First and Ten (15 page)

Dani tapped her highlighter absently at the
top of her open book. Advanced Microeconomics in Developing
Countries had never been a page-turner. Why was she a business
major again? Skill, sure, the breakdown of numbers made sense and
she was adept to it. Theories were fine and she could understand
them. Much like fashion, she knew it, it was easy, but there was no
sizzle or pop. Lately, the only sizzle or pop she got was from
being with Rome, but that wasn’t a job. If it was, one of them
would have been fired earlier tonight.

She’d waited almost an hour at Longitud315
in Highland Park before she’d taken out her phone for the tenth
time and tried to decide if she should turn it on. Turning on the
phone would mean she was working. Plus, Rome hadn’t left her
hanging once. Last week he’d even been early. And the month with
him had been great even with the limited contact. Tonight was
supposed to be different. After dinner they were going to find a
hotel and he was going to spend the night so he was close for OTAs
the next day. Even though she hadn’t wanted to watch the time, the
look of you got stood up from the wait staff was enough. Since it
was too late to order for herself at that point she had conceded it
was time to go home. When she turned on her phone in the morning
she’d hear Rome’s excuse and it had better be a damned good
one.

A knock brought her back to the textbook in
front of her.

“Hey, Birdie,” her dad said as he stepped
into her room. Captain of industry with the money to prove it. If
people saw him on a random weeknight they’d never expect it.
Wearing an alumni shirt from the University of Wisconsin and a pair
of jeans, he looked more like a blue-collar worker. “Your mom has
successfully turned chicken into charcoal.”

“Energy crisis solved in one Bonnie Albright
meal. Not bad for a random Tuesday night.” How Dani and her
siblings survived before they had a maid who cooked must have
something to do with fast food and her dad’s crock pot chili they
still enjoyed a few times a year.

“Well, we were hoping since we’re going fancy
and ordering from Number One Chinese.” The smirk on her dad’s face
made her drop her head and laugh. “You up for some takeout?”

“What treat is this? Feeding the starving
college student. Doesn’t that fly in the face of the William
Albright rules of self-sufficiency?”

“Mom burned the food that you chip in for,”
he explained and she tried to stifle a grin. The hundred bucks a
week she gave her family was her father’s way of teaching her
responsibility. Of course it hadn’t adjusted for inflation or late
night pantry raids in the past six years. Not a bad deal when she
thought about all she really had to pay for in the world. “You can
get takeout with us.”

Her dad came in the room and sat on the end
of her bed. Lifting the cover of her textbook to see the title, he
looked back at her and shook his head. “You know, we miss our
little Birdie. It’s like you’re never here. I haven’t seen you in a
week. We have dinner at six-thirty most nights. It would be nice to
be joined instead of you grabbing a plate of food and scurrying off
to your room.”

She felt the opposite. Only her family called
her Birdie. Her sister, Tawny, was to blame. Only two when Dani was
born, they tried to teach her how to say her baby sister’s name. It
was the Ka at the end that tripped her up and she thought she was
like all the other animals she learned by what they say. Cow, moo,
cat, meow, baby sister with the ka, birdie. Stupid what sticks and
what doesn’t.

“Fine, I’ll take some sesame chicken. What do
I have, an hour or so?”

“No, we knew you’d cave, but no books or
phone at the dinner table.”

“Phone’s turned off and on the charger.” She
gave a half smile as she rolled off the bed, stretched, and set her
book to the side. “You did teach me a few things and I follow the
rules.”

Tuesdays had been their family night once her
father moved them to the burbs. She hadn’t thought about that until
now.

“You need the break, Birdie. And an hour with
your mother and I won’t kill you.”

“A family dinner,” Dani faked her groan of
pain. “Will there be talking?”

“It is customary.”

“You know, if we didn’t live in the sticks
maybe I could join in more often. Right now the commute steals my
study time.”

“The guy should be here in twenty minutes or
so.” He stood and walked toward the door.

“I’ll meet you at the table.”

“Thank you for joining us.” He gave her a
smile before yelling down the hall. “Birdie is going to leave the
room.”

Twenty minutes later, Dani had washed her
face and put on a comfy but suitable sweater and jeans.

“The princess has come down from her castle,”
her mother chimed as Dani came to sit at the table in their dining
room. The normal table, as Dani thought of it, was out. With eight
chairs instead of the extended one they use for formal dinner
parties. “And in something washed this decade.”

Dani sniffed at the sweater and was hit with
a hint of lavender. “The cuisine is fine and I had no other
choice.”

Her mother’s nose crinkled for a moment
before she burst into a fit of laughter.

“It wasn’t that funny,” Dani said as she
plopped down in the chair across from her mother, then righted her
posture.

“I just remember teaching you at Hop Sings
table manners.” Her mother had been a computer programmer after
college. Her ideas of eating out and fine dining had evolved from
keeping your ketchup on the wrapper of your hamburger to learning
utensils that aren’t even put out in ninety-five percent of the
restaurants in the world. Now she was the model Dani worked from
for her older clients. The casual dinner still had her mother in a
sweater set and a pencil skirt. With rich auburn hair she currently
had cut tight, but still feminine, she rolled her blue eyes at
Dani.

“Are you going to summer school again this
year?” her father asked.

“I thought I’d do this crazy thing and
graduate for a change.” She spooned the rice on her plate. “You
know, mix it up to confuse the kids and all.”

“Any chance we were going to be notified?”
her mother asked with a hint of hurt in her voice.

After the high school graduation blowout to
end all blowouts, until she graduated from undergrad and then there
was a new level of party. Each of the parties for Dani and her
siblings’ accomplishments had turned into the social engagements of
the season. All of this wouldn’t have bothered her if the cost of
said party equaled one year’s tuition easily.

“Depends? You want a ticket to graduation
because I did get a set,” Dani confessed.

“We need to celebrate the occasion,” her
mother said while delicately removing an egg roll and placing it on
her plate. “What do you think, Bill? Here or in the city?”

“How about Rainbow Beach?” Dani
suggested.

“Stop joking,” her mother chided. “Bill?”

“What’s wrong with Rainbow?” her father
asked. “We had fun there when Dani was a kid.”

“Our friends would never attend and besides,
I’m sure it’s…well.”

“Dirty?” Dani suggested. “Mom, I’d rather
spend the day with you guys, Tawny, and Jericho.”

“Is it money or stock options you’re after?”
her dad asked.

“Gold bars, minions.” Dani pointed at her dad
with her chopsticks. “I know you use them to infiltrate companies
and get you the lowdown.”

“As all successful totalitarians do.”

Dani returned the sarcastic smirk to her
father. “Look, it’s not like my graduation was some big secret.
I’ve just been busy and Esme and I have been swamped with our final
project.”

“Gwendolyn Carmichael hasn’t told me anything
about Esme graduating,” her mother scoffed. “What is going on with
you two?”

“Esme isn’t graduating. She’s just in my
class.”

“Then I am the only mother being kept out of
the loop.”

“Oh, Bonnie,” her father said as he patted
her mom’s hand. “Don’t be a fool. Plenty of mothers don’t know what
their kids are doing. Of course those are the ones strung out on
drugs or prostituting themselves. Want to catch us up, Birdie?”

“I lace my pot with LSD and have moved up
from 103rd to 111th when I walk the stroll.”

“You do get a better class of John there,
right?” her dad said with all seriousness that had her mother ready
to burst with annoyance. He looked at her mother then back to her.
“Your mother would really like to throw you a party. Is there a
compromise we can come to?”

“Maybe,” Dani said as she picked up a piece
of chicken and popped it in her mouth, she needed to decide how
much she wanted to involve her parents in her life. They were both
looking at her as she held her hand in front of her mouth and
chewed. “How about I invite a handful of friends and clients to a
dinner party? It can be here and we can have it after graduation. I
think my section is at eleven. I’m sure Louise will have enough
time to make something wonderful and we can have an earlier
dinner.”

“How many courses?”

“Surprise me.” Dani smiled at her mother.
“Just keep it under a semester’s tuition or I’ll puke.”

“Vomit,” her dad corrected. “Remember we’re
in polite society.”

“Of course. How gauche.”

“Why am I the bad guy for trying to civilize
the two of you?” her mother asked. “If it was up to your dad we’d
still be in that duplex.”

“Thank goodness I have you to spend the
money.”

“I swear, you can take the kid out of South
Shore.” Her mother’s hands flew up. “Now look at me acting as bad
as you two.”

“That’s not fair,” Dani said. “Tawny and
Jericho are just as bad, but we clean up and act like we have home
training when you take us out in public.”

Her mother pointed at Dani. “You need to
thank me for your little business.”

“I do.”

Bonnie got up, went into the kitchen, and
came back with a fancy notebook and pen. “Now, let’s talk guests.
How many are we planning for and who are they? I can still get
invitations in the mail. Can’t I? When’s graduation?”

“You have two weeks.”

“Danika,” her mother exclaimed. “We
could—”

“She wants something small, Bonnie, please
honor her wishes on this one.”

“But—”

“Bonnie. Don’t worry, one of them will be
getting married soon I’m sure.”

“Tawny’s going to want some green,
eco-friendly thing with twelve people,” her mother groaned. “I’d be
surprised if Tawny even married a man. And Dani—”

“Dani what?” Dani asked.

“Well, you’ve never been the most social of
butterflies.”

“It’s hard going to school and working.”

Her mother set down her pen that had been
scratching notes the whole time they’d been talking. “I can’t
believe none of your clients have tried to date you? I’ve noticed
the most eligible bachelors in the city seem styled.”

“I learned my lesson when it comes to dating
clients,” Dani said as the memory of Mason’s betrayal came at her
again.
I just don’t see you as a sexual being, Danika. If I did
you’d be an escort. I pay you to dress me.
He never complained
when she undressed him. Tamping down the flashback, she looked her
mother straight on. “I’m seeing someone. We’re both very busy so
we’re not putting a label on it, but…well…put me down for a plus
one at the dinner party.”

“Who is he?” her mother asked, picking up her
pen to jot down a nugget of information.

“I’ll invite him personally, thank you very
much.”

“Are you being pragmatic?” her dad asked.

“Mom’s started a second page in her little
notebook there.” Dani pointed with her chopsticks. “Fifty bucks
says it’s a list of wedding venues.”

Her mother blushed bright red. “Jesus,
Bonnie, for all we know they’ve gone on three dates.”

“I want full custody,” Rome told his attorney
who had been just star struck enough to give Jerome his personal
cell.

“That’s going to be hard,” Stanton Meeks
replied. “Judges aren’t big on taking kids from their mothers.”

“She defrauded the system.”

“Come again?”

“She took assistance. I would have paid if
she had approached me sooner. There was no reason for my son to
ever be on food stamps. I didn’t block her number or play hide and
go ditch the child support with her.”

“Too minor. Do you have signs of abuse,
neglect, drug addiction? That’s what you need to get your son full
time.” Noises from behind Stanton sounded like he was moving
through a busy part of the city. “Why the sudden change? Weren’t
you going to ease into getting to know him? Set up a schedule and
play nice with Candace?”

“She brought him to the practice facility
today,” Rome said. “I just spent three hours with the kid. He wore
my ass out and I loved every minute of it.”