The Gingerbread Boy (12 page)

The morning was fresh and ethereal. A perfect day to spend with Daniel.

Suddenly the door squealed open behind her.

“I can’t wait to see the surprise!” came Joanne’s voice.

Catherine turned, stunned to see Joanne sauntering up next to her, wearing a thick pink sweater that accented her cheeks, making her look like a china doll. She swung her hands with glee and stood by Catherine’s side.

“So… when’s Daniel going to get here?”

Catherine’s eyes widened, and her heart sank slightly. She didn’t realize Daniel had asked Joanne to spend the day with them. And as much as she adored Joanne, the idea was disappointing. She’d rather hoped Daniel’s surprise was more personal.

“I’m amazed Daniel wanted me to come,” Joanne added, grinning. “The way he looks at you, Cath, I thought he’d want to be alone with you.”

“He doesn’t look at me in any
way
,” Catherine said quietly, “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re just friends.”

Joanne stopped swinging her arms. “Friends? If a hunk like Daniel looked at me like that with those gorgeous browns, I’d melt right into the floor, my wide world of sports and all.”

Catherine grinned shyly, “You think he looks at me funny?”

“Not ‘funny,’ girl. More like he wants to sweep you off to some enchanted land and keep you there forever.”

Catherine shook her head and looked at the ground. “I don’t see how we could ever be more than friends.”

Joanne crossed her arms and made a face. “Why? Come on, Cathy. What seems to be happening between you two is a rare and wonderful thing.” She leaned in close, her eyes huge as saucers. “You, my dear, are in denial.”

Catherine looked closely at her best friend. How could she explain something hidden so deep in her heart? Something she was terrified to fully consider because it became too painful and confusing to bear:
How could it ever work out long term between a rock ’n roll star and a veterinarian?
The complications of it, as well as the seeming absurdity of it, were staggering. Daniel would be traveling almost constantly, and she’d be left alone with her veterinary practice. Her fondest dream was to help heal the suffering of the animal kingdom. Daniel’s dream was to help heal the suffering spirit of the human kingdom.

How could those two dreams merge?

But, for now, she refused to let it trouble her. As long as she and Daniel were merely friends, the problem wouldn’t manifest.

Sounding far away, she heard Joanne ask, “C-a-t-h-y. Can you look me straight in the eye and
swear
that all you ever want to be to Daniel LaMont is a friend?”

Catherine gazed at the ground, brown and spongy from melting snow. At times her relationship with Daniel felt that way also, brown and spongy. Because he was only a friend. She hadn’t even been able to be with him at Christmas, for the band had been out of town. Thank goodness she’d been able to go home with Joanne and spend some time with her and her family, which helped dilute the loneliness. Maybe Daniel treated her like a princess… when he was around. Maybe he wrote her beautiful, romantic songs. But he hadn’t tried to kiss her, besides a peck on the cheek or forehead, in the months she’d known him. And she couldn’t drive Beth’s taunting voice from her mind.
It’d never work…
never work…
never work.
Maybe Beth had Catherine believing it so much that Catherine’s own countenance frightened Daniel. Maybe she was acting just a little too stand-offish around him.

“Beth thinks the idea of Daniel and me together is a joke,” she finally sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if she’s right, Joanne. I’m afraid to think about it. I just want to let it be, and see what happens.”

Joanne took Catherine’s wrist and gently squeezed it “I don’t know Daniel like you do Cathy. But I pick up feelings from him when he’s around. It’s like he’s a little mixed up. He’s complicated and intense but still trying to shake off that little boy inside and grow up. But he wants to grow up, because of you.”

“I’m not sure I want him to ‘grow up.’” said Catherine. “I like him the way he is. He’s the most intelligent, talented… and wonderful man I’ve ever known, And he’s so good-hearted, Joanne. I
do
think he knows who he is. I don’t think he’s mixed up at all. He knows what he wants, and where he’s going.”

Joanne arched an eyebrow. “And that’s not the kind of guy you’d consider marrying one day? You want to be stuck with another Cave-Pig?”

“Marrying?” Catherine exclaimed, pulling her hand out of Joanne’s grip and bringing it to her forehead. “I’ve got years left of school. I still want to pay Hazel back thousands of dollars. Joanne I can’t even make a decent meal. I burn water. I turn cookies into doorstops. I…”

“Lame excuses Sealey,” Joanne interrupted. “Lame, lame, lame. You even thought of marrying that loathsome Cave-Pig at one time
.
You told me so yourself.”

“I know. I was nuts. But Cave-Pig didn’t have a career that would take him gallivanting all over the country. He didn’t…”

“That’s your
real
fear,” Joanne said. “You’re afraid to love a guy who can’t be around much, right? And when he’s away on tour, girls flock around him.”

Catherine’s shoulders slumped.

“I’m right, aren’t I, Cath? C’mon – I know you. Who wouldn’t be afraid of that? But when two people have something this special together, anything can be worked out.”

Catherine sighed as Joanne’s words settled in. Something in her own demeanor softened, and she leaned over to give her best friend a hug.

“So when did you become such a good counselor?” Catherine asked.

Joanne hugged her back. “Since I realized that I wanted to be maid of honor in your wedding with a music legend and borrow lots of money I never intend to pay back.”

Both girls laughed, and hugged each other tighter.

Catherine didn’t notice that there was someone walking up to the front steps. Her and Joanne’s eyes rounded as Daniel trotted up to them and enfolded his arms around them both.

“Group hug!” he joked, pulling them all together. “ I want in!”

“Oh you
are
in,” Joanne giggled. “You
are
in.”

“I didn’t hear your van pull up,” said Catherine, as they broke apart. Then she looked toward the road and her eyes widened.

Snuggled against the curb was a gleaming white classic Corvette.

“Is that
yours
?” Joanne asked, taking the words out of Catherine’s mouth.

“Like it?” Daniel said, looking at them both. “I’ve been working on it for years. It’s finally complete.”

Joanne looked at Catherine with saucer-sized eyes. “Good grief, Cathy, Robin Hood is a gear-head!”

Daniel laughed. “Just a little bit of a gear-head, and a lot of a tinkerer.”

“It’s gorgeous,” said Catherine, peering closer at the vehicle, “What year is it?”

“Nineteen fifty-four,” Daniel said proudly. “I’m not a true car fanatic, I just love to make beautiful things out of junk.”

“Oh?” said Catherine slyly, “You must have given up on poor old Bruiser, then.”

Daniel rubbed Catherine’s hair. “Bruiser is a classic just as he is.”

“Oh rub my hair, too,” Joanne interrupted, leaning her head against Catherine’s.

“Come on, let’s go for a spin,” said Daniel, obliging Joanne with a quick rub. Then he gestured toward the car, dangling the keys in his hand.

“No, not me,” said Joanne. “I could only fit as an enormous hood ornament. Maybe some other time. You two should be alone.”

Catherine looked at her friend in surprise. “Take a turn then! You’ve been waiting for this surprise, too.”

Joanne backed toward the house door. “No, Cath, I wasn’t really invited. I was just teasing you. You two need to be alone.
Really
alone.”

Catherine made a puzzled face as Joanne waved goodbye and went into the house. She stared after her a few seconds, then shrugged and went over to Daniel. He put an arm around her shoulder as they walked toward the car.

“She was welcome to take a quick ride,” he whispered in her ear, “but I did have another surprise for you today. It involves a little ride in that car first, though. Do you accept this mission?”

“Accepted.” Catherine said.

****

Daniel took Catherine’s hand, and led her to a path that snaked down a damp and fragrant wood toward his mystery destination. The trees opened to a cliff about twenty feet high, and there, just ahead, was a fallen willow stretched majestically over the Looking Glass river, a river mostly unknown to the college students who were so familiar with the Red Cedar River on campus. The tree’s gnarly roots clung to the cliff like a giant’s fingers. The trunk was a good five feet wide at the base, narrowing into a labyrinth of limbs and branches. Below, the river gurgled and hissed over the rocks in the water.

“This is incredible,” Catherine whispered.

“It’s my horizontal tree-house,” Daniel said, staring serenely at it. “Look at all those great places to sit and read, or sing, or even take a nap, with no one around to bother you. I come here to get away from it all. In the summertime, the leaves close in and it reminds me of the Peruvian jungle.”

Catherine stared down at the fast-moving river. The water appeared black in the great tree’s shadow as it spun in a torrent around the rocks.

“Aren’t you afraid of falling?” She asked. “Some of those rocks are sharp. Is the water deep?”

“It’s probably over our heads with all the thawing going on,” Daniel replied, “but it’s usually shallow and lazy in the summer. And no, I don’t think about falling. That would probably make me fall. I just try to be careful.”

Catherine grinned hesitantly. “Well, it sure looks dangerous now.” She looked him fully in the face. “You expect me to crawl out there… don’t you?”

Daniel laughed. “Not crawl, walk. The trunk is as wide as a sidewalk for a good twenty feet. After that you can hang on to the branches for balance. Just follow me, and you’ll be fine. Or if you’d like, you can go first and I’ll follow you.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Catherine said. “That’s what you said in the stairway at the rooming house when you pulled your hat over your face and nearly scared the crap out of me. Try one of those little pranks here, and I’ll fall off and be swept into Lake Michigan like a hunk of driftwood. You go first. I just hope you can swim.”

Daniel laughed. “Wouldn’t matter if I could swim or not. That water’s cold. I’d be a Popsicle in about thirty seconds.”

“And you still want to go out there?” Catherine exclaimed, punching him on the arm.

“Yes. And I’d like you to come with me.” He looked at her with an intense gaze, his eyes shining, his lips tipped into a slight smile. In the sunshine, with the wind in his hair, Daniel could have come to life from a statue. And suddenly Catherine was aware of what Joanne had meant when she said Daniel looked at her in ‘that way.’

Her knees went weak.

She remembered what Joanne had said to her once, “Catherine, you could beat that guy in the face with an ugly stick for a week, and he’d still be the most gorgeous man in America.”

So what is he doing with a veterinary medicine student?
Catherine thought.

Daniel took Catherine’s hand and began to work his way across the sodden earth toward the tree’s base. After carefully picking their way across the roots, he released her hand and walked carefully out across the trunk. Catherine shivered as she stared from him to the rushing waters twenty feet below. At one point he did seem to slightly lose his balance and teeter, then he turned, smiled at her as though it was a joke, and moved on.

“Please be careful,” Catherine whispered to herself, not at all sure the slip
was
a joke.

At last Daniel found a secure spot where he could hold onto a branch for balance. He wiggled his finger at her. “You’ll do fine,” he coaxed. “Pretend it’s a sidewalk. Just walk slowly, keep your eyes straight ahead of you, and you’ll be here in no time.”

Catherine shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She took a few cautious steps. But the trunk was wide, and the rough bark good traction. Daniel was right, she thought, trying to keep from looking down; if this were a sidewalk she could probably skip across it. She moved on, her arms lifted sideways for balance. Before she knew it, she was in front of Daniel, breathlessly snatching the limb he was hanging onto. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her toward him, then brushed a kiss across her forehead. “I knew you’d do fine,” he whispered, “You love an adventure, just like me.”

Catherine made no reply, feeling lightheaded from the feel of Daniel’s lips against her skin. Then they moved farther out, clinging to branches along the way. A breeze wafted against their faces and filled their lungs with the scent of spring in the woods. Blotches of snow dappled the ground in shady places in the wooded hills, and chunks of ice still clotted parts of the riverbanks, yet this was definitely a day to say so long to winter. Catherine was grateful to be experiencing it with someone who appreciated it as much as she.

Someone who had just
kissed
her.

She could hear Hazel’s bone-dry voice warning her, “Think, girl think! Men can be vipers!” But the warning seemed out of place here, as distant as poor Mrs. VanHoofstryver herself. Catherine knew she should write Hazel again. Soon. But it was hard to know what to say now, knowing Hazel disapproved of her growing feelings for Daniel. It was easier to say nothing at all at least for a while. At least until Catherine was sure just where she stood with him.

Soon Daniel found a nice spot where two large branches meandered out across the river. Here the trunk dipped into a large, conveniently formed depression, perfect for them to settle into and lean against the branches with little risk of losing balance. A network of intertwining branches shielded them like a fence as they settled down, forced to snuggle tightly as they rested against the limbs.

Daniel leaned against Catherine’s shoulder, his eyes raised toward the sky. He pointed at a billowing cloud formation “Look at that,” he said. “Doesn’t that look like the face of an old lady with her hair piled in a bun?”