Danny Ray (Ray Trilogy) (15 page)

Danny laughed at him, “Trade with
ya’.”

“Okay, I’ll bring you my trig homework,” Ted popped off.

“Been there and done that.” Danny replied unrolling his house plan.

Frisker hopped up in one of the chairs and studied the house plan with them.

Danny began by discussing the new location of the road and the placement of the house. He described his plan to remove the old house and make a large backyard.

Greg nodded his approval. “Son, it looks like you’ve put a lot of thought into it. I like it. Any time you need help, you just let me know.”

“Thanks, I’ll surely be calling you for advice before I’m finished with all of this.” He looked at Angela as she studied his house plan, “Well? What do you think of it, Angela?”

Almost surprised that he wanted her opinion, she said, “I like it, Danny. You’ve done a good job.” Then she pointed out a few things she would have done differently.

Eve called in the afternoon, “Danny, are you free for the evening?”

“Eve, I should apologize to you,” Danny said. “I have been so wrapped up in my projects, I have totally ignored you.” He rolled up his house plans again and looked at the clock. “Sure, Eve, what do you have in mind?”
His pulse already quickened thinking of holding her in his arms again.

“How about a long leisure evening, dining and relaxing while listening to some slow romantic music in a nightclub in Tulsa?” she asked in a soft luring voice.

“Sounds delightfully delicious, especially you,” Danny replied dreamily. “Are you sure you wouldn’t want to order in a pizza and bed?” He corrected, “I mean Pizza and drinks?”

Eve laughed, “I think you said exactly what you meant the first time.”

“It was a slip of the tongue,” Danny explained.

“Are you sure?”

“Apparently, I can’t win for losing with you,” he laughed.

“I intend to wear my high heels and wow you tonight with my sophistication and elegance in a fancy restaurant, so, farmer, don’t wear your boots with the cow muck on them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Danny teased. “I might even wash my hands.”

They dined in the classiest restaurant that Danny and Eve had
ever
graced with their presence. Eve didn’t disappoint him. She wore sexy four inch heels which he knew must hurt her feet, and a long flowing creamy floor length evening dress with onyx necklace and earrings. She had combed her hair up and held it with diamond sparkled combs.

Danny sat across the table admiring her.

Thanks to his experience with Lisa, Danny felt that he was able to conduct himself in knowledgeable fashion. He ordered a wine that he knew wouldn’t break his bank account and they dined on ‘Mushroom Crusted Rack of Lamb with mint truffle demi-glace.”

As they danced, she tol
d him, “I hope you appreciate my dressing up like this, I only wear something like this a couple of times a year. It just happened to be tonight.”

“You look absolutely stunning. Is there a special occasion you haven’t told me about?” Danny asked as he pulled her close.

She lifted her face to kiss him on the cheek, which she couldn’t have reached if not for her four inch heels. She used the gesture to give her a minute to think. Maybe she would wait another few minutes before telling him her news. Cowardly she said, “I wanted tonight to be special. I hadn’t seen you for a while.”

He smiled and said, “I’m glad I
was the one you missed.”

They danced a couple
more of the romantic songs filling the ambiance of the restaurant, and then returned to their table for Crème Brulee for desert. After two more rounds of the delicious wine, they drove out to the river to watch the water sparkle in the moonlight. Danny parked her convertible, which they chose to drive tonight in deference of her long dress and heels, in one of the parking places dotting Riverside Drive along the Arkansas River.

They got out and walked hand in hand a short ways in the crispy air along the walking trail beside the river. Knowing she shouldn’t put off her announcement much longer, she finally said, “I do have something I want to tell you, Danny. I wanted it to be a special night because you are a special person to me.”

An uneasy feeling came over Danny and he turned her to face him, “What are you trying to tell me?”

She raised his hand that was still clasped in hers and kissed him. “I have accepted another job.”

Danny looked over her head sure that this wasn’t good news for their relationship. “So you are trying to tell me that this is not a local job.”

Eve heard the hardness come into his voice. This wasn’t working as well as she had hoped. Biting the bullet so to speak, she continued, “I have accepted a position at the
Chicago Tribune
. I know it’s a long ways from here but I promise I will fly down to see you every chance I get or you could fly to Chicago to visit me.” In her own ears her plea sounded feeble.

“Let’s start home I need to think about this before I say too much.”

Eve had hoped her romantic date would soften him up to accept her offer to visit back and forth; instead she sat very quietly for the hour that it took to reach Pryor. Her plan for the ideal end of the date had been to lure him up in her apartment for a last romantic interlude before she had to tell him goodbye.

When they reached her driveway and parked the car, Danny turned to her and asked, “When do you plan to leave?”

“I have already turned in my resignation at work,” she admitted and I will leave within a week. “Danny, please don’t think that I take our relationship lightly, I really care about you.”

“This job means a lot to you doesn’t it?”

“This job has been my goal ever since I decided to become a journalist in high school. I have worked so hard to get where I am. When this job opened up, I knew that everything I have ever struggled for had finally paid off.” Eve touched his hand, “I only regret and that I’m leaving you behind.”

Danny shook his head, “I understand, Eve. I also had a goal to become a professional football player.” He ducked his head swallowing the pain and regret that came with losing that dream. “I hope your dream lasts longer for you than my football career did for me. I can’t go with you. My home is here on the farm.”

He went around the car and opened the car door for her. He escorted her up the stairs to help her climb the stairs in her four inch heels. At the door she lifted her tear streaked face. She wanted a last fling in the bed, at least a long deep kiss but instead she said, “Danny, you are a wonderful man. I admire everything about you, even the unwillingness to have a long distance relationship.”

“I’ll never forget you, Eve. If you’re ever back in Pryor, stop by for a visit.” He ran his fingers down her cheek.

She watched him walk down the stairs and get in his pickup. She waved but didn’t think he saw her.

It was well past midnight when Danny drove into
his driveway. Frisker saw who it was and ran around the edges of the yard to ascertain that the yard was well protected and he was still on the job. By the time Danny hauled himself out of the pickup and walked up to the back door Frisker had finished his self-appointed task and anxiously waited for Danny to open the door licking his lips and wagging his tail.

He woke up the next morning still tired. He dragged himself out of bed and cared for his animals. When he returned to the house he tossed some chunks of wood into the old wood stove to warm the place up. The temperature hit below freezing before morning and the little gas heaters weren’t keeping the house quite as warm
as he needed.

He walked back into the kitchen looking for some coffee to help warm him up. There under the table where he kicked the box yesterday afternoon sat all those letters he needed to answer. The last thing he wanted to do was sort through all that mail, but in all fairness, all of those people took time out of their day to send him a letter of kindness. Grudgingly, he sat down and disciplined himself to answer them.

Writing a little thank you note and addressing envelopes didn’t take much but rote cognitive attention. His thoughts began to drift to the time he spent with Eve last night. She had looked so beautiful in her creamy floor length dress and her onyx jewelry. He liked her curly brown hair which she had pinned up to make herself more elegant. Most of all he loved her smile and her perky friendly personality.

He smiled a bittersweet smile thinking of her wonderful news she told him which almost took his breath away when she told him. He tried to be happy for her but he could feel his heart bleeding within. He knew she wanted him. Nothing would have made her happier than for him to have a roll in the sack and tell her that he would run back and forth to Chicago after her, but he knew how that would end. After a while the cost would become to
o great and the relationship would drift apart and they might become acrimonious with each other.

No, he thought it’s better to break it off now. He rubbed his hand across his face and got up for another cup of coffee. He leaned against the cabinet. He had gotten more of the fan mail taken care of than he thought. He looked at the bitter cup of coffee in his hand and it reminded of the bitterness
wanting to rise up in his soul. First, Lisa and now Eve. What is it with me and women?

Despondently,
he looked at the fan mail that he wished would stop coming. He felt uncomfortable even receiving it. He really didn’t deserve it anymore. He no longer was a star, nobody that should be recognized. Couldn’t anybody see that he was ‘a nobody’?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The OU Sooners football team returned to their dugout after the Christmas break in high spirits. They just completed a 10 -1 season under Coach Chuck Fairbanks leadership. Then they conquered the Orange Bowl by 26-24 at Miami, Florida on January first. What a way to end the season! What a way to start the New Year! OU Sooners were on top of their game!

The team was still on a high. They high fived each other and hooped and yelled. Coach called them together so they had to quieten down. He told them with a happy face, “I have no definite information but some of you may receive an invitation to the NFL Draft Picks Meeting.”

Immediately a roar of questions came forth but the couch held up his hands, “Those of you who are eligible for the draft will be notified by mail. I do know that some of you were being watched.”

Again a roar of questions bombarded the coach. He held up his hands again, “I am not privileged to information at this time, except that some of you will be chosen by certain teams and then decisions will be made
. I am not a fly on their wall to know anything other than that.”

“What about the Heisman Trophy? Do you have any inside information on that?”

“Sorry, that is out of my hands also. There will be a vote and the winner will be announced. I hope and pray that one of you will win, but it’s not up to me.” Coach announced that there would be no practice until next week. Come back on Monday and maybe there will be some information by then.”

The day that the letter came for Danny
, he ran all over campus waving his letter. His enthusiasm to share his joy excited everybody he encountered. By the end of the day almost everybody knew that he was chosen for the NFL Draft. After school he hugged his letter to him as he sat on his bed and wept. This is the cherished letter he had worked and sweated to earn for years. After his tears ebbed he called his mother to tell her the news.

Lisa came by and they shared the bottle of Champaign she brought with the other guys in the sorority house in the common area. They didn’t have
Champaign glasses so they clicked their coffee mugs together. The celebration was just as grand had they danced the night away in a fancy restaurant. The guys cheered and hooped and patted Danny on the back. Lisa sat on his lap and clicked his glass every time she took a drink. It was very special.

Danny found out that three of the other guys also had received a letter from the draft. On the specified date they traveled together to learn which teams had picked
each of them. By the end of the meeting one of them went to Green Bay Packers, another team member went to New York Giants, Oakland Raiders chose one of them, and Danny went to the Dallas Cowboys.

They all went home happy. Danny was ecstatic. He couldn’t have joined a team with whom he could have chosen better. To play with the Dallas Cowboys was a dream to top all dreams. He went around on a cloud of happiness for days. Later he didn’t even remember doing his homework but surely he did. No teacher complained that he didn’t do his homework. His grades maintained the same level.

Danny found out that the Heisman trophy had been awarded to another player. He shrugged his disappointment off knowing that many other worthy players also had their hearts set upon winning the cherished trophy.

Soon after graduation, Danny headed to Dallas to join the team. The couch and the other players on the team greeted him heartily but gave him no slack. Day after grooling day, he ran, pushed, and exercised until he could barely get his wobbly legs to carry him to bed at night.

He thought that he was in good form while he played with the Oklahoma Sooners but the Cowboys just laughed at him and patted him on the shoulder and said, “You got to toughen up to be in the pros.”