Slow Ride (Riding with Honor) (12 page)

Dana forced herself to stop crying and then used a wet wipe to clean the tear streaks from her face.  She needed to stop by the grocery on the way home to pick up some dinner, even though she wasn’t hungry, and didn’t want to draw undue attention to herself. 

She headed to the meat and
deli area and was browsing through the unappetizing sandwich selection when she felt something brush up against her.  Turning, she was startled to see Tommy standing there with one of his lopsided grins.

“Are you following me?”
she asked.

“No…you followed me.  I was here first
,” he said.

Why did he have to look so good?
  Especially since she probably looked like crap from her earlier emotional state.  Dana stepped back from him and he followed her until he was standing way to close…in her space.

Dana moved to step around him and he moved with her. 

“Excuse me,” she said, hoping he would move so she could make a run for it. 

“No
,” he said.

“No?”
she asked incredulously.

“Not until you hear me out.  I appreciate your opinion where my daughters are concerned but I want you to hear mine
,” he said. “We are grilling out at Gran’s house this evening where Gretchen’s party was held…I want you to come.  We can talk like civilized people can’t we?  Maybe even become friends?”

Friends didn’t undress you in front of a mirror and make you watch them…
”I can’t, Tommy, I’m sorry,” she said.

“You have to eat and I promise that Gran’s steaks are a whole lot better than that
,” he said, pointing to the lunchmeat sandwich she held in her hand.

“I don’t think it is a good idea
,” she said.

“Why?”
he asked.

“I don’t want to give Gretchen the wrong idea...imagine how she would feel seeing me…with you
,” she said.

“Fine, I have to go to the shop and finish some wiring tonight.  Why don’t you stop by there around eight this evening?”
he said.

“I…I’ll think about it
,” she replied and then unable to stand the feelings that just being near him brought out in her, she quickly darted around him and headed to the checkout praying there wasn’t a line. 
His eyes, his voice, his nearness
…it was breaking her down.

“Dana!”
he said just as she finished in the checkout line.

Dana stopped and turned around just a few feet from the exit and watched as he approached her.  Escape was so close she could taste it.  Even the way he walked was sexy…like some sort of seductive dance.

“She filed for custody too.  Please…just give me five minutes of your time…please…I promise I will keep it strictly about the girls,” he said. “I know if you walk out of here I may never see you again and I need your help.”

Desperation was not a good look for him but it seemed to do funny things to her heart. 

“Ok, five minutes,” she said pulling him to the side so they weren’t blocking the door.

“She filed for custody.  Becca says I have nothing to worry about but I’m sick to my stomach…what if she does get custody?...or supervised visitation or whatever.  You saw her.  She’s an addict, anything could happen to them.  Please…I need you to testify for me…tell the
judge how sick Melody was and how many times I visited her and stuff.  I know you don’t want to be involved with me…and I wish like hell that was different…that you wanted…but I can deal with that…losing my girls I can’t deal with…please?”

“This Friday at nine in the morning, right?”
she asked after several seconds of silence.

“No
, this Friday is only the preliminary hearing, the actual hearing is in two weeks.  You’re welcome to come to the preliminary hearing…I’d love it if you would…but I won’t need you to testify until the final hearing in two weeks,” he said.

“Ok
, Tommy, if you think that will really help.  I will do that for you,” she said.

“Do you have something to write down the information on?”
he asked with a relieved smile.

She dug around in her purse and found the invitation to her ten year class reunion and pulled it out along with a pen
, handing them both to Tommy.  He unfolded it and glanced at it and then glanced at her.  She wanted to jerk it back out of his hand.

“Class reunion huh?  I wasn’t sure how old you were and Gran would smack me if I asked you.  I guess that makes you about twenty eight then
,” he said with a heart stopping grin. “Need a date for this?” he finished, waving the paper around in his hand.

So much for his promise to keep it about the girls.
  Dana made a grab for the paper and he jerked it away out of her reach.

“I’m not going
,” she replied. “Just write down on the back whatever it is you need to and then you should go…you do have meat…in that
bag
I mean,” she said, flushing at her stupidity. 
No she did not just say that!

His grin moved to a full blown smile.  Dana had to look away from him…
that smile
…she could
feel
it.

“Why aren’t you going to your high school reunion?”
he asked.

“High school and I didn’t necessarily see eye to eye and besides they’ll never miss me.  Can you please…
?” she said exasperated and trying desperately to keep from smiling back at him.  His grin was making her knees weak and tingly.

Reading the paper again
while holding it high enough that she couldn’t reach it without making a scene, he finally folded it back up and walking over to the wall took his time writing some information on the back.

“I’m free on Friday night if you change your mind about the reunion.  I’d love to meet your friends
,” he said with another smile. 
The man could make a living from flirting.

“I didn’t have any friends in school.  Can I have
the paper back now?” she asked.

Walking over to her
, he offered the folded piece of paper to her but held on to it as she grabbed a hold of the other end.

“It’s been longer than five minutes…maybe you should check my meat…in the bag I mean…and make sure it’s…good.  I’m a man so I’m not real good at judging whether meat is good or not…women are usually better at that sort of thing.  It’s a pretty good sized piece of meat…want to take a look?”
he asked with a grin.

What could she say to that?
  She may be the oldest virgin alive but she did at least understand sexual innuendo.  She could feel her face heating up to the temperature of a volcano about to erupt.  Grabbing the paper out of his hand and stuffing it in her purse she started walking toward the door.

“I forgot to tell you how much I like your hair.  It’s still long enough for…uh…now it’s just kind of full and wicked sexy…I like it…a lot
,” he said, running in front of her and cutting her off.

A couple of women coming into the store heard his comment and blushed before quickly walking away.

“Thank you…now I have to go,” she said walking around him.

He caught up to her again and walked beside her across the parking lot. 
Why was he doing this?

“Stop by the shop later and I’ll tell you what kind of dreams I have about your hair
now
…” he offered.

Dana stopped walking and he turned to look at her.  His eyes were the same color as they’d been when he…Glancing down she noticed the tall tale sign of his mood housed in the best looking pair of jeans she’d ever seen on a man. 
Oh God! She shouldn’t have looked.

Looking back to his face she was met with his lopsided grin.  “See anything you like or are you just window shopping?”
he asked.

“Does your pick up lines
actually work on the ladies?” she asked sarcastically.

Stepping up to her so close she felt trapped by him…by his eyes and his ever present
desire.  He ran his finger across her lips, then down her chin and on down her neck to the opening of her blouse and said, “Not on the one I want them to work on.”

Fire followed his finger down the entire path it took and a shiver raced through her body making her gasp.  She needed to leave before she melted under the hot
Florida sun that was Tommy.  Stepping back from him she started walking towards her car.

He remained where she’d left him.  “I’m sorry
, Dana!  I just want…I just want to spend time with you,” he called after her.

Dana stopped in her tracks and looked back at him.  “I can’t right now…I’m sorry I have to go
,” she said and nearly ran to her car. 

She tore out of the parking lot like a crazy woman.  His flirting was enough to make her come undone but when he sang to her or admitted how he really felt…she was simply unable to cope with that…the feelings it brought out in her.  She’d wanted to walk back over to him and kiss him and never stop.

She drove through the worst part of town rather than driving all the way around in an effort to get home quickly and hide from…herself?  Was she hiding from her feelings or the emotions in her stomach that told her to turn around and go after him?

Pulling up to a stoplight
, she sighed heavily and glanced over to an alleyway that ran alongside one of the run down bars in that part of town. 
Was that Casey?
 

She watched as Casey and some man stood very close to each other at the mouth of the alley.  Taking out her cell phone she turned on the video portion and aimed it at them
, watching an obvious drug transaction on the small screen of the phone.

A horn sounded behind her
so she quickly stopped the recording on her phone and threw it on the passenger’s seat and drove off, glancing again to see if they’d noticed her.  Luckily they seemed more concerned with each other than traffic. 
Oh God!  Should she go to the police?
  She’d just captured a drug deal on her cell phone!

As she entered her apartment and threw the deadbolt lock
, she made her way over to a chair and sat down holding her phone and staring at it.  Tommy was right…that woman…she didn’t care at all about the girls! 

Dana threw her phone on the couch and ran toward the bathroom gagging the whole way.  How could she do that again?  She’d promised Tommy…and after Dana had put aside
her
dreams…to give the woman a chance with her babies. 
Why?

After having emptied her stomach of what little it contained
, she sat on the floor in shock.  Maybe she only thought what she’d seen was...  Forcing herself out of the bathroom she grabbed her cell phone off the couch and headed to her bedroom.  She hooked it up to her laptop and downloaded the video.

Watching the slightly grainy video again
, she could clearly see the man hand Casey something that looked like drugs…then Casey kissed the man and the video cut off.  Finding a blank CD, she recorded the video on it and then sat it on the corner of her desk. 
Should she take it to Tommy?
 
Give it to the Police?

Today was Tuesday and the
preliminary hearing was on Friday… She had the rest of today and then two more days to figure out the best thing to do with it.  Picking her phone up in her shaking hands, she called her parents.

“Mom?”
she said before breaking into tears.

Her mother waited quietly on the phone making sounds occasionally as though she were trying to console her.  She somehow managed to tell her everything between sobs…from Tommy’s plea for help to catching Casey on video.  When she’d finally finished she said
, “Why? Why would she do that?”

“It’s only when you can’t have something that you want, that you start to take notice of those who have it…and
don’t
want it,” her mother said.

“But what should I do mom?”
she asked.

“I think you already know the answer to that
, Dana.  I think you’ve known it for a while.  I’m not sure what happened to make you doubt yourself so badly,” she said.

“You’re a beautiful woman inside and out.  Not being able to have children of your own does not make you a less desirable woman.  This Tommy sounds like he knows that…and he’s smart enough to go after you.  It takes two to tango though…if you want to dance with him and his girls…then
you’re going to have to at least show up to the ball,” her mother finished.

“I haven’t told him yet
,” she said quietly.

“Do you think it will matter?”
her mother asked.

“I don’t know…” she replied.

“Don’t you think it’s time you found out…ask him…lay your cards on the table and let the chips fall where they may.  Assuming he won’t want you simply because you can’t give him more children isn’t being fair…to him or you,” her mother said.