Shadow in the Pines (2 page)

Leaning closer, she examined herself critically. The makeup she’d applied this morning was long gone, but bright blue eyes looked back at her, large and wide. The beginnings of a few wrinkles were there, but it was nothing alarming. At least not yet. She could still pass for a coed, she thought. She was no prom queen, but she didn’t consider herself unattractive, either. Not that it mattered much. Attracting a new man was dead last on her things to do list.

She’d been in shock since the night Mark first told her he wanted out. Her friends had encouraged her to start dating again, to get out and socialize. They’d even set her up a couple of times, but Dani could think of few things less appealing to her right now. It was time for her to learn how to function alone, to be self-sufficient. Time enough for men later, if ever.

Opening the suitcases, she pulled out her clothes and sorted them into musty dresser drawers that smelled of cedar. When she was finished, she took a look in the bathroom, enchanted by the claw-footed tub that had intrigued her on her first visit. Finished in deep blue porcelain, it was by far the most attractive piece in the house. Promising herself to make a shopping list later, she filled the tub full with warm water, dug a novel out of her bag, and sank slowly into the soothing water.

She stayed there until the water turned cold, half attending to her book and half allowing the gentle lapping of the water to wash the troubled thoughts from her mind. Toweling off and slipping into some sleep shorts and a tank top, she climbed beneath the handmade quilt that covered the bed and fell fast asleep.

***

The first thing Dani noticed in the morning, aside from the bright sunlight streaming through the window, was the sound of the birds, so close they might have been in the room with her. A little disoriented at first, she sat in the bed, allowing the atmosphere of the house to sink in. So far removed from the city noise of Austin, it would take some time to adjust. Even though it was August, her feet were cold when they first hit the hardwood floors. Throw rugs, lots of throw rugs, she added to her mental shopping list. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even touched the air conditioning controls last night. The house must be well insulated, both by the logs and by the huge shade trees that surrounded it. No matter what part of Texas it is, it’s hot in August. Making another mental note to bring a coffee maker upstairs, she padded into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Dressing in jeans and a jersey T-shirt, Dani spent about an hour taking inventory and adding items to her growing list, then fired up the Taurus and headed into town.

Tyler was small, compared to Austin. It would take some time to learn her way around. With the whole day dedicated to turning her house into a home, she drove up one street and down the next, stopping wherever the urge struck. Her first stop was a bookstore where she came out armed with a new stack of mysteries for late night reading. Next, she wandered into a Pier 1 Imports store and rapidly acquired an assortment of candles and doo-dads to make the place seem cozier. Moving deeper into the store, she selected a variety of throw rugs and pillows. Captivated by the sight of a huge basket swing, she immediately envisioned herself curled in its plush green cushion on the front porch with a tall glass of iced tea and a good book. By the time she’d checked out and made arrangements for delivery, she’d already exceeded her self-imposed spending limit for impulse items, but went happily on her way.

After stopping for a sandwich, she adhered more diligently to her shopping list, filling the wagon with necessity items like a coffee maker and vacuum cleaner, pots and pans, eating utensils and a small grill. To Dani, nothing tasted better than homemade hamburgers or a rack of ribs barbecued on the grill, but Mark thought cooking outdoors was tantamount to caveman behavior. Maybe his new wife was more civilized, Dani thought, giving the grill a shove to make it fit.

By the time she’d finished at the grocery store, she was barely able to find room to squeeze in the bags. Content that she’d done enough damage for one day, she turned the car toward home, but a nursery outside of town beckoned and she surprised herself by turning into the lot. The cabin yard was really a garden waiting to happen, and she couldn’t resist the thought of replacing the neglected spidery shrubs with fresh new foliage and flowers.

In the townhouse she shared with Mark, she’d been restricted to a window box and a couple of indoor ferns, but here there were no limits. Rationalizing that a vegetable garden would be cost efficient, she indulged herself, finding a sales clerk who was only too happy to help her select everything she’d need and then some.

Dani spent the rest of the afternoon happily puttering around the house. Cleaning, placing shelf paper, arranging furniture accompanied by lilting music from her favorite CDs. When the delivery from Pier 1 arrived, she decided to take a breather, finding her new porch swing every bit as comfortable as it looked. Swinging gently in the evening breeze, she put a pencil to paper and spent the better part of an hour plotting out her new landscape in anticipation of a morning delivery from the nursery. Whether it was the calming effect of the country air or the exhaustion from the day’s activity, by ten o’clock she could barely keep her eyes open. Snug in her bed, freshly made with soft new flannel sheets, Dani slept like a baby.

Chapter Two

Eager to get started on her gardening chores before the temperature got too hot, Dani plunged in, trimming and cleaning the flowerbeds. Withered weeds and cracked dry ground gave way to freshly turned earth, darkened by the generous sprinkling of a new hose. Slowly, but surely, the yard took on the appearance of a prized possession in process, complete with a growing pile of debris that Dani planned to eradicate with her first incineration effort when the evening sun sank behind the wall of trees.

By the time the panel van from the nursery rattled down the asphalt drive, it was almost noon and Dani was more tired than she’d been in years. Typing papers and examining microscope slides didn’t do much for muscle tone. Fortunately, the driver, probably a student all of twenty years old, seemed captivated by her smile and happily carried the railroad ties she’d bought to border her gardens, placing them, and waiting while she stood back, considering whether their location was exactly what she had in mind or not. Once she was satisfied, he cheerfully positioned the heavy bags of soil and peat moss in the appropriate places with a lopsided grin that told her he was glad to do it. Smiling, she shaded her eyes and watched as the truck pulled away.

Tomorrow, she’d have to show up at the college for late registration, and then check in at the lab for her work schedule. From here on out, she wouldn’t have much opportunity to spend all day working in the yard. As she looked around at all she had yet to do, she knew it was too soon to give up. Funny, it didn’t seem like such a huge chore when she selected the plants yesterday. But now, surrounded by piles of soil with shrubs and plants all over the yard, it looked like an interminable task.

Thinking the vegetables would be the fastest place to start, she dug in, emptying the bags of soil and peat, then mixing them by walking through it all in bare feet, enjoying the squishy feel of mud between her toes. An hour later, her small plot of vegetables actually looked like a garden and she took a minute to congratulate herself before moving to the shrubs that lined the front of the house beside the porch. She’d already spent most of the morning clearing the debris and, with the ground dry as dust, it didn’t take too much effort to just pull the dead ones up by the roots. Grateful that the huge trees protected her from the glare of the afternoon sun, if not from the heat, she plunged ahead. There were only two shrubs remaining with any signs of life, so Dani used the pruning shears to cut them back to nubs, then started mixing the potting soil and peat into the newly vacant areas. By the time the sun set, she had all the new shrubs firmly planted and surrounded by seedlings of blue phlox that the nurseryman assured her would spread quickly, covering the ground and effectively preventing the re-growth of weeds.

She still had a variety of flowers to plant around the yard and in barrels that bordered the porch stairs but she was too sore to do it and too tired to care. For a moment, she sat, rocked back on her heels, and surveyed her handiwork. There was nothing but trees as far as she could see on all sides. As she surveyed the tree line, a glimpse of color caught her eye in the trees across the road. Shading her eyes with one hand, Dani squinted and thought she saw movement. Was someone watching her from the woods across the street? Suppressing a shiver despite the heat, Dani got up and dusted her hands.

With frequent glances across the road, she gathered her tools and got things ready to go inside. Standing at the front door, she looked over her shoulder once more, then shook herself. She was surely imagining things. Washing her hands in the kitchen sink, she put a potpie in the oven then trudged up the stairs for a therapeutic soak in the tub.

Marginally revived an hour later, she sat down at the kitchen table with her dinner, a University of Texas catalog, and her day planner. After making a careful list of everything she needed to accomplish on campus, and adding notes to stop by and open a local bank account and change the address on her driver’s license, she trudged wearily up the stairs to bed. So far, that bed was the thing she liked best about her new home. For the third night in a row, she fell almost immediately into a deep sleep, with lingering thoughts of how nice it would be to actually talk to someone again.

***

A medley of chemicals, disinfectants, and caged animal smells met Dani at the door of the lab, completely overriding the cheerful, professional decor of the office. Had she been away from it too long, or not long enough?

“Hi,” she said, hoping her voice would prompt the gum-chewing receptionist to look up from her Glamour magazine. Academic fervor. “I’m Dani Jones, here to see Dr. Abraham,” she forced a smile, staring down at the girl until she looked up.

“Oh, sure…down that hall and to the left,” the girl shrugged, pointed, and went back to her reading. Dani raised her eyebrows and bit her tongue. It was all coming back to her now. She could only hope the students she worked with here were a little more enthusiastic about their work than the ones she remembered from UT in Austin. Their careless attitude about lab procedures was one of the reasons it was so easy for Mark to convince her to leave school and go to work. Since most of her coworkers in the lab were headed for medical school, she didn’t want to know if their neglectful behaviors followed them into their chosen profession. In some cases, ignorance really is bliss.

The hall was narrow and undecorated, probably a back entrance to the labs that opened to student halls on the other side. She passed several doors, hoping to find one marked with Dr. Abraham’s name, then paused and stuck her head into a lab filled with students.

“I’m looking for Dr. Abraham,” she whispered to a nearby young man who was diligently trying to open a mussel shell. Amused, she watched as he tried to hold the shell still with a pair of dissection tweezers while he attempted to slide a scalpel inside. It slipped out of the tweezers twice while she watched, skidding across the tabletop like he was skipping stones.

“Huh?” he squinted up at her through glasses that slid halfway down his nose after his second unsuccessful endeavor.

“Dr. Abraham?” she said again.

Using the back of his gloved hand to shove the glasses back up on his nose, he nodded in a manner that looked more like a twitch, not daring to let go of the mussel he’d just retrieved. “That’s him.”

“Thanks,” Dani smiled as she spied a tall, slender man in a white lab coat, leaning over a table across the room. “You’ll have better luck with that if you’ll just hold it in your hand and pop it with the probe,” she suggested before she moved on. She’d never tried opening a mussel with tweezers, but doubted it would ever be successful.

“Probe?” the boy parroted with the blank stare typical of severe ignorance or insurmountable boredom.

“Here,” she reached for the needed tool and handed it to him. “Just slide this in at the joint, it’ll pop open,” she instructed. Must be a freshman lab, her least favorite.

Making her way carefully between the tables, the looks of intense concentration and occasional aversion on the students’ faces as she passed made her feel right at home. She stopped and stood watching as the doctor leaned over and helped a studious young man crack open his specimen.

“Dr. Abraham?” she interjected when he straightened up.

He turned toward her, a pleasant face with piercing blue eyes behind wire rimmed glasses, probably not a day older than her own.

“Yes, and who are you?” A smile softened the blunt words.

“Dani Jones, sir, one of your new lab assistants,” she offered her hand.

“Oh, thank God!” he said, waving gloved hands to decline her handshake. “Two of my new assistants backed out! I didn’t know if I’d have anyone this semester.” He cocked his head as if to say ‘follow me’ and started weaving his way through the tables toward a desk at the end of the lab.

“Nice to know I’ll be needed, then,” she answered. “Do you have a schedule ready for me, or should I come back for it?”

“Well…” he searched through stacks of papers scattered randomly across the desk. “I did have one, but I’ll probably have to change it…labs are always in the afternoon…”

Dani waited patiently, well acquainted with the absentminded mode of her previous lab instructors. When he started going through the same stack for the third time, she said, “It’s okay. I’ve made sure all my classes are in the morning. Want me to just come in at one tomorrow?”

He looked confused for a moment, then nodded. “That would be great. Why don’t you do that…”

“Okay,” she smiled. He was kind of cute, but definitely existed in another realm. “I’ll see you then.”

“Thanks,” he said, still nodding as he wandered off toward a student who’d called his name.