by Jessa Chase
“I’ll see you at the diner on Friday then,” Daniel said as Claire rushed toward the little gluey Marmot. “If I don’t see you before that, anyway.”
“Sounds good!” Claire smiled and waved happily. “Say goodbye to Daniel, everybody!”
Daniel exited the dance studio with the raucous goodbyes of a dozen young children ringing in his ears.
*
CLAIRE
The diner was relatively empty when Claire entered on Friday evening. She’d gone several rounds in her closet before settling on an off-white sundress with red poppies lining the bottom hem. It was casual, but pretty, and she hoped it matched the tone of the date.
She was nervous, and shuffling through her clothing choices for an hour didn’t do a thing to settle her stomach. It was silly, she kept telling herself. It was ridiculous, actually, to be nervous about a first date when it wasn’t really a first date.
Her first date with Daniel had been nearly a decade before, and she hadn’t been nervous on that date at all. She’d been infatuated, enthralled, but never nervous.
Claire made eye contact with Daisy from the other side of the diner, and the spunky waitress directed her to the corner booth through an elaborate set of charades. Claire laughed, and settled into the booth, making sure to smooth out the fabric of her dress with the palms of her hands.
She didn’t have much time to stew about her nerves because before she knew it, Daniel was entering the diner and making a beeline for her booth.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said with a grin that made Claire’s heart skip a beat. “I was planning on being here first, but I got waylaid at home.”
“Not a problem. Sit. Sit. Who waylaid you?”
Daniel sighed. “Logan, who else. He was intently curious about where I was going and who I was meeting.”
Claire laughed. “And what did you tell Mr. Curiosity?”
Daniel leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “I told him to mind his own business, which apparently told him everything he needed to know. So if he and Kate show up here in a few minutes to make googly eyes at us and coo about our future, don’t be surprised.”
Claire swatted his hand playfully. “I don’t think he’d be that bad. But it’s nice to know he’s supportive of you and I.”
“True. And it’s nice to be out in public with you,” Daniel quipped, reaching for her hand and cupping it in his palm. “Holding your hand. Kissing you whenever I get the notion.”
Claire felt the blood rushing up into her cheeks, but for once she didn’t care. She smiled. “Are you getting the notion right now?”
“As a matter of fact, I am.” Daniel made good on the statement, leaning forward across the table and planting his lips on hers.
It didn’t last long, because after just a few precious seconds, Claire could feel the muscles in his arms bunching with the strain. She gently pushed him back into his seat and licked her lips.
“Should I come back when ya’ll are done?” Daisy said with a grin on her face and menus in her hands.
“We’re good,” Claire said with a laugh.
“Hey, I’d hate to think I was the reason for the untimely end of a good kiss.”
Claire lowered her forehead to the table with a thud, making Daisy giggle.
“No really, I’m a huge supporter of good kisses. Is she still blushing, Daniel? I can’t tell.”
Daniel nodded.
“Awesome. You just gotta love a good blusher.” Daisy placed the menus on the table next to Claire’s head.
“I know I do,” Daniel muttered, just loud enough for Claire to hear. She raised her head and looked directly at him, raising one eyebrow. Daniel, for his part, pretended like he’d never said it, though the grin on his face was a dead giveaway.
“Know what you want?”
Claire bit her lip. She knew exactly what she wanted at that moment, and it couldn’t be found on any diner menu. She resisted saying so, knowing in that moment that Daniel would take her up on it in a split second.
“Meat,” Claire said after a moment.
Daniel coughed in surprise. “Meat, huh? Any preference?”
“Hamburger.”
“I would have bet ten bucks you were going to say ‘hot dog’ just then.”
“Get your head out of the gutter, Daniel.”
“I’d rather just join you down in the gutter. Sounds more fun, anyway.”
The dinner went well, and when Claire was pulling her covers up over herself that night, her mind was filled with thoughts about Daniel. About his lips, and the way they felt on hers. About the way he made her feel, and the excitement of what lay ahead for them.
She had a lot still left to do, and knew she needed her sleep, but right just then, she was quite content to lie in her bed and fantasize like a teenager again.
CLAIRE
As she climbed the front steps of the old Victorian mansion the next morning, Claire couldn’t help but be amazed at the transformation that had taken place over the last few years.
In her minds’ eye she could see the house as it looked when she was a child; everything was spotless and meticulous in its placement. After moving back to Madelia as an adult, she’d stopped by and had been saddened to find the once-great house in disrepair.
When Logan first took on the restoration project, she’d wondered exactly whose money was funding it. After all, weren’t her parents still effectively bankrolling her? She hoped to be out from under their financial thumb soon, but until her studio managed to climb out of the red, she was appreciative of their help.
“Watch your step,” Logan said as Claire entered the house proper. He placed a well-worn yellow hard hat on her head. “You can wear Kate’s hard hat for now.”
Claire laughed. “Wife gets her very own hard hat? What a thoughtful husband you turned out to be.”
“I can’t keep the woman out of these project houses of mine, truth be told. Least I can do is keep all that important medical knowledge safely inside her skull.”
“She likes to help out here?”
“She’s actually got quite a knack for the decorating aspect and I figured out real quick that it was easier to get out of her way and let the magic happen.”
Claire brought her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. “Hmm. I’m envisioning a tiny hard hat for a tiny McAllister in your immediate future.”
Logan chuckled. “Now, don’t go saying stuff like that to Kate. She’s got one of those laminate printers now, she cuts out these shapes and designs and quotes for the walls at home.”
“Oh!” Claire grinned. “She’ll definitely want to make some cute cut-out designs for baby’s first hard hat then.” She whipped out her phone. “Let me just look it up, I bet they sell them ready-made and infant sized...”
Logan groaned and swiped the phone from her, holding it just out of her reach.
“Nuh uh,” he said. “One project at a time. You said you needed my help with something.”
“Right. I’m looking to repurpose a back room in my studio. It’s not being used at all right now and I was thinking about putting in a physical therapy suite.”
Logan raised an eyebrow at that. “Physical therapy. Interesting direction to go from ballet.”
“It’s actually interested me for a while, I find the whole study of kinesiology and the effects of physical therapy after trauma to be really fascinating.”
“Has nothing to do with a certain ornery sibling of mine and the work he’s doing with his leg, does it?”
Claire felt her cheeks redden. “That’s been a part of it, for sure. But I had this kind of brewing in the back of my mind for a while now. Since I moved back to Madelia, actually.”
“Just needed Daniel to come along and add a little hot water, huh?.”
Claire groaned at the play on words. “Getting the dad jokes in a little early, don’t you think?”
Logan spread his arms wide and grinned. “Hey, you know me. I like to be prepared.”
&nbs
p; “Not that this project of mine is all about him, or even partially about him, but I’d really rather we kept these plans between us. If that’s okay.”
Logan nodded.
“I just don’t want him thinking I’m doing all of this for him. I don’t want him feeling pressured to perform for me, is all. We’ve only just started seeing each other again, I don’t want to mess things up.”
“Let me tell you a secret about my little brother, Claire. He feels how he feels and nobody can “make” him feel anything, and that includes feeling pressured. If he wants to perform for you, he will. If he doesn’t, well I’ll just slap some sense into him until he does.”
Claire nodded, unsure of how to respond to that, but appreciating the sentiment.
“Let’s talk more about your project, but I want to give you a little tour of the changes we’ve been making around here. It’s your childhood home, after all.”
Chapter 7
DANIEL
The grounds around Logan and Kate’s house were rough in some spots, but it was mostly flat with the occasional gentle slope to keep things interesting. When Daniel got up the morning after his date with Claire, he decided it was the perfect spot to log some practice time with his knee walker.
He was happy to find that strapping himself into the contraption was getting easier with practice, exactly the way the prosthetic specialist had said it would be.
He still swore a blue streak throughout the process, but he was improving and that’s what he pushed himself to focus on.
Daniel started out by making a quick loop around the property boundaries, telling himself that if it all went well, he could swing back and try his newfound skills out on the more difficult terrain.
That first loop was easy enough, in fact he was barely even breathing hard by the halfway mark. He pushed himself a little harder on the way back, forcing his attention on each individual step he took. It was a nice day out for this little excursion, he thought as he looked around.
Not too hot yet as it was still early in the day, and a delightful spring melody of some unseen bird accompanying his movements from high up in the trees. The chirp chirp chirp coincided well with his thump shuffle thump and pretty soon he had a half decent march going on.
Daniel was so focused on his surroundings and keeping time that he took a slightly elongated step and found himself slightly unbalanced. A year ago he wouldn’t have even noticed. A year ago he would have been able to right himself with barely a misstep.
As it was, he leaned harder than usual on the walker and felt the brace cut right through the foam cushion and into his tender flesh. He swore, bit his lip, and swore again before reaching out for the nearby tree trunk to balance himself.
He paused to regain his footing, and his breath. His heart pounded a drumbeat in his chest, making him realize how anxious he really had been about the whole process.
He was shaken up, and a little more hesitant about taking that next step, but he hadn’t fallen.
He hadn’t fallen, and that’s what counted.
“Okay, deep breath,” he whispered to himself to shore up his confidence a little. “It’s just a walk around the backyard. Nothing to it.”
He made it back to the house with no further issues. Looking back on the path he’d walked, Daniel couldn’t help but smile.
“Looking good out there, little brother,” Logan said as he came through the back door.
“You saw all that?”
“I did.” Logan slapped his work gloves on his thighs, relieving them of their accumulated wood dust. “I didn’t want to interrupt you, figured you’d want to keep your focus.”
Daniel leaned back on the porch railing to relieve some of the pressure on his left knee. The railing groaned in protest but it held; when Logan McAllister built something, he built it from the ground up and he built it to last.
“Not exactly running a marathon or anything, but it’s better than sitting upstairs in my room all day.”
Logan clapped his little brother on his shoulder and laughed.
“Are you kidding me? Give yourself some more credit. You’ll be out there doing marathons in no time if that’s what you want to do.”
He cut a sideways glance at Daniel.
“Or laps around Claire’s bed posts, if that’s looking more appealing to you these days.”
Daniel laughed out loud. He never could hide anything from his older brother.
“You aren’t wrong, is all I’m going to say about that.”
“And that’s all you really have to say. Now get your ass in here and help me put this ridiculous crib together. I think I’m going to need a little of your creativity with the assembly before I lose my mind completely.”
CLAIRE
“Have a good day,” Claire waved off the last of her students as they walked hand-in-hand with their mom down the street.
She stood in the open doorway for a moment and took in the view. The snow had fully melted off the mountains off to the left, and every day she saw new flowers popping up through the damp spring soil. It was her favorite time of the year, when the world shrugged off the cold winter weather and stretched toward the sun.
She smiled when she saw Logan’s truck pull up to the curb in front of her studio.
“Good afternoon,” Claire said as he grabbed his toolbox and met up with her at the door. “Busy day?”
Logan sighed. “Don’t even ask. Let’s just say you’re probably going to be my favorite client today.”
Claire laughed. “Well, I’ll do my best. Come on in.”
They walked together toward the back room.
“So this is the space I was talking to you about. I know it’s not much.”
Logan took a moment and assessed the room from the outside before walking inside. It wasn’t an overly large space, but it had a high ceiling that made it more airy than it had a right to be.
“I think you have good eyes,” he said after a pause. “Yeah, we can make this work.”
Logan put his toolbox down on the floor and pulled out his notebook and his measuring tape.
“Do you mind if I take a few measurements?”
“Not at all. And thank you again for agreeing to help with this, Logan. I really can’t thank you enough.”
“I mean, you could name it after me if you felt really grateful, but to be honest, you getting this physical therapy suite up and running is enough thanks for me. You’re going to do a lot of good here.”
Claire blushed. “I don’t know about that. The more I look at the cost of all of this, and of school on top of it. I might be putting the cart before the horse. And, well, I’m not ashamed to admit it freaks me out a little.”
Logan raised an eyebrow at her. “I’ve never known you to be afraid of anything. Don’t be starting that now.”
He moved toward the far wall and extended his measuring tape.
“Moving here, opening this studio, it felt like such a big and scary risk to take. But in reality I never had anything to lose. My parents paid for everything, and to be honest they are still footing the bill for most of my expenses.”
Logan scribbled in his notebook and nodded along to what Claire was saying. When she paused, he took it as his cue to speak up.
“Just because you’ve got someone helping you out with expenses, doesn’t make it risk free. You still took a big damn leap with this place, and this expansion is going to be another big leap.”
“I’m mostly just hoping I don’t fall flat on my face while I’m doing all this crazy leaping.”
Logan scoffed. “Never. You are pretty much the little sister I never had, and no little sister of mine ever falls on their face. Not with me around.”
Claire smiled. “Well, thank you Logan. That’s sweet of you to say.”
He finished with his measuring the walls and gave her a measured look of his own.
“Anything I can do to make you the sister-in-law I never had?”
“Can’t I just be your lit
tle sister for now?”
“Well yeah, but that’s going to make you kissing Daniel a little more awkward.”
He laughed when he saw the blush rising on her cheeks again.
“Not going to lie, you make it too easy. Both of you are crazy for each other, but I can’t resist applying a little pressure on the two of you now and again.”
DANIEL
The bell above the front door of the diner jangled playfully when Daniel entered. The sound made him smile, and think about some of the better memories of his childhood.
He’d spent a lot of time in the diner when he was younger. Mrs. Shuster, who always made a point of making sure their bellies and their minds were full, had informally adopted both him and Logan when they were younger. Having parents who were so wrapped up in each other that they barely had the presence of mind to notice if their kids were in need of something, well it could have gone pretty badly for the brothers if it wasn’t for Mrs. Shuster.
Daniel shuffled over to the booth in the far corner, catching the eye of Daisy who smiled and waved.
He was seated by the time she made her way over to him with a menu.
“What can I get you, hun?” she said with her hip cocked to the side.
“Coffee, please. Is Mrs. Shuster around?”
Daisy grinned. “She’s always around. I think she’s in the kitchen fussing with the oven and giving poor Jimmy a coronary. I’ll go let her know you’re here.”
Daniel looked over the menu while he waited, and he marveled at how little it had changed in the years he’d been away. Same greasy diner food, but served with a genuine love and compassion that made it taste better than it had any real right to.
“Finally, he comes and visits,” Mrs. Shuster said as she approached his table. She sat with a flourish, a dozen or so dust bunnies escaping the booth and fluttering into the air.
Her tone had seemed annoyed but Daniel saw her eyes crinkling with delight and knew she was only teasing him.
He reached across the table and enveloped her hand in his.
“I’m sorry it took me so long, Mrs. Shuster.”
“I’m just glad you’re here, Daniel. And please call me Eleanor, dear. You’re grown now, same as your brother. No need to be so formal.”