

  “Coming,” he heard Chloe’s voice.

  She opened it, and her eyes widened and then squinted in anger.

  “Kind of risky coming here, isn’t it?” she asked. “If I had mace . . .”

  “I don’
t give a damn,” he said. “I just want to understand. What the hell happened? What did I do? Was she mad because I didn’t kiss her good-bye?”

  Chloe looked up at him and blinked. “You don’t know?”

  “No, I don’t have a fucking clue. So tell me. Please.”

  “Who is it?” Cary’s voice came from the hall. When he came into view, Danny looked at Cary and frowned.

  “What? Do you know what I did? Goddamn it, someone fill me in!”

  Chloe suddenly pushed open the door as if saying it was okay to come in.

  “She said you didn’t do anything, but she just got scared.”

  “Scared? She’s scared? Well, she should join the club because I’m almost frozen in fear. But I didn’t skip out on her.”

  Chloe pursed her mouth. “You did the first time.”

  “Yeah, I went six months before she’d hear my apology. I thought I’d paid for that.”

  “Look, I think Sheri’s just worried you’ll do it again.”

  “That’s stupid,” he said. But he knew it wasn’t.

  “She’s got a lot on her plate. Tonight’s a memorial service to her dad, and she doesn’t care too much for him right now.”

  “Shit, I forgot all about the service. I told her I’d go with her. What time is it happening?” He looked at his phone. It was already six.

  Chloe just stood there and stared at him. “I don’t think she’d want you to go.”

  “I told her I’d go so she wouldn’t have to face it alone.”

  Chloe made a face. “But that was before . . . before she left. Look, just give her some time.”

  “She needs me there!” he said, remembering how hurt she’d been when she’d told him about her father.

  “Call her and tell her you want to come.”

  “I’ve called like twenty times today. She’s not taking my calls!”

  “Then she doesn’t want you there.” Chloe said with a snappy tone.

  He looked at Cary, pleading for help.

  Cary looked from his wife to him. Just his expression said he felt caught in the middle. “I don’t have a clue where it is.”

  “Fine!” he said. Then he turned and left. Not that he’d given up. He had another way.

  When he got to his car, he pulled out his phone and searched until he found a number he didn’t recognize.

  He hit redial and listened closely so he’d know if he was right.

  “Hello,” the feminine voice said.

  “Hi, Mrs. Thompson. It’s Danny. How are you?” If she hadn’t spoken to Sheri, then . . .

  “Danny, it’s so nice to hear from you. How are you?”

  “I’m fine. Look I’m supposed to meet Sheri tonight at the ceremony. And I kind of misplaced the address.”

  “I’m so glad you are coming,” she said, and she spouted out the address.

  “Am I late already?” he asked.

  “No, it doesn’t start until seven. I just got here early.”

  “Great. I’ll see you there.”

  He only felt a little bad lying to Sheri’s mother. Face it. If Chloe was right and Sheri was just . . . scared, he needed to talk to her. They could be scared together.

  He pulled up at the church ten minutes later. The sun was already low, the western sky striped with color.

  He drove through the parking lot twice. Sheri’s car wasn’t there. He’d considered going to her apartment but then he might miss her. Besides, here she couldn’t just slam the door in his face. Surely, she wouldn’t cause a scene in a church.

  At least he hoped not.

  He sat there, his gaze shifting left then right, not wanting to miss her.

  Finally he saw it. Her gold Malibu pulled into a space a few parking spots from him.

  He watched her get out of the car. She looked beautiful in a pale green dress, but she also looked miserable. Just the way she walked told him she didn’t want to be here.

  He got out of his car.

  She’d moved a good fifty feet in front of him.

  “Sheri?” he said her name.

  He saw her stop. Then she slowly turned around as if unsure she’d really heard him.

  “Can we please talk?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  “I told you I’d come with you.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t have to do this Danny.”

  “I know I don’t have to. I want to. I told you last night.”

  A few tears slipped from her lashes. “Danny I can’t do this right now. Please. Don’t . . .”

  She swung around and took off. Her clipped pace told him she really wanted to be as far from him as possible.

  He almost went after her to beg her to explain things.

  But, hell, he’d chased his mom down that day at the courthouse, trying to talk her into taking him, but she’d left anyway. They always left.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Before walking into the chapel, Sheri found some tissues and wiped her eyes. She took a deep breath and then glanced back on the off chance he’d followed her.

  He hadn’t.

  She bit down on her lip, realizing she was acting childish. She shouldn’t have just left today. Or at least she should have taken one of his many calls and told him. But it just hurt so damn much. Was it wrong for her to want to be a little stronger when she talked to him?

  Taking a deep breath, holding her chin up and running her hand over the pearls her mom had given her, she opened the doors and walked down the middle aisle, looking for her mom. She was right where Sheri thought she’d be. In the front pew.

  She’d sat there every Sunday, proud and playing the good little preacher’s wife, to hear her husband’s sermon. Sheri’s chest tightened now for a reason other than Danny.

  When she touched her mom’s shoulder, she looked up, instantly smiled and moved over. But then she glanced back at Sheri and frowned.

  “What’s wrong?” her mom whispered.

  “Nothing,” Sheri lied and then offered up a prayer for lying in church.

  Her mom frowned. “Your nose is red. You’ve been crying.”

  Sheri swallowed. “Allergies,” she lied again and offered up another request for forgiveness.

  Her mom didn’t look convinced. Then she lifted up a few inches and glanced down the aisle. “Where’s Danny?” she asked.

  “He’s not coming,” she said.

  “But he called and got the address,” her mom said.

  “Something came up.” Sheri looked to the front of the room, hoping her mom would drop it before she started crying again.

  “Did you two have a fight?” her mom asked.

  Sheri hesitated. Then decided it would be best to end the conversation. “Yeah.”

  “About what?” her mom whispered.

  Okay, she should have known her mom wouldn’t just give up.

  “We broke up, Mom.”

  “Oh, hon,” her mom said. “I liked him.”

  “Me, too,” Sheri said and then gave thanks when the piano music started playing, a sign the ceremony was about to begin.

  • • •

  Danny swung around, got in his car and felt his own eyes tear up. He pulled out of the parking lot, his chest a big ball of pain. He got about a mile away when all of a sudden a truth hit him. Sheri wasn’t his mom. She wasn’t Tanya. She was an angel.

  And if she was scared, he just had to make her see that he was scared, too.

  He remembered the pain in her voice last night when she’d told him about her dad. She might not want him here, but he wanted to be here. And that justified it, damn it.

  He turned around and drove back to the church. He found another parking spot and went inside.

  As he made his way to the door, another latecomer moved in and made Danny feel a little better.

  They walked into the sanctuary and both sat in the back seats so they wouldn’t interrupt.

  A man stood at the podium talking. A few hymns were su
ng, one prayer was said and a short sermon was preached. Then they moved to the announcement of the new building. The preacher offered praise to Samuel Thompson, a man of God. He went on for a good two minutes.

  Danny’s gut tightened, and a little part of him wanted to stand up and correct the man.

  Then the preacher mentioned Lilly Thompson and their daughter, Sheri Thompson, and thanked them for the contribution.

  Danny’s attention stayed on the front of the church as Sheri and her mother were both called up.

  His gut tightened, knowing Sheri would be uncomfortable.

  But she did it. She stood by her mom, her face unreadable, and accepted a plaque. Danny read pride in her mother’s eyes. Sheri’s eyes held something altogether different.

  His chest started hurting again. He loved her. Why had she left? How was he going to convince her to come back?

  The man next to Danny suddenly got up, “Excuse me,” he said as he walked out of the church.

  Sheri’s eyes shifted to the back of the room, and he knew the exact second she spotted him. A world of hurt flashed in her eyes.

  Damn it, he hadn’t come here to hurt her.

  When the music started playing, he got up and did the right thing. He left.

  When he got to his car, he texted her again.

  Just want to be there for you. Sorry if I was wrong. Please talk to me.

  He started to type Love, Danny, but if what Chloe said was true and she was just scared, that might make it worse.

  • • •

  Sheri tried to leave without having the conversation she knew was coming from her mom. But Lilly wasn’t having it. She literally held on to Sheri’s arm with a death grip.

  After a few gracious good-byes, her mom walked with her out of the church.

  Sheri looked around for Danny, worried what she was going to say to him.

  He wasn’t there.

  One less thing she had to worry about right now.

  “Come on,” her mom said. “Let’s go have coffee.”