by Barbara Ebel
“I’ll let you know where I’ll be,” Danny said.
“Leave us a note. Not only will the girls want to know, but that’s information a divorce attorney will need.”
Before Danny could utter a word, Sara disappeared out the door.
________
Annabel sprinted to the blue CRV where Sara handed her the keys and Annabel put the car in drive. “Mom, I got so much done last night at Mary’s. I finished half tonight’s homework already and wrote a fantastic paper. And you can’t believe the watercolor Mary finished. It’s so simple but so creative. It’s a woman with a sunhat sitting on a hammock leaning over. Mom, she is so good; like she should have her own art exhibit in a museum.”
Annabel kept a motor on her mouth driving half the distance to Nancy’s school but, eventually, slowed down. Her mother had not contributed anything, not that she had given her the opportunity. Finally, Annabel realized her mother looked downright distraught.
They slowed outside Nancy’s school. Nancy approached them when they parked. Once inside, she leaned toward the front seat, gave Sara a tiny hug, and kissed her cheek. “Mom, are you okay?”
Sara gave her a tiny affirmative nod.
________
After office hours, Danny stopped at the hospital because Bruce had asked him to see one of his surgical patients. He had to find Rachel to tell her what happened, but the OR front desk told him she had the day off. He called her place but there was no answer.
At seven o’clock Danny parked his car in his garage. He took two suitcases from the garage, unlocked the door, and went in. He stacked a few medical books and clothing from the front closet into two shopping bags from the kitchen. He slid his laptop into his computer bag and began assembling the items in the hallway. Most of what he needed resided upstairs in the bedroom. He took his photographs off the dresser; Sara and he would have to figure out family pictures later. The two expandable suitcases bulged by the time he finished packing.
In his bottom dresser drawer, he removed one sweater. Underneath, he clutched his leather bag to take it out. He slowed his tasks, opened the case, and smoothed his fingers over the rich, hardbound book. He flipped the pages, confirming that the book was in fine shape. He groped for the other content, the plastic bag holding Melissa’s bracelet. Danny placed it in his palm and kissed it. He replaced the book and bracelet in the monogrammed case and tucked it into an outer compartment of the larger black suitcase.
He put everything into the car trunk, then reached for his phone to call Rachel again. This time he wanted to try her cell phone, but he pulled out of the driveway cursing himself. He rarely used her cell phone number; it was on a scrap of paper in the top drawer of his office. Focusing on placing the call made it easier to peel away from his house. His eyes remained glued on the cul-de-sac, the porch, the bedroom windows, and then the rearview mirror as he turned on to the main street of the subdivision.
Danny parked at an independent pricey coffee joint. For fifteen minutes over a steamed milk coffee, he pondered his situation. They’d probably be cramped in Rachel’s townhouse if they both lived there for any length of time.
He headed to an apartment complex that he often passed, but the front office was locked. He went next door to the clubhouse, where, luckily, the on-site manager attended a potluck dinner gathering.
“We rent by the month,” the old man said, holding a plate of food. “A two month deposit, too.”
“Do you have anything furnished, as well as available?” Danny asked.
“We rent unfurnished. Only the model apartment has furniture.”
“I’ll pay you more if I can rent it,” Danny said. “Doesn’t it make more sense to rent it to me than leave it unrented as a show piece?”
“Yah got a point.”
“I’ll take it right now,” Danny said.
“Don’t yah wanna see it?” the man asked, putting down his plate.
“No.”
“Then let’s go. I’ll get the keys, take your money, and give you the rental agreement. Read the fine print.”
Danny fell asleep in a new bed. With his shoes on.
________
Their headway through a large pizza was slow going. Annabel couldn’t finish the last piece, especially the crust. She went to the cashier’s counter, found a toothpick, and then sat delicately fishing crust out of her braces. Sara and Nancy glumly exchanged glances.
“Just because I haven’t been told what’s going on, doesn’t mean I don’t know something’s going on,” Annabel said, dancing the toothpick at them. “So, what’s going on?”
A smidgen of a smile crept over Sara’s face. “You’re right,” she said, grasping her daughter’s hand and squeezing it.
“Your dad won’t be staying at home. He’s romantically involved with someone else.”
“You’re kidding. Really, like, that doesn’t happen to our family,” she stuttered. They left the pizza place. Annabel leaned against the glass exit door. “How could he do this to us?” she snarled.
________
Danny slept solidly and awoke in a semi-strange environment with ample time to get ready. He found a small stack of towels in a linen closet and showered, then tautly wrapped a towel around his waist and put the two suitcases on the bed. After unloading all the clothes into dresser drawers and the closet, he unzipped the outside pockets. What to do with the burgundy leather bag? No dresser drawer this time.
Danny peeled the corner of the fancy bedspread, flipping it to the top of the bed. The box spring was thick and solid, the mattress thinner and clean white. He pushed up the end of the mattress at the foot of the bed. “Here you go, Mr. Einstein and Melissa,” he said, placing the monogrammed case between the box spring and mattress and smoothing the bedspread back to normal.
The apartment was long and narrow, with the bedroom at the end of a corridor. Rent was on the hefty side, but last night it had solved his problems. Behind the ginger bedroom curtains, he found a sliding glass door to a covered patio, and in the living room, a flat screen TV probably took the place of an interior designer’s picture over a small fireplace. Not too bad, Danny thought; a fifteen-hundred square-foot bachelor pad with a loft upstairs.
After dressing and before leaving, Danny scouted the furnishings in the kitchen. Besides condiment containers and a toaster, an automatic coffeemaker graced the counter. He had what he needed minus a bag of ground Columbian.
________
Rachel skillfully handed Danny his instruments from the instrument tray. She seemed to know what to deliver before he asked. The last two days had been hectic as hell. Hearing her voice and catching her eyes glimpsing at him would suffice until he could whisper pleasantries to her in bed.
“My wife and I have separated,” Danny said at the beginning of the case, almost in a whisper. He poised a blunt instrument in his right hand; he couldn’t make out Rachel’s expression under the mask.
Rachel nodded. “We’ll have to talk.”
Their OR door swung open while Danny operated. Bruce held a mask on his lower face. He stepped to the side, at the counter below the telephone. He picked up Danny’s pager. “The floor has paged you twice, Danny,” he said. “Your pager is off!”
Danny startled. He never heard Bruce come in. “I thought I turned it on.”
“You need to go upstairs between cases. Sounds like your normal pressure hydrocephalus patient from the other day has a shunt obstruction, a shunt infection, or both.”
Danny turned his head but Bruce was already gone.
________
By the end of the morning, Danny finished two surgeries and started his shunt patient on an IV antibiotic for a simmering infection. Rachel found him while on her lunch break. They decided she would visit him in the evening. Danny called Tom Werner’s office at 5 p.m., talked to his secretary and scheduled an appointment late in the day for Monday. He would have to jockey around patient care to see his attorney.
________
So rar
ely did Danny drink beer, that when he did, he bought the most expensive six-pack, attributing price to quality. He took two cold ones out of his refrigerator that evening and handed one to Rachel. When she sat, she slipped off her shoes, curled her legs under her and took a sip. She had a thin white turtleneck on underneath a classic V-neck sweater. Her eye color matched the aqua sweater; it wasn’t just the beer that swum around in Danny’s head.
“Is this what you want?” Rachel asked.
“I think so,” Danny replied. “The marriage is over. It’s you I’m in love with.” Danny nestled his lips into her neck, then they kissed tenderly.
“Why don’t we see each other often, spend time at each place,” Rachel said. “Then we can decide which one suits us better.”
Danny also took off his shoes. Rachel put down her beer to massage the bottom of his feet.
“I must say, I’m used to Dakota hanging by your side.” Danny mused.
“The poor fellow. I told him I’d be back tonight. Told him I’d be with you, but he cocked his head and growled.” She dug her fingers into his foot, laughed, and ran off into the bedroom. Danny followed so they could christen his new bed.
________
It was so cold and dreary the next Monday, that Danny thought the clouds had the potential for snow. Far north of the Cumberland River, the clouds were thicker; maybe those Kentuckians were in for their first taste of winter. He already waited on Tom a half hour; a half hour which could have been useful in the office. Finally, the conference room door opened and Tom Werner walked in.
The attorney put the palm of his hand out in front of him. “Danny, I am so sorry. Not just for being late. I had no idea you had an appointment, otherwise I would have called you myself.”
Danny had started to sit again, but stopped.
“I can’t represent you with your divorce. It would be a conflict of interest. Your wife has retained our firm. I didn’t feel comfortable with it myself, since I’ve known you both for years. One of the other partners will be representing her.”
Tom put his large hand on Danny’s shoulder and patted him. He smiled sincerely. “You just let me know if there’s anything else I can do for the family.”
“I suppose she’s told you all the sordid details.”
“Even if she had, I wouldn’t have listened. We don’t care what goes on behind closed doors, nor will a judge. It has nothing to do with the case. But to tell you the truth, that’s often the business that brings us the business.”
Chapter 18
Annabel and Nancy compressed school assignments into their backpacks. It had gotten easier to go back and forth to Mary’s whenever they wanted because they kept extra clothes and school supplies there. They carried their new digital audio players in their purses.
“Your dad said he’d be at Mary’s around six,” Sara informed them as Annabel drove. Sara took the wheel after the girls got out. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon,” she said and drove away from her sister-in-law’s.
________
Danny left Tom’s office and aimed toward his sister’s. He hadn’t seen the girls since leaving home, which he had done on purpose. If his girls were upset with him, a few days distance would simmer down their immediate resentment; even Sara’s, in case he crossed her path.
He parked in Mary’s driveway, tapped on the door and entered. No one was downstairs, but Danny took a few minutes to appreciate Mary’s watercolor leaning against the fireplace. The twisted cords of a hammock had incredible clarity for a watercolor and the woman sitting on it wore a white sunhat shielding sunshine from her face. Although he had Mary’s ability to concentrate and he possessed skilled hands, he had not inherited one morsel of artistic talent.
Mary flopped behind him wearing slippers. Her painting smock and the tapered artist’s brush in her hand smelled of fresh oil paint.
“Really nice,” Danny said.
“Thanks. I’ve sold it already. To the county mayor and his wife. It’s their second piece from me.” She sat on the edge of a chair, eyeing it. “My art is finally supporting me in Tennessee. I’m going to inch up my prices, too.”
“Now I’ll know where to get a loan,” Danny joked. “Are the girls here?”
“Upstairs,” she waved. “But you’re not getting off the hook yet. What’s going on, Danny? I’m hearing details from everyone but you.”
For a few seconds, an uncomfortable silence breathed between them. Danny hadn’t thought of what to tell his sister. He slid off his jacket and held it.
“But the last thing I want is to get in the middle,” Mary said. “Sara is like a sister to me. I’m going to stay neutral. Especially for the girls.”
“I don’t expect anything else.” Danny half-smiled while slipping into a chair. “I’ve been seeing a scrub nurse from the hospital. I spend so many hours there, Mary. She’s at my side. Assisting me. It just happened.”
“I can’t morally judge my own brother…” She frowned. “But …” She stared hard at him and clamped together her lips.
Facing the topic wasn’t as bad as Danny thought it would be. He sighed with relief.
“Go see your girls,” she said.
________
Danny always liked visiting his old room, now taken by Annabel, but getting there disheartened him. Walking through the upstairs hallway, he never failed to ache for Melissa; it seemed like only yesterday since her death. He stared at the floor as if her presence lingered on the carpet and she awaited oxygen and CPR. If only …
When he peered around the bedroom corner, Annabel’s head bobbed in rhythm with her music, black wires dangling from her ears. She had a textbook and spiral notebook in front of her on the bed, but looked out to the backyard.
Danny went in and stood near her. Her legs crossed at the ankles, dangling up in the air. She popped out an ear bud.
“I used to do the same thing,” he said.
Annabel yanked the other earpiece out. She rolled from her position and sat up. “What?”
“Look to that peaceful view while I was supposed to be studying.”
“It didn’t hurt you. You got what you wanted. Or who you wanted.”
Annabel’s sarcasm hit Danny as if it came from a mature boxer. Since he was the adult, he thought he’d be the one in charge of the conversation, not the other way around. He searched for words.
“So you and Mom are getting a divorce?”
Danny nodded.
“Are you going to marry the other one?”
He looked to the side, pursing his lips. “That’s not the issue right now.”
“So leaving all of us is? So you can do whatever it is you do with her? Like getting the President’s under-the-table?”
“That’s enough,” Danny said, knowing the antics going on in the White House and putting parental authority into his voice. This generation knew it all and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. Sex had simply become water fountain talk, as casual as the previous evening’s NCAA scores.
A minute elapsed. “Annabel, your future is important. Please, let’s not lose sight of your college goals. Or your wanting to be a doctor. Don’t get tangled in your parent’s problems. Or criticize us. We’ve done the best we could for both of you.”
“Who said I’m criticizing Mom?”
“I’m going to see Nancy,” he said and leaned over to give her a kiss.
Annabel pulled away from him as a tear escaped from the corner of her eye.
________
Nancy sidetracked from homework to MySpace using Mary’s computer. Divorce sucks, she typed. Anybody’s parent having an affair like mine? She swiveled in the chair and looked down at her TN Lady Vols shirt. The chest bulges made her smile. Her new habit entailed checking on their ascent routinely.
Danny rapped on the almost closed door. Nancy swung her foot, pushing the door wide open. “Hey,” Danny said.
Her face soured. She wanted to continue with her on-line bantering. Anything but to talk to him.
; Danny tried leaning on the doorframe but he wasn’t up to the relaxed pose. He tugged at his Henley shirt neckline to give himself some more air. “How was school today?” he ventured.
“Why?” Her eyes swiveled to the ceiling.
“I’ve asked you that many times. I’ve never gotten that question as a response.”
“That’s because you and Mom have never split up before. I don’t even know where my father lives, so why do you care about my school day?”
“Nancy, marriages don’t always last forever. It doesn’t mean I love you any less; it doesn’t change our relationship.”
She lowered her eyes and picked lint off her black stretch pants.
Danny continued to stand there, feeling worse by the second. His daughter diverted her eyes to the computer screen as if he were a pop up window she wanted to close.
“Come downstairs to help Mary as soon as you’re finished. We’ll all eat together.”
________
“Nothing fancy, Danny,” Mary said as he joined her in the kitchen. “I’m only microwaving Idaho potatoes.”
Annabel and Nancy padded down the stairs fifteen minutes later.
“We’ll load ‘em up,” Mary said, grabbing cheddar cheese and sour cream from the refrigerator. Danny got bacon bits and butter and Nancy put utensils and napkins on the table. “Casey’ll be here after the gym,” Mary said. “He worked seven to three.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him.” Danny said, as he held potholders to slide hot potatoes out of the microwave. “Does he know?”
“I told him,” Mary said softly as Danny narrowed his eyes. “Only a sentence or two. Facts only. Most of it should come from you. You are his best friend.”
At the table, Danny reached for the tub of coleslaw, which Nancy hadn’t passed to him. He scooped only one spoonful; he’d lost his appetite. “I’d like to take you girls to dinner this weekend, and show you my apartment.” The girls remained distracted. “I’ll ramp up efforts to see you,” he added tentatively.