First Degree Burns

by S. L. Kassidy

  “Guess you could do that, too, since you probably know this place better than they do.” Is he about to make the threat or go straight for the kill? I’m being too paranoid. He’s been cool.

  Raymond shrugged. “That I do, but I have no intention of killing you. I don’t have time. I’ve got work on Monday, after all.”

  Dane chuckled again. She wondered what had gotten into Raymond. Maybe there’s something in the air. Of course, if that were the case, she wondered if it was possible to bottle the air and take some home.

  “Besides, how would you explain it to Nick?” Dane asked.

  Raymond snickered. “Oh, that’s easily explained away with you getting lost up here. It’s happened to first-time visitors to this park before. My dad used to threaten to leave us out here when we were younger and getting on his nerves. Scared the crap out of my sisters.”

  A small, amused smile settled on her face for a moment. “Your sisters aren’t big into camping, huh?”

  “Nah, they never took to it. They came until they could be trusted at home for a few days on their own, because my mother loves camping, so she was always with us. How about you? How are you liking it so far?”

  A hand went through Dane’s hair as she looked around, taking in the wonders of the forest. “Camping? It’s okay, so far. I’m not totally sure if I could get into fishing, though. Seems pretty boring.”

  “Ah, you didn’t stick around when we caught some fish. That’s when everybody gets all excited and everything. Besides, you feel that way about baseball and yet, time and time again, you sit through games because Nikki’s watching. I’m sure you’d sit through fishing if Nikki were standing right next to you.”

  She shrugged because she couldn’t argue with the truth. There was also the fact that they planned to bring her nephews along on the next trip. If they liked fishing, it was guaranteed she’d, at the very least, stand with everyone. When they were involved, it wasn’t about the activity, but about the time spent together.

  “So, you want to tell me what the two knuckleheads said to you when they came up here?” Raymond inquired.

  She waved the question off. “They were just looking out for Nick.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, the two gear-heads are at least good for that. I don’t want them to scare you off, though.”

  Rolling her eyes, she scoffed. “The devil himself couldn’t scare me off. Me and Nick have a deep history already. So, I’m in it for the long haul or whatever they say. Besides, she’s domesticated me and everything. No use letting some other woman enjoy the fruits of Nick’s labor.”

  He laughed. “It’s good that you both feel that way about it.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “You approve of us?” Even though it came out as a question, it really wasn’t. It was more a realization that she hadn’t meant to say aloud. It earned her another laugh from the man.

  “You seem surprised.”

  “Uh…I am.” She rubbed her forehead. “I thought for sure you’d always hate me.” Outside of Nicole, the only time she really got love was back when she was with her band, on stage, being the local Goddess of rock and roll.

  Shaking his head, Raymond rested his hand gently on her shoulder. “No, Danny, you’ve grown on me, definitely. I have to respect you. You stand by Nicole and you treat her right.”

  Dane ran her hand through her hair again, squinting a little as she took this in. “It doesn’t bother you that I’m not nearly as successful as, say, Tyler?”

  “Success is measured differently from person to person. Does it bother me that you don’t have the same amount of money as Nikki or almost any other person that she’s ever dated? A little. A father wants his daughter taken care of, and not taking care of someone else. Honestly, if you were a man, I’d probably consider you a deadbeat and pressure you about getting a real job.”

  She frowned. “So, because I’m a woman it’s okay?” That didn’t sit well with her, and she wasn’t entirely sure why. She knew that much of the time, it didn’t feel okay to her. She felt like she should be the one taking care of Nicole, like he wanted, woman or not.

  He shrugged. “I’m just being honest, Danny. I doubt any father wants his daughter supporting someone else. But, I think you do a lot of things a guy wouldn’t do. You cook every day, you clean the house, and things like that. I give you credit for that. I also acknowledge it’s not easy work, taking care of the house. You encouraged Nikki to chase a dream she can afford to chase. You want her to be happy, just like I do.”

  “I do. I do want her to be happy, but how can I do that if I can’t treat her to trips and stuff like she does with me?” Technically, she could afford it thanks to Christine practically forcing a small trust fund on her, but she thought of that as her mother’s money, a handout. It wasn’t something she’d earned. In fact, it was more a bribe, and she did her best not to touch that money.

  “Have you considered getting a real job?” he asked.

  She sighed. “I don’t have any real skills. Barely graduated high school and, considering my hand and my leg, I’m not very useful in physical labor.”

  He leveled her with a deadpan look. “Have you ever actually looked?”

  Sighing, Dane put her hand through her hair once more. “I’ve looked before, on days when I really feel bad about not being able to do stuff for Nick. Even if I got a job, at like a fast food place or something, I’d still be making peanuts. Hell, I might actually make more tutoring than with something like that.”

  He nodded in agreement. “Then do something with your music. Have you ever worked before in your life?”

  “I used to get a lot of gigs, but I had a band then, and I could play.”

  “You can still play and sing. I’ve heard you. You seem like you’ve lost your confidence and maybe it’s because you’re not how you used to be, but you’re not horrible. You sound good, really good, actually. Think about it.”

  She nodded. “This little pep talk for Nick’s sake?”

  “If that’s what makes you feel better. Now, come on, there’s lunch waiting. We get to see my brother burn all of the fish.” He laughed, softly patting her on the back.

  She could only shrug as they started walking back to the camp. She had no clue what to make of this talk, except that Nicole was right. Raymond actually liked her, maybe even cared about her. How’d I never notice?

  “You know, if you have these thoughts in your head, you should talk to Nikki. Communication is one of the things that all relationships need to keep going. Communication and honesty,” Raymond said.

  “Trust me, I know that already. We’ve talked about stuff, but I think I’m hardheaded,” she replied and that got a laugh out of him. He hit her on the back as they walked, not a pat like before, but as if they were comrades. Raymond considered her an insider.

  ***

  Nicole was surprised when Danny and her father were laughing with each other as they returned to camp. She didn’t realize how great such a scene was until seeing it for herself. She felt real joy. Anything that happened on the trip was worth it for just this moment. Not only did her father like Danny, and show it, but now Danny was aware of it and comfortable with him. They were making progress. Now, if only Mommy would come around.

  “So, Rich, you burn the fish yet?” Raymond grinned, wiggling his eyebrows in jest.

  “He let me do it, Uncle Raymond,” Junior said from the grill.

  “Best decision of his life,” Raymond replied, earning a serious glare from his brother.

  “Oh, Dad, Uncle has jokes on you!” Spider hooted, clearly trying to start something. These were their family dynamics when they were away from the mature females of the family, and Nicole was certain all the women knew that.

  “He’s mad because he’s a baby Sasquatch,” Richard said from his seat. He was cleaning his hunting knife, trying to look busy as his excuse for why he didn’t have time to cook the fish.

  “If I were, and I don’t eat your food, what does that say about
your cooking?” Raymond smirked.

  The cousins all giggled over that. Nicole chuckled while moving closer to Danny and taking her hand. She wanted to let Danny know it was all right to laugh if the urge overcame her. After all, they were probably going to be like this for the rest of the trip. Danny glanced at her and smiled, but nothing more.

  “I think food poisoning would be an improvement for you,” Richard told his younger brother.

  “Only if we’re in the will,” Spider added.

  “I’m cutting you all off. I’m leaving all my earthly goods to Nikki and Beth,” Raymond said dramatically, waving his hand in their direction.

  “I’m taking the car then,” Beth called with a bright grin.

  “Why? So you can crash it into a wall?” Junior inquired with an eyebrow up.

  Nicole had to hold in a snicker. She felt bad for finding that amusing. How is it I turn fifteen again when I’m around these guys? Of course, she wasn’t the only one with that problem, but that didn’t make it any better.

  She whispered to Danny, “Beth can’t drive for shit and has crashed two cars. We don’t usually bring it up, because she was hurt in the second crash. She was in the hospital for a few days, broke a few bones and things of that nature.”

  Danny nodded, but Nicole wasn’t sure if she totally believed her since Spider and Lillian laughed. Thankfully, Raymond and Richard reined that in with a simple admonishing look to the siblings and a glare at Junior, who was properly chastised. He turned his attention back to the food, while Beth marched over to him. She wasted no time hitting Junior hard, several times, on his broad back.

  “Hey, stop hitting me, girl. You want me to mess up lunch?” Junior huffed, moving away from Beth, but doing his best not to leave the grill.

  Beth gave him one more whack before sitting down. Nicole decided to encourage Beth’s bad behavior and gave her a high five. Lillian joined in, but not to congratulate. She knocked their hands apart.

  “You can’t give her credit for beating up my big brother,” Lillian said with a good-natured smile.

  “I can when the big lug deserves it,” Nicole replied with a smile of her own. She shot a teasing smirk over to Junior, who stuck his tongue out at her.

  “Besides, you always think it’s okay for Nikki to beat them up after Junior or Spider does something horrible to you,” Beth said.

  Lillian didn’t have a response for that. She more than likely didn’t want to sound childish because, of course, to Lillian it was different. Lillian didn’t mind Nicole defending her little sister. Well, sometimes anyway.

  “Remember that time you pushed Junior out of the tree when he made Lil cry?” Spider piped in as Nicole took a seat.

  “Oh, yeah, she totally tried to kill me!” Junior pointed an accusing finger at her.

  “I did not! That was an accident! I thought you’d catch yourself,” Nicole defended her actions, throwing her hands up wildly.

  “Catch myself from what, plummeting to my death?” Junior inquired incredulously, laughing a bit.

  “I didn’t try to kill him,” Nicole tried to assure Danny, who stood in front of her because Lillian had taken the seat beside her. She couldn’t help wondering if Lillian was a little jealous of Danny. It wouldn’t surprise her, as Lillian had shown signs of jealousy in the past. She’d have to tell Danny not to take the actions personally.

  “Sure you didn’t.” Danny gave her an amused smile, but also reached out for her hand.

  “I didn’t! I swear, I thought he was going to catch himself!” Nicole squeezed Danny’s hand hard in her excitement. Danny didn’t even flinch.

  “She was more upset than Junior was, though,” Spider said.

  “I was unconscious!” Junior objected. “I couldn’t possibly be upset while being in a freaking coma!”

  There was some snickering from the others. Raymond and Richard let them go. Sometimes, Nicole swore she could see the nostalgia in their eyes and the small smiles gracing their rugged faces. They were probably remembering times from their own childhood camping trips. Something about that touched her and made the family trips seem more special, like generations of their families were connected, even if they all weren’t there. She could almost picture her grandfather looking like her father and uncle did, smiling in the past about something silly.

  “Hey, didn’t you try to drown me for no good reason a few months before that little incident? And let’s not forget about how you tore open my bicep while we were sword fighting,” Nicole said.

  “Sword fighting?” Danny stared at her. There was an interested spark in her grey eyes. Nicole suspected her beloved enjoyed hearing these wild stories about her, liked knowing that some sort of feral lunatic lurked underneath the elegance, if the conditions were right. If Nicole thought about it, she sometimes missed that wild child.

  “We made wooden swords from bits of fence that our grandfather had torn down, but some genius used a piece of wood with a nail in it. I won’t mention any names. Needless to say, I had a fun trip to the doctor and had a wonderful tetanus shot along with some awesome stitches. It was such a great day.” Nicole’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “Reminds me of the time you hit me with your bike.” Spider made a face at Nicole. “I had an awesome trip to the hospital with my concussion.”

  “They were rough kids. We were scared to leave them outside together until they were fifteen,” Raymond said, speaking to Danny.

  “Yeah, Nikki got really boring at that time. She discovered boys.” Spider sighed and shook his head.

  “What? By then, Junior thought he was an adult and stopped having time for us.” Nicole nodded toward Junior.

  Spider turned to his older brother. “She’s right. You grew that stupid beard, which you still have for some odd reason, and got your job and all of that crap and you were too good for us for like a year.”

  “Damn right I was,” Junior laughed.

  “That was a good year,” Beth said, earning laughs from everyone else. Junior rolled his eyes and scoffed.

  Raymond nodded. “Injury free.”

  Junior was done with lunch before he had time to mount a comeback. Danny seemed intent on standing, so Nicole grabbed one of the folding stools for her and they enjoyed some fish, beans, and bread.

  “Why didn’t you make baked potatoes with this instead?” Spider inquired.

  “How about you make baked potatoes when you cook? How about that?” Junior countered in a tone that was very close to 'I know you are, but what am I?'

  “You two stop bickering like little girls for a second and eat,” Richard grunted. His sons made faces at each other and he glared at both of them. The ladies of the family snickered at the brothers being scolded.

  “So, after lunch, are we going on our usual hike?” Beth asked no one in general.

  “I don’t see why not,” Richard answered.

  Danny arched an eyebrow at the mention of a hike. Nicole leaned over and patted her knee, the one that was undoubtedly throbbing at the thought of walking on unleveled ground. The knee brace could only do so much, after all. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed and, of course, her cousins, being the jerks they were, had to say something.

  “Aw, city gal scared of a little walk? Does she want to go by car like your last girlfriend did?” Spider teased.

  “Have no problem with walking,” Danny replied. She didn’t have a problem with walking, but she couldn’t do it for a long period of time, and she might not be able to do it over rough terrain for more than a few minutes. Hiking was probably very much out of her ability.

  Nicole doubted going uphill and over rocks would be kind to Danny’s leg. She wasn’t going to say anything. She had to taper her urge to baby Danny, even if she was doing it to protect her. Danny knew her body and she’d hopefully stop when her leg was tired of the hike.

  “You’ll probably really like the hike. We take a path that allows us to see all sorts of sights in the woods and it ends at the top of a hill that lo
oks down into a valley. It’s fresh and green for as far as you can see,” Nicole told her lover.

  Nicole accepted Danny’s nod and hoped she’d know when to stop once the hike began. She hoped Danny didn’t push herself beyond her limits to see what was at the end of the trail or, worse, try to prove something. She hated that Junior and Spider were certainly going to use Danny’s injuries to make fun of her. They’d claim Danny’s inability to hike as another reason why Nicole shouldn’t be with her. Of course, she’d ignore them, and she suspected Danny would do the same.

  “Everybody, get your packs ready so we can get this hike started,” Raymond said once lunch was over.

  “Make sure to clean up after yourselves, too,” Richard ordered, giving Spider a stern look as he was the most likely to leave his trash sitting out.

  “I’ll do it,” Spider huffed.

  “Webber.” Richard looked down at the empty plate.

  “What? What? What? I got it.” Spider grabbed his garbage and made sure to get rid of it.

  After disposing of their own garbage, Nicole went over to her things with Danny on her heels. She handed Danny a backpack and picked up her own. Grey eyes stared at the pack as if trying to figure out what it was.

  “I packed for us when we were at home. You think you’ll be fine with hiking? We hike for a couple of hours,” Nicole warned her girlfriend.

  Danny shrugged. “I’ll give it a shot. The knee brace should help some. If I can’t do it, I promise to stop. Don’t really have any plans to leave here not being able to walk. Unless, of course, you had other plans.” A sexy smirk curled onto her lips.

  “Hey! Stop that!” Nicole gave her shoulder a playful hit.

  “What? I didn’t do anything,” Danny replied, now smirking and gazing at her with hooded eyes. Nicole gave her another soft hit.

  “Stop it or I’ll get my daddy on you,” Nicole whispered.

  Those words sobered Danny up quickly. Nicole couldn’t help laughing at her beloved’s expression. She could only imagine the passion whiplash Danny went through at having her amorous thoughts halted by the mention of Raymond.