Page 49 of One Step Sideways

Because when I turned as I heard the car come up behind me, it was a blue 1965 Mustang convertible with a four-speed engine. It even had a dog I knew sitting there in the passenger seat looking like she was having a great time.

I stopped and planted my feet, waiting for whatever he needed to throw at me. I knew Danny had the right to be angry. Maybe my cutting out on him had made it worse.

“Where are you going?” he said after pulling over and getting out.

I opened my mouth, but words didn’t seem to come to my mind.

“Or wherever it is, how are you planning on getting there?” he added and took a couple of steps right up to me, his eyes flashing. I kept my arms down and waited. He was a ranger. He could throw a punch. But he waited, obviously needing an answer.

“I don’t know,” I almost stammered. “Was thinking of Asheville. Maybe the bus.”

He nodded like that was a reasonable answer. “Why?”

I gaped. “Why the bus?”

“No, dumbass, why are you leaving?”

I stared at him in astonishment. “But you know what I did.”

He took the last step and crowded me, but I still didn’t step back. Then, slowly, he lifted his hands and placed them carefully on each side of my face. “You left without giving me a kiss. I didn’t like that.”

“What—” But no more words happened because Danny yanked my head down and kissed me. And I tried not to move, to react. Desperately tried not to kiss him back, but when he made that little sound in the back of his throat that made my knees weak, I was done. My arms reacted all on their own, and I kissed him right back.

“You’re not angry?” I managed to get out when we came up for air.

“With myself, sure. I spent three years hiding.” Danny smiled. “And I’m not stupid enough to think that it will make all the difficulties suddenly go away. I’ll probably always react to certain noises. I’ll probably always need Sadie. I hate confined spaces and while I hope that will lessen with time, nothing else is going to fix that, but today Kane Diaz, you gave me my family back, and that means the world to me.”

I knew Danny didn’t like being caged in, but nothing on earth could have stopped me from clasping him tight. Sadie barked, and we both grinned. “Come on because they’re waiting to eat lunch, and mom gets cranky if her pies burn.”

“I haven’t gotten you anything for your birthday.” It really bothered me.

“Yeah,” Danny said, sliding into the driver’s seat and laughing when I simply lifted Sadie and sat her back down on my lap. “You really did.”

We cried off lunch because neither of us were up to it but by four in the afternoon we were both starving and saved the awkwardness of going into the main house—well, some of it—by Ginny coming into the barn and yelling for us at the top of her voice. She was greeted by a very enthusiastic Sadie, who barked in greeting from her spot on the couch when Danny stuck his head over the railing of the mezzanine floor. “Yes, princess?”

“We’re opening cards and presents before dinner and I don’t want to wait anymore, so you should come now.” I had to bury my head in the pillow so she couldn’t hear me laughing.

“You can tell Grandma we’ll be five minutes,” Danny promised. We’d both been in the shower, so all we had to do was throwsome clothes on.

“That’s okay, I’d rather wait for you,” and she plonked her cute butt down on the sofa.

“Can I revisit the idea of catching the bus?” I whispered.

“You’re not leaving me on my own,” he whispered back.

So I didn’t.

We walked into the house with Ginny instructing us that when it was her birthday next month, Daddy had promised she could invite her entire class to watch Disney on Ice, and that she would let us both come. I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying, but Danny simply thanked her and said it would depend on work. She nodded, clearly used to that answer from adults. I had no intention of pointing out that there was a good chance I wouldn’t be allowed into the place even if I lost my sanity and went, and that was assuming all her friends’ parents didn’t take one look at me and call the cops.

Emily was quiet but sent us both a smile, and Elizabeth practically ran over to squeeze the life out of Danny and didn’t seem able to let go. Buck distracted her by asking Ginny where his birthday present was and I hung back and watched as they all sat, and let Ginny decide what gift Grandad should open first.

“Actually, why don’t you give Uncle Danny his present first?” Emily said, then glanced at her brother. “She chose it.” Danny was impressed with the notebook. It seemed an odd gift for a child to pick to me until Buck explained that it wassmarttechnology and transferred files to a computer as you hand-wrote them.

I nodded politely, but inside I was honestly questioning what a guy like Danny was doing with a dumbass like me, and the pleasure I’d felt from earlier in helping his relationship with his sister heal dimmed considerably. I watched as Danny kissed his sister’s cheek and she clutched his hand tightly afterwards.

Then we ate. I’d noticed in a trusted environment my appetite grew exponentially, but like Danny said, his issues weren’t just going to magically disappear, and he could only hope they would lessen over time, so maybe if I was lucky, mine would as well.

An hour after finishing dinner, I realized for the first time that I wasn’t as anxious about tomorrow and meeting Danny’s brother, when Danny’s phonepractically blared out. I’d heard it ring before with that sound and knew it was Rawlings, even if the look Danny sent me when he heard it didn’t clue me in. He grabbed it, answered, and walked through the kitchen to the yard. I followed him and he put it on speaker when I closed the door.

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