There was a long pause. Nikki waited for a response, but Daniel didn’t say a word. She exhaled and laid her head back against his chest.
“Bear with me, Nikki,” he finally said.
Nikki hesitated. “I think I’m over you,” she said.
As soon as she said those words, Daniel’s hand began stroking her hair slower, with much less vigor, as if he was suddenly caught in an absentminded, slow-motion time warp. “What’s that?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “I think I’m over you.”
His heart dropped and his entire body felt limp as he looked into Nikki’s sexy, beautiful, but now confident eyes. “Are you?” he asked.
“I think so. The obsession. The desperation. The insecurities. I think I’m moving beyond that now. You told me a long time ago to make friends, you remember that?”
Daniel hesitated. “Yes,” he said.
“You said they aren’t going to be perfect, so don’t expect them to be. And Val sort of said the same thing tonight. He said I expect perfection from people. Especially from you. But not anymore. You aren’t perfect. That’s what I never fully understood. And I don’t expect you to be.”
“In other words,” Daniel said, trying to smile but too mortified to pull it off, “I’m not your hero anymore.”
Nikki looked at Daniel and Daniel stared into Nikki’s eyes. For her, it was an exhilarating feeling. An awakening. For him it was terrifying. “That’s right,” she said. “I don’t think I need one now.”
Daniel tried to smile again, and then he pulled her closer to him. He was concerned with the implications, deeply concerned, but he understood them. It was a painful but necessary rite of passage for Nikki. She had seen enough. Now even the mirages stung. And she had to protect her heart. But not with insecurity or desperation the way she had tried to do it all along. Now she was protecting her heart with strength. And courage. And peaceful contentment.
Nearly two hours later and Nikki came downstairs. Val was practically asleep lying on the sofa, and that fact wasn’t lost on Nikki. “I know you don’t have your funky feet on my couch,” she said with a smile.
Val looked at her. She had on a robe and bedroom shoes, and was all aglow. He smiled. “And I know the last thing on your mind is this couch.”
Nikki sat down on the sofa, quickly placing Val’s head in her lap. His dreads were always so neat, she noticed. “You heard everything, didn’t you?” she said, rubbing his hair.
“What?”
“Don’t what me. I’ll bet you heard it all.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Okay. Play dumb. But I’ll tell you what, you should have been there, sweetheart.”
“I was there, sweetheart,” Val said with a smile. “I thought that bed was coming through the roof.”
Nikki laughed. “I knew you heard us!”
“Where’s Daniel?”
“He’s coming down.”
“He can hang a long-behind time for an old man. I mean, damn. You think he’s taking Viagra?”
Nikki slapped Val upside his head. “No, he ain’t taking no Viagra! Are you?”
“If I needed to I would. But I estimate I’m about fifty years from that need just now.”
“Yeah, right,” Nikki said as Daniel, fully clothed in his suit and tie, began walking downstairs. Val sat up to get a good look at him. Although Val was smiling, Daniel looked like his regular, serious self.
“Hey, stud, how was your nap?” Val asked and Nikki playfully hit him.
“My what?”
“Your nap. Nikki said you was up there all those hours getting some rest.”
Nikki was smiling too.
“Did she?” Daniel said, still serious, still unable to take the joke for what it was.
“She did. You must have been tired, is all I can say.”
Nikki broke into laughter. Daniel glared at her as he stepped into the living room. “Come walk me to my car, Nikki,” he told her, and she began getting up. Daniel looked at Val. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure thing. And make sure you get you some more rest.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. Daniel glanced at Val and then headed out the door.
“What’s his problem?” Daniel asked Nikki as she followed him outside.
“He’s just trying to be funny.”
They walked slowly to Daniel’s car. Once he made it to his car’s door, he turned and looked at Nikki.
“I’m sure my neighbors appreciate this scene,” she said, looking down at her robe. Daniel looked at it too, unable to forget the round of lovemaking they had just endured.
“Is Val joking around,” Daniel asked, “because he heard us?”
Nikki nodded. “Yep. We were pretty loud from what he claims.”
Daniel smiled. “Oh, well. That’s what you get for having a houseguest.”
Nikki laughed. “You’re the one who called him.”
“And you’re glad I did. Aren’t you?”
“Yes. Yes, I am. Thank-you.”
Daniel nodded as he continued to stare at her. He was staring so hard at her body, in fact, that she became uncomfortable and folded her arms.
“You’d better get out of this weather,” he said. Then he reached out and hugged her. She fell into his warm embrace. “I love you, Nikki,” he said as he held her.
She closed her eyes. And paused. “I know,” she finally said.
Daniel’s heart dropped as he held her tighter. He had never felt more alone, and more needy, in his life.
When they stopped embracing, Nikki looked into his bright hazel eyes, and she smiled. “Drive carefully,” she said. And without waiting to hear his response, she began walking back toward her house.
“I’ll call you later,” he yelled after her.
“Good night, Daniel,” she yelled back, without turning around.
Daniel watched her, as she moved toward her front door, looking more graceful and sophisticated now, and he suddenly had an urge to run to her, and hold her again, but he resisted. His loneliness wasn’t her problem. And he wasn’t going to make it her problem. He, instead, got into his car, cranked up, and drove home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
There would be no good news for two solid weeks. Nikki and Val, whenever he could come to town, put all of their skills as probing journalists to work, while Daniel kept the fire under the feet of his investigators. But nothing panned out. Day and night their entire existence was devoted to clearing Nikki of what they were convinced were trumped up charges, and day and night they kept firing blanks.
Until nearly three weeks later. Val was in town and he and Nikki were in the Gazette newsroom scouring over every article that had a byline by Nikki. Luke allowed them to use the conference room and they were hard at work on two computers. Until Nikki came across one particular story. The Fresh Air Now (FAN) activists’ story. The cops never did question her again about it, even after she wrote the story. But as Nikki thought about that story, and if there were any possible enemies she could have there, she began thinking beyond the story itself. Then she realized that it was after that story, the day after, when she first met Melanie Chandler. And there was another factor.
She looked up from her computer screen and looked over at Val.
Val looked at her. “What is it?” he asked.
“Melanie Chandler,” she said.
“Daniel’s assistant?”
“Yes.”
“What about her? I thought he fired her.”
“He did. But all of the troubles I’ve been having with Daniel didn’t really get started until after she came into Daniel’s life.”
“All what troubles? Your arrest?”
“My doubting Daniel. The nude pictures. The telephone call from that woman claiming to have that long term affair with Daniel. And the arrest, yes.”
Val was interested. “So what are you saying? You think she set you up?”
“She’s the only variable
that occurred in our lives prior to that stuff happening. I mean, she hits the scene and I get arrested, just a few months later, for trafficking drugs. We’ve been focusing on my enemies to find out who might have set me up. Like something negative I wrote about somebody. But what if it was one of Daniel’s enemies?”
“But his investigators looked into that, Nikki,” Val said. “They even investigated Michael Fastower to see if he tried to discredit Daniel to win that CEO job.”
“I know.”
“And they concluded he had nothing to do with it.”
“I know. But what about Melanie? They never even considered her. And Daniel had fired her?”
“You’ve got a point. But you’d think they would have looked into it. I mean, she was fired and a few days later you were arrested.”
“Right.” Nikki began typing in Melanie’s name on Google. “Bing her, Val,” she said to Val.
Val typed in Melanie’s name in Bing. But there was nothing out of the ordinary at all and very few info to choose from. They even attempted to review her criminal record, a service they both, as reporters, had access to. But she didn’t have a record to review. Val looked at Nikki. She began shutting down her computer.
“Let’s go to Daniel,” she said. “Let’s see if these high-dollar investigators he hired have even thought about checking out Mel.”
Daniel was sitting behind his desk, his feet propped up, his reading glasses on as he perused a stack of acquisition projections, when his desk intercom buzzed and the voice of the front desk receptionist could be heard. “Mr. Crane?”
Daniel became immediately upset that the receptionist was not adhering to his instructions. He reluctantly pressed the button. “Yes, Whitney?” he said.
“This is Helen, sir. And I apologize for disturbing you, sir, but . . .”
“Where’s Whitney?”
“She’s off. This is her day off.”
“Today?”
“Yes, sir. She’s off today and tomorrow, although she said she might come in for half a day tomorrow.”
Daniel exhaled. “What is it that you wanted, Helen?”
“Oh. Yes. I didn’t mean to bother you, but Miss Graham is here to see you, sir. I tried to explain to her that you weren’t seeing visitors without appointments but she . . .”
“Send her back,” Daniel said.
“Sir?”
“Send her back.”
“Oh. Yes, sir.”
“And Helen?”
“Sir?”
“Wherever Miss Graham comes to this office she’s to be let in without exception.”
“Yes sir,” Helen said. “I did not know, sir.”
“Okay,” Daniel said and buzzed off.
He continued reading through his projection papers while he awaited Nikki’s arrival. It was only one in the afternoon but it had already been a hectic day. He had three different meetings, all intense, including one with Michael Fastower, and he had a working lunch with Nikki’s attorney, Lewis Hirsch. And he had yet another meeting in a few. But despite his busy schedule, he was pleased at the prospect of seeing Nikki. She was out of the doldrums now and was actively seeking to clear her name. She was in high spirits. Which meant he was too.
“Hey, Daniel,” she said jovially as she and Val entered the office.
Daniel smiled and leaned back when he saw her, and when she arrived at his side behind his desk, he lifted his mouth to hers. They kissed a kiss that Nikki assumed would be a peck. But Daniel, to her delight, extended it. He placed his hand beneath her chin and kissed her far more passionately than a hello usually required. But Nikki wasn’t complaining. She was inwardly thrilled.
Val sat down in front of the desk and wasn’t complaining either. He was outwardly thrilled. Ever since Nikki’s arrest, Daniel’s attentiveness to Nikki heightened. He’d always loved her. There was no doubt in Val’s mind about that. But after her arrest, his love went virile. He was proclaiming that love as if he, not Nikki anymore, was the needy one now.
As Daniel’s lips continued to attack Nikki’s as if they were the only people in the room, Val wondered if Nikki’s arrest and the way she initially handled that arrest, where she pretty much shut him out, made Daniel realize just how easily he could lose Nikki. For four years he’d been taking her presence in his life for granted, if you asked Val. Then Nikki’s freedom is threatened and Daniel finally woke the hell up. Val was pleased. Not just for Nikki’s love life, but for the fact that if he was already convinced that Daniel would move mountains to exonerate Nikki, he was doubly convinced now.
When they stopped kissing, Daniel placed his hand around Nikki’s waist. She glanced down. Just as she suspected, he was aroused.
“You’re okay?” he asked her, looking into her eyes the way a doctor would, as if in those eyes he would know the true answer.
“I am,” she said. And she was. Her prayers to God and Daniel’s love for her kept her going. Somehow she knew everything was going to be alright. She was more than okay.
“Hello, Daniel,” Val said, wondering if he Daniel could tear his eyes away from Nikki long enough to notice the other human in the room.
Daniel smiled and looked at Val. “Hello, Valton. How are you, Valton?”
Val smiled. “Not as good as you,” he said to laughter from Daniel. “But I’m okay.”
Nikki left Daniel’s side and began walking around to the front of his desk.
“You’ve been taking care of Nikki for me?”
Val snorted. “Or the other way around, yes, sir.”
“The other way around, Val?” Nikki asked as she sat in the chair beside him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Val continued to look at Daniel. “This girl of yours is a mess, that’s what it means, Mr. Crane.”
“Mr. Crane?” Nikki said with a smile. “Since when is he Mr. Crane?”
“She thinks she can boss me around, is what she thinks, and her every waking hour is spent on trying to do just that. So please tell her to give it a rest.”
Daniel was loving it. “Give it a rest, Nikki,” he said.
“I’ll give it a rest, all right,” Nikki said, staring at Val with a smile on her face.
“So how have you been, Val?” Daniel asked him.
“He’s been just fine,” Nikki said as she turned her attention back to Daniel. “He’s been getting on my last nerve, but he’s fine.”
“Very funny,” Val said. “The lady has jokes.”
Daniel leaned back and looked at the lady over his reading glasses. She was in a pair of black jeans and a plain green T-shirt with one of those thin, army jackets covering her. Just seeing her made his heart squeeze with pride. She was handling her situation like a real trouper, compared to how she first handled it. But he could also tell she had something unsettling on her mind.
“Tell me,” he said to her.
She thought about it, as if she was attempting to figure out how to say it. Then she decided to just say it. “Melanie Chandler,” she said to him.
Daniel continued to stare at her. “What about Mel?”
“I think your investigators should have investigated her.”
Daniel hesitated. “You think so?”
“Yes, I do. And it’s not about me being jealous of her or anything like that. I just realized that all of our troubles seemed to start when she entered your life.”
Daniel nodded his head. “Very good,” he said.
Now Val was looking at him too. “What do you mean?” he asked. “You knew that too?”
“I did.”
Nikki was floored. “You mean you had her investigated already?”
“I investigated her,” Daniel said.
“You?” Nikki asked, surprised.
“Yes, me. Somebody do something like that to you, Nikki, that means every motherfucker who’s had anything to do with you or me will be investigated. Nobody’s off limits.”
Nikki wanted to joke, did that include Val, but she couldn’t. She was too s
tunned. “So you think she’s involved?” she asked Daniel.
Daniel removed his reading glasses and threw them on his desk. He ran both hands over his face several times. Then he looked at Nikki. “Yes.”
Nikki looked at Val. “Have mercy,” Val said.
Then Nikki looked back at Daniel. “So what did you find out?” she asked Daniel.
Daniel removed his feet from his desk, unlocked his desk’s middle drawer, and pulled out a thin manila envelope and handed it to Nikki. “Take a look,” he said.
Nikki opened the envelope quickly, her heart racing with anticipation. Val leaned over and looked at the papers she pulled out too, and they scoured through them. Daniel was studying her while she studied those papers, wondering if she was truly paying attention.
Then she finally looked up at him. “There’s nothing here, Daniel, what’s this? All this is talking about is basic stuff, where she was born, where she went to school, her job history.”
“There’s a lot there, Nikki. You’re overlooking it.”
“I’m not overlooking anything. I’m a reporter, I know how to scour over documents.”
“And she ain’t lying.
“Well she’s not scouring over that,” Daniel said. He leaned forward, his elbows on his desk. “Where did she grow up?”
Nikki looked at the papers again. “She was born in Chicago.”
“I didn’t ask you where was she born. I asked you where did she grow up?”
“You didn’t read that part?” Val asked just to needle Nikki a little.
But Nikki was absorbed in the task in front of her. She was looking over the documents again. “Oh,” she finally said, and then she looked at Daniel. “She grew up in Philadelphia.”
“Philadelphia?” Val asked. “Isn’t that where you’re from, Daniel?”
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