The Fighter's Block (5 page)

“Like what? What you’re gonna do if you
r
dad gets out?”

“I’ll avoid him entirely. I already got that figured out.”

“
Well
what’d the
prick
have to say? W
hat’s
eatin
’
ya
?”

Van wasn’t sure what to say—or how much to say—so he grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and set them on the counter between them.

“You’re not gonna tell me?
” Quincy decided as he grabbed a bottle.
“
What’s wrong with you
today
, man?”

“I met a girl last night,” Van divulged. He took a
swig
o
f his beer while Quincy’s curio
sity peaked. “She was here last night, and then I left for that
fucking
appointment with the lawyer.”

“And she left?”

“Yes.”

“So ‘here’ last night means…?”

Van sighed but told him the entire story, from seeing her in the parking lot to kissing her goodbye when he left.

“Holy Mary, mother of Jesus.
You
had a one night stand?”

Van knew Q wouldn’t focus on the real issue
, which is why he didn’t want to tell him. But he just shrugged and said, “Well, I didn’t
think
it was gonna turn out to be a one night stand.
But maybe I was just trying to tell myself that…
”

Both guys were quiet as they ate, but Quincy noticed that Van was agitated. It wasn’t typical of Van to be that way, so it did cause Quincy to worry.

“So you’re pissed that she left,
”
Q surmised.

“I’m
not
— W
ell, maybe, but I don’t even know how to get a hold of her.”

“She left you with nothing.”

“Exactly.”

“Ouch.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“S
orry.”

Van got up and flipped on
the television as a distraction. He was agitated with the situation because the last thing he discussed with Dani was that he was going to help
her
figure out her next move
when he got back to the apartmen
t
.
He hoped that she’d just gone out for a bit and would return, b
ut
trying to be patient was absolutely killing him.

She finally stopped by on Monday
night after work
, but there was no answer when she knocked. She was worried that she’d messed everything up by leaving on Saturday morning without even a note, but she was hoping that Van would understand. He seemed like that type of guy
.

As she was heading for the elevator, Quincy was coming out of
his
own
apartment. He told her hi and she returned the greeting, and they both waited for the elevator in silence.

Finally Quincy
couldn’t resist
talking to such a beautiful girl
and asked, “You visiting someone here?”

Dani gave him a
polite
smile and nodded her head. “Yeah, but he wasn’t home.”

“I’m Quincy,” he said
. The elevator dinged and they both got on.

“Dani,” she replied. “N
ice to meet you.”

“Who
a, wait a minute!” Quincy said. He stopped the doors from closing and
literally
pulled
Dani out of
the elevator and
back
into
the
fourth
floor
hallway
.

“What the—? Get your hands off of me!” she exclaimed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m sorry!”
Quincy said, holding hi
s hands up. “Just hear me out. If your
name is Dani, then you’re
here for Van, right?
”

That made
her
freeze where she was, but she exhaled the breath she was holding and cautiously replied, “Yes.”

“Oh, thank God!”

“What
?”

“I’m his friend.
His
best
friend
.
”

Dani looked him over carefully, even though she was relieved to finally have some connection to Van.
She also assumed that
this
was probably the same friend that Van had been planning to stay with the night she was there.

“Did you leave him a note?” Quincy asked.

“A note? You mean to say that I stopped by?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, no, I didn’t.
I’ll just come by later.
”

“Lady, l
eave him a
damn
note!”

“What are you getting so heated over?”

“I’m not; I’m just glad I caught on
to who you are.
I know all about you
.
”

She raised an eyebrow. “And? What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you need to leave him a
fucking
note. Just tell him you stopped by.
Leave a phone number
for
God’s
sake.”

“Jeez, fine
.
”
She was a little take
n
aback by the intensity of this
guy
, but she was able to read
him
pretty easily.
At least she knew that Van
was looking forward
to hear
ing
from her
, and that pleased her
.
She walked back to Van’s apartment and took a pen and a pad of paper out of her purse.

“Aren’t girls usually on top of this sort of thing?” Quincy asked, appearing from around the corner.

She glanced at him warily.
“What do you mean?”

“You just left him without a word.”

Dani looked him over
again
, feeling a little agitated. “I suggest maybe you butt out
right about now.
Do you want me to leave the note or not?”

Quincy knew he had a big mouth, so he decided not to test her. But on a last second thought, he grabbed the pad of paper from her after she’d slipped her note under the door.

“Have Van’s number, too,” he said, holding out his hand for the pen.

She handed it over
, trying to seem indifferent, but deep down she was glad for him to offer it.

When they were both in the elevator again, Dani decided to get what she could from Quincy and his free speech.

“So where is Van right now?” she asked casually.

“Work.”

“Oh.
”

There was silence again and Quincy chuckled. “You don’t even know what he does, do you?”

Dani gave him a side-glare but relented. “No, I don’t. That didn’t really come up for some reason.”

Quincy laughed again, thoroughly amused. He couldn’t wait to tell
Van about his run-in with Dani.
“Well, you got any guesses?” he asked.

“Guesses? You’re going to make me guess what he does for a living?”

He
shrugged. “Maybe. I think it’d be pretty
fun
to hear your guesses.”

The doors opened and Dani left quickly. “I’ll just ask him myself,” she said over her shoulder
, heels clicking
. She hated being messed with like that, and she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of making her look silly.

“Guess who I just spent the past
eight
minutes with?” Quincy said over the phone.

“Normally I’d say I don’t
give a fuck
,
” Van replied. “B
ut
I guess I have time
.
”
He left the couch and went to the bunkroom where it was quiet.

“Okay, so I won’t make you guess since I really want to make your day. No, your week.
Maybe even your entire life. If this turns out to—
”

“Okay, so give it up already.”

“Dani.”

“
What
?”

“Yep, just rode the elevator with her.”

Van had to think quickly to catch up. “You mean in the building? She stopped by?”

“Yep.”

“Well what’d she say?
” he asked eagerly.
“
I mean she was there to see me?”

“Well yeah, you
dumbass
. Of course she
was
there to see you. But…”

“But what?”

“Well, I think I made her mad.”

Van sighed to himself.
Great.

“But she left you a phone number.”

That made Van smile
. “Really?”

“Well, with my help of course. She was just
gonna
leave once she found out you weren’t home.
It’s kind of weird. I
mean how hard is it to leave a note…
”

Van didn’t even care about that since she really did leave him a number. He pressed Quincy for more details—every second of his time with Dani and everything she said—and then he wanted the phone number.

“
Shit
. Uh, she slid it
under your door. And sorry, bro,
I’d get it for you, but you refuse to let me have a spare key.
You fucking give
Paulie
a key but not me,
”
he grumbled quietly.

Van was tempted to leave work just to get the piece of paper she’d left, but he knew he couldn’t.

“
Well I’ll be home tomorrow and get it then, I guess. Thanks, Q
.”

“Sure thing. Oh, and I gave her yours, too. Maybe you’ll get lucky and she’ll call you first.”

Dani really considered calling Van, but if he was at work… No, she probably shouldn’t. She d
idn’t know where he even worked
so she couldn’t be sure if it was appropriate or not. Quincy
had given her both numbers—Van’s cell phone and his apartment number—so she ultimately decided to leave a message
on
his home
answering machine
.

“Uh, hey Van, it’s Dani.
Um, from Friday night?
Well anyways, if you’re listening to this, you probably got my note. I’m sorry I did
n’t leave my phone number on it. I was going to,
but I just… Well, anyways, I’ll give it to you now if you’d like to call me. I’d like to see you again…”

Of course Van didn’t get that message since he was working
a
nother twenty-four hour shift, and since
there
really hadn’t been a
phone number on the note
,
he’d been hoping
for her to call him
.
He was glad for at least the note she’d left, but he was still dying to see her.

He got
Dani’s
message on Thursday when he got home, and his frustration turned into exhilaration when he heard her voice on the machine. She really had called—on
Wednesday
—and now it was Thursday. He was worried she would think he didn’t want to talk to her when he finally dialed her number that
night
.

He got her voicemail.

But he did leave a message, letting her know she could call him anytime on his cell phone, and that he’d be home for the next three nights.

Dani didn’t get his message until the next morning, but her day started the
second her feet hit the ground
and she didn’t have a minute to call until later that afterno
on. She called Van’s cell phone
and just got his voicemail. She joked about having to play phone tag, but if he
were
going to be home that night, she would just stop by.

She return
ed her phone to the desk drawer
and made her way to the conference room for a project meeting. By then her phone was buzzing with a return call from Van, but she didn’t get a chance to listen to it until she left the building at six o’clock.