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And he’d just joined the club.
He was glad his parents were no longer living to see him come to this ignominious end.
Nyles’s only saving grace was knowing the boy he shot had lived. He wasn’t asking for understanding or forgiveness. At this point, he was grateful they couldn’t add murder to his list of crimes.
Dani woke up thinking about the meeting on the mountain. She wavered between being overwhelmed, and anxious to meet so many of Aaron’s relatives at once. What if they didn’t like her? What if they felt like she didn’t belong there? She was at the point of wishing Cameron hadn’t invited her, even as she was getting ready to go.
She’d called Shirley earlier, just to ask her what to wear, and the warmth and laughter in Shirley’s voice eased some of her nerves.
“Oh, honey, it’s not a party. It’s just us being present when some announcement is being made that affects usall. It happens here from time to time. It’s just the easiest way to get family news without hearing it thirdhand. The church is air-conditioned, but there could be as many as two hundred people there. Dress for comfort. Pants. A dress. Shorts. Whatever suits your fancy.”
Dani exhaled a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Shirley. This helps.”
“You’re welcome, sugar. See you soon,” she said.
Dani returned the dress she’d planned to wear to the closet and switched it for navy-colored slacks and a pale blue short-sleeved T-shirt that made her blue eyes shine, and a pair of brown Docksides for walking comfort.
She’d washed her hair earlier and let it dry naturally in a tumble of soft, dark curls. Her only makeup was a slash of lipstick in a color called Antique Rose. After that, she was as ready as she was going to be.
Aaron arrived before six. He’d worked without a lunch break so he could leave an hour early because of the meeting, and he showed up at her house with his black hair still damp from the shower he’d taken at work.
He rang the doorbell, then let himself in, calling out as he crossed the threshold.
“Hey, pretty lady. Your Uber awaits.”
Dani came hurrying from the hallway.
“Wow. You look beautiful,” Aaron said.
“So do you,” she said. “I’m nervous. Talk me down from this panic on the way up the mountain, okay?”
“Aw, honey, don’t be scared. Before tonight’s over,you’re going to be everybody’s heroine.” Then he pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “Now let’s go. If we’re lucky, Mom will have sandwiches or something ready and waiting so we can eat a bite before we leave.”
“Shirley’s food is a lure to anything. And I think I’m beginning to sound like B.J., but a fact is a fact, so there,” she said.
Aaron was laughing as they headed out the door. He flipped on the porch light and set the security system before he closed the door, and then they were off.
This time the trip up the mountain was less intimidating to Dani, and the farther up they went, the more the world behind them disappeared.
“I’m starting to get this mountain vibe,” she said.
“How so?” he asked.
“What’s behind us doesn’t belong up here, does it?”
He smiled. “Is that how it makes you feel?”
She nodded.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Aaron asked.
“A good thing! Definitely a good thing,” Dani said. “The absence of noise is when you hear thoughts the clearest.”
He reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.
“Just when I think you couldn’t get more perfect, you go and say something like that. You are the blessing that keeps on giving.”
Dani’s vision blurred. “And I’m just learning that you choose to make love in a myriad of ways. What you just said…that’s a high I’m not likely to forget. I keepthinking if we hadn’t gone through our own kind of hell before…and if we hadn’t had a need to escape…we would never have met.”
