Between Friends

by Kitt, Sandra

  Dallas realized that she’d been studying the pattern around the edge of Valerie’s dinnerware. She glanced up quickly to see if anyone had noticed her silence, and met Alex’s steady gaze. After a brief second of looking at one another, Dallas averted her eyes. She forced herself back to the moment.

  Dallas turned her attention to Ross, who was in the middle of one of his anecdotes of a dive adventure with him and Alex.

  “Well, the instructor waited until my partner here had an armful of these weights. Then he comes up behind Alex, cuts the air hose, and pulls off the face mask. Now, I figure I could buddy-breathe with him until we hit the surface. But I check my gauge and see I don’t have enough air for both of us to make it. So what does Alex do? Does he head topside? No. He grabs the instructor and arm-wrestles with him for his mouthpiece.” Ross chuckled at the memory.

  Dallas couldn’t help smiling. Ross told funny stories. She hazarded a surreptitious look at Alex, who sat with a grin on his face.

  Valerie’s smile was uncertain at the punch line. “I don’t think that was so funny. My God … you could have drowned,” she said to Alex, turning to look at him with concern.

  Alex shrugged. “If I drown it’s because I panicked. If I panic under tough conditions, then I deserve to. It was called ‘pool harassment.’ It’s part of the training. We can’t expect perfect conditions all the time when we’re underwater. We have to be able to think fast and come up with alternative solutions. Our lives depend on it. Or someone else’s,” he added quietly.

  Dallas noticed that his jaw began to tighten reflexively and the smile slowly disappeared. She turned to see Ross’s reaction and found him thoughtfully rubbing his thumb on the side of the wineglass.

  “Maybe it wasn’t so funny after all,” he conceded wryly.

  “I think it’s stupid and cruel,” Valerie complained.

  Ross nodded at her, his smile amused but understanding. “Stupid? No. Cruel? I suppose. Because your enemy is going to be cruel and worse. He’s going to do his damnedest to take you out. A lot of guys never make it past the first week of SEAL training. Alex went the distance.”

  “And you,” Dallas included him.

  “It was a great challenge,” he admitted.

  “Just to show how macho you are?” Valerie asked.

  Ross turned his attention to her and paused for a long moment before answering. He shook his head slowly. “It’s not about being the best or the toughest. It’s about determination and teamwork.”

  “Then how come you quit? Why did you leave the service if it was so great?” Valerie asked Alex and Ross.

  Neither answered right away, and the hesitation caught Dallas’s attention. For the first time since she’d met Ross, he didn’t have a quick and irreverent answer. And Alex just seemed pensive, as if he was considering a response, but wanted to be careful how he did so.

  “I outgrew my usefulness,” he murmured cryptically.

  “We’d served our time,” Ross added. “After a while, the losses and victories didn’t add up.”

  “Have you lost many friends?” Dallas asked.

  “Even one is too many,” Alex admitted.

  Ross cleared his throat. “Alex’s swim buddy, Crosby, bagged it when we were in Kuwait. He blames himself.”

  “How did it happen?” Valerie asked.

  “The technical term? Oxygen toxicity. Simple language? He drowned,” Alex explained.

  “The ability to breathe is inhibited and there’s an onset of dizziness, tingling in your limbs, blurry vision.”

  “The body starts to convulse, like a seizure,” Ross picked up. “What happens is the diver can lose control of his mouthpiece under those conditions. He simply drowns.”

  “But I thought SEALs are so highly trained,” Valerie commented.

  “We are. Sometimes”—Ross exchanged glances with Alex again—“things go wrong.”

  “This doesn’t help, I know, but I’m so sorry,” Dallas murmured.

  “We had to move on. Get a life.”

  “So you start a business dragging the river for junk?” Valerie questioned.

  Ross slowly shook his head. “That’s not all there is to it. Besides … I do other things.”

  “Megan said you both teach diving, and I remember Alex said there was a dive shop. Actually”—Dallas let her gaze sweep around the occupants of the table—“it sounds kind of exciting.”

  “I like the way you put it. You ever been snorkeling or scuba diving?” Ross asked her.

  Dallas chuckled. “I don’t know how to swim.”

  “You don’t?” Alex asked in surprise.

  “No, I never learned how. It wasn’t one of those things my parents thought I needed to know.”

  “It’s not hard to learn. I could teach you,” Alex volunteered. “What if I take you out in the boat this summer and throw you overboard?” he teased.

  Dallas sensed that Valerie too was waiting for her answer. She felt she had to sidestep the issue. “What makes you think I have any intentions of getting on your boat?”

  “Oh-oh. Sounds like a challenge to me, Alex,” Ross murmured.

  Valerie wrapped her arm possessively around Alex’s and leaned against him. “I don’t think Burke is going to be so hot on the idea. But a boat ride would be great. Maybe you’ll take me across the channel to Connecticut. Mystic has some wonderful seafood restaurants. We can go over for the day, or overnight.”

  “We could do that,” Alex agreed. He looked at everyone. “We’ll all go. Take Megan and some of her friends, if she wants.”

  “Alex,” Valerie whined. “I meant just you and me.”

  Alex looked at her but didn’t respond. Ross emptied his wineglass. Dallas pushed her chair back. Now was definitely the time to cut out. “Valerie, why don’t I bring out dessert?” Dallas suggested into the awkward silence. She got up from the dining table and headed for the kitchen.

  Valerie did not discourage her, and Dallas was glad to escape. Watching Valerie in action was starting to get on her nerves. She had obviously targeted Alex. But this time Dallas wasn’t sure she wanted to be pushed off to one side.

  Dallas went into Valerie’s small kitchen and automatically started the coffeemaker. The evening had been more stressful than she’d imagined, with the need to pretend that she and Alex didn’t know one another very well.

  Dallas was slicing a small chocolate torte when she heard someone come into the kitchen behind her. She looked over her shoulder expecting to see Valerie. It was Ross, with the stack of dinner plates and clattering silverware.

  “Need a hand?” he asked, putting the plates down and starting to scrape the uneaten food into the garbage.

  Dallas smiled at him. “No, I’m fine. You don’t have to do that. I can take care of it. Go back and talk with Val and Alex.”

  He chuckled. “That’s not what you and I are supposed to do. Don’t you know this is the point in the evening when we make ourselves scarce so they can have some time together?”

  Dallas turned to stare at Ross. She was embarrassed by his insight, as if she somehow had been party to Valerie’s plans.

  “I’m sorry. It’s pretty juvenile of Valerie.”

  “That’s okay. I’m not really cooperating.”

  “You’re not?”

  Ross placed the dishes in the dishwasher and came to stand next to Dallas, casually watching as she carefully arranged slices of the cake on the dessert plates.

  “No. Alex doesn’t need me to help him with his affairs, and you shouldn’t let Valerie use you to distract me.”

  She winced. “I’m not happy about it either. If I’d known what Valerie had in mind, I would have stayed home. No offense, Ross …”

  He nodded. “None taken.”

  He narrowed his gaze on her. “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, Dallas,” Ross said seriously. “I think you’re very attractive. But there is someone else I’m interested in.”

  Dallas nodded. “Valerie,” she stated
flatly.

  Ross arched a brow. “How did you know?”

  “What man isn’t?” she responded. “I just wish she’d stop playing us all like chess pieces. And that we’d stop letting her.”

  He signed. “You’re a smart woman. And a better friend than she realizes.”

  “Are you mad at her?”

  He crossed his arms over his broad chest and frowned at what she was doing. Slowly he shook his head. “No, I’m not. Just … disappointed.”

  Dallas glanced at him. “Disappointed. Why?”

  Ross pulled himself together, as if realizing that he’d spoken out of turn, or had said too much. Dallas was surprised to see the veil of annoyance that crossed his normally calm and open features. But it was quickly gone and he shrugged easily.

  “I don’t like playing games. I’m getting too old for it. But I’m willing to wait a little longer for her to figure out that she’s on the wrong trail.”

  “What if she’s not?” Dallas suggested.

  He shrugged. “Then I get over it. I move on.”

  Dallas took a deep breath and pursed her lips. “What about Alex? Does he know how you feel? Do you know how he feels about Valerie?”

  Ross sighed. “Does Alex know how I feel? I hope not. I don’t want to stand in the way if he feels he really wants her. I’m not sure of Valerie’s motives.”

  “You sound like you don’t think they’re pure,” Dallas surmised. Ross laughed lightly.

  “I gotta be careful around you. You’re very observant. Alex said you’re a really talented writer.”

  “Did he?” she said in surprise, and then quickly recovered. Talking about herself and Alex was dangerous. Dallas looked openly at Ross again. “Look, Valerie is my best friend. I don’t know what it is she wants, but I certainly won’t say anything to her about—you know—what you said to me.”

  He reached for the dessert plates, balancing two in each hand as he headed back to the dining room. “I know.”

  “How do you know?” Dallas asked, forestalling his departure.

  “I’m very observant, too. I think you can be trusted. Okay … I think they’ve had enough time alone, don’t you?”

  Dallas made up a tray with the cups, sugar, and cream. She thought about the brief conversation with Ross and wondered if Valerie had any idea how he felt about her, let alone Alex. And she wondered, once again, what was she doing in the middle of Valerie’s concerns when her own were in such terrible shape.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She stiffened at the sound of Alex’s voice, but she gave him only a cursory glance, feeling the need to maintain a distance more appropriate to their circumstances. She could hear Val’s and Ross’s voices from the dining room. “What do you mean?”

  “Something’s bothering you. You were pretty quiet during dinner,” he said, coming toward her.

  His cowboy boots thudded softly on the tile floor. He stood just behind her left shoulder, watching her prepare to pour the coffee.

  Dallas shook her head. “I’m okay.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Okay,” she conceded, “then it’s something I don’t want to talk about. I’m sorry if I’m spoiling the evening.”

  He dismissed the idea. “You’re not spoiling anything. I just wanted to know if I could help in some way.”

  “Thanks for asking, Alex. But I don’t think so.”

  “Would you tell me if there was?”

  Dallas turned to face him. “I appreciate you asking, but I think it’s about time I handle some of my own problems. Besides …” She glanced toward the direction of the dining room and the other voices. “You have other things on your mind.”

  Alex looked a little uncomfortable. He sighed and leaned toward her. “I’m not going to push. But you remember one thing.”

  She searched Alex’s face, his dark, steady gaze and the flexing in his jaw as he talked.

  “I know you, Dallas, and I don’t want you to ever forget that we’re friends.”

  She shook her head, and her voice dropped to a quiet, firm tone. “Sooner or later we’re going to have to put it behind us. No one else knows we’ve met before. How do you think Valerie is going to feel if she finds out? Or Ross?”

  He didn’t answer, and they continued to regard each other silently.

  “Dallas, what are you doing? Where’s the—”

  Valerie stepped into the kitchen and stopped dead when she saw Alex and Dallas so close. She laughed uneasily.

  “I came to see what happened to the rest of dessert.” She came over and looped her arm through Alex’s. “And where you were.” Valerie smiled up at Alex. Then she focused her attention on Dallas, her smile fixed. “What’s going on here?”

  Dallas was aware of the real question that Valerie was asking, but knew that her suspicions were unjustified. “Alex came in to see if he could help. Especially since Ross cleared the table and you did all the cooking.”

  Alex reached in front of Dallas and picked up the heavy tray. “And Dallas brought dessert. Let’s go to it. This looks good.”

  He disappeared through the door, and Dallas carefully placed the remaining cake back into its box and put it into the refrigerator. She licked a glob of frosting from her thumb. “There’s plenty left for Megan.”

  “She’ll probably eat the rest of it,” Valerie said absently, watching her.

  “Better her than us. Come on. I’ll help you clean up later.”

  “Dallas?”

  Dallas was already at the kitchen entrance. She looked at Val askance. Valerie caught up to her at the doorway.

  “Alex means a lot to me. You don’t understand how important this is.”

  “I think I do, Val,” Dallas said honestly. “Why do you feel you have to tell me that?”

  Valerie frowned. “I don’t know. He’s different from any other man I’ve ever known. You can see that, can’t you?”

  Dallas looked at the uncertainty in Val’s green eyes. But there was also a determination and, she was sure, a little bit of fear. Dallas knew that no matter what, she and Alex could never let Valerie know anything about their past. Ross would have to fend for himself. She nodded with a smile, and lightly shook her friend’s shoulder.

  “You don’t have anything to worry about. He seems to feel the same way.”

  “Will you listen to them?” Eleanor muttered with displeasure as she glared at the three young women seated near the performance area. “Don’t they know any better than to talk and laugh while the band is playing?”

  “Ssshhh,” Lyle Oliver whispered to his wife. “You can’t hear a thing they’re saying, and neither can anyone else. The music’s too loud.”

  Eleanor narrowed her gaze on her husband. “I don’t think they came to hear the music anyway. I’ve never seen such a shameless display in my life.”

  “They’re here to have a good time. Just like you’re supposed to be,” Lyle reminded his wife.

  “They’re pretty,” Dallas observed, leaning forward to see past her stepmother. She also guessed that they were not at the club to hear the band but to check out the men and the musicians. And to be seen. They had a certain nonchalant boldness that Dallas envied and which she herself had never been able to master.

  “I don’t think any of them is Dean’s type,” Eleanor said to no one in particular.

  “Ellie …” Lyle said patiently. “You don’t have a clue what Dean’s type is. Now leave those girls alone and just enjoy the music.”

  Eleanor sighed in exasperation and tried to give her attention to the four musicians and one female soloist in the spotlight in the darkened club. But her stepmother was less interested in the new age jazz than she was in seeing her son perform.

  Dallas had been surprised when Dean had included an invitation to hear his group as part of his mother’s birthday celebration. Ever since Dean had become interested in the guitar at age sixteen, Eleanor and her father had indulged him. He’d taught himself to play, lear
ned to read music, and formed his first band at eighteen. They’d called themselves Toxix. Dallas didn’t think her parents had ever heard their son play before, but even if they didn’t like the music, they were proud to see Dean perform for an audience.

  She remembered the first time she and Burke had come to hear her brother play. He’d teased her that she was angling for a record deal for Dean. The thought had never entered her mind. In any case, Burke had not liked the music. It wasn’t mainstream enough.

  The memory reminded Dallas that Burke had left several voice-mail messages for her that she had yet to answer. But sooner or later she would have to. And she would have to decide what she wanted from him.

  The audience broke out in applause as the number ended. One of the young women got up and walked to the edge of the stage. She leaned over to get Dean’s attention and whispered in his ear. She was dressed, and moved her body, as only someone who was self-conscious but fearless could. To get attention. Dean nodded and smiled and whispered something back. Out of the corner of her eye Dallas caught Eleanor nudging her husband’s arm.

  “Thank you. Thank you very much,” Dean said graciously into the mike. “We’re going to take a little break and return in about ten.”

  There was more applause as the group put aside their instruments and chatted with people coming forward to ask questions or comment on their playing.

  Dean searched across the room until he spotted them, and he nodded and waved briefly, acknowledging their presence. Dallas watched as Dean and the drummer stepped to the table with the three young women and were greeted with light hugs and kisses.

  “I told you so,” Eleanor said under her breath.

  “Ellie, I think I’d like to get started home,” Lyle said to his wife. “Do you mind if we skip the rest?”

  “Do you have a headache?” Dallas asked.