If Tomorrow Never Comes (Harper Falls Book 2) (19 page)

"Now tell me about your young man."

Except her mother's unerring radar. Then, all of a sudden Dani got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Please tell me there is no connection between you showing up with your old wedding dress and asking about Alex."

"Oh, is that his name? Short for what? Alexander, Alexi?"

"Just Alex. Now, Mom…"

"Relax," her mother laughed. "I had the dress ready to show you before I heard even a whisper that you were seeing someone new. Though you have to admit, this creamy color would look fantastic on you."

"No, absolutely not. He's not even…, we haven't…" Dani took a deep breath. "Just no. And if you
accidentally
run into him, you're allowed to mention that you're my mother, but that is it."

"I promise."

"Good. Now, would you like a cup of tea, or something cold? It’s really blazing out there and…Mom? Are you crying?" Dani took her mother's hands, worried that she had been too harsh.

"You love him." Bobbi wiped away a tear. Her baby was in love.

"It's too soon."

"I knew the moment I met your father—I was eleven, he was thirteen."

How could she argue with that? Dani was a product of young love, love at first sight, til death do us part,
and
happily ever after. She was doomed to believe that once you met the man of your dreams, that was it. No do-overs, no taking back your heart—it was his, whether he wanted it or not.

"I assume those flowers are from your Alex?"

Dani sighed, Mom missed nothing.

"If you start calling him that, you're bound to slip when you meet."

"So it
is
true." She pulled her daughter in for a hug, then settled back into her seat. "Tell me everything. He's only been in town since the Fourth, so there can't be much."

Oh, Bobbi, you don't know the half of it.

"I hope your afternoon is free because this is going to take awhile."

"WHEN YOU TOLD me we were going to a baseball game I assumed you meant in Spokane."

"The Indians are out of town this week."

"So we fly to Seattle to see the Mariners?"

Dani looked around a sold out Safeco Field. Late July, the M's in first place, and Felix Hernandez on the mound. If Alex had wanted to impress her, this would have done the trick. On top of everything else, they had seats in the
King's Court,
the section of the stadium where fans dressed in yellow shirts and gold, paper crowns—basically to worship the baseball God that was Felix Hernandez.

"How did you get tickets to sit here?" she yelled, the volume of the voices around them having risen several decibels as the King took the mound.

"A friend of a friend."

Alex had stopped watching anything but Dani. Her reaction to the crowd, the stadium, being ten feet from actual big league players. She loved baseball, always had, and the Mariners were her team—good, bad, sometimes even
these guys suck
. When he found out she had never been to a game, he'd called up an old Army buddy who now worked for the team, and arranged for tickets. Hitching a ride with Drew on one of H&W's private planes had been an unexpected bonus. From the start of their journey, Dani had been as bouncy as a five-year-old on the way to Disneyland.

By the seventh inning stretch, the game was well in hand and Dani had made friends with everyone within shouting distance, which was fine until one guy tried to get a little handsy. Alex gave a low growl, ready to leave the fool with a bloody stub, but Dani was quicker. Not even breaking her cheer for the latest run scored, she removed the groper's hand from her ass and had him down on his knees in pain, clutching his twisted fingers.

"Change seats with me?" She asked in such a matter of fact manner, if he hadn't seen what had just gone down, Alex might have thought she was in a draft or couldn't see over the person in front of her.

He carefully moved around her, then bent down to the man and whispered, "Do yourself a favor and head for the parking lot early."

"Hey, I paid good money for…" The guy looked up, and then further up. Alex had him by a good six inches Combined with some impressive biceps bulging out of the sleeves of his t-shirt and eyes that had turned almost black with warning, the man wisely held his tongue.

"Oh, he's not sticking around for the rest of the game?" Dani asked, sarcasm practically dripping from every word. "What a shame."

Alex picked up her lethal hand and kissed the palm.

"I think he was headed for the ER."

"I didn't break anything," she grinned, not feeling an ounce of remorse. "Though he might have trouble gripping anything for the next few days."

"I like that you can take care of yourself."

"Me too."

What she really liked was being with a man whose ego hadn't been bent out of shape by her self-sufficiency. It hadn't occurred to her to ask Alex to take care of
the groper
. Why would it? The reason she'd started self-defense classes was so that she could handle herself in that kind of situation. Men would always have a size advantage, and most were stronger, but Dani had the training and an element of surprise on her side. Very few people looked at her and saw anything but the pretty wrapping. She wasn't supposed to be able to take down a guy who outweighed her by better that a hundred pounds. The fact that she could, tended to put some men off, but she wasn't going to hide behind any man just to puff him up. Alex might not know it, but his reaction had just made her fall for him a little bit harder.

The game ended with the visiting team going down one, two, three in the ninth, and a happy crowd streamed out into the cool Seattle evening. Alex kept a firm grasp of Dani's hand, not wanting to lose her in the sea of jostling bodies. They were scheduled to meet Drew back at the airport in just over an hour. It was going to be a quick trip, in and out of town, no plans to stay over.

"We could still get a room, take tomorrow to sight see, and get a commercial flight back on Monday."

"And miss another ride on that amazing private plane?" Dani wrapped her arms around Alex as they walked. It had been a perfect evening, and she wanted to end it with him, in her own bed.

"Then home it is."

Drew was already doing his pre-flight check when they arrived. Dani knew that both Jack and Drew had their pilots licenses and owned several planes. This one was mid-range in size and boasted all the luxuries she could have hoped for. Even though she didn't care about how much money someone had, there was something to be said for having an in with people who could roll out this kind of service at a moment's notice.

"How was the game?"

"It was like they scripted it just for us. Perfect night, great food, and we won. Now this," she gestured to Drew's plane. "How am I ever going to fly commercial again?"

"No reason you should."

Dani was stunned and then a little embarrassed. She had been kidding. The last thing she wanted was for Drew to think she'd been angling for free plane trips.

"Hey," Drew smiled, giving her a one armed hug. "I know you wouldn't take advantage of the offer. I'm just saying that if you or," he swallowed,"uh, your friends ever need to get someplace in a hurry, Jack and I are at your disposal. We love to take these babies up and don't get the chance as often as we'd like."

They settled into their seat, that last exchange with Drew running through Dani's mind. It had been awkward and strange and kind of sweet. She had known Drew since they were small children but when he hugged her, she suddenly realized how little contact she'd had with him, then and now.

They were born and grew up in the same town, but they'd lived in different worlds. They hadn't attended the same birthday parties, or played kick ball or socialized in any way. Until he'd started dating Tyler, Drew Harper had just been the rich boy from across the river. And then for a year, when Dani and her friends were sixteen, that had changed. The four of them had become a secret society, sneaking around, making it possible for their version of Romeo and Juliet to happen.

"You okay?" Alex asked just as they were taking off.

She squeezed his hand, grateful to have him and happy that, even though their relationship was complicated, it was smooth sailing when compared to what Tyler and Drew had faced, what they
still
faced.

"I was just thinking how happy I am, right now. We're so lucky. We've been given a second chance, Alex. How many people can say that?"

She was right, Alex thought. There were only so many chances in life. The first time he had let her go, so damn young and arrogant, certain he knew what was best for both of them. This time, if he were going to get it right, he would need some help. For now he was holding his demons at bay, but every night, when he closed his eyes, they slipped past his barriers and conquered his subconscious. He couldn't keep reliving his darkest hour if he wanted a future with Dani. His second chance was now, and he wasn't going to screw it up.

"HE LEFT ME at the door."

"Not even a kiss goodnight?"

Rose was helping Dani sort through the last few boxes of photographs, and after a sleepless night, she was glad to have the assistance and the company.

"Did you neck on the flight home?"

"No!" Dani exclaimed. "Are you crazy? Drew was in the cockpit, nothing but a curtain separating us."

"But he couldn't see you," Rose pointed out. "Does Alex make a lot of noise when he kisses? Or do you? Is it odd that we've known each other for so long and I don't know the answer to that?"

"No, but it would be odd if you
did
. I'm happy to say that my friends and I like to do those things without an audience." Dani handed Rose a glass of lemonade, setting her own on the table. She put a plate of snickerdoodles where they both could reach. In addition to the wedding dress, her mother had brought enough food to last a month. Casseroles, fresh baked bread, the deviled eggs that were one of Dani's particular favorites, and three different kinds of cookies.

"So no making out?" Rose asked. She pulled some pictures from one of the boxes and handed a pile to Dani, then started sorting through the one on her lap.

"Which I was fine with," Dani said. "It's a quick flight, we rehashed the game, flirted, what I thought was verbal foreplay."

"Maybe that injury is affecting his, you know, performance."

"Not a problem," Dani assured her.

"When did you two do it?"

"Blowjob."

"Ah," Rose nodded. "Still, he might not be able to stay hard when faced with your lady parts."

"Did I miss the bulletin making this Euphemism Monday?
Do it
and
lady parts
?"

"Do you know how many nieces Jack has?" Rose picked up her glass and took a sip. "Mmm, just the right amount of tart. I'm trying to curb the bad words so I don't slip when they're around."

"Nice," Dani nodded. "Is Jack abstaining as well, because I've heard him go off like a sailor. Though why a sailor is supposed to swear any more than someone in the rest of the armed services, I don't know. But for the sake of the well-known reference, we'll go with sailor."

Rose laughed at Dani's circuitous line of thought.

"Jack, the love of my life, has the ability to check the language at the door whenever his mother, sisters or nieces are present. I, not being what he considers a delicate flower, get the full off color repertoire."

"You love the dirty talk."

"I love
Jack's
dirty talk," Rose corrected. "I don't know if it's him or that he's just better at it than any man I've ever known, but when he starts, well, what can I say. I melt."

"The right guy can make everything better, at least that's how it was with Alex. Unfortunately," Dani lamented, reaching for a cookie. "My guy seems reluctant to refresh my memory."

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit."

Dani raised her eyebrows. "So much for toning down the bad words."

"If there was ever a time to drop a few s-bombs, this is it. Look."

Dani took the picture from Rose, her eyes widening. It couldn’t be.

"It can't be, right?" Rose echoed her thoughts.

Dani looked again, hoping the image would have somehow rearranged itself, but no, it was the same.

"I have three questions. Why the hell are Regina Harper and Martin Jones kissing, who took the picture, and how are we ever going to tell Tyler."

TOM TOM'S
IN the afternoon, like most small town bars, was almost empty. Except for one or two customers, most of the activity consisted of cleaning and restocking the bar. The smell of pine overrode everything else and a mop and bucket rested in one corner waiting to be emptied and put away for the next day.

Alex took a seat at the end of the bar and ordered a beer, out of habit and courtesy. He wasn't there to drink, he needed advice and he hoped the owner was the man to give it to him.

"Is Tom around?"

The bartender, a burly ex-boxer who knew how to keep the peace with a glare and the Louisville Slugger that was always within reach, looked Alex up and down.

"Who's asking?"

"My name is Alex Fleming, I'd just like a word."

"And what word would that be?"

The voice came from a booth in the far corner of the bar. A faint light barely illuminated the table where a man with a dark ponytail and glasses was stooped over a messy pile of papers.

"Actually, I have several if you have a few minutes."

"Time, I'm happy to say, is on my side. Join me."

Tom Unger was a veteran of the first Gulf War, though he liked to call it the
what the hell are we doing here, fuck-up.
But since almost every war ever fought could have that handle hung on it, he tended to stick with the official name. He'd done his time, gotten out, still loved his country and his brothers in arms. The assholes who made the decisions that got those brave men and women killed, well, he'd mostly stopped cursing them years ago. Mostly. He had his health and a woman any man would get down on his knees and thank God for. His bar kept him in Louie L'Amours and all the cashews he could eat. Life was good for a fifty-six-year-old ex-Army sergeant with a receding hairline and a bit of a gut. He was just glad to be alive and relatively sane. Not all of his buddies could say the same.