Love and Arson

by Woods, Karen

  Dani nodded negatively. “I really do need to do some reading. Thanks anyway...Besides, I promised Jaime I would spend time with him, just the two of us. I get such a kick out of that child.”

  “He’s something else,” Jase replied, with a smile. “But Jaime would understand. He’s told me he wants us all to be friends.”

  “Sorry, Jase. I make it a rule not to be out two evenings in a row, and I’ve got a date tomorrow, as you well know,” Dani said.

  “You do?” her father asked, clearly surprised. “You haven’t spent an evening out since you came home. You wouldn’t even come to the club with us for dinner. You’ve either been in your studio every evening. I didn’t know you even knew many local fellows. Who’s the lucky man?”

  “Steve Anderson.”

  Her father sighed. “You be careful,” Harry warned. “That boy is a menace to females.”

  Dani chuckled. “If you don’t mind, Dad, I’ve already been read this particular lecture.”

  He raised an eyebrow at that comment as he looked at his stepson. “You have, have you?”

  “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Three bags full,” she answered in amusement. Then she became serious, “And while I appreciate the fatherly concern, I will not tolerate anyone, including you, interfering in my private life. Is that clear? Who I may date, if I chose to date, is not anyone else’s business. I’m a grown woman, perfectly capable of making my own choices of companions, romantic or otherwise, thank you very much for the concern, Dad.”

  “Dani,” her father began.

  “Yes?”

  “If we didn’t care, we wouldn’t worry. We just don’t want to see you hurt,” her father said.

  “I know,” she replied with a smile. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

  “Steve’s not the man I would have picked for you,” her father told her. “He’s nowhere near the man I’d like to see you end up with.”

  She shrugged. “If I were interested in settling down, I wouldn’t give Steve a second glance. He’s too smooth, too practiced. But, I’m not interested in getting serious with anyone. Steve seems like he’d be a good candidate for some uncomplicated fun. Heaven knows, I could use a little amusement in my life.”

  Harry sighed. “Well, I guess you’re entitled to a little R and R. That’s what youth is for, having fun.”

  Dani laughed. “How very generous!”

  “Just take care of yourself.” Her father added, clearly embarrassed, “There’s all kinds of…er…complications… coming from sex these days that weren’t as prominent when I was young. I’m told condoms are a very good idea as a defensive measure.”

  Dani felt her face grow warm. “Dad,” she said, her voice choked with embarrassment. “The best protection against that sort of thing is abstinence. While that isn’t easy, it’s the right thing to do.”

  If possible, her father looked even more embarrassed than she felt. “I see,” he said. Then he smiled.

  “So,” Jase asked, tightly, “does Steve know he’s a guinea pig for your testing your vocation to be a nun?”

  “Do you really think I’d agree to go out with him otherwise?” Dani demanded.

  After a short pause, Jase shook his head, “No, you wouldn’t. Your conscience wouldn’t let you do that.”

  “You’re beginning to know me, aren’t you?”

  “I wonder if anyone really knows you.”

  Her father looked at his watch and cleared his throat. “Lyn will kill me if I’m late for the bridge game.”

  “Wouldn’t want that,” Dani agreed.

  Walking out into the parking lot, they heard the sound of a car engine revving loudly, of tires squealing.

  Dani looked around to see an older Lincoln Town Car backing fast, way too fast, in an arc.

  In utter horror, she saw the Lincoln strike an elderly man who was walking through the parking lot. It seemed to Dani as though everything was happening in slow motion. The man fell. And the car kept moving, running over him as if he were a large speed bump. His scream died off, lost in the revving of the engine, the squealing of the tires.

  “That’s Hank Douglass. He’s deaf as a post,” her father said, his voice tight with horror.

  The Lincoln continued backing at relatively high speed, sideswiping a very expensive silver car, with a crunch of metal, pushing that car into another upscale vehicle.

  Even as Dani watched, her pulse beating quicker in growing horror, she retrieved her phone and called 9-1-1.

  “EMS, what’s your emergency?”

  The old Lincoln’s engine’s kept revving, the tires spinning. The car kept moving, backing in an arc, completing the semicircle, tires squealing, ending by careening into Dani’s own convertible, crushing in the rear end of the little car, pushing the car through the landscaping and mashing the front end of the antique automobile against the brick wall of the club’s pro shop, actually pushing the car through the wall. The sound of the crunching metal, breaking glass, along with the smell of burning rubber overwhelmed her.

  The Lincoln’s engine stopped running. A slightly built old woman climbed out of the driver’s door. Emily Chance. Oh, Lord! Dani watched as Miss Emily slumped, apparently unconscious, to the pavement.

  As Dani ran to check on Emily, she said into her phone, “We need at least one ambulance and at least one police cruiser to respond ASAP at the parking lot of Dominion Crossroads Country Club. Emily Chance just ran down Hank Douglass and hit several cars. She seems to be unconscious. I’m checking on her.”

  After a brief check, Dani told the dispatcher, “Her respirations are rapid and shallow. Her skin is pale, cool, and clammy. Her pulse is weak and fast.”

  She looked over to at Jase.

  He shook his head and said, “Tell them we only need one ambulance. Hank is dead.”

  “We need the coroner; Hank Douglass is dead. One ambulance for Miss Emily,” Dani informed the dispatcher, relaying Jase’s statement.

  People began to gather.

  Steve’s authoritative voice said, “If you didn’t see the accident, go home, now. If you did see this happen, then you need to go back in the clubhouse now, and prepare to give a statement to the responding officer. Move along, people.”

  Jase came over to her. “How’s she doing?”

  “She seems to be in shock. But this unconsciousness scares me. There’s more going on here than shock.”

  She heard a trunk lid slam. She saw Steve come running over, carrying a blanket and a duffle bag. Together, they put the duffle under Emily’s knees, then covered her with the blanket.

  “This is all we can do for her until the ambulance gets here,” Dani said. “Prayers should be said both for the repose of his soul and her recovery, though. Will you pray with me for them?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Dani looked up from the monitor on her desk in her brand new office to see Jase standing by her desk, the next day. “Gracious, Jase, you startled me!” She hadn’t heard him come in, she had been that immersed in the problem before her.

  He smiled at her. “Beth and I would like to take you to lunch on your first day as a new VP.”

  She glanced at the clock display in the right corner of her monitor. It was eleven fifty-six. The morning had gone too quickly. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be very good company. I’m gnawing on a problem right now.”

  “No, you’ll come out to lunch with Beth and me. We insist,” Jase replied firmly.

  “Well, if you put it that way,” she responded.

  “Come on then,” Jase urged, as he pulled her chair away from her desk.

  They took lunch in the tea room down the street from the office.

  After the waitress left with their orders, Beth turned to Dani. “Jase and I both want to apologize. We’ve been pretty snarly to you at times since you arrived.”

  Dani smiled. “I might have reacted the same way, if the shoe had been on the other foot.”

  Beth shook her head. “I don’t believe that. You’ve
been here for a while now. We’ve had a chance to learn something about you. We’d like to be friends.”

  “I think I’d like that as well,” Dani said.

  Jase smiled at her.

  She really wished he wouldn’t do that. His smiles did strange things to her ability to breathe.

  “You’ve been at Devlin for a while, what do you think of the organization?” Jase asked.

  “I’m still getting my bearings,” Dani responded. “It’s a very involved operation.”

  Jase laughed. “That’s very true.”

  Beth looked at her stepsister. “Why do you run ten miles every morning?”

  Dani laughed. “I wondered when people would start asking me that. Running is good exercise. Besides that, I enjoy being out by myself early in the morning. It’s a calm, peaceful, part of the day.”

  “There hasn’t been much peace in your life, has there?” Jase asked, almost compassionately.

  Dani smiled slightly, but the expression was forced. “There have been times less than peaceful,” she admitted. “But on the whole, I don’ t have many complaints about my life. Besides, what good would complaining do?”

  Jase smiled at her again.

  I love him, she thought in dismay. I love Jase Wilton. But the thought brought her no joy. Why did she fall in love unwisely? First with Edward, who had made her doubt her own judgment. And now with Jase, who was involved with her only female friend in Virginia. Quite a track record in picking the wrong men. And tonight she was supposed to play tennis with the local’s resident breaker of women’s hearts.

  Batting a thousand, kid. What do you do for an encore? Jump out of an airplane without a parachute? Play Russian Roulette with a semiautomatic pistol?

  Beth broke into Dani’s dismal thoughts, “I promised Jaime I would take him to see the new Disney film after work. Would you like to come with us? We’re going out for pizza before the movie.”

  “I already have a date. Otherwise, I would have loved to,” Dani replied.

  “A date?” Beth asked with a smile. “Who with? Some-one handsome and romantic, I hope?”

  “Steve Anderson,” Dani told her stepsister.

  Beth shook her head. “Oh, girl...He definitely qualifies. But, you be careful around him.”

  “I’ve already been warned,” Dani replied with a chuckle. “Several times.”

  Beth nodded. “He’s a handsome devil. And, in spite of what I’ve just said, he’s basically a good man. After he was widowed, women just fell over themselves trying to console him. Life a man, he took everything offered him.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Jase interjected.

  Beth wrinkled her nose at her older brother, then continued speaking to Dani, “What Steve needs is a good woman in his life. You could do a lot for him actually.”

  Dani laughed. “Don’t go matchmaking. I’m not inter-ested in a fixer-upper. I’ve got better things to do with my life than to try to rehabilitate a womanizer. Steve and I, well, we’re just having a friendly tennis match and dinner.”

  At least, on my part. I can’t speak for Steve.

  “He’ll run you off the court,” Beth warned.

  Dani felt herself smile. “We’ll see about that. He might not have quite as easy of a time as he was anticipating.”

  Beth laughed. “I’d pay to see that.”

  “Too bad you already promised Jaime you’d take him to the film,” Dani replied easily.

  Beth nodded. “I won’t let my son down. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for him. Jaime’s come alive since you’ve been here.”

  “He’s a good boy, Beth. I enjoy him immensely. He’s a very bright child, but you knew that,” Dani told her.

  “He’s very much like his father,” Beth said as she nodded. “John took his Ph.D. in biochemistry at fourteen and finished his medical residency at twenty-two. Jaime takes after him.”

  Dani whistled. “Have you considered educating Jaime privately? Maybe engaging a governess and/or a collection of private tutors to work with him?”

  “That’s quite a recommendation from a member of the NEA,” Jase observed.

  “I’m an aunt to Jaime before I’m a union member. I’m trying to look out for what would be best for him,” Dani said. “That little man is very special to me. And frankly, I can’t see any way that Jaime isn’t going to be bored out of his mind in an age-level classroom.”

  “I’ll take it under advisement,” Beth replied. “I still have some time to think about it.”

  “Not that much. I’m not a reading specialist, but it’s clear to me he’s already reading English at an upper elementary level.”

  “You think so?” Beth asked.

  “At least. You might want to have him tested by a reading specialist.”

  Jase smiled at Dani as he brought a small, brightly wrapped, gift box out of his suit pocket. “We can talk about that later. It’s something you need. Please don’t refuse it.”

  Dani took the box from him. “You didn’t have to do anything,” she told them. “You really didn’t.”

  “This is from all of us. Harry, Mom, Thea, me, Jaime, and Jase,” Beth told her. “It’s an early birthday present. Or a late one. A very late one. Something to make up for all the years we failed to get you anything, although nothing ever can make up for that.”

  Dani unwrapped the box, taking care not to tear the paper. She opened the box. Inside she saw a set of car keys. She lifted the keys from the box.

  “I’ll be getting a check from the car insurance soon. I can buy another car,” Dani said.

  Jase said, “Now, you don’t have to. Those keys are to a sleek black Jaguar convertible. They should deliver it to the office by the time we return from lunch.”

  Dani sighed. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “’Thank you’ will do,” Beth teased.

  “That could never be enough for something this grand. But thank you. I’m speechless.”

  Jase smiled at her again. “You’re welcome, Dani.”

  “If I have that many horses under the hood, I just might get speeding tickets.”

  Jase laughed. “You can keep it under control.”

  Dani grimaced. “I wish I could be so sure. I received two warnings and a ticket the first week I drove the Ferrari.”

  “But as you pointed out to me, some time ago, you aren’t eighteen anymore,” Jase said.

  “I still have a reckless streak a mile wide.”

  Jase smiled at her. “I haven’t seen it.”

  You have no idea how close you’ve come to seeing my most reckless side, Jase. God willing, you never will see it. “You really wouldn’t want to,” she dismissed.

  Beth interjected, “I think we all have a reckless side. I know I do. I’ve been playing with the idea of taking up skydiving.”

  “You have no business taking up skydiving with Jaime so young,” Jase dismissed.

  “That’s why I’m only playing with the idea,” Beth replied.

  Dani looked at Beth. “How have you managed to put up with his bossiness all these years?”

  “It wasn’t easy,” Beth teased. “Brothers should be strangled at birth.”

  Dani laughed. “No. Eventually, they do grow up to be other women’s problems.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Jase replied with a bark of laughter.

  * * *

  Harry was standing in the parking lot, talking with Lyn, leaning against Dani’s new car when Beth, Jase, and Dani returned from lunch.

  “Dani,” Harry greeted her.

  “Dad, you all didn’t have to do this,” she told him.

  “Of course, we didn’t have to. We wanted to.”

  “It’s too much, Dad. I can’t take it.”

  Harry nodded negatively. “Yes, you can. It’s already titled in your name. It’s yours.”

  “The insurance on this would kill me,” she protested.

  Harry laughed. “The first year is already paid for. So don’t worry about it.” />
  “It’s beautiful,” she said appreciatively as she ran her hands over the sleek lines.

  “And it runs like a dream. Give an old man a ride in your new car?”

  “Gee. I don’t know. I work for my father and he’s a real slave driver,” Dani teased.

  “Get in the car and drive, slave!”

  * * *

  Jase sat and watched the tennis match in progress later that evening. He had to admit Dani was giving Steve a run for his money. Personally, he thought Steve had a thorough trouncing coming after the number of times Steve had run others, including Jase, ragged on the courts, although he had sympathy for his friend. Looked like Steve’s unbroken chain of victories was about to be go down in flames.

  Sarah Richards walked up to him and sat down. She was dressed in tennis whites. “Dani’s something, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah,” Jase replied. “She’s something, all right.”

  “I’ve already heard all about the new Jag Harry gave her today.”

  “The car was from the family, not just from Harry. Dani’s car was totaled, as you know. How’s Miss Emily?”

  “Doctors think she was having the stroke during the accident. She hasn’t regained consciousness. I keep waiting for the call to tell me she’s slipped away. The doctors told me there was nothing to be done and that I shouldn’t sit there with her.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “So am I,” Sarah said. “Thank you for taking care of her as you did.”

  “I didn’t do much for her. Dani made the call. She and Steve took care of Miss Emily. I was busy assessing Hank and taking the photographs of the site for the insurance companies. I don’t think I have to tell you, I was scared out of my wits when I watched your great aunt run over Hank.”

  Sarah nodded. “You really like Dani, don’t you, Jase?”

  “I honestly don’t know what to make of her. Just when I think I have a handle on her, I see another facet of her personality.”

  “This from the man who once told me he had never met a woman who he couldn’t know everything about in two conversations?” Sarah asked in disbelief. “As I recall, you said you would marry the first woman who didn’t bore you silly within a week. How long has Dani been here? A month?”