Dancing Hours

by Jennifer Browning

  “So what do I do?”

  “I have a few thoughts on that, but it’s best not the think too hard on an empty stomach. The car is coming to take us to the hotel to freshen up. I’ll send the driver back to get you and we’ll take you out to dinner.”

  “But what about your bags? You aren’t staying here?”

  Nan laughed lightly. “Dear, those bags are for you – some comforts from home.” I smiled gratefully.

  As if summoned, the driver appeared at my door. David and Nan left. I immediately started digging into my goodie bags. She brought me the old comforter I left because I thought I was too grown up, Beardsley the bear I named when my dad was in a beard phase and an envelope full of cash with a note to use it only for fun.

  I showered and changed into what became my nighttime uniform: a black blouse, skinny jeans and boots. It fit almost everywhere without being too trendy. While I was waiting for the driver to get back, the robo-phone rang. Accept or Decline? I wasn’t sure. In the end, I just stared at it, not touching it for fear of accidentally accepting the call until it stopped ringing. After what felt like an eternity, the new message sound rang.

  Andrea, I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend. I been thinking about you quite a lot, I know school is very important to you, but can we get together tonight please? I know you need some time to yourself to think, but I’d really like to see you.

  I cringed when he mentioned “tonight”. The last thing I needed was him showing up somewhere while I was with my Nan. I loved her very much, but I doubted there was anything she could do to dissuade X. I would have to call him back or he would just keep calling. Hesitantly, I dialed his number thinking please don’t pick up, let it go to voicemail. C’mon, one more ring. Ah! No such luck. He answered. I explained that my grandmother was in town and I would be spending some time with her tonight. X sounded angry. He insisted on meeting Nan, but I said that was out of the question. When the doorbell rang, a flash of panic flew through me. Could he possibly be standing outside my door right now? Thank goodness for peep holes, it was the driver coming to pick me up.

  I smiled at him and held up a finger silently while I picked up my purse. I said to X for a final time that I was not going to be seeing him tonight as I locked the door to my apartment. Hanging up on him felt pretty good. I turned and apologized to the driver for my rudeness and he took me to see Nan.

  When I got to her hotel room, she was in her pajamas and a robe.

  “Are we getting room service?” I asked, confused.

  “I’m sorry, sweet pea. It’s three hours later for me and that flight took quite a bit out of me. I’ve realized that I need to rest tonight. David’s going to take you to dinner.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “I think you two have a lot of catching up to do, but I’m afraid that in light of the circumstances with this Mr. X, it would be better if Mr. Wright came along with you. I’ve already called him and he’s prepared to meet you wherever you choose to go. Do you have any good ideas?”

  David knocked and Nan let him in. He got filled in on the news and didn’t seem too disappointed; although he seemed a little offended that Nan thought we needed a chaperone.

  Nan handed him an envelope. “There’s a thousand dollars in there, David. I expect you to spend every penny of it tonight treating Andy and Mr. Wright to a good time.” David looked at it like someone had just put a bomb in his hands and suggested that it would blow up if he didn’t comply.

  “Ms. Nessa, I do not even know how to spend a thousand dollars in one night.”

  I brightened immediately. “I know just the place! And I’m going to tip the bathroom attendant $20.”

  Nan laughed. She had no idea what I was talking about, but she looked pleased. I gave her the name of the restaurant and she promised to call Ed after we’d left. Sunday night was not very busy at Spellbinders, but it was a much better crowd than you’d see back home at any restaurant on a Sunday night.

  We sat in the bar area and David ordered a beer, I had a soda.

  “You’re still not 21 yet?” he teased.

  “Ha. Ha. Old man. I am 20 now.”

  “You are? Did I miss your birthday? I’m sorry.”

  “That’s okay. We haven’t really talked much this last year.”

  “No, I guess not. It’s really good to see you; even considering the circumstances. How did you get hooked up with a drug dealer?”

  I rubbed my temples. “It’s more complicated than that. He’s not just a drug dealer. I just, I don’t know. How about – it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “And to think I was worried about you falling for my brother.”

  “Yeah, I think you were right about him.”

  “Of course I am. But what was I right about?”

  “He’s trouble. I don’t think he means to be, but he’s only looking out for himself. I don’t think I wanted to believe it, but he’s got some problems.”

  “I wanted to talk to you about that…”

  I saw Ed Wright come into the restaurant and waved him over. It was only after I’d stood that I realized I might have interrupted David at some important moment, but it was too late. We all approached the host and were seated at a table. I explained to Ed that Nan had given David a thousand dollars to spend tonight so he should eat as much as he possibly could. He started by ordering a gin and tonic.

  We were all talking and laughing in no time. I didn’t appreciate David telling the story of my hurlotechnics, but in retrospect it was kind of funny. I excused myself to the restroom and was happy at my luck to find Sharon there. I gladly tipped her $20 and chatted for a few minutes.

  I walked out feeling quite full and happy, but was surprisingly accosted in the hallway. X grabbed my arm and pushed me up against the wall into a little cubby area where there were pay phones hard enough that my head hit the wall.

  “Which one of those gentlemen would be your grandmother?” he hissed.

  “Stop it. You’re hurting me.” I complained. He didn’t let go. “If you don’t let go of me right now, I am going to scream bloody murder.” I threatened.

  He stepped back and pulled his arms up to his hair flattening it against his head. “Why are you doing this to me?” he asked in agony. He looked completely crazed. “I don’t want to hurt you, I don’t ever want to hurt you.”

  I held out my hands in front of me in what I hoped was a soothing gesture. “My grandmother was feeling tired. The man on the left is an old family friend and the man on the right is a friend from back home. Why don’t we go and talk to them?”

  “You’re lying. You’re lying.” He was saying it to me and to himself at the same time. He started to rock a little bit standing there and I looked outside the hall to see if anyone could even see us if he tried to drag me out of here right now. I’d seen an Oprah episode once where she said you should never let someone take you to a second location, because that’s where you ended up dead. I most definitely did not want to end up dead right now.

  “No, really. I’m glad that you’re here. Just calm down.” I touched his arm and asked gently “How did you know where to find me?”

  “There’s a GPS tracker in your phone!” he spat, grabbing one of my hands again painfully.

  Damn it. I hadn’t realized that I’d put that phone in my purse when I left the apartment. This guy really was a psycho stalker. I had to think. It was hard to think right now. I’d been gone for a few minutes, but guys don’t usually notice that sort of thing when there are other people to talk to. Would they come looking for me? Probably not. What could I possibly say to X to get us out of this hallway and into a room full of people? The music was really loud in here, some melancholy song I’d never heard before.

  “I just wanted to meet your family and you do this to me… what are you doing? You love me. You love me.” His tone was urgent and I could tell that his thinking was becoming more and more disjointed. I tried to remember what I could about hostage situations, but my brai
n had gone into a serious holding pattern.

  “Why don’t we just go sit down and talk about it?” I asked, wondering if there was anything inside my purse I could use as a weapon if necessary.

  “I don’t want to sit down. I should never have let you out of my sight.”

  Just then Sharon came out of the ladies room like an angel. I imagined she had probably seen and heard it all, but I hoped against hope that she wouldn’t walk right past us and ignore me.

  As she walked through the door and turned into the hallway, she smiled at me and I looked back at her panicked. She seemed to understand immediately.

  “Excuse me,” she interrupted stepping next to us and facing me “Could you possibly help me with my zipper. I’m afraid it’s stuck.”

  X released my hand and I looked at her, not completely understanding what was going on. She looked very purposely back toward the restroom. That’s when I got it. “Absolutely!” I chirped. “You don’t mind, do you Michael? I promise I’ll be right back.” His expression was unreadable, but I imagined nothing good was going on in his head right now.

  Sharon and I walked toward the bathroom and I hoped he would not stop us. Inside, she took me straight to the last stall. “Go in there and lock the door and call whoever you need to call. If he comes in here I’ll stall him.”

  “Okay, thank you.” I agreed gratefully. I didn’t have Ed’s number, so I called David and explained that X was in the hall and gone completely off his rocker. I heard him relay the information to Ed who told him to stay there. He started protesting and then it sounded like he put the phone against his chest, I could only hear muffled discussion after that. Then David got back on the line. “Mr. Wright is going to have a word with him right now. “

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Maybe we should call the police.”

  “I think Ed has this covered. Why don’t you stay on the line with me until I let you know it’s clear to come out.”

  “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

  “That’s the attitude.”

  “Hold on.” I opened the stall door and looked at Sharon “Thank you so much. That was really nice of you.” She nodded silently. Speaking back into the phone I asked “What’s going on out there?”

  “Ed’s talking to him.”

  “I don’t want Ed to get hurt. Maybe I should go out there.”

  Sharon shook her head silently in disagreement.

  “Give him a minute. I’m sure those guys talk the same language and you don’t need to go out there and make that guy crazy any more than he already is.”

  “I know, this is my fault.”

  “Hey, it’s nobody’s fault. How were you supposed to know that you were going to attract a maniac and make him fall in love with you?”

  “Ugh. Can I come out of the bathroom now?”

  “Yes, Ed’s got him outside.”

  Sharon insisted on checking the hallway for me first and gave me the all clear. I walked out of the bathroom and David was in the hall where X had been. We hugged and I took a deep breath.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” I said, although I wasn’t really sure about that.

  “C’mon. Let’s go finish our dinner.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  We sat back down and I was feeling a lot less fabulous than I had been before I left the table. Ed’s place was empty and his food was getting cold. I started digging around in my purse until I found the robo-phone. I put it on the table.

  “Nice phone.” David observed.

  “Yes, very nice. Apparently he’s been using it to track me.”

  “You’re doing that thing with your mouth again.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. He smiled.

  “I’m glad to have a quiet moment to talk to you. There’s something I’ve been trying to say and I just really don’t know how to tell you this so I’m just going to say it. Jessica is not my daughter, she’s my niece.” He stopped like he was holding his breath and just stared at me.

  “What?”

  “She’s Noah’s daughter with Holly. I’ve been taking care of her because Noah’s an idiot and I just found out, thanks to your grandmother, that he and my mom have been keeping Holly from finding us.”

  “What?” My brain was not wrapping around this information.

  “Can you not hear me?”

  “No, I heard you. I just do not understand what you’re saying.”

  “I don’t know how to say it any way other than that. I think Holly wants to take custody of her and I think my life is going to change a lot and very soon. I’m sorry that I lied to you, but I didn’t think this was going to happen.”

  “Is now the right time to talk about this?” I stammered and didn’t know what to say, but Ed came back in saving me from the trouble of having to come up with something.

  He returned to his seat and took a drink as though nothing special was going on.

  “What happened? Where is he?”

  “He’s gone home now. I had some of my security guys give him a lift, and my accountant and his accountant are going to meet up with them there.”

  “Accountants?”

  “Yes, accountants. Wright Enterprises supplies nearly every restaurant and bar in this town with linens, paper goods, liquor… You name it, we make it run. Through subsidiaries we also provide most of the cleaning services and other independent contracting. That private plane that he took you on was a rental from my company. We rent it out when it’s not being used for corporate travel to help cover expenses. When you said he took you to Vegas, I checked into it.”

  “He said it was his.”

  “I’m sure he said a lot of things that weren’t true.”

  “I feel so ashamed.”

  “Don’t be. We know everything we need to know about him and pretty soon he’s going to know it too. I could break him financially with a minimum of effort. That should be enough to convince him that you aren’t the love of his life, but if you’re still not sure, I have a lawyer who could initiate involuntary commitment proceedings tomorrow.”

  I put my hands over my eyes again. I didn’t want to ruin his life, I just wanted him to leave me alone. “No, I don’t want to do that.”

  David spoke up, “Yes you do. That guy was going to hurt you Andy.”

  “He doesn’t even know me. I’m sure the accountant can talk some sense into him and if it doesn’t seem like he gets it, you’ll let me know right?” I asked Ed.

  “Absolutely. Whatever we’ve got to do, we’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.”

  “What if he does this to another girl?”

  “We’ll be keeping a close eye on him and there might come a time when a call to the police while he’s in a compromising position will be necessary; but I think he just had a weak spot for you.”

  David let out a low chuckle. I glared at him.

  Ed took the hint and excused himself. He thanked us for an adventurous evening and told me that he’d fill Nan in on all the details tomorrow. I cringed at the thought. He pointed to the phone on the table and let me know that I should find it a watery grave, just to be on the safe side.

  David and I took the car back to my apartment. We were quiet the whole way. I was processing the evening and trying to make sense of what he’d told me about Jessica. He seemed to understand. When we got there, he walked me up to the apartment. “Are you absolutely sure you don’t want to come stay at the hotel?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure. This is my home and in a couple of days you guys are going to be gone. Besides, I’m sure he is still with Ed’s friends.”

  “I could… I could stay here and sleep on the couch.” He said sheepishly.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why?”

  “You lied to me too, David. You didn’t trust me to keep it to myself or you didn’t think I deserved to know. I thought we were friends.”

  “We were friends. We are friends. I didn’t do it to
hurt you. I did it to protect Jessica. I don’t expect you to understand.”

  “Why? Because I’m just a kid? Isn’t that how you think of me? I’m just a kid who couldn’t possibly understand the sacrifices that you would make for her?”

  “I never thought of you as a kid, but you’re kind of acting like one right now.”

  “And you are just so mature.”

  “Hey, come on. I’m not trying to start a fight here.”

  “Whatever. I need to go to bed and you need to go home. Goodbye David.” I walked in and closed the door. I turned to watch through the peephole and saw him standing there, hands in his pockets. He hung his head and turned to walk away. I felt terrible, but I wasn’t going to let him know that. He had no right to lie to me. He wasn’t a father. He had taken over the role so that a little girl would have some stability in her life. He was the worst kind of liar. He lied for a good reason. And he didn’t tell me for a good reason. I flopped down on the couch and thought back to the first time I met him. He must have been exhausted by the façade. Instant parenthood and he couldn’t even tell anyone because he was protecting her. And it occurred to me that maybe he didn’t tell me because he wanted to protect me too. Would I have stayed home if I’d fallen in love with him? He always kept a safe distance with me, but I so loved to be around him. I hadn’t had that first rush of excitement that I felt when I saw Noah for the first time, but as I’d gotten to know Noah he had grown far more ugly to me. David was really kind of amazing. And I had just been awful to him. I wonder if he will forgive me. I wonder if he’s made it downstairs yet. The elevator is kind of slow, maybe I could catch him if I take the stairs… I walked out the door and saw David sitting on the floor at the end of the hall. I smiled.