Memories (3 page)

 "That was another lifetime," Michael told her. "One I rarely think about anymore."

 Cathy watched as another strange look passed between Michael and Dani. The emotions in the room were strong and the tension between the two was so powerful it sent a chill down Cathy’s spine.

 "Well," Cathy began hesitantly. "We can talk over lunch. Everything is ready. Michael, please, sit down while Dani and I bring the food in from the kitchen." Cathy quickly headed to the kitchen's swinging door with Dani close behind. Dani took the farthest path possible around Michael.

 "Dani," Cathy whispered once they were alone. "Are you okay? I mean, really?"

 "I'm sorry, Cathy," Dani said, doing her best to control her emotions. "I didn't mean to worry you. It was such a shock to see someone from those days, that's all." She smiled at her friend. "I'm okay." Cathy wasn't completely convinced, but decided to drop the subject.

 Lunch began with a delicious shrimp cocktail followed by a Chef salad and French bread warm out of the oven. The food tasted wonderful but Dani hardly noticed. She was too busy trying to ignore her lunch companion, yet at the same time act pleasant for Cathy's sake.

 She listened to the conversation between Michael and Cathy while picking at her food, not hearing a word, not tasting a bite, trying to ignore the memories that threatened to surface. A faint scent of cologne drifted past her, opening the door to memories of the past. He had always worn the same cologne; one that smelled spicy and masculine. It didn’t matter if they were spending a day on the beach, at the playground with Vanessa or eating burgers at the coffee shop where she waitressed, he wore that masculine, enticing scent. She rarely detected it on any other man but sometimes, she’d catch a scent of it in the air on the street or in an elevator and she instinctively looked for him. And now he sat in the same room as she, that same cologne she knew so well drifting faintly toward her.

Dani grew angrier by the minute as the past replayed in her mind. How could she sit here, quietly eating lunch only inches away from the man she'd despised for the past nineteen years? Every fiber of her being wanted to stand up and scream. She wanted to tell him how much he’d ruined her life, but he just sat there, smiling, making pleasant conversation in his most eloquent manner, oblivious to Dani and the rage growing inside her.

 "So tell me Dani, since Michael won't, how did the two of you meet?"

 Cathy's question brought Dani back to the conversation at hand. Dani sent a frigid look in Michael's direction before answering her friend.

 "I waitressed at a small coffee shop the summer after I graduated high school," Dani explained without expression. "Michael used to be a regular customer there." He came there to meet women and ruin their lives, she wanted to say. Instead, she finished in a tart tone. "Except he used to go by the name, Miguel." Dani stared hard at Miguel. Let him explain everything, she thought. Her eyes dared him to.

 "Yes, Miguel is the name my parents gave me," he answered calmly. "But when I took over the family business, it was easier to use Michael."

 Michael studied Dani's face, noting her look of disgust at his reply. Even with the unpleasant expression, she was still beautiful. Her golden hair was tied back in a smooth ponytail at the nape of her neck, giving definition to her square jaw line and prominent cheekbones. Her face had become sculptured with age, making her more beautiful than ever. One feature that hadn't changed was her small ‘ski-nose’, which he used to teasingly call it. Movie stars paid a fortune to have a nose like that, yet she was born with it. In that brief moment he studied her, he thought about the donut fights at the restaurant, the way her hair always smelled of honeysuckle, and Sundays on the beach holding hands, sitting in the wet sand while watching Vanessa jump the waves at the water's edge. God, those were such wonderful times.

 Dani caught his stare and he looked away, not wanting to anger her more than she already was. A thought hit him and he chuckled. "Dani, remember crazy Karen, the waitress who used to get her orders all mixed up and then yell at the customers for confusing her? We never did understand how she kept her job there. I wonder what ever happened to her."

 Dani didn't reply; she only stared at him. Cathy couldn't stand the tension any longer.

 "Who's ready for dessert?" she asked, standing to clear the table.

  Dani seized the opportunity to get away and declined, insisting she had to leave.

 "I have another meeting at two o'clock," she explained as she stood up. It was already one o’clock and she was surprised she'd lasted this long. "I really should go if I want to make it back to the merchandise district on time."

 Dani thanked her friend for the delicious meal as she headed for her coat and the door. If she was lucky, she could get out without having to say so much as a goodbye to Miguel. To her horror, he followed.

 "I should head back to the office, too," he told Cathy. "I also have a meeting at two. Everything was wonderful, Cathy. I'll take a raincheck on that dessert tonight, okay?"

 "Do you want me to come, too?" Cathy asked Michael. "For the meeting, I mean."

 "No, there's no need. Just enjoy the rest of your day off. I'll be back at six to pick you up for dinner."

 Michael turned to Dani. "If you'll wait, I'll go with you to the train. We’re both heading in the same direction."

 No, Dani thought. I don't want to wait. I want to get as far away from you as possible. Once again a look of contempt shadowed Dani's face, but Michael pretended not to notice as he slipped on his overcoat and picked up his briefcase. The look did not go unnoticed by Cathy either, and neither did the tension that still embraced the room.

 Dani stood politely by as Michael kissed Cathy goodbye on the cheek. Then, once again, Dani thanked her friend for the lovely meal, promised to keep in touch and finally was out the door.

 Cathy watched Dani practically run ahead of Michael to the elevator before closing her apartment door. It was quite obvious that Dani did not want to be in Michael's presence, but the looks that had passed between Dani and Michael had also been very obvious to Cathy. Even with the hatred, the underlying electricity was palpable. Michael's eyes sparkled when he first recognized Dani and again when he had talked about the past. They had been more than just friends, she was sure of it.

 Cathy had been questioning her own relationship with Michael for some time. She’d wondered if there was a past person who held his heart and if that was why he was unwilling to commit. A thought struck her; what if that person was Dani? She decided she would ask him tonight about his past relationship with Dani and about her and his relationship. As much as she loved him, she knew it was time they came to some sort of understanding. It was time she made him face the future head on.

Chapter Three

 "I don't need your company back to the train," Dani insisted to Miguel in the elevator on the way down to the lobby. "I'm very capable, thank you." Before he could reply, the doors opened and she stepped out and hurried through the lobby and into the May sunshine.

 Michael did his best to catch up with her, practically breaking into a full run. "Dani," he called softly when he caught up behind her on the street. "Dani, can we just talk a minute?" He reached out and touched her on the shoulder. She turned with a violent jerk.

 "Don't touch me!" she hissed, making Michael stop short.

 "I'm sorry; I just wanted to talk a minute." Michael searched Dani's burning eyes. What had seared such hatred in them toward him? Once, those eyes had been filled with love. "There's something I'd like to explain to you," he said as gently as he could.

 But Dani's stance was unbending, her eyes unyielding. "There's nothing I want to hear from you. Just stay away from me." Her voice cracked and she broke into full flight from Michael. She kept running until she was at the first train she saw and stepped aboard without looking back. As she sat, trying to catch her breath, she calmed herself with the thought that she would never have to see Miguel DeCara again.

 In the end, Dani was late for her meeting. In her haste to flee Miguel, she had boarded the wrong train and ended up on the opposite side of town before she realized her mistake. She fumed at herself all the way back to the merchandise district and barely paid attention to the presentation delivered by the jewelry distributor.

 How stupid I must have looked to him, she thought when she finally escaped the meeting. No better than the girl that fell blindly in love with him years ago. Dani took the train to the station nearest her hotel and walked the last few blocks, easing her anger with each brisk step. She hated him for being so calm and controlled while she was agitated and emotional. Stopping at a deli on the corner, she picked up a sandwich and headed straight to the safety of her hotel room where she drowned herself in paperwork over anticipated purchases. She'd already decided to finish up business first thing in the morning and leave the city. There was no way she wanted to run into Miguel again. Her emotions were running high and she knew she'd be unable to control herself if they met again.

 Michael sat quietly at his desk, looking over various accounts on the computer monitor before him. The grandfather clock in the corner chimed six times. The clock had once belonged to his grandfather, who brought it from his homeland of Portugal almost sixty years ago. It was the only piece of furniture Michael had brought with him from New York when he'd left Vanessa in charge there so he could build up the division in Chicago. As a boy, the chimes of the carved, maple clock had annoyed him, but with age he'd come to appreciate the clock and the time it represented.

 Michael turned his chair around to survey the view from his twenty-first floor office. An expanse of city bustled with activity before him as his mind struggled to understand what past occurrence had caused such pain today. He tried to conjure up anything that may have inflamed Dani's hatred of him, but the only memories he had of her were happy ones.

 He knew he hadn't been a saint in those days, but he'd never done anything deliberately to hurt her. In fact, he had been very much in love with her. But she'd been so much younger than he, and his life was such a mess then, that he hadn't allowed himself to give in to that love.

 Dani had brought such calm to his and Vanessa's life back then. She was always there when he needed her, her presence quiet and calming. He knew her love for Vanessa had also been genuine. Unlike so many other women he'd known who only tolerated his daughter's presence, Dani truly enjoyed being with both he and Vanessa. Yet, when his father died suddenly, he'd left Dani behind without a word because he thought that was best for her. She was young and had so much life ahead of her.

 As evening settled over the city, Michael was surprised by the flood of memories that enveloped him at the thought of Dani. Memories he hadn't thought of in years. All were warm and strong and he wondered how he had ever let them escape from his thoughts. The first time they'd been alone on an "official" date without Vanessa, the time the three of them rode the roller coaster at the fair and how her hair blew in the wind, tickling his face. The very first time he'd made love to her. Now, she wouldn't even speak to him. Why?

 Michael finally gave up trying to come up with a reason for Dani's anger. It was past six and he was already late picking up Catherine for dinner. For a quick moment, he contemplated canceling his evening with Catherine and seeking out Dani to talk to her, but he brushed aside that thought as quickly as it came. It was obvious she wanted nothing to do with him; he was better off leaving her alone.

 As he left the office, the thought occurred to him that Cathy might know why Dani felt such resentment toward him. Yes, he'd ask her. He relaxed a bit for the first time since lunch, thinking how nice it will be to spend the evening with Catherine.

It was six-thirty by the time Michael made it over to Cathy's place. He had driven his car so they could go out to dinner, but when he arrived, Cathy suggested ordering something in and staying home for the evening.

 Later, snuggling on Cathy's cushy sofa, full from the egg foo yung, sweet and sour pork and egg rolls they had consumed, the couple sat in semi-darkness watching
Casablanca
, a favorite movie of Cathy's. Michael's arm lay across Cathy's shoulders, his hand caressing her arm. He burrowed deeper in the plush sofa, snuggling her neck with his face. He loved the closeness they shared, the comfortable silences and their nights together.

 As he continued to nuzzle her, Cathy also sank deeper in the sofa beside him. For a while, they sat there, warm, close, comfortable, until Cathy broke the silence in a quiet voice.

 "Michael?"

 "Mmmm?"

 "Just how close were you and Dani years ago?"

 Michael lifted his head and stared at Cathy, surprised by her question. "What do you mean?"

 "Well, I could tell by the way you both acted that you were more than just acquaintances. I was just curious as to how close you both were." Her voice remained soft, not angry or accusing.

 Michael assessed her a moment then answered honestly. "Very close. At one time we cared very much about each other."