Page 19 of Coming Undone
Whereas she’d made kick-ass ornaments and represented herself well at those dance recitals. But she wasn’t the only kid to disappoint her parents.
“Sounds like a high-pressure environment. Your mom is an author, right?” He leaned forward in his chair to listen, elbows on his knees. He wore khaki cargo shorts and a t-shirt over his sculpted chest.
Already, he’d grown the soul patch on his chin that she remembered from when they’d met five years ago. Bristly dark hair was shaved in a neat square under his lower lip while another area covered his chin.
“She’s a literary novelist with two critically acclaimed books to her name. My mom is an overachiever. She was class valedictorian in high school and has conducted the rest of her life as if she’s still competing for it. She needs to be the best in everything and I think it bums her out to have a daughter who… isn’t.”
“She’s blind,” Danny said matter-of-factly. “It’s unfortunate she can’t see how incredible you are.”
Leaving the wall of TV screens, Stephanie lowered herself to the leather chair beside him, smoothing out her blue and yellow print skirt so it didn’t wrinkle. Bright afternoon sun filtered through the round windows beside them, the sky clear and cloudless.
“Thank you.” She warmed inside at his assessment, still surprised at his easy acceptance of her sudden presence in his life and her unorthodox request of him. “I’ve grown used to her desperate pleas for me to turn my life to something more worthwhile than photographing pets. It was her idea that I write that book about my experiences, by the way. A book she became highly embarrassed about after critics slammed it.”
Stephanie may have recovered from her mom missing the dance recitals, but that slight still bothered her. Especially when her mother insisted on telling her all the ways that she needed to improve her job prospects, her social circle, her dating life. Why couldn’t her mother appreciate the things she did well instead of focusing on all the ways she thought Stephanie fell short? She’d been dodging calls from her mom ever since heading to meet the USS Brady, knowing her mother would want all the details. She’d have to call home when she touched down in Cape Cod though, as she didn’t want her mother to worry herself sick.
Danny took her hand between his and held it quietly until she looked his way.
“At least she admits she wasn’t cut out to be a mother,” he reminded her. “I hope you remember that when she’s knocking your work.”
“I do.” She smiled, liking Danny far too much. He was a whole lot more than the defiant, bohemian rocker she remembered. In fact, he wasn’t really much like she’d recalled at all, other than the intense attraction between them and their mutual need to put their mark on the world outside of familial expectations.
But then, they’d gotten to know each other better the last two days than they had in that sex-crazed five-day fling they’d had in New York five years ago. She now understood his inherent sense of honor, his fierce work ethic no matter how laid back he sometimes seemed, and the gentle soul underneath it all who still played guitar like nobody’s business. She’d sat beside him on the deck again the night before when he’d played for at least an hour and they’d both been completely lost in the music.
“What about your mom? I read a little bit about your family online, but there isn’t as much about her.” She was curious about the Murphys and wondering if she would fit into the group this week. “You’ve talked about how competitive your brothers are, but you haven’t said much about her. Is she as driven as the rest of you?”
What if his family didn’t like the idea of her seeking him out after all this time, especially after she’d accidentally ignored his attempts to contact her? Guilt pinched. She squeezed Danny’s hand tighter now as the plane wobbled on a patch of turbulence and new doubts set in.
“I wouldn’t call my mom driven.” Danny leaned over to fasten her seatbelt for her, reminding her that the luxurious leather chairs weren’t just for looks and that she and Danny were still suspended over the Atlantic for this trip. “She’s the real rock beneath dad’s ambition, the glue that holds the whole thing together. My father is a scrapper who came from a poor family, and he was sort of blown away when he met my mom as a teenager. They eloped when her parents didn’t approve of him. I’m pretty sure he’s been trying to impress her for the last thirty-some years by growing a global business out of nothing more than ingenuity and hard work.”
“Oh my God. That’s so romantic.” She hugged her arms around herself and turned to face him, tucking her legs beneath her so that her skirt fell over the edge of the chair. “I can’t imagine being so swept away by love that you just turn your back on everything else to pursue it.”
“No?” Danny frowned, his expression turning pensive. “I guess I never thought about how well that worked out for them. They didn’t hesitate. Didn’t wait around for the perfect opportunity.”
She thought he might explain what he was thinking, but he settled back in his chair and seemed lost in his own world until the pilot announced they should be past the turbulence in another few minutes.
Closing her eyes while she waited for the wobbling airplane to still, Stephanie hoped that this would be the only bumpy ride they took while Danny was home for the next three weeks. Their time together was too short to waste a single moment.
* * *
Danny forgot all about the turbulence, thinking about the way his dad had acted without delay to be with the woman he loved. For some reason, Danny had always assumed that times were simpler back then and that the path to eloping had been more clear-cut because it was the nineteen seventies. But that was the era of the sexual revolution. Women’s rights. Maybe it hadn’t been easy at all and Dad had pulled it off because Mom was just that damn important to him.
Weird to think about that now, as an adult, with different eyes than when he’d heard the story as a kid. The elopement had always just another scrap of Murphy family lore. Now? Danny admired the hell out of his dad for knowing what he wanted and going after it.
Danny had known Stephanie was special five years ago. So why had he been content to let her go with a wave and a grin after the incredible five days they’d spent together? Sure, he’d figured he’d call her when she came back home, but he’d let her slip through his fingers, leaving her vulnerable to…
Crap. The old guilt resurfaced with a vengeance. Especially considering how they’d left things five years ago.
…Stephanie lay beside him after they’d hit the high note for the fourth time that day. Or was it the fifth?
Depended on if you counted what they’d done in the shower near her condo’s pool. They’d been so close to finishing when they’d heard voices outside.
“I can’t believe I have to leave in two days.” She sighed as she pulled the female superhero sheets up to her chin.
Her furnishings were the eclectic mix of a graduate student. A glitzy, mirrored chest of drawers was covered in vintage cut crystal perfume bottles and framed prints of old movie posters were surrounded by ticket stubs from local shows. Of course, Stephanie was a dichotomy too. Sexy and sensual, but down to earth and completely unpretentious. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t left her place since he’d arrived three days ago.
He was ignoring all his calls and had missed a practice with the band. But who wouldn’t if they had a chance with her?
“I wish it was me who was going,” he admitted, sharing a wish he’d never told anyone else.