The Fighter's Block (11 page)

Friday he drove down
Willet
Street, his cu
rrent route from work to home. It was almost seven o’clock, so he knew Dani was done with work. He s
aw her car parked on the street
and he parked his own another block down. He didn’t know what he expected to get out of this routine, but he just liked knowing where she was. He sat there for an hour, expecting that she might be going out sometime soon. But her car remained, and there was no sign of her. He thought about going into the building, getting on the elevator, and just picking a floor to meander. But after his last visit, he was sure that Dani figured out it was
him
. After all, she did change her phone number the next day.

He called up Andy and told him he had a job for him. He wanted
him
to get Dani’s new phone number.

“Come on, man,” Andy replied. “Just leave it alone. If you want her back, harassing her isn’t gonna do it.”

“Just get the fucking number, Andy. Do you want your shit this month or not?”

Andy sighed but finally agreed.

“And if you happen to find me an apartment number to the place she’s staying at, I’ll double your pay,” Brian added before hanging up with his brother.

He looked ahead to the apartment complex. There wasn’t a chance he’d be able to enter the lobby again without someone getting suspicious. He was lucky the first two times, but he wasn’t going to push it for a third. But that didn’t mean someone else couldn’t get some information for him… He thought about that for a minute, but he decided he first needed more
to go on
, and h
e left for home around eight-thirty.

Five minutes later Van and Dani returned from going out to dinner. Van turned into the alley and parked his truck in his designated space
, and then went around to the passenger’s side to open Dani’s door.
She
always thought that was pretty sweet of him, and he’d been doing it since the very first night she met him. But these days Van would usually kiss her as he shut the door, and then take her hand to walk. She was becoming used to the routine, and she liked it.

“
Nighty
night,” Eddie said to them on their way
past
the office
from the back entry
.

“Goodnight, Eddie,” Dani smiled, but she set a small container on the desk in front of him.

“What’s this?” he asked with surprise.

“Just a piece of pie.”

Van smiled because of how thoughtful his girlfriend was. He opened the door to the stairs just as they bo
th heard Eddie exclaim, “Black
berry!”

“I think he’s happy,” Dani said as she climbed the steps.

“I think you’ve made his entire week.”

“With a piece of pie?”

“Yes Dani, with a piece of pie,” he smiled.

Dani knew what he meant and felt a little humbled, which is why she’d decided on getting him the pie in the first place. Eddie hardly had anything good in his life these days. His wife died the year before after battling cancer for six years, and his three
grown
kids gave him nothing but trouble.

Dani and Van entered the hall on the fourth floor and Van said, “Oh, I was supposed to pass along a message to you from Marnie.”

“Oh, yeah? How long ago was the message supposed to be passed along?”

He chuckled and unlocked the door to 4C. “Just from yesterday. She’s having a few friends over tomorrow and she wanted us to come. I’ll be at work, but I think you should still go.”

Dani considered it for a moment. She wasn’t really that social around people she didn’t know very well, but she did like Marnie. However, she knew she’d feel more comfortable being there if Van were there too.

“Uh, I’ll think about it.
My sister and I
were
thinking about visiting Simon.”

“Is your brother doing better than last week?”

Dani smiled and nodded her head. “Yes, he
is.”

Van nodded, happy to hear it.
“You kn
ow, I was thinking,
”
he
said
as they sat on the couch. “Your
brother’s name is Simon? And your sister is Jaime…
Your other sister is Fontaine…
You’re Danielle… Do your parents have some sort of fascination with the French?”

Dani replied, “Oh, yeah. Totally. They’re obsessed.”

Van studied her carefully, not sure of the little smile she was toying with. “You want to expound on that? Obviously I’m missing something.”

She shrugged. “
Je
suis
désolé
, mes parents
sont
Français
.”

Van looked at her with confusion. “Excuse me?”

“
Excus
é
vous? O
u
i,
ça va
.
”

He chuckled. “Okay, so you speak French
too
?”

“
Oui, c’est ma
première
langue
.
Yes,” she smiled. “I
am
French.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“French-Ameri
can. My parents are both French—
Dominic
and Simone—a
nd they moved here just before I was born.”

“Really,” he stated. “I had no idea.
Your last name is Martin…
”

“
Martin
,” she said, letting it roll off her tongue. “It’s a very common surname in France.
Probably the most common, like Thomas.
”

“Hmm,
I see,
” he nodded. “And what’s your middle name?”

Dani smiled
at his interest
, and after a few seconds replied, “
Chalice
.”

Van raised an eyebrow
again
. “Spell it.”

“C-h-a-l-
i
-c-e.”

He thought about it for a second.
“Danielle
Chalice
Martin. Well, that’s the Americanized
pronunciation of it. Say it French-
style.”

She chuckled but said, “
Danielle
Chalice
Martin
. But I prefer
Jersey-style,
”
she added with a
wink
.

He nodded his head and said, “Good, because that’s about all I can do. And I’m a little used to just calling you Dani.”

“I prefer it. And
I
was
born here, so I am an American citizen,” she
clarified
.

“And you think that would make a difference with
me
? I’m up for having a French
hottie
.”
She laughed and he
added
,
“Well I’m Am
erican through and through.
No refined culture in my blood whatsoever. I’m Jersey all the way, baby.”

“And I like Jersey all the way,” she smiled. “And for the record, I am not a stuck up French snob.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, you are not. Which is why I would never have guess
ed
you came from the land of berets.”

She laughed again
, but on a serious note added, “But my parents are.
They even refuse to call me Dani.
”
Van
nodded, seeming to understand
her
hesitation to deal with her parents much. But he regretted even bringing them up when
she
added
, “So tell me about
your
family.”

Van’s heart dropped into his stomach. He’d rather face five of his toughest opponents in the cage at the same time…

Chapter Six

Dani could sense his hesitation immediately. She was sure there were things about his family and about his life that he’d been reluctant to share since she first met him. She didn’t know what it could possibly be since he was such a sweet guy, but obviously there was something there.

She decided not to press it
,
and instead, began sharing a little more about her own family.

“My father is a photographer in Manhattan
,” she said, taking Van’s hand and lovingly tracing it with her finger
.
“
My mother is a fashion designer—she designs wedding dresses and other formal attire. They kind of make quite the
working
duo. None of us are really close to them, though. They’ve always been in their own little world, and when none of us wanted to direct our lives towards their line of work, or continue on with it, they were kind of upset.

“Simon has had the most trouble with them. They were pretty pissed when he, uh,
ahem
...‘c
ame out of the closet,’
” she smiled. “But even though it didn’t really surprise them or anything, it was still just a tiny part of…much bigger drama later on. He had a relationship with one of my dad’s clients and it didn’t end very well. Long story short, it cost my dad a pretty major account
and a ‘tarnished’ reputation
. But the bottom line was that the rest of us just wanted everyone to get along, and when my dad was unwilling to lend a hand to Simon when he needed it the most… I guess we just banded together and made our own support system. Fontaine is the only one that really talks to them at all, but that’s mainly because
she still
lives in New York and
does fashion shoots
.”

Van nodded slightly, intrigued with Dani’s personal life. “So remind me the order of your siblings. You’re the youngest, right?”

“Um, I am now. Jaime is the oldest—she’s thirty—then there’s Simon who’s twenty-seven, and Fontaine who’s twenty-five. I also had another brother—Julian—but he died in a skiing accident when he was fourteen. He’d actually be the youngest if he were still alive—he’d be twenty.”

Van was very surprised to hear that, and all he could offer was, “Wow. I mean…I’m sorry you lost your brother, and I’m sorry your parents have been difficult to deal with over the years.”

She shrugged. “
It is what it is.
We all have the lives we were given.” She decided to add, “Besides, life is about balance. If it’s not one thing we struggle with, it’s something else. We all have things we’re meant to learn from.”

Van thought that to be interesting. He wasn’t sure what kind of struggles he’d have if they weren’t what he already had, but she was right. It is what it is.

“Well I have problems with my family too,” he decided to say. “Your family sounds fairly normal.”

“Normal?”
she smiled. “
Hm
, well is that to make me feel good
, or are you just trying to prepare me for what you’re
going to
tell me about
your
family?
”

He eyed her for a moment, realizing that was her invitation
for him to
share. He was afraid to, and even though Dani had shared a little of her background, it kind of intimidated him a bit.

“Van, you have nothing to worry about,” she finally said
, squeezing his hand
. “I can tell you don’t want to tell me, and for whatever reason that is, I wish you would change your mind. Whatever you tell me isn’t going to make a difference
with
you and I.”

“You might want to hold off on thinking that way,”
he
told her.

Her eyes met his and she sighed. She really was worried at that point,
and she heard
her own words repeat in her head: life comes in balance. Van was amazing, but there could be something
else
to counter it.
She was prepared for something terrible
, but she desperately hoped that nothing interfered with her newfound happiness.

“
Van,
it’s probably better that you
just share it.
Relationships are about give and take, and I think we do a pretty good job of that. And even though we’ve barely gotten to know each other, I just feel like…we work.” She
kind of chuckled.
“I don’t know, d
oes that make sense?”

He had to smile because it made perfect sense. “I think you spoke my mind.”

Dani was very happy to hear that. She was afraid of saying too much sometimes, but she really did feel like she and Van
were
a good match.