Wicked Flower (22 page)

“So you didn’t go back to school
after?”

“No, I thought about it but then
Mrs. C asked me to move in and…”

“And what?
Come on, it’s
me.”

“Well, working as her caregiver
allows me to do what I love which is help people and, it pays well.” She shook
her head at that like she couldn’t believe she’d just said it out loud.

“Come on, you know you want to
laugh with me right now. You brought that up all on your own. I never would
have gone there.” He held his hands up in innocence and yes, after a second and
her blushing that turned him on, they laughed together.

It was an amazing feeling. He
gave up on not touching her and snuck her hand into his. She told him about Daisy
leaving home at eighteen to go be one of the girls and how happy she was about
it. Dani’s plans to return to nursing school someday made him happiest. She was
awesome at it and owed it to herself to get her license. He thought several
times about gaging how she’d feel about working in the state of Tennessee but
didn’t mention it out loud. But she’d be a sure hire at the children’s hospital
in Nashville. Sin Pointe had already played at a couple benefits for them and
he could see Dani really making an impact there. When he asked her to move, he
wanted options. That was one thing he’d learned about women. They liked those.

He’d be leaving the waiter a
giant tip for letting them stay at their table so long. He checked his watch
and two hours had passed since they’d been seated.

“So would you say you’re more
scared or excited to be a mom in, how long until you’re due?” he asked, curious
after the fresh view of her little swollen belly.

“Five more months to go and I
think the word you’re looking for is terrified.”

They both laughed. “I can’t even
imagine. I mean, you’ve got a person growing in there.”

“You’re not helping soothe that
whole terror I just mentioned.”

He chuckled. “Sorry, it’s just so
cool and weird.”

“It is very weird. But it’s been
happening since the
beginning of time so I’m thinking I’m
gonna
survive
. We’ll see.”

“You’re
gonna
be a great mom, Dani.”

“Have you ever thought about
having kids?”

Okay, that was not on the list of
things he’d thought to talk about tonight. But shit, he wasn’t
gonna
shy away now. “I almost did, sweetheart.
Back in high school.”
Stefan looked around the restaurant,
apparently he still did that whenever he was about to speak about Amanda and
her family in public. The Coopers could still live in Moonlight.

“Really?
Can you tell me
about it?” Her features rose like she wasn’t sure if it was okay to ask him that.

He didn’t want to talk about it, but
he would. Nothing should be off limits if they were going to try dating. “Got
my fourteen year old girlfriend pregnant when I was sixteen.”
“Oh shit.”

“Yeah, big oh shit. But I was
ready to quit school and get a full time job to support her and the baby.”

“Gosh, at
sixteen.
You were just a baby yourself. What happened?”

“Unfortunately, I’ll never know
for sure. I think Amanda was scared and told her parents that I was refusing to
help her.”

“Stefan, did she have an
abortion?”

“I don’t think so. She told me
she lost it. That’s about when her parents called mine and let them know what a
horrible son they had raised.”
“Why did they say that? That’s just cruel. It takes two.”

“Some sixteen year old kid gets
their daughter pregnant. She’s crying all the time, stressed out. They
obviously believed I’d said I was having nothing to do with it and all that
stress I’d caused made her lose it. I don’t blame them. If I had a daughter,
I’d be pissed too.”

“What did your parents think?”

“What any mother would think
getting a call like that. That all the hard work she’d put in raising her son
the right way
had
been for nothing. Unfortunately,
that was around the same time my dad left. I have no idea how my mom got
through that year.”

“Stefan…”

“Hey, it is what it is. And uh,
I’m glad you brought it up. There’s something I should have told you the first
day I got here.” Apparently he was going with dropping the Nashville bomb on
her first and if she took that well enough, he’d ask her to go out with him.

“Okay…”

“Dani, I want to be the son my
mom has deserved these last twenty years that I’ve been gone from her life. Not
just want, I have to do better. The truth is I don’t know how much longer
she’ll be around.” He’d taken a minute on the long drive from Nashville to
think about moms. Out of all his close friends, only he and Marion still had
theirs. Trista, Lily, Jaxon, Lucky, all had lost their mothers.

“That’s a good thing, Stefan, and
this visit means so much to your mom. I can tell you two still have some stuff
to iron out, but I’m not lying when I say Gina has been so much more at peace
this week you’ve been here.”

“Well, the only way I can see
making that happen is by moving her to Nashville with me. Sweetheart, I’m going
to ask her before I leave. I know I should have told you that before but I’m
telling you now.”

Her fingers settled on top of the
table and her eyebrows stayed hiked. “Wow, that, that is a surprise.
Wh
—when did you decide that?”

Her stuttering worried him. “Once
I got here and saw her for myself but I’ve been thinking about it ever since
the plans for the next tour started coming together. I don’t know how many more
of these tours we’re
gonna
do. That stuff will always
take me away but with Mom living at home with me, I’ll see her so much more.
I’ll be able to do so much more for her. It’s not just about sending her money
anymore for me, Dani.”

He had no idea how she was going
to respond. She sat there with her mouth caught like she was about to say
something.
“Um, of course.
No, that’s exactly what you
should do,” she said sounding like she wanted to mean it.

“It’s one of the reasons I wanted
you to come to dinner tonight. I needed you to know my plans because they will
affect you too.”

She still didn’t look like she
knew what to say. There would be a hole in the maroon table cloth if she kept
rubbing at it like that.

“Sweetheart, dinner wasn’t just
about me telling you about my plans for Mom.”

“No?”

It wasn’t much but at least she’d
said something.

“No. It’s why I asked you here
tonight. I had to tell you so you could make arrangements to…”

Dani grabbed her side pocket like
it was on her last nerve. The way she whipped it out and looked at the screen
this time instead of just ignoring the loud buzz stopped him. Several blinks
later, she pushed up from the table.

“I’m, I’m sorry. Let me go see
what this is about. I’ll be back.”

Shit. That wasn’t good. Was she
bolting on him again? But no, he told himself she was just going to the
bathroom. She was pregnant after all.

Dani excused herself to the
bathroom, and watching her walk away so determined brought his body to life
again. He’d just learned that he could push those feelings to the back of his
mind rather than let them own his every action and thought around her. Not
saying it was easy. But he could do it.

Stefan used her bathroom phone
break to text Will and check on his mom.

Stefan: Everything okay at the
house?

It took a couple seconds but Will
texted back.

Will: Mom says I make the best
mac n cheese. How’s dinner going?

Stefan: Good.
Thinking
about asking her.

Will: Girlfriend or Nashville?

Stefan: Getting there.
Both.
Fuck. Not my area of expertise.

Will: Stop thinking. Just ask.

Stefan: Go check on Mom. I
gotta
go.

He sat there waiting, looking around
the small dining area. The last time he’d been here had been ages ago. He
looked for the jukebox by the entrance but found it had been moved back near
the bathrooms. Stefan went to check it out and was shocked to see a Sin Pointe
song, albeit one from the nineties, but still. Did he pop a quarter in and
grace the staff and the one other couple dining with “Play?” What the hell?
This one’s for you, Moonlight, he thought and pushed down hard on the play
button. He loved those knobby old ancient buttons.

Classic Sin Pointe made him
smile. He loved this one.

“
I’ve
got you how I need you. Don’t cry, don’t hide.
 
I just want to play with your emotions for the night.”

How many times had he sung that
to the crowds? Stefan let the verses play
on their own
here in the restaurant but chimed in for the chorus. Jaxon had a special way
with
words, that
was for sure. It had been Stefan’s
honor to sing his friend’s songs the past two decades. Back when this one had
come out, he’d felt like Jaxon had written the songs with both of them in mind.
But the latest lyrics of his Aussie mate’s seemed way more directed at Stefan.
Jaxon of course denied it.

Stefan closed his eyes and
blocked out the next song that auto-played on the juke box.

Silently while he waited for Dani to
come back out, Stefan hummed his favorite new Sin Pointe song, one they’d
recorded just a couple months back and would soon be singing to the masses, in
his head.

“You
kiss me like a stranger, but you hurt me like a friend. Every time I look at
you, I’m lost back at the end. You ask me not to change too much, but I’ve hurt
so many in this skin.
This skin that you love to touch.
You love this skin, I need your touch.”

Damn. It was good and the reason
they hadn’t decided to hang it up yet. The deal was always as long as the songs
kept coming to Jaxon, they’d keep at it. Apparently love had only unleashed
more of Jaxon’s brilliance. Fire burned in his chest when he thought of singing
Touch
for Dani. It fit. If she stayed
with him tonight, he would sing it just for her.

A flash of orange and navy blue
stripes came slowly out of the women’s restroom and stopped in the doorway when
she saw him. Stefan knew in that moment that it was time to ask her to consider
moving to Nashville and being his girlfriend. He noticed Dani’s hair was
neater, no more
flyaways
around her hairline and the
waves in her long black ponytail were smoothed and shiny liked she’d wet her
whole head. Maybe that’s what had taken her so long. He left the juke box to
meet up with her and hold hands back to their table but her palms were damp and
clammy. When she looked up at him, he knew something had happened in the
bathroom and it pissed him off not knowing what. She inched back inside and
tried to close the door before he made it in. Good thing he was a hundred times
physically stronger than her.

****

Never in a million years had she
thought the constant phone alerts were from Thom. She’d assumed Daisy. Dani had
splashed so much water onto her face after listening to his voicemail that
she’d had to take down her hair and finger comb all the shorter wet strands
stuck to her forehead. He’d found a way to call her and she’d ignored him.
Before she had a chance to organize another thought, Stefan was only inches
away.

Thom’s voicemail had left her shaken.
But now Stefan was holding her clammy hands and pushing her back into the
ladies’ room.

“What are you doing?” she asked,
frazzled at having heard Thom’s voice and now seeing Stefan’s intensity flare
in those deep, dark eyes.

“I didn’t get to finish at the
table. We’re alone in here. So let me finish now.”

“Well, yes we’re alone but that’s
beside the point.” She watched him lock the door behind them.

“Unlock that.” Yes she was on the
defensive. No she didn’t want him to spell the rest out here in private. He was
about to tell her that she was being affected by his decision and would need to
find a new job.
A new place to live.

“No. Not until you hear the rest
of what I was
gonna
say.”

 
Her brain hurt.

“No need. You brought me here
tonight to let me know I need to find a new job. It’s my fault for yet again
being so stupid as to hope…” She shut her hand over her mouth.

“Spit it out. Hope what?” His
brows formed into stiff arches.

“No.
Nothing.”
The room felt like it was spinning. Thom’s voice telling her he was sorry. He
was stunned. He didn’t know what to say. But that he would help her anyway he
could. And that they would figure everything out when he came home in two
months on his mid-tour leave. Like any of that was what she’d wanted from him.
No, she only wanted him to know he would be a father.