Page 29 of The Night the Lights Went Out
She sent Merilee a hopeful look. “But what about my foot? Dr. Blackford says I should stay off it.”
“I’ll carry you,” Michael answered before Merilee could say anything.
As if conjured, the sound of tires on gravel came through the front screen door as Daniel’s black Mercedes came to a stop next to Wade’s pickup truck. She met him at the front door, relieved to see he had her phone in one hand, and horrified to see he had Sugar’s tray full of cookies in the other.
She found herself flushing, remembering what Lily had said about Daniel thinking she was pretty, and hoping it had been a throwaway remark that he didn’t recall. “Daniel—so nice to see you again. But really, I could have picked these up myself. You didn’t need to go to all this trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” he said, grinning, looking very much like Brad Pitt in his sunglasses and oxford-cloth shirt rolled up at the sleeves. “I was headed back to Sweet Apple before Heather and the girls were ready, and when she realized we had your phone, she said I had to bring it to you as soon as I got back to Sweet Apple. Claire and her husband will be here in about an hour to return your car.” He looked sheepish for a moment. “You know, you really should have your phone password protected. It would have made it harder to find out who the phone belonged to, but anyone could have accessed all of your passwords and personal information.”
“Yeah, I know.” She looked at the tray, wondering how she was going to get it into the house without Sugar seeing, when she noticed that half of the cookies were missing. “I thought nobody ate them because I didn’t include nutritional information.”
He gave her a self-deprecating grin. “Well, nobody at the party ate them. But when Heather went for her run this morning, the girls and I enjoyed a few. For the record, we all agreed they were probably the best cookies we’d ever tasted—but don’t tell Heather. She thinks her flourless carob chip cookies are to die for. And they would be if you like eating paper.” He winked. “I thought I’d done a good enough job of hiding all the empty spaces on the tray.”
She laughed, then pocketed her phone while taking the tray. “Would you mind doing me a favor? I need to get this tray to the kitchen without Sugar seeing, so if you could go in and say hello and introduce yourself to the men and distract Sugar for a minute, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’m on it,” he said with mock seriousness. “And I’d like to take a look at Lily’s ankle, too, if that’s all right.”
“Perfect,” she said, giving him a thumbs-up before running back toward the kitchen. When she returned a few minutes later, after having placed the cookies into storage bags and washing and drying the tray, Lily was back on the sofa while Daniel examined her foot. Sugar had thankfully stopped glowering at Michael and had stood as if preparing to leave.
“If you’re ready to go, Sugar, I’ll drive you back,” Daniel said as he stood.
“Yes, thank you,” she said, causing Wade and Merilee to exchange a worried glance. Sugar held up her bare arm. “I forgot my Fitbit, so why torture myself?”
“I think you’re missing the point, Sugar,” Daniel began, then stopped, realizing how pointless it probably was to argue. Facing Merilee, he said, “Lily is doing nicely—no problem with her putting weight on it, and Friday cheerleading tryouts are fine. Just let me know if you notice any swelling or bruising, but I think it’s good. She can walk on it today, just no running or jumping, okay?”
Lily nodded, looking almost disappointed that her day of leisure on the couch was over.
Daniel offered his hand to Wade. “Good to see you again.”
They shook and Wade nodded.
“You two know each other?” Merilee asked.
“Sure do,” said Daniel. “We go way back to our single days right after we both moved to Atlanta. Lived in the same apartment building in Buckhead.”
“And Wade dated Heather for a bit, too, didn’t he?” Sugar said, projecting her voice so everybody would be sure to hear.
Wade gave them a tight smile. “Yes, a million years ago when we were just babies. And before she met Daniel, I might add.”
“Small world,” Merilee said, trying to picture the golden Heather with the pickup-truck-driving Wade and unable to.
Sugar’s lips pressed together in disapproval. “That’s when she still had brown hair and shopped at Penney’s. Don’t think she does that anymore, right, Daniel?”
Instead of answering, he tucked Sugar’s hand into the crook of his arm. “Nice to meet you,” he said to Michael as he led a straight-backed Sugar out the door.
“Wait a minute,” Merilee said as she scooped up the tray she’d left on a side table and handed it to Daniel. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
“Not at all,” he said with a wink.
There was an odd glint in Sugar’s eyes. “When you return a serving piece, you’re supposed to return food along with it.”
Merilee thought of all the cookies in the storage bags sitting on the kitchen table, and the times she’d offered food to Sugar and each time been refused. “Thanks for letting me know,” she said with a forced smile.
“I’ve got all that I need,” Wade announced, following them outside. “I’ll call you sometime this week to set up a time to come install everything.” He said his good-byes, then climbed into his truck, leaving Merilee alone with Michael, the children having been told to go get their shoes.
They stared at each other for a long moment, strangers but not. She noticed for the first time the dark circles under his eyes, his slightly rumpled pants and shirt. “You have the iron,” she said. “But if you take your clothes to the dry cleaner, ask for light starch. You like it that way.”
“Thanks,” he said. “So, how are you?”
