The Fighter's Block (30 page)

“I have my birthday all planned out and you don’t have to do a thing,”
she said
.

It was the last thing he expected her to say, and it took a while for him to shift gears. “Uh, you planned your birthday? You mean the beach trip?”

“No, I don’t want to go to the beach that weekend. We’re going to Philadelphia.”

“Oh yeah?” he replied, completely surprised. “What’s there that you want to do?”

“Anything. Everything. I’ve never been there.”

“You’ve never been to Philly?” he asked with
disbelief
.

“Nope. So we’re going to stay close to the ball field, go to three games that weekend, and just see a few sights. I don’t even care what, but I know it will be fun.”

Van decided that he shouldn’t be surprised. Dani grew up with a lot of privileges, but most of them consisted of what her parents wanted for her. The only places
she’d been were
the
major
world cities
,
staying in
lavish resorts or
attending
high profile events.

“That sounds awesome,” he told her
truthfully
. “Whatever you want to do sounds great to me.”

“I know. I was counting on the fact that you would pathetically follow me anywhere.”
She leaned over him and pressed her warm lips to his.

He chuckled and nodded his
head. “Yeah, you got that right,
”
he replied as he slid his hands to her hips to place her on top of
him
.

“I don’t want to bother any sore spots,” she said, kissing the side of his face that was slightly bruised.

His hands traveled to her ass and he ran his fingers along the edge of her panties. “It was a short fight; I’ll survive.”

“Hmm, for some reason I think I
have the power to
make you suffer a little more…” She straddled his waist with a seductive smile, moving softly against his erection.

“I have no doubt about that,” he agreed. “But you’re sweet to me when I’ve had a grueling day.”

She chuckled but it was in agreement. He knew she’d do all the work because she would insist on making him feel good. Th
ey were good at give and take. A
lways.

She leaned down and kissed him again, a smoldering connection that
traveled through her core
.

“I love you so much, Van.”

He could barely return the sentiment before she was leaving a trail of kisses down his chest to the very enthusiastic participant
straining to get
out of his boxers.

Chapter Fifteen

Brian methodically rocked himself in the recliner, pushing with one foot. He set his chin in a hand while his elb
ow propped it up on the armrest
and stared at a television that didn’t interest him. He smiled briefly for the dozenth time, picturing the look on Dani’s face when she saw him at the fight. But what pained him the most was missing out on Van’s reaction when she most likely told him of it.

He reached for the bottle of beer next to him. He put his lips to it, took a long pull of
cold
liquid, and then held onto it while he continued to think. It was time for the next step, he thought, although he was slightly worried that it might be too soon. But even if it was
,
he knew it would still cause a rift. That he was sure of. He smiled again, laughed even. He pictured it in his head, his masterpiece, and he couldn’t help feeling proud of himself. In fact, he wanted to watch it again, just to honor his brilliance. So what if she tried to use it against him later. There was no proof whatsoever that he was in Jersey that night.

He made a phone call thirty minutes later. “Yeah, I’m ready,” was all he said. The recipient only replied okay, and then hung up the phone.
Brian returned to the game on TV and enjoyed the rest of the night with eager anticipation.

“That looks terrible,” Jaime said, eyeing the hideous paint that her sister had smeared all over the wall.

“What?” Dani scoffed. “Shut your mouth, I’m not even done.”

“Yellow? Really?” She stared at the only living room wall in the
apartment that was not red
brick, and now the once beige paint was a sunflower yellow.

“You know, you’ve always been the least imaginative of the family,” Dani told her. “You’ll like it, trust me.”

Jaime shrugged her shoulders and set the bag of groceries on the kitchen counter. “If you say so.”

“I do say so, Ms. Narrow-
minded. And where are your two terrors?”

“With Steve. It’s his brother’s birthday so he took the kids a day early for the barbecue in Allentown.”

Dani nodded as she rolled another twelve-inch stripe of paint up the wall, and then blended it in. “It’s weird not having Van here,” she said. “I mean I’m okay with it because I have to be, but I haven’t been here without him
in the apartment
since those first couple of weeks I met him.”

“So I don’t understand. He got back on the department? What about his fights? Is he done with that?”

“No, he’ll still keep fighting because he’s not back on full time. He’s still been on call, but there’s been no need for him lately.”

“But when four firefighters die in a building collapse, they have to restock their unit?” She knew that cut Dani pretty deep, and she
felt horrible. “I’m sorry, hon
.
”

Dani accepted the apology silently, but she didn’t speak any further about how much it hurt. She
was
worried about Van, but she knew it was something he wanted, just like fighting. She understood him, what made him tick, but she didn’t necessarily like it.

“Well, I think that’s good for now,” she said, stepping back to look at the wall. “Does it look okay? I mean evenly covered?”

“Yeah, you did a good job.”

Dani cleaned up her painting supplies as Jaime unloaded the food in the kitchen. She’d brought takeout from the Thai restaurant down the street, but she also had a few other items from the store that Dani had requested.
She wished her sister wasn’t so good in the kitchen because it
certainly
wasn’t Dani’s figure that was affected by it.

They ate, laughed
,
and had a good time. Dani got started on the treats she had in mind while Jaime straightened up and then shut the apartment windows
because of the noise down on the street
.

“Do you really want to smell the paint?” Dani asked her.

“It was your idea to intoxicate our slumber party.
Besides, I don’t even smell it.
”

Dani smiled. “It’s quick-drying. It should be ready for round two
by now
.”

“Hm. Round two better be an improvement.”

Dani only smiled again as she finished up her cupcake batter. She went to work filling each paper
cup
in the baking tray while Jaime turned on a movie.

Because Van wasn’t home, a
knock at the d
oor could have been startling. B
ut when Jaime gave her sister a worried look, Dani said, “I’m betting
it’s
Marnie.” She wiped her hands on a towel and went to answer the door, first checking through the peek hole.

“Yeah it’s me,” Marnie’s muffled voice said from the other side.

“What’s the password?” Dani teased.

“Uh, open the motherfucking door?”

Jaime laughed from the cou
ch, unbothered by Marnie’s crass
ness. And when Dani opened the door and corrected her with, “Open the motherfucking door
please
,” both Jaime and Marnie cracked up
together
.

“You hear the mouth on that thing?” Marnie said to Jaime with feigned disbelief. She came into the room and dropped onto the couch.

“I know it. She’s the biggest potty mouth in the family.”

“Van has been rubbing off on you, my dear,” Marnie said to Dani.

“Pssh, Van barely ever swears,” Dani said with a smile. She followed Marnie’s path but sat on the other couch.

Marnie laughed out loud. “What? Are you kidding me? Where do you think I learned all the filthy words I say?”

Dani gave her a funny look but then smiled and said, “From your mother. You already told me that.”

Marnie laughed again. “Yeah, true. But seriously, Van only holds his tongue for you, baby
cakes.”

Dani considered that for a second and then shrugged. “Not always, but I won’t disagree with you. I’m sure he might.”

“Oh, he does. I mean he doesn’t
always
sling f-bombs all the time like some of the guys do. He never really has
unless it’s to make a point
. And to be honest with you,
he is a little more mannered than
most—w
hich is surprising because of
his circumstances growing up.
His dad was a piece of work, physically
and
verbally.
”

Dani slightly nodded
, but it made her sad to think about it. Van had survived a lot
.
And he turned out to be an amazing man, despite his upbringing.

Marnie glanced at her and then looked at the television. “He is soft for you though,” she said with a tiny smile.

“Well I would hope so,” Dani chuckled. “He married me.”

“Yeah he did. And he’s still in la-la land when it comes to you. You have
a power over
him.
”

Dani wasn’t quite sure if that was a tiny stab or something kind coming from Marnie. Usually she would speak her mind, but every so often she’d hold back just a little, and Dani was left guessing. Jaime didn’t catch it—she was absorbed in the movie already—so Dani went back to the kitchen to finish her cupcakes.

Marnie
went home after midnight.
She
’d
joined in plenty of times
to m
ake fun of Dani’s sunshine wall, and even though she and Jaime had a dozen good laughs about it, Marnie almost admitted out loud that she actually liked it. After Dani sponge painted two other tones over the paint, it looked pretty damn good. And she knew what Dani had to hang on the wall when it was completely dried
—beautiful black and white photographs of a trip to Atlantic City
. It really would look “fabulous,” as Dani
had
put it.

Marnie smiled as she entered her own apartment. Dani was something else. She was totally a foreign specimen to her, but there were parts about her that
she
really liked. Maybe there really was
an innocence
to her like Van said. Sure she’d been around the world, worked with famous people, knew the ins and outs of relationships for the most part. But under all the superficial bullshit, the girl had personality. She was feisty. She was humorous.

Marnie chuckled to herself.
She could be
really crass
when she wanted to be
.

But in a funny way.
Dani had a sense of humor that was dainty, but at the same time, soul-bearing. In a way she seemed so wrong for Van, but when you take into account their entire existence together…
It
just made sense.

“What’s so funny?” Paul’s voice said, breaking
into
the darkness.

Marnie turned on a la
m
p to see him sitting up on the couch in his boxers
, the blanket partially covering one leg
. She set a plate of cupcakes on the counter and said, “Sorry to wake you.”

“I wasn’t sleeping. Just waiting up for you.”

Normally Marnie would take offense to that, ready to accuse him of not trusting her. But she motioned to the counter and said, “Dani made me bring you some shitty cupcakes.”

Paul smiled, knowing his wife was being facetious. “Yeah, I’m sure they’re terrible.” He got up and made the few steps it took to the kitchen and picked one up. Examining it he said, “Cute.”

That made Marnie smile. “A
ren’t they cute?” was exactly what Dani had said.

Paul looked it over for a few more seconds, trying to decide how he should eat it. The
frosting was interesting, with— What was that on there? A butterfly?