Played

by Barbara Freethy

  "You do understand about your father, don't you?" she asked.

  Danny looked her in the eye. "No, I don't understand. I have a right to know my father. Kids are supposed to have two parents."

  "I wish it could have been different."

  "Don't you want to know what happened to him, Mom? Don't you care about him at all?" Danny didn't wait for an answer. He ran down the steps, across the grass, and disappeared from view.

  * * *

  Jenny walked out to the sidewalk to pick up her morning paper. The street was quiet and peaceful, just a block from the Pacific Ocean. It was a working-class neighborhood with small one-story homes, neatly kept yards, and plenty of bikes, skateboards, and soccer balls to keep the kids happy. There wasn't a lot of money in this part of town, but there was a lot of pride and a lot of love.

  As she turned to go back to the house, Jenny saw her elderly neighbor Grace Patterson digging in her garden.

  Grace was wearing a wide-brim straw hat to protect her aging skin from the sun and a pair of strong, dirty gloves over her thin hands. Despite her advanced age, somewhere in her seventies, Grace still worked in her garden, baked cookies for the neighborhood kids, and kept an eye out for Jenny and Danny. She was one of the reasons Jenny liked living in Half Moon Bay, a small coastal community just south of San Francisco. People cared about each other here. They weren't just neighbors but friends.

  "Morning, Grace," Jenny called.

  Grace looked up and waved. "Good morning. How are you today?"

  "Late."

  "Same as always." She tipped her head toward the street. "Danny ran by in an awful hurry. Everything okay?"

  "He's almost a teenager."

  "Don't say another word." Grace laughed as she got to her feet and walked over to the chain-link fence that separated their two yards. "Anything I can do to help?"

  "Not this time, but thanks for the offer."

  "Just remember that all children do grow up."

  "I'll hang on to that thought. Have a good day."

  "You, too."

  Jenny returned to her house and got ready for work, hoping that Grace was right, that the problem of Danny's father, Luke Sheridan, would simply disappear, given enough time.

  Tonight she would come home early from work and surprise Danny. They'd go for pizza, a movie. He'd forget all about his father -- and so would she.

  * * *

  It was past five that night when Jenny returned home. She called Danny's name as she set her purse down on the kitchen counter. There was no reply. When she turned, she saw the note.

  The paper was clamped to the refrigerator door with an orange pumpkin magnet left over from Halloween. It was next to the two-dollar-off coupon for pepperoni pizza and the PTA newsletter. The word scrawled across the front in red crayon read simply, "Mom."

  There was nothing threatening about the piece of paper, but as soon as Jenny saw it, she knew something was wrong.

  If there was such a thing as mother's intuition, she had it now. Every nerve ending in her body tingled. Goose bumps ran down her bare arms, producing a shiver that racked her thin body. In the distance she could hear the sound of sirens growing closer, louder, reinforcing her sense of disaster.

  Danny never went out after school, not without asking first. Forcing her feet to move, Jenny walked over to the refrigerator and peeled off the note. Slowly, she unfolded the paper.

  Mom,

  I've gone to find Dad.

  I know he didn't want me when I was born, but maybe now he will. I'm a pretty good ballplayer. Don't be mad. Christopher's sister is giving us a ride. I'll take the bus back.

  Danny

  His father? Going to see his father? How could that be? Danny didn't know where Luke lived. Unless--

  Jenny dashed out of the kitchen and down the hall to her bedroom. She threw open the closet door and stood on tiptoe so she could reach the shoebox in the back. Her hands touched nothing but air. The shelf was empty.

  In desperation, she ran to Danny's room. On the middle of his unmade bed, next to a pile of baseball cards and a half-eaten chocolate donut was her box of memories.

  It had been stupid to keep any reminder of Luke, but she had found it impossible to throw away the past. She had pictures from their days at the beach, love letters, and her diary, the pages on which she had poured out the joy of her love, the panic of her pregnancy, and the sorrow of her breakup.

  Danny had found it all, including the newspaper clipping she had cut out last month, announcing Luke's return to the Bay Area. It wouldn't take Danny long to get the exact address. Her child was as smart as he was determined.

  Damn! She should have known this was coming. During the past month, Danny had asked endless questions about his father, begging her to call Luke. She had refused, hoping Danny's interest would wane, until he was more mature, less vulnerable -- until she could handle meeting Luke again.

  Danny had taken the decision out of her hands.

  Jenny sank down on Danny's bed and hugged his pillow tight to her chest. It smelled like her son, like Oreo cookies, sweaty socks, and old baseballs. No matter how grown-up Danny thought he was, he was just a child.

  What if Luke rejected Danny? Would Danny cry, or pretend to be a big kid who didn't care?

  Jenny stared at the ceiling and listened to the quiet.

  It was an eerie, spooky silence. Danny wouldn't like it. He hated being alone in the house, and he was often alone, because he'd been a latch-key kid the past two years.

  Guilt, anger, and fear raced through Jenny, each emotion twisting her stomach into a tight knot. Danny was the most important thing in her life. She couldn't lose him -- not even to his father. He was hers, and hers alone. She just had to find Danny and convince him that he didn't need anyone but her, certainly not Luke Sheridan.

  * * *

  "The Bay Area welcomes home Dr. Luke Sheridan, most recently the head of Research and Development for McAuley Perkins. Sheridan will take over the reins of Sheri-Tech, the biotech company founded by his father, Dr. Charles Sheridan. Sheri-Tech is expected to introduce a new drug this year that will rebuild damaged skin tissue in burn patients."

  Malcolm Davis tossed the newspaper down on the desk with a flourish. His round face beamed with excitement at his success in placing such a delicious tidbit in the San Francisco Review.

  "Nice job, Malcolm." Luke raised his bottle of Perrier in a silent toast.

  "What can I say? The press loves your long list of degrees and your success at McAuley. The tie-in with your brilliant father makes this story impossible to resist."

  Luke leaned back in the oversized, leather chair behind the desk. The chair had been his father's, like everything else in Luke's office and home. It was too big, too stiff, too unforgiving in texture. He made a silent vow to get rid of it come Monday.

  Luke changed positions as he looked at Malcolm. "How long have you worked for my father?" he asked.

  "Almost eight years. Why?"

  "Do you think you're going to like working for me?"

  Malcolm sent him a funny look. "I certainly hope so."

  "I'm not my father."

  "I never thought you were."

  "Really? You're probably the only one."

  Malcolm gathered his papers together, and Luke swiveled his chair around so he could look out the window. The Sheri-Tech building complex sat on the edge of the San Francisco Bay at Oyster Point, a few minutes south of San Francisco. From his vantage point he could see the Bay Bridge in the distance and the lights coming on in Oakland across the bay, reminding him that it was time to go home and celebrate his wedding anniversary.

  Still, he hesitated. In the past few years, he'd begun to feel more comfortable at work than at home. It was easier to focus on concrete business problems than deal with the inescapable feeling of restlessness that pervaded his family life.

  Happiness was found in the black figures on the profit and loss statement, not in his wife's arms, not in the huge house
that his parents had passed on to him. Something was missing. Something important, vital. Damned if he knew what it was. Everything he had planned for was now his. He should be ecstatic. Instead, he felt -- lonely.

  Malcolm walked around in front of him and leaned against the wall. He was a short, balding man, filled with energy. Even now he tapped his fingers against the wall in a restless beat as he studied Luke through sharp, perceptive eyes.

  "Okay, what's wrong?" Malcolm asked.

  "Nothing." Luke shrugged.

  "Try again."

  "All my life I've been cursed with the desire to want more than I have. I want to be content."

  "Content? That sounds like old socks and game shows on television. You're living the good life, Luke. You're running the game. The world is at your feet."

  "Right." Luke pulled at the tie around his neck.

  "I'm bringing Stan Polleck from Genesys to your party tonight. He's very interested in selling his company to us. I hope Denise doesn't mind mixing business with pleasure."

  "Not at all. She's more ambitious than I am. In fact, Denise would like to see Sheri-Tech acquire Genesys. It would certainly make us a major player in the area of gene research. Of course, she'd also like the company to go public." Luke smiled cynically. "She thinks a public offering would enhance our bank account."

  "It would certainly do that. But you'd lose some control."

  "Exactly."

  The phone on the credenza buzzed. Malcolm picked it up. He held out the receiver to Luke. "Scott Danielson."

  Luke took the phone. "Scott. How are you?"

  "Fine. I got worried when Denise missed her appointment today. I hope she's not feeling any side effects."

  The muscles in Luke's body tightened as he tried to decipher the words he was hearing from Denise's gynecologist. "I didn't know Denise had an appointment with you today."

  "Follow-up appointment for tubal ligation is standard procedure, old buddy, or have you been out of the practice of medicine so long you've forgotten?"

  Tubal ligation? Follow-up? Denise had had a tubal ligation? That was impossible. When?

  At the back of his mind, Luke remembered Denise's unexpected trip to her mother's house a month earlier. She'd been gone four days.

  No. Denise would have told him. They would have discussed it. He would have said absolutely not. He wanted children, of course he did. In fact, just the other day he had decided it was time to add a baby to their lives.

  "Luke, are you there?"

  "Yes. I'll tell Denise to phone your office."

  "As long as she's okay."

  "She's fine." Luke hung up the phone.

  Malcolm sent him a concerned look. "Everything all right?"

  "I have to go home."

  "An hour early? Did someone die?"

  "Not yet." Luke picked up his briefcase and walked out the door.

  Buy DANIEL'S GIFT

  Currently available in electronic format

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  All She Ever Wanted

  Ask Mariah

  Daniel's Gift

  Don't Say A Word

  Golden Lies

  Just The Way You Are

  Love Will Find A Way

  One True Love

  Ryan's Return

  Some Kind of Wonderful

  Summer Secrets

  The Sweetest Thing

  The Sanders Brothers Series

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  The Deception Series

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  Angel's Bay Series

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  #5 Garden of Secrets (Release date 09/20/11)

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Barbara Freethy is a #1 NY Times Bestselling Author, a distinction she received for her novel, SUMMER SECRETS. Her 28 novels range from contemporary romance to romantic suspense and women's fiction and several other titles have appeared at #1 on the Barnes and Noble Top 100 bestsellers, including DON'T SAY A WORD and ALL SHE EVER WANTED, and other titles have made appearances on the NYT and USA Today Bestseller Lists, including DANIEL'S GIFT and SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL. Her books have won numerous awards - she is a four-time finalist for the RITA for best contemporary romance from Romance Writers of America and her book DANIEL'S GIFT won the honor and was also optioned for a television movie.

  Known for her emotional and compelling stories of love, family, mystery and romance, Barbara enjoys writing about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary adventures. She is currently writing a contemporary series for Pocket books, entitled ANGEL'S BAY, set along the fictional coast of California. The latest book in the series, GARDEN OF SECRETS was released in September 2011.

  Barbara has lived all over the state of California and currently resides in Northern California where she draws much of her inspiration from the beautiful bay area. Barbara loves to hear from readers so please feel free to write her.

  For a complete listing of books, as well as excerpts and contests, and to connect with Barbara:

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