Promise Me Always

by Rhonda Shaw

He heaved a deep sigh. “I still haven’t heard from DOA or anyone.”

  Despite his goading, I refused to feel guilty. He was the idiot who brought everyone here so he could put his “family” on display without discussing it with me first. “Well, I’m sure they’ll be in contact soon. I just got a call from Big T, in fact.”

  “He called you? For what?” He huffed and propped one hand on his hip.

  “Danny wants to meet Dani for lunch tomorrow.”

  “He wants…lunch…what? Why would he call you, and not me?”

  I straightened and scowled. “She’s his daughter, Brad, and he wants to be a part of her life. You’re going to have to get used to that.”

  “I don’t have a problem with that,” he said, clearly not caring about what happened between father and daughter. “What I have a problem with is the fact I haven’t heard anything from them about signing the contract. That’s what’s most important.”

  My eyes widened. Could he really be so selfish? He seemed to be taking his slightly inflated ego—something I’d been able to ignore in the past, and had even thought was cute at first—to new extremes in light of recent events.

  “You’re unbelievable.” I pushed past him and out of the room, ignoring when he called out.

  For the rest of the night, we avoided each other, and even when we got into bed together, both facing opposite walls, an ocean of space laid between us, but I refused to relent. He was the one who should apologize, not me.

  The next morning, silence still loomed over us while he got ready for work, and I went downstairs to fix breakfast. Dani’s attention was glued to the small television at the table, still dressed in her pink princess pajamas and her hair mussed from sleep. I smiled at the sight of my still sleepy daughter before clearing my throat, figuring now was as good a time as ever to fill her in about her father.

  “Honey, you remember the man you met the other day, who had the same name as you? Danny?”

  “Uh huh.” Her focus remained riveted to the screen.

  I turned off the TV before walking around the counter and sitting across from her.

  Her eyes rounded, affronted by my behavior. “Hey! You always let me watch my shows in the morning while you make breakfast!”

  “It’s only for a minute. We need to talk.” When I was sure I had her complete attention, I took a deep breath. “There’s something you need to know about him. He’s your father.” When Dani continued to gaze at me with a glaze over her blue eyes and no change in expression, I wondered if she was sleeping with her eyes open. “Hey, did you hear what I said?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you have nothing to say?”

  She pondered for a moment before she shrugged. “Nope. Can you turn the TV back on?”

  “No, I can’t turn the TV back on. Dani, do you understand what I’m telling you?”

  “Yes.”

  I wasn’t sure she did, even though she’d asked in the past about having a dad after meeting some of her friends’, but she’d talk when ready and only then, just like her father. “He wants to meet us for lunch today. Okay?”

  Dani’s eyes veered back to the television as if willing it to turn on by itself. “‘Kay.”

  I sighed and hit the remote. Brad strode in and reached past me as I scrambled eggs in a bowl, to fill up a mug with coffee.

  “What time is your date today?” he asked with a testy tone, breaking the standoff between us.

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “It’s not a date.”

  “Whatever. What time is it?”

  “Noon.”

  He jerked his head in Dani’s direction. “Did you tell her?”

  I glanced over. “Yeah, I just tried. She said she understood, but I’m not sure.”

  He nodded, taking a drink of coffee before dumping the rest in the sink. “I’d appreciate it if you could ask them to give me a call.”

  I didn’t lift my focus from the bowl, and this time, I did roll my eyes. Again, he showed no concern for anyone but himself. “Sure, Brad. I’ll ask them to call you,” I mumbled to his back as he walked out the door, not bothering to stay for breakfast or even say good-bye to Dani.

  Later, after showering and dressing us both, we got in the car and took off for the restaurant, running a few minutes late. I’d taken longer than anticipated, fretting over what to wear, like it was our first date, before telling myself to get over it; that this was about Dani, not me. I eventually decided on a white halter summer dress covered in small yellow daisies, with white strappy mules. Afterward, I’d helped Dani select a simple jean skirt and pink t-shirt with tan Mary Janes, and styled her hair in a Dutch braid.

  I struggled to ignore the butterflies in my stomach and reminded myself, again, Danny wanted to see his daughter, not me. I was only background and had no reason to be nervous.

  “Are you okay back there?” I eyed Dani in the rearview mirror for any signs of discomfort or nerves.

  “Yep.”

  Well, at least someone is. I pulled into the parking lot and took a deep breath. It’s now or never.

  Grabbing Dani’s hand, we entered the small restaurant. The family-style atmosphere reminded me of the Italian place he had taken me on our first date. He’d always preferred the smaller, local restaurants rather than the bigger, trendier chains.

  The hostess smiled at us. “Hi! Can I help you?”

  I removed my sunglasses and surveyed the room. Few of the tables sat empty, but I recognized no one. “Uh, yeah. We’re supposed to be meeting someone here.” I stepped closer to the podium, lowering my voice. “It’s Danny Anderson, or DOA, I guess. Is he here yet?”

  The girl flushed at the mention of his name, apparently a fan. “Are you Gabrielle?” she asked, and at my nod, she smiled. “He’s in the banquet room. Right this way.”

  We followed her to the back of the restaurant to a closed door. She held it open and waved us in. “Go ahead.”

  I nodded in thanks before the door shut behind us. Danny sat at a table, studying his phone, while Big T and the two giants conversed in the back corner. Dollar’s absence didn’t escape me. It seemed he still hadn’t gotten over his issues with me from the past, whatever they were.

  Big T strode over with a big grin on his friendly face. His calm and tranquil presence soothed my nerves, and I was grateful he was there.

  “Hey, girl. Looking good.”

  “Thanks, Teddy.”

  He smiled down at Dani, who peered up at him with interest, still holding my hand. “And how about you, little D? How you doing?”

  She giggled. “Good.”

  ~ Danny ~

  I trailed Big T with my hands shoved into my pockets, trying to calm my racing heart. I didn’t want to be nervous, but I was venturing into new territory here. The last thing I wanted was to screw things up with Dani, especially since I had no clue how to be a father, my own being the perfect role model of a complete fuck-up, but I was determined to do my best and give her the life I’d always wanted.

  Gabrielle looked so beautiful that I couldn’t stop staring at her, but then I turned my attention to my little girl smiling up at Big T, and I lost my breath. She turned her blue eyes on me, and took a tentative step closer to her mother.

  I knelt in front of her and smiled. “Hey, Dani. Remember me?”

  She nodded, but said nothing as she stuck close to her mom’s side. Gabrielle lowered to her level to put a reassuring arm around her.

  “This is Danny, remember? We talked about who he is earlier. He’s your dad.”

  She glanced at her before looking back at me with a slight bob of her head.

  My heart stopped with fright at the word “dad” before filling with pride that I’d been a part of creating this beautiful girl. I wanted to be the hero in her life; I wanted her to be daddy’s little angel. I’d missed her first six years, and even though I was still so fucking angry about that, I wasn’t going to let it discourage me. I was going to try to make up the lost time. But first
we needed not to be so afraid of each other.

  I held out my hand to her. “Can you shake my hand hello?”

  A timid smile broke out on her face as she eyed my hand before tentatively placing her smaller one in it. I gave it a light squeeze before purposefully giving a hard shake, causing a bubble of laughter to escape from her lips.

  I caught Gabrielle’s eye and smiled, which she returned, and my heart swelled. “Come on, Dani. Let’s sit down.”

  Big T patted my back. “I’ll be back, D.”

  Hearing this, Gabrielle glanced over her shoulder. “You’re leaving, Teddy?”

  “Oh, yeah, girl. Things to do, you know. Besides, I think you guys have lots of catching up to do.”

  I tried to ignore the trepidation in her eyes, even though her anxiety gnawed at me. I was the cause of her unease, my actions putting us in the situation we were in, but I hoped over time, I could remove it as well.

  “Oh, okay. We’ll see you later, I hope.”

  She sat Dani between us, but she refused to meet my eyes as she took her seat. Uncomfortable silence fell around us, no one knowing where to start, before I cleared my throat.

  “What’s your favorite thing to eat, Dani?”

  “Salad.”

  I frowned. “Salad?”

  She nodded, and Gabrielle laughed. “Yes, your daughter has very unique taste for a child. Although she does have a weak spot for French fries and chicken nuggets.”

  I feigned relief. “Phew! I was beginning to wonder about her. Is that what you want? A salad?”

  “With ranch dressing, please.”

  “All right, I think we can manage that.” I looked at Gabrielle. “What about you?”

  She picked up a menu, the trembling of her fingers revealing her nerves, just as they had on our first date, making me want to take her hands in mine, like I had then, and tell her everything was okay. But it wasn’t, and I couldn’t. At least not yet. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not really hungry, but I could probably do a salad as well.”

  After the waitress took our orders and left the room, silence fell across the table again. I kept trying to draw Dani into conversation, but she only gave me one-word answers until Gabrielle threw me a bone.

  “Dani, why don’t you tell your father what your favorite thing to do is?”

  When her brows creased, her mother leaned in and whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened in excitement and she turned to me. “I love ballet,” she gushed with a bright smile.

  “Is that right? Do you take classes?”

  “Uh huh, but only one.” Her lower lip protruded into a slight pout.

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because—”

  “Because that’s all we have time for right now,” her mother interrupted before taking a drink of water.

  She’d obviously cut Dani off on purpose, but I didn’t push. “Do you dance with your mom?”

  Gabrielle blanched as she took another sip, but Dani didn’t notice and shook her head. “No. Mommy doesn’t dance.”

  It was my turn to be confused as I eyed Gabrielle over Dani, which she avoided. But then the waitress arrived with our order, preventing me from asking anything further. I couldn’t understand why she would keep something like that from Dani, when she had been magnificent and destined for the stage. But I was the last person to comment, since it was most likely my doing.

  We eventually fell into easy conversation, and I explained the art of rapping to Dani and even free-styled a few lines for her.

  She clapped her hands when I finished. “More!”

  I chuckled. “Another time, and I’ll teach you how to do it.” I glanced at my watch and shook my head. “I hate to do this, but I’ve got an appointment I’ve got to get to.”

  “Oh, that’s okay. We need to be getting back anyway.” Gabrielle stood and gathered her purse.

  I walked around the table to her side. “Can I talk to you for a second?” I gestured to a far corner where we could speak in private.

  A wary expression fell over her face and she glanced down at Dani. “I don’t want to leave her.”

  “Yo, Andre’. Come here,” I called to one of the security guys sitting at the back of the room. “He’ll sit with her. He’s one of my bodyguards, so he’s cool.”

  She eyed the enormous man as he lumbered toward us, uncertainty still etched on her face, but she didn’t push it further.

  “Dani, baby, this is Andre’. He’s going to hang with you for a sec while I talk to your mom, okay? We’ll be right over there.”

  Dani nodded as her eyes widened, taking in Andre’s huge biceps and thick neck. He smiled at her, softening his demeanor, and somehow, he didn’t appear as intimidating anymore.

  “Dani and I will be cool. I’ve got a few tricks I can teach her.” He pulled out a couple coins from his pocket.

  I gently steered Gabrielle by the elbow to the opposite corner of the room.

  “About the other day…I wanted to say, I don’t know what happened or whatever, but if you say you tried to tell me about her, I believe you. I know you wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

  “No, I wouldn’t.”

  “Right…I want to make sure that was clear, so things are cool between us, you know, for Dani, because I want to start spending time with her.”

  “Of course.” She gave me a false smile, which I saw right through, telling me I had a lot of work to do before things were truly “cool” between us, but I was up for the challenge. “Just let me know when.”

  “I’ll have to check my schedule and see when I can meet you guys again.”

  Her shoulders sagged, but she smiled again. My G, always so willing to please. I hated to take advantage of it, but at this point, I would take what I could get. “Sure, no problem. I can do that.”

  “Okay, good. I’ll be in touch then.”

  I started to walk away, but once we were shoulder to shoulder and her soft scent tickled my nose, I turned, unable to resist. Stepping close to her, so close I could almost kiss her neck, I leaned in, and she stiffened, her chest starting to heave.

  “You look amazing, by the way.”

  She swallowed and turned, finally meeting my eyes and gave me a small smile.

  Reaching out, I tugged on one of the waves spiraling down from her head. “I like your hair down like that.”

  Her eyes widened, and she gasped when I leaned in to brush my lips against hers before walking away.

  Chapter 10

  ~ Gabrielle ~

  Six Years Earlier

  I ran a brush through my hair for the umpteenth time, fighting the urge to grab an elastic band and pull it away from my face. Left down for my date, it hung in rolling waves past my shoulders, the light picking up the streaks of golden and honey blonde. Always in a bun, this felt foreign and heavy, irritating me whenever loose strands floated across my face. But I was determined to stick it out. I wanted to look pretty for Danny and had a feeling he would like it; a drastic change from the every day.

  Despite her less than enthusiastic opinion about the date, and the fact that she considered Danny a thug, Monica had helped pick out my outfit. I had to admit the deep blue of the boat neck sweater selected by her framed my long neck and sculpted shoulders like one of my leotards, and wasn’t too revealing. The color highlighted the soft rose of my cheeks and made the color of my eyes appear greener. I’d applied minimal makeup, more than my usual nothing, and I liked how my eyes popped. The rest of my face was simply too long and thin for me to do anything about.

  The only piece of my wardrobe still in question was the dark rinse hip hugging jeans. Monica assured me they fit as they should, but, tighter and lower than anything I’d ever worn, I worried my underwear would peek out every time I bent over or sat down. After some experimental tries, however, everything stayed covered with no panty shots, much to my relief.

  I stood and took a deep breath. I could do this.

  A knock rapped against the bathroom door. “
Gabby? You okay?” Monica’s tone was concerned.

  I opened it and Monica’s gaze trailed over me. She did a little jump on her toes and clapped her hands. “Omigod! You look amazing!”

  “Really?” I turned back to the mirror and tugged at the hem of the sweater.

  She stood behind me and I studied our reflections. It was weird that we were almost identical in appearance, even though our personalities were so different and there were a couple years between us.

  “I’m serious, Gab. You look awesome. I haven’t seen you look like this in years.”

  “Thanks for telling me I look like crap all the time.”

  She laughed. “Well, not crap, but definitely not like this.” Her eyes softened and became thoughtful. “You shouldn’t hide behind the bun and buttoned up clothes, Gabby.” Before I could respond, she glanced down and scowled. “What are you wearing for shoes?”

  “I don’t know, actually.”

  “I’ve got the perfect pair. Don’t go anywhere.” She dashed out of the bathroom and returned a split second later, thrusting brown leather ankle boots with low heels into my hands. “These will look awesome.”

  I frowned at them. “I don’t need to be taller, Mon, and tower over the guy.”

  “You won’t. He’ll still have a couple inches on you.” Seeing the doubt on my face, she rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! They’re perfect and you have nothing else to wear, admit it.”

  Running out of time to come up with another option, I sat down on the side of the worn, beige bathtub and pulled the boots on. “Fine, but if I twist my ankle in these, I’m going to kill you.”

  “What’s going on in here?” Our mother appeared in the doorway.

  “Putting on the final touches,” Monica answered as I stood.

  “Oh my.” Her hand went to her mouth. “You look beautiful, honey. He better be a special boy to deserve someone like you.”

  I caught Monica’s sneer and interrupted her before she formed a retort. “Don’t say anything. Leave him alone.”

  A knock sounded from the front of the apartment, and I gave myself one last critical examination in the mirror, trying to ignore the thudding of my heart and the giant ball of fiery nerves in the pit of my stomach. I hoped he didn’t expect me to eat anything.