Danny Ray (Ray Trilogy) (11 page)

He
almost stopped in his tracks when he actually looked at the old farm house wondering what she might think of it. The porch floor sagged. The screens surrounding the frame of the porch had holes in it. The mustard color someone had painted on the old clapboards definitely was a turn off as far as he was concerned. He felt embarrassed but shrugged it off.

For some reason he blurted out as they walked toward the house, “I haven’t spent much time thinking of my house. My first concern has been toward getting my farm up and running. I plan to build a new house later.”

Again she showed her winning smile and said, “That’s perfectly understandable, the house does have a lot of character.”

“Well, I never thought about it that way.”

As soon as they stepped in the house and Danny closed the door against the wind, she said, “This warm house feels wonderful after being outside.”

Danny looked around at the old wood heater that he had dragged into the house to keep warm. He knew that the old heater wouldn’t fit in most circles but it felt awfully good to have its heat. “The old heater gets the job done in a pinch. How can I help you, Miss…?” He dangled out the word hoping she would introduce herself.

She held out her hand, “I am Eve Bancroft, reporter for the
Pryor Daily Times.”

Not too happy that he had
invited a reporter into his house, “What is it that you want from me? I don’t lead a very exciting life anymore.”

“On the contrary, Danny, there are a lot of people who care about you and what you have done with your life. The fact that you have returned to your roots and bought your family’s old home place is a very good human interest story. You have survived and can tell an inspiring story about how a man can be knocked down and still triumph again by
how you have rebuilt your life.”

“I don’t know. I really don’t want to be in the limelight anymore. I lost it all in the accident. Nobody cares about a looser.”

Eve touched his arm understanding his perception of himself. “May we sit down and talk about this?”

Acqu
iescenting, he motioned her toward the old couch that he hardly ever used. He sat across from her in the matching arm chair.
Pryor Daily Times
was such a small newspaper; he knew that its publication only reached local people. He couldn’t foresee much damage that it could do. “I don’t think many people will be that inspired from what I’ve done, but you must let me see your completed script before you publish anything,” he insisted.

“Of course, Danny.” She vowed, “I would never put anything out there in which you disapproved.”

She went back to her car and brought in her briefcase. They talked for two hours as she took constant notes. She got a sense of his personality, his history, his perception of his football career, then of his loss. He explained about their family losing their farm, his father’s subsequent death. He told of his drive to play football in order to reclaim the family farm in which Danny became the sixth generation of Rays to own the land.

Eve left the farm with her hopes soaring. She knew she had a story of great interest. This might help escalate her career to a much more prominent
newspaper. Secretly she knew of someone who could write a great best-selling biography with Danny’s story. She loved Danny’s humble attitude about his accomplishments. Before all of this was over she intended to finagle a date from this handsome unassuming man.

She returned to her office and her fingers flew over the keys as she wrote his story
with very little assistance from her notes. His story had somehow really touched her.

Danny thought about the vivacious and ambitious reporter.
Her engaging smile and her caring attitude struck a note in Danny’s heart. He rubbed his hand over his chin as he thought about her. If her story seemed as good as she claimed it would, maybe he might be interested in continuing their relationship. He thought about Angela but there was something about Eve Bancroft which sparked his interest. He smiled in anticipation; she would call soon for him to go over the story. Just maybe, there might be a chance for him.

He pulled out his graph paper that he bought at the lumberyard to draw his future home. Today was the first time that he had ever felt embarrassed
that badly about the appearance of his house. Definitely, a picture of this house would never see print.

He had a general idea of what he wanted in his new house. His first quick sketch left a lot to be desired. He knew he could easily draw the barn he wanted for his horses he wanted to buy next spring so he wadded up the sketch of the house and drew his horse barn.

Angela called on Thursday night to tell him that she had plans to be out of town this weekend, so Danny called to see if Aaron came home for the weekend and what he was up to lately. Danny wanted something to do other than sit at home on a Friday night.

Aaron told him, “Hey, you are
way behind on news. I have a new girlfriend.”

Delighted, Danny asked, “Yeah? Anybody I know?”

“Probably not. Her name is Michelle Grigsby. We met on the first day of school this fall.” Aaron stated proudly, “You should meet her. She came home with me this afternoon when we got out of school to meet my parents.”

“Wow,” Danny exclaimed.
“Already that serious?”

“I don’t know yet,” Aaron answered thoughtfully. “She is everything I have ever wanted in a girl. I wanted Mom and Dad’s take on her.”

Danny knew that most young men didn’t take that approach. “That’s good, Aaron. There might be more happy families if marriage partners could get along with their in-laws.” He decided he would keep that in mind.

Aaron thought about Danny out there on the farm all by himself and asked, “Hey, Danny. Could you get a date for tonight and come over? We are going to hang out here around the house tonight and play cards or something with Mom and Dad.”

Again Danny regretted that Angela had gone out of town for the weekend, and then he thought of Eve Bancroft. He pulled her card out from under the phone where he had stashed it and called her number. As the phone rang for the fourth time he figured that she was already out with some other lucky guy.

He heard her snatch up the phone and answer, “Hello, this is Eve.”

Almost shyly, Danny said, “Hello, this is Danny. I have a friend who wants me to have a date tonight and I thought of you.”

“Really?” she
answered in a question. “That’s so nice of you. Actually I was just putting in a frozen pizza into the oven. Since I had nothing to do tonight, I was going to veg out on pizza and watch movies on the television.”

“My friend Aaron was going to hang out with his girl at his house and thought maybe we could play cards or something. Does that sound like anything you would like to do?”

“Hanging out at a friend’s house sounds great to me. I’ve had a really busy week.” Eve said delighted that he called, “I would enjoy a low stress evening stomping them in a card game.”

Danny laughed, “It sounds like you might be the competitive sort.”

“You bet,” Eve laughed. “I’ll be ready.”

Eve stepped out of her apartment in designer jeans, a knit cardigan with ap
pliqued red roses and green vines across the front of it. She had a light navy jacket tossed back across her right shoulder and gray suede boots on her feet. The most striking feature to Danny was the big self-confident signature smile that marked her personality.

Danny’s heart skipped a beat to see her bouncing down the stairs. He hopped out of his pickup and opened the door. “Wow! Eve!” Danny said admiringly, “You could take a man’s breath away.”

She kissed him on the cheek when she stepped up on the running board of the pickup, “That’s the plan.”

It turned out to be a joyful evening. It had been a while since Danny had been to the Robert’s house. Mary and Harold, Aaron’s parents had always treated Danny as their own son. So they felt like Danny coming over was like their son coming back home.

Aaron came ushering his girl as soon as they entered the door. Michelle wore designer jeans and a blue and black biker’s sweater. She had swept her shoulder length strawberry blonde hair back and then let it fall down in a smooth page boy in the back. Her green eyes and freckles across her nose denoted her Irish ancestry. “Here is Michelle Grigsby. Michelle, please meet my best friend in the whole world and cousin, Danny Ray.”

Danny in turn said, “Please meet Eve Bancroft, reporter from
Pryor Daily Times
. We met last week when she wanted to interview me for a personal interest item for the paper.”

Michelle and Aaron looked at each other an
d smiled as if they had a shared secret. Danny appreciated that they understood one another so well. It looked like Aaron had met his match sure enough.

After all introductions were completed,
Mary invited them to join them at the dining room table where they had brought out the double twelve set of dominoes. They all began to sit down in pairs when Aaron asked Danny to step into the living room with him.

“Danny,” Aaron whispered, “You have red lipstick on your cheek.”

Danny scrunched his face in embarrassment, “I think Eve wanted to have a little fun with me. I think she might be a force to be reckoned with.”

Aaron laughed, “Sounds like you may have met your match.”

“That’s yet to be seen.” Danny replied. “I think it more likely would be, that I am at her mercy.”

Aaron and Harold were in their element with the numbers counting and keeping track of the double twelve dominoes. When the first game was completed the rest of them asked for compassion. So they went t
o chicken feet then on to Mexican train.

By eleven, Danny and Eve decided to call it a night. Thanking the Roberts for a good time, they drove to Eve’s apartment. Eve asked Danny if he would like to come up. He hesitated and then decided to take her up on it.

She turned on some music, and asked him if he would like to have a drink. Danny as a rule was not a drinker, but tonight he felt like a free spirit. He felt like he was pushing the envelope just going out with her. “I’ll take a beer if you have it.”

She grinned, “Sure, I have a beer.
Nothing stronger?”

“No, I have to drive home in a while. I don’t usually drink.”

“Why not? A big football player like you? Surely you haven’t always been a tee totaler with the rest of the ball players drinking,” she chided.

“Yes, I have drunk some. I don’t like to be out of control, I don’t like to be sick the next morning. I figure I can make enough a fool of myself without trying.” He smiled walking with her to the kitchen, “So it’s my personal choice.”

“You are a home town boy, aren’t you?” She grabbed two beers out of the refrigerator and sat them down at the bar.

Danny sat down on a bar stool and took a swallow of the beer. He felt like her calling him a home town boy was intended to be something of a slam but he decided to ignore it.

Eve stood across from him at the bar and leaned over propping herself on the bar on her elbows giving him a view down the vee of her cardigan sweater. She was talking about something Danny forgot to listen trying to keep his eyes and mind off of the scene in front of him. Finally he swiveled to the side and looked toward the living room to keep his sanity.

She came around the bar and sat on the barstool beside him facing him, “Danny,” he heard her say through the fog in his brain. “Have you heard anything I have said?”

His eyes began to focus again and he said, “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

She gave him one of her million dollar smiles and said, “That’s what I thought. I was trying to talk to you about the article
I’m writing about you.”

He reached over and put his hands on each side of her waist and pulled her to him. She put her arms around his neck and said, “Forget the article.”

She saw the longing in his eyes and she gave in to his kiss. He ran his hands under her sweater and unfastened her bra. She began kneading the muscles in his shoulders and arms. She kissed the sides of his face and neck. He picked her up and headed toward the only door that he saw that should lead to the bedroom.

Danny woke up the next morning with only three hours of sleep. He knew he should go home and take care of his animals but he didn’t want to be the kind of guy who sneaks out the next morning without saying goodbye.

Eve lay there only under the sheet on her side facing him. He could feel her gentle breathing across his chest. Her hand lightly lay on his stomach and her leg still wrapped around his good leg. He gently touched her short curly hair that so fit her perky personality. He smiled and rubbed her shoulder with his thumb. He softly spoke to her, “Eve, I need to leave now to take care of my animals.”

Eve woke up with a start. With only three hours of sleep she was having difficulty trying to remember why a man was in her bedroom. When she became awake enough to recognize Danny’s voice, her body warmed with the exotic feelings he aroused in her during the night. She
pushed the sheets down exposing her luscious breasts with a groan, “Mmmm.”

He smiled at her, “Eve, I need to go home. I didn’t want to leave without telling you.”