CHAPTER SIX
Light snoring filled the living room as Daniel walked into the house. He set the takeout bags in the kitchen. He’d been absent more than double the twelve-minute limit. It would have been much faster to go in and order, as everyone else in town wanted to get burgers too. For a moment, he debated letting Mandy sleep, but shakes set in the freezer never tasted quite the same as fresh. He’d get her to eat and then leave so she could rest. He made as much noise as possible setting out their food, but the snoring continued.
He studied her sleeping form. Her ponytail hung off the side of the couch, her hair had darkened over the years. Against the tan leather, the color reminded him of the line of cinnamon sugar he helped dribble on the rolls Grandma Mae used to make. The thought of waking her Sleeping-Beauty style crossed his mind. But he was nowhere near the true-love’s-kiss stage of the relationship. If he didn’t have the whole lawsuit mess, could he be? He’d like the chance to try.
He settled on touching her shoulder. “The food is here.”
Her eyes opened slowly—brown, soft, and dreamy. A tiny smile curved her lips, almost as if she had been awoken by a kiss.
Mandy blinked a few times. “Oh. I guess I was more tired than I thought.” She took Daniel’s offered hand and sat up, scooting back to keep her injured foot on the couch.
He motioned to her foot. “Shall I bring the food in here?”
“If you wouldn’t mind. I’d rather not put my boot back on.”
“What exactly did you do to it?” Daniel headed for the kitchen.
“Well, I was trying to take a photo when—” Mandy stopped when he turned back.
He raised his brows and gave her his half smile. “I meant is it broken, sprained, or torn?”
She smiled. “The doctor says I broke my foot—a calcaneus fracture on the bottom of my heel. It’s also known as a ‘Lover’s Fracture’ because men get them jumping from windows or balconies avoiding their lovers’ spouses. But don’t spread that around. I wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. I was lucky—mine is fairly small. Four weeks and I should be out of this in time for my MFA exhibit.”
He arranged the food on plates in the kitchen and smiled at the name Lover’s Fracture, but he didn’t want her running from him. He carried two plates to the coffee table. “How bad does it hurt?”
“Not as bad as it did on Tuesday. I hope by Monday I’ll only need a couple ibuprofen to make it through the day.”
“What happens on Monday?”
“Spring break is over. So I get to try not to lose my patience with my art students as they readjust to life.”
Daniel hurried to grab their shakes. “You’re teaching and going to the university?”
“I don’t have any classes now other than my final project, which isn’t a class, per se. It’s more of a ‘meet with my adviser every Thursday to critique what I did the past week.’”
“When will you graduate?” He took a chair at the end of the couch nearest Amanda.
“My show is mid-April. I should graduate May 22nd. But the university will hold my diploma until I pay off the camera.” Mandy gave a half smile and took a bite of her burger.
Daniel was half surprised she hadn’t asked him to pay for the broken camera, but then, Grandma Mae wouldn’t have either. Women usually wanted his money. How long would it be before she asked? He didn’t think she would. He should offer. He changed the subject. “Are you still up for a movie, or would you rather finish your nap?”
Mandy dipped a fry in her shake. “With this much sugar, I won’t be able to sleep. There is a DVD collection in the drawer under the TV, or we have streaming.”
He rifled through the collection and pulled out an old Disney movie. “I haven’t seen this since we were kids.”
“It is the same one. I have all of Grandma Mae’s old movies, including the VHS tapes. Remember how I had to know what apple dumplings tasted like?”
“I think we talked my cook and Grandma Mae into both making a batch on the same day. I thought I would never need to eat again.” He held up the DVD. “Do you want to see it?”
Her mouth full of fries, Mandy nodded.
The last few bars of the theme song played as Mandy woke to Daniel’s gentle nudging.
“Hey, sleepyhead.” At least his face wasn’t as close this time. He’d replaced the pillow propping up her foot halfway through the movie when she told him she needed to ice it.
Trying to stretch without looking like she was stretching, she sat up straighter.
“Will you hand me my boot and crutches?” She slid the boot on. Daniel stood and cleared the remains of their dinner while Mandy slipped down the hall to the bathroom.
When she returned, the living room was straightened. Even the DVD was put away. She sighed. He had cleaned up and disappeared. She heard water in the kitchen sink running and followed the sound. “Thanks. You didn’t need to do the dishes.”
“And miss an excuse to spend more time in this kitchen? At first I thought none of the plates matched because you got the free ones at the end of garage-sale days, but it is deliberate, isn’t it?”
Mandy leaned into her crutches. “A little of both.”
“Is the rest of the house this way? Other than the living room, it is so—”
“Boringly normal after the kitchen?”
Daniel dried his hands on a towel and turned to face her. “Not exactly the way I would have put it.”
“Do you want a tour?”
“Are you up to giving one?” He pointed to her crutches.
“Sure, but I’ll warn you, the house is a maze. The main part dates back to the sixties, but sometime in the eighties it got added on twice. Then, when Candace got ahold of it, she moved a wall or two. The hallway circles around the entire place.”
Mandy continued through the kitchen to the eating area.
“Who are Tessa and Araceli?” Daniel traced the names painted on the placemats.
“Our roommates. Tessa is in Europe on a stained-glass apprenticeship, and Araceli is recovering from a nasty case of mono at home in Massachusetts. Since they plan on coming back, they still have rooms here. It is quiet this semester.”
They entered a hallway. To one side a glass door opened into a sunroom filled with easels, and canvases. Cupboards lined one wall. “This is our studio. Candace’s father designed the room with controllable blinds and special lighting, so we can paint day or night. There is also a separate air-filter system, so she can oil paint or even airbrush without fumes entering the main house.”
They passed two closed doors, their chalkboard nameplates declaring the rooms to be occupied by the missing roommates.
“This is the Nemo bathroom.” Mandy pushed open a door labeled “Mermaids only.”
Daniel stepped into the room. “It looks like every animated movie with an ocean scene is in here. Hey, is that Mr. Limpet?”
“Wow, no one ever notices him, but then most people didn’t watch movies with Grandma Mae. The Nautilus is in the corner behind the toilet, but no squid. You’ll notice the jetted tub is in Ariel’s cave.”
Daniel came out of the bathroom and preceded Mandy down the hall. He stopped inches from walking into a wall.
She laughed. “Trompe-l’œil means ‘deceive the eye.’ That is my hallway to nowhere.”
Daniel touched the wall as if trying to prove his eyes were wrong, then turned to face Mandy. “You let me go first deliberately, didn’t you? Wait a second—your hallway to nowhere?”
“First thing I painted when I moved in.” Mandy turned the corner he’d missed.
The hallway opened into a bookshelf-lined room with two wing-back chairs. Little tables with lamps completed the library. A wrought-iron stairway circled up in the center. Mandy used her crutch to point to it. “Take a peek.”
After a couple of minutes, he came back down. “Those beanbags are fabulous.”
“We have a view of the stars most nights, too. I love to read up there.” Mandy hoped he hadn’t caught her blush. Kimberly, the roommate Mandy had replaced, had dubbed the space “Lover’s Loft.” The roommates were usually discreet when using it and warned each other off by placing a particular book on the table at the entrance of the library. Mandy had yet to use her chosen book.
Turning another corner, they passed Candace’s door.
“This is the other bathroom.” Painted to mimic a roman bath complete with marble statues and a Mediterranean view, the room represented more dateless weekends than Mandy would ever admit.
Daniel gave a low whistle. “This must have taken awhile. The painting makes the room seem huge.”
“We started painting our sophomore year. I didn’t live here yet, but I would crash whenever Uncle George visited Grandma Mae. He made it a point to come every other weekend to fulfill his duty. Drove me crazy, always bossing me around like a two-year-old. Painting this was my therapy.”
Pausing at her bedroom door, Daniel asked, “May I?”
“You’ll be disappointed.”
He walked in and turned around twice. “This looks almost like your attic room at Grandma Mae’s. Even the pictures on the walls.”
“Uncle George let me keep whatever I wanted from the house other than the silverware and silver tea set his now-ex-wife wanted. The rest of the things I liked are in storage. Mandy turned down the next hall. “Come on, the only thing left is the basement and for you to sign the laundry room.”
She stood at the top of the stairs, the thought of going up and down them with the crutches paralyzing her. “Turn right when you go down.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“If I go down, I must come back up, and I’m not good with my crutches.”
Daniel turned his back to her. “Piggyback?
She hesitated.
“Come on. I won’t drop you.”
Halfway down the stairs, Mandy knew she’d made a big mistake. The tingling of her nerves had nothing to do with the fear of being dropped. Her dreams and fears were colliding. She’d never denied she was attracted to Daniel Crawford, but so were half the women with Internet access.
Vintage movie posters decorated the large multipurpose room, which housed a ping-pong table, treadmill, and exercise bike. Instead of setting her down, he walked around the perimeter, stopping to study the posters. He paused and turned slowly around. “This room doesn’t have any windows.”
“The basement doesn’t have any. Candace thought about putting some in, but it was too expensive in the end.”
The next door was labeled “Tornado shelter.”
“Really?”
“It isn’t decorated. You know, most of the houses around here have basements. Candace made hers more official. She grew up farther south, where tornadoes are an annual occurrence.” Mandy wasn’t fond of the little room. Fortunately she’d only had to use it twice. “On to the laundry room.”
They entered the brightly painted blue-and-white room. Cupboards and counters lined one wall, and the other wall had a large washer and dryer, wash sink, and clothes hanger. The back wall was painted black and decorated with graffiti.
“The back wall is a chalkboard. Everyone who completes a tour must add something to the wall and sign it. There are chalk pens in the basket.”
Daniel set Mandy down on top of the counter and turned to face her, trapping her. Her heart sped up. If this were any other guy, she would be in full defensive mode. She pointed to the basket. “There are colored chalks too.”
He stepped back slowly, stretching some invisible band contacting them until it released her. He rummaged through the basket and selected a white and a blue marker.
She couldn’t see around him to see what he had drawn. “What did you write?”
He shook his head. “You’ll have to wait until you can walk to find out.” Ignoring her protests, he picked her up and carried her back upstairs.
It shouldn’t feel this good to be in his arms. It was exhilarating and relaxing all at once. Mandy tried to stifle a yawn—as well as her attraction to him.
“That is my cue to go. Thanks for the fun evening.” He set her down at the top of the stairs, holding her until she had her balance. Then he stepped away and handed her the crutches.
“Good night, Amanda.” He gave her arm a little squeeze and left.
She watched the reflection of the headlights as he maneuvered the truck out of the driveway. And another point for the friend zone. Nothing wrong with that. They had been friends. Why should that change now? The pain meds must be playing with her mind, filling it with impossibilities.