by Fox Brison
“But you said your name was Jennifer?” Poor Dani. She looked as if I’d slapped her around the chops with a pregnant salmon.
“I lied,” I hung my head.
“You… you lied. Is this some kind of joke?” She took a step back and I took one forward; it must have looked like we were doing the cha cha.
I reached out my hand, but dropped it before it reached her, not sure a tactile approach was appropriate at this juncture. Actually, I wasn’t sure what sort of approach was appropriate. I was more used to dealing with animals; skittish, angry, backed into a corner animals. Now I’m not saying Dani was a skittish animal, but I did what I knew best. I evened my tone and softened my stance. I had to relax the stallion before it bolted.
“No, it’s no joke. I’m sorry, Dani, I didn’t think we’d ever cross paths again and I panicked when you asked me my name.”
“Why in the britches did you panic? What, do I look like some sort of crazed a stalker or something?” Her features and tone held not only a world of confusion, they also held a world of hurt. She gulped a couple of times, maybe trying to catch her breath, more likely suppressing her anger.
“No, you’re perfect… I don’t know why I panicked,” I said softly. “I felt so far out of my comfort zone I think I was on the international space station that night.”
“Does Jack know? Oh, Lord and your sister! She must think I’m a lunatic the way I acted at Elmo’s.”
“No, Dani, she doesn’t. Honestly the only person my sister thinks is a lunatic is me, and Jack doesn’t know anything. That’s why I came here to straighten everything out before they arrived.” This time I acted instinctively. I reached out to touch her arm but she flinched.
“Dani,” her mother called, from the porch. “Invite the girl in for coffee.”
“She’s not staying, Mom.” She glowered at me, daring me to argue. “And you’re not. Get back in your car and go back to whatever hole you crawled out of. Do you realise what might have happened? Because of your lies?”
“Dani, look I know I messed up.” Dani gave me a classic d’ya think look. “But please give me the chance to redeem myself.” I was whispering, not wishing her mother to hear my humiliation. “Jack and Jen will be here in a few days. I know you’re embarrassed, so am I. Admitting to my sister that I used her name so I could get into the pants of a beautiful stranger wasn’t exactly easy, neither was coming out here!”
“Do you think a sexy smile and an apology is enough to make up for the embarrassment you’ve caused? People will think I’m so slutty I can’t differentiate between which darned woman I slept with!”
“Sexy smile?” I asked, blushing.
“For the love of… did you hear anything I said after that?” she growled.
“Yes, Dani, I did. But people will think no such thing. My mother struggles to tell us apart and she’s been looking at us for thirty two years!” Dani looked away in disgust and I threw my hands up in the air. “Look, I could stand here all day making excuses. I could tell you it’s only a month since I found my partner in bed with a twenty year old temp. And that it wasn’t the first time either. I could tell you I travelled thousands of miles to spend time with my sister who said she was going to cheer me up, only to find out that she’d gone and got married the day before I arrived to some random guy she met in Las Vegas. I could say I hadn’t slept for twenty four hours and was suffering from chronic jet lag.” I hissed in exasperation, “I could use them all as pretty valid excuses but I won’t. Right now I’m standing here in front of you to say I’m sorry, I made a mistake, one that I’m doing my damnedest to rectify, and could you please give me a break.”
“Wow. Okay. A little bit of pent up frustration there?” Before Dani could add anything further her mother interrupted us.
“Hello, young lady.” She held out her hand and I shook it. “You’ll have to excuse my daughter’s manners she wasn’t raised that way. She’s fallen off her horse one too many times and all her good sense has been knocked right out of her head.”
“How do you do, Mrs…erm…”
“Robbins,” she supplied helpfully.
“Mrs. Robbins. I’m Haley. Haley Jones.”
“Oh, from that accent I’d say you’re English! Isn’t that just the cutest, Dani?” Dani crossed her arms and raised her eyes skyward. “Are you Jack’s wife?” She smiled warmly before looking me up and down. I wished I’d made a bit more of an effort but there wasn’t even enough time to unpack never mind iron my clothes before leaving San Francisco. Okay there was, but I spent the time drinking instead. “He has good taste.”
“Dear God,” Dani muttered under her breath.
“No, I’m not Jennifer, I’m her twin-”
“Identical,” Dani interrupted.
“Sister,” I continued as if Dani hadn’t spoken. “I’m Jack’s sister in law.”
“He still has good taste if you look alike. You say you met Dani in San Francisco?” her mother asked and looked right at me. I couldn’t mistake the gleam in her eye and I got the feeling she knew exactly what had happened.
“No I didn’t say-” I hadn’t had I?
She turned to Dani and then slapped her arm. “Why didn’t you tell me that you met Jack’s sister in law as well as his wife?” She looked at me conspiratorially. “I thought you were one of Dani’s fish.”
“Mom!” Dani exclaimed.
At the same time I asked in a puzzled tone, “Fish?”
“Yes, you know, you were her hooker.”
“Hooker?” Dani’s Mum thinks I’m a prostitute? This day keeps getting better and better.
“She mean’s hook up,” Dani explained with a groan.
“Ah. Okay. Hmm.” Dani’s mother had achieved the impossible, or so Jen would say, and I was speechless. I stared at both of them, not sure what to do. I had made my explanation, gave my apologies and now I was kind of stuck.
“I’m going to check on Jezzie.” Dani stormed off back to the barn and I stood twisting my toe in the dirt smiling at her very confused looking mother like the village idiot.
“Mrs Robbins, could you recommend a hotel in town?”
“Hotel? I don’t think so missy. Danielle Robbins git back over here and carry Haley’s bags to her room.”
“Her room?” Dani stalked back to us. God she was magnificent. I shook my head out of the clouds. That boat has not only set sail, it’s already hit an iceberg halfway across the Atlantic Ocean.
“Yes. She’s family. I’m not having her stay in a hotel, what will the neighbours think?”
“They’ll be thinking-”
“Dolly Danielle Robbins!”
“Mom!” Dani groaned and not for the first time. This time it was in irritation.
“What now? Oh shucks,” she turned to me conspiratorially. “She doesn’t like her name when she should be thankful I named her after a woman as great as Dolly Parton, but as soon as she was old enough she called herself Dani and wouldn’t answer to anything else. She was six at the time.” I couldn’t help but smile. If ever a name didn’t suit a person it was Dolly.
“I’m quite happy to stay in a hotel. I’ve turned up out of the blue and I don’t want to put you out.” I had no desire to upset Dani any more than I already had.
“Hush, you’re staying here and that’s the end of it. Dani, put Haley’s bag in the honeysuckle room,” she insisted. “I made the quilt for that room myself when I was about your age, sweetie.” She took me by the crook of my arm. “So, Haley, have you had dinner yet?”
“No, not yet, I had a burrito before leaving.” I was famished, but I’d caused enough trouble without demanding food as well.
“Before leaving? Do you mean San Francisco? No wonder there’s not a pick on you. I was fixing something hot for Dani and me. We can sit down eat and then you can tell me all about yourself,” Mrs Robbins said all of this with a huge smile ignoring her blatantly pissed offspring’s harrumph of displeasure as she stomped up the porch steps with my bag.
I didn’t know what kind of welcome I was expecting when I arrived, but in my heart of hearts I was hoping for a much warmer one; I was seriously starting to wish I’d stayed in San Francisco and let Jen tell Dani that I was her unstable sister who suffered from a rare personality disorder where I posed as my twin.
It would’ve been a lot less excruciating for me and for Dani.
Chapter 18
Haley
Mrs Robbins placed a huge plate of white chilli chicken and rice in front of me. It smelled so fragrant I thought about sitting with my nose over the top and inhaling for the next five minutes.
Then she placed a plate of scones in the middle of the table. I picked one up and smeared it in butter. “This looks delicious, and these scones are so light.” I said.
“Scones? Oh you mean the biscuits. Yeah, they’re my grandmother’s recipe. I tried teaching Dani it but she had as much interest in making them as I have in jumping out of a plane without a parachute.” Mrs Robbins joined Dani and I at the table. “What do you do back in England, Haley?”
“I’m a vet.” I took a huge bite and moaned at the taste explosion. There was a crash as Dani’s Mum dropped a side plate to the floor. “I’m a partner in a small animals clinic.” Being a partner in a small surgery wasn’t part of my life plan when I first left for university at eighteen. I wanted to concentrate solely on equine medicine, which I did for the first few years. Then came love and the end of my dreams. Yeah still bitter about that, aren’t you, Hales?
“A vet, now isn’t that funny. We were only saying this morning how a vet in the family would come in handy, weren’t we, Dani.”
Dani grunted. “You were.”
I simply nodded and kept chewing. It felt like there was something going on between the two women and I didn’t want to say anything that might imply I was pinning my flag to either post. Besides I was too busy making eyes at an apple pie on the kitchen counter which was seductively calling my name.
“What do you do for fun?” Mrs Robbins continued her gentle probing.
“I like to read and I love riding, although it’s been a while since I’ve done either. Jack showed me some pictures of the trails you have here on the ranch. I’m hoping that once he and Jen arrive he’ll take me on a couple.”
“You don’t have to wait till Jack comes home, does she, Dani?” Dani did answer but it was unintelligible so her mother seized the moment and took it as agreement. “Good it’s a date.” Dani shot her mother daggers, but she wasn’t deterred. “You could have a picnic down by the crick.”
Crick? What the hell is a crick? I didn’t have time to formulate the question; for a small woman I had a sense Mrs Robbins was one hell of a formidable package.
“Does Jen like to ride?”
“She does, but not as much as me,” I replied. “This is amazing, Mrs Robbins, you’ll have to give me the recipe.”
“It’s a family recipe but I guess you kind of are family now. Isn’t she Dani? She’s family,” and Dani choked on her chilli. I guess from Dani’s smothered chuckle that particular phrase had a similar connotation here as in England. “So do you like to cook, Haley?”
I suddenly felt very sorry for Jen. If I was getting this level of interrogation I hated to think what she was in for. “I love to cook but I don’t do it as well as you.” I poured myself a glass of water because Mrs Robbins appeared to have a heavy hand when it came to adding chilli powder. Dani grinned again and ducked her head whereas I reddened and started to perspire. I liked heat, but this packed one hell of a wallop.
“Call me Nora, I have a feeling we’re going to become great friends.”
“Okay, thank you, Nora.” Right as I said that, a big dollop of chilli dropped off my biscuit and into my lap. Could I be anymore uncouth?
“Dani, grab Haley a clean napkin and wet it under the tap for her.” Dani did as she was told and then forgetting herself, went to clean up the stain. The only problem was the chilli landed in a rather delicate area. My head shot up and her eyes opened wide when she realised exactly where she was rubbing.
And we did a little hand jive before she thrust the napkin at me.
“Thanks,” I said shyly. I only hoped she hadn’t noticed her actions had resulted in another wet patch.
“Have you got a sweetheart waiting back home for you?” Crikey Nora wouldn’t quit.
“None of our business, Mom,” Dani snapped.
“Dani! I’m only trying to get to know Haley. Stop being so damned uptight. What is your problem anyway, mule?”
“No, Mrs…Nora.” I felt the tears prickle in my eyes. “I’m sorry, would you excuse me for a moment.” I stood and quickly made my way outside. I wasn’t upset about Dawn, I’d conquered that demon, but I suddenly felt like an interloper, an intruder in Dani’s life. I had caused this woman, this beautiful kind woman, nothing but grief. What right did I have to cause her even more by being here? She clearly didn’t want me in her home and it was causing strife between her and her mother. I’d selfishly insisted that I should come to apologise, yes, because I was sorry, but I also wanted to see her again; yet never once did I consider how she might feel about it all.
This was why I didn’t act impulsively. Look before you leap was my motto in life. Actually, it could have been examine with a microscope and fine toothed comb before you even approach the edge to think about leaping.
I hated feeling so damned insecure. If I’d thought this through in San Francisco before haring down here, I’m sure I could have found an alternative to this trial by torture.
“Are you alright?” Dani stood behind me, her voice a comforting murmur. I wanted to lean back and let my body rest in her strong arms. I wanted her to hold me and kiss me and tell me everything was going to be alright, that she was glad I came.
I was an atheist hoping for a miracle.
“It’s fine. Something in my eye.” I turned to go back inside, but Dani stopped me.
“Better let me check,” she said, huskily. She tilted my head and her strong hand cupped my jaw.
Damn it all to heaven, kiss me. I stared into her eyes as they darkened. She dropped her hands and swivelled away. As if you’d get that lucky again, I replied sardonically to my inner self. Dani Robbins was Premier League and I was a kick about in the local park. Especially now she’s had a good look at you without her beer goggles. Who was I kidding? I was fortunate she didn’t grab her shotgun and chase me off her land.
“You must have blinked it out,” she stated quite forcefully and I watched her stride away toward the barn. Jesus, that arse of hers should come with its own warning…
And in local weather there’s a heatwave moving south through Haley Jones, brought about by the tropical storm Dani. She will raise core temperatures and bring about a little local wetness. However, the cold disdainful front still hasn’t passed through and will temper any long lasting fluctuations in the attraction thermometer.
Watch the barometer people, it’s going to be a stormy few days.
***
Right, so I loved San Francisco. But I didn’t leave my heart there. No, I’d followed the awkward sod to Cody and watched her ride as fast as she could away from me, like she was Billy the Kid and there was a posse on her tail. Turning in her saddle, her body moulded into her work shirt and jeans.
My God she was breath taking.
And I had well and truly burnt my bridges as far as she was concerned.
I couldn’t see the point of torturing myself or antagonising Dani further with my unwanted presence, which is why, as soon as she was out of sight, I went back into the farmhouse. Mrs Robbins was tidying up after lunch so I helped with the washing up.
“You don’t have to do that, Haley, you’re our guest,” she protested.
“Mrs Robbins, you said I was family. My mother would have my guts for garters if I didn’t repay your kindness by at least helping you clear away.”
“And I insist you call me Nora, please. I don’t know what’s wrong with Dani, sh
e’s not usually quite so crabby.”
“I surprised her.” There was no way I was going to share the reason. “I do appreciate the offer of a room, but I think it would be best if I booked into a hotel.”
“Well I can’t say as I blame you,” she said grumpily. “I might join you until she gets out of this bad temper of hers.”
“Oh no Mrs Robbins,” I hurried to stop her before she had another go at Dani and made everything ten times worse, “honestly this is on me.” I hoped given time Dani might forgive me and we could at least become cordial, after all, my sister was married to her cousin and we were going to have to have some contact. I sighed.
There was something about Dani Robbins that took away not only my breath, but my good sense too. It felt like a first crush, yet was so much deeper that. Whenever I caught her staring at me in that inscrutable manner of hers, or I’d catch her scent as she walked past me, I felt an overwhelming need. I couldn’t put an exact name to it, not yet. Perhaps it was simply sex. I’d gone so long without it and she was incredibly talented.
Was I addicted to her after merely one night of incredibly passion?
Chapter 19
Dani
You know that feeling you get when there’s a thunderstorm on the horizon? Or the tiny butterfly wings flapping in your stomach when you’re waiting to turn over an exam paper? There was a nervous energy suffusing my body and I couldn’t seem to shake it.
It didn’t help that my Mom had taken me to task, all night long and again over breakfast. But it wasn’t as if I’d asked Haley to come here, and nor would I have given the circumstances. The emphasis wasn’t on me to be polite to her. I didn’t lie, I didn’t deceive anyone. No, I was the one who was humiliated, I was the one who thought I’d slept with my best friend’s wife, unwittingly or otherwise.
I was the one who’d spent twenty four hours thinking my life was over.
“Hello?” I heard the soft English voice echoing in the barn and shuddered. Damn, was it that time already? When Mom told me she’d invited Haley to dinner, I’d planned on making myself scarce by inspecting the fences up by the north pasture and checking how close the western hay fields were to needing cut. I checked my watch. Eleven am? She was early!