Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (15 page)

Joel
sat back in his chair, motioning for her to come in and shut the door. “Now, why would I do that?”

“Because
you won’t let me
do my job.
Ben shouldn’t be doing
the cat boxes
. H
e’s your
extern, not an assistant
like me
.
”

“
Ben does what I tell him to do. And, n
o, I’m not going to fire you
,
at lea
st not this week.
J
ust so you’re clear,
Doctor
Wright
didn’
t share what you and she discussed
.
But, if you eve
r want to talk to someone about,
about
—you know—
things, about what happened to you—or whate
ver
…
m
y
door’s open,
and what
you say to me
stays in this room
.
Got that?
”

She
edged
to
ward
the door
. “T
hanks,
Joe
l
.”

That evening,
Dannilynn
arriv
ed
at
the Wheeler’s home.

“Come in,
Danni
. How have you been?” Rebecca Wheeler
, the Pastor’s auburn-haired wife,
welcomed her. “Adam just finished nursing, so he will probably sleep through, but if he doesn’t, I’ve put a bottle of milk in the fridge
.
”

“
Okay
.”

“He’s been teething. H
e may need
to be rocked if he gets fussy.
Here’s the number of the
restaurant
where we’ll be
. If you can’t settle him down, call me. Otherwise, we
should be back no later than ten
.”

Danni
waved the minister and his wife out the door and settled onto the couch. From her backpack, she
opened
the
book
with a chapter on
bacterial and viral diseases
carried in
cat feces.

“
No wonder
Joe
l
doesn’t want me
cleaning the
cat
boxes
,
”
she murmured a
fter reading several pages
.

On a nearby table
was
Adam’s
baby bo
ok
.
Rebecca must have been adding entries. Dannilynn scanned the earlier entries,
when
the baby had
first smiled, his growth chart since birth, and other details.  She wished she hadn’t thrown away the brochures about abortion. Three more days and she was going to have to see the doctor again
.

She sighed.
What to do.
In the next room, t
he baby stirred and began to fuss. She
entered his room,
picked him up and brushed her hand against his warm head.

“Sh
h, Adam.
”

He snuggled his head against her neck
and
tried to put a fist into his mouth
.

“You are so silly,” she cooed
.  “Let me see your new toofums
.
”
When she slipped one finger into his mouth, he imm
ediately bit down on it. “Ouch! T
hat’
s sharp.
Bu
t I’ll bet i
t feels good when I rub your gums.” As if in answer, he leaned his head into her hand and
gummed
her finger
before settling in her arms
.

A half
hour later,
the baby
began to fuss
again
. 

“Just a few more minutes,” she soothed. “Hey, I’m not your mother,”
she said,
when he tried
to
lean
down to breast level.
After testing the warmth
of the milk
on her wrist, she offered him the bottle. He settled almost immediately and began sucking. After a few minutes,
he
released
the rubber nipple, gave
Danni
a milky smile
, and closed his eyes. 

When
she was sure
he was
asleep
, she
laid him in
his
crib.

“
Was he
good
?”
Rebecca asked
, when they returned
an hour later
.

“No trouble at all
.”

Peter
Wheeler
drove
Danni home. B
efore she got out of the car, she
turned toward him.
“
You really wanted
Adam
, didn’t you?”

“Yes,
he i
s a blessing we
waited
for a long time
, and we couldn’t be happier. I’m sure you’ll feel the
sam
e when you have your first baby.
”

“Do you know people who’ve given their babies away, or had abortions?”

He glanced
sidelong
at her.
“Do you
have
a friend
who’
s thinking about that?”

“Maybe.
”
She
opened the car door
.

“
I
f you
r
friend needs to talk,
privately
,
have her
call
me. I’m happy to listen. T
hanks for sitting
with Adam
tonight.”

She waved to him and went into the house. After
slipping
into her nightgown, she wrapped a small blanket around her shoulders and went outside to sit in the backyard. The moon appeared to be skating between the clouds. Before she turned to go back inside, a shooting star flashed across the dark sky before appearing to crash behind the trees on the far horizon.
Is that
star
like me, crashing?

“Hi, Shortie,” Ben called as she propped her bike next to the house and walked
into the backyard.
Her hair, like ebony
, i
s so shiny.
His heart pumped faster seeing her
long legs and her relaxed smile
as she approached him
.

Happy
bounded over to her and jumped up, waving his paws in
her face.

“Down,
Happy.”
She
looked
at the tall extern
.
“Ben, y
ou can’t let him jump
like that
.
He’ll
scare
people
, and
he could knock down a
kid
.”

“
I wasn’t sure how to stop him.”

“Show me what he knows
.
We’ll deal with that later.
”

“
Okay
.
Happy, let’s
show off for the lady
.” He made the dog sit next to
Danni
, gave the command to stay,
and
trotted over
to the fa
r end of the yard. “Come, Happy.
”
The big
dog bounded over to him.

“Sit.
”

The dog sat.

“Be a gentleman and shake.
”

The dog extended one paw,
put it down on the ground and offered him
the other.

Danni
grinned. “That’s good.”

“
D
own,
Happy,
” Ben ordered.

The
dog lay down and put his head on his paws, lo
ok
ing up at the man.

He waved
one
arm
in a circle
and ordered,
“Roll
over
.
”

The
dog did so.

“Sit, and stay.” Ben
trotted
back
to where
Danni
was seated. 

The dog r
emained where he was,
a seated statue of shiny black fur.

“Fabulous! Yo
u’ve really done a lot with him.
Come here, Happy.
”
Danni
called
the dog
and raised her hands above her head as
he
neared h
er.

He rose up on his hind legs. As
he moved within range, she stepped on
the toes of one of
his
back feet
and pressed downward firmly.

“No,” she said.

The dog dropped
his front feet
to the ground.

“You try it.
Press
down enough for him to feel the pressure on his toes.
He won’t like it.
”

Ben moved away from her and called the dog. When he rose on his hind legs, Ben followed
Danni
’
s
directions and the dog dropped immediately to all fours.

They repeated the exercise
several times
until
the dog made no effort to jump, even when Ben raised his hands high above his head and danced
in a circle
.

“Oh, you smart dog, Happy,”
Danni
hugged the
Doberman
, who tried to lick her ear.

“Don’t I deserve a hug, too,
for training him so well?” Ben
grinn
ed
at her
, hopeful
.

“Of course.” S
he laughed. “Do you want a doggy treat, too?”
She
offered him one
after
she gave him a quick hug.

“I’d rather have ice cream. Want some?”

“A great idea. What flavor
do you have
?”

“Whatever you want—my treat—at the
place
in town.” 

They walked two short blocks to the ice cream parlor and sat outside at one of the small tables on the
pat
io.
It was nearly dark by the time they walked back to his house.

He looked at her, acutely aware that his pulse
had
picked up.
“Yo
u better let me take you home.
Your mom isn’t going to like you riding your bike in the dark.”

He lifted
her bike in
to
the back of t
he Thing
and the dog clambered in,
standing between the bike and the front seat, lo
ok
ing out one of the side windows.
After
they placed
the dog
in
his
run
,
Danni
looked
over at
Ben
.

“I told
Joe
l
you didn’t have to change the litter boxes for me, but he said it was your job now
, except when Kate comes in
. I’m sorry about that.
I know you’d rather
do
surger
y
, and other real
vet things.
”

“
Hey,
don
’t worry about it. When I
took
this
extern
ship, I knew there would be some things I wouldn’t like
doing.
That’s
just one of them.
” He
smiled
at her.
“
I figured he was getting back at me for beating him
at racquetball the other night.
”