The Rocky Road to Romance

Chapter 6

After work Steve stepped out of the elevator into the parking garage and took a fast survey of the crowd. Most were people en route to their cars, stopping to gawk for a moment at the police cruisers and the blonde. There didn’t seem to be any unsavory characters around, except for Elsie. She had her big black purse pressed to her chest, obviously ready to pull out her gun at the least provocation.

Daisy was with two policemen. They were a study in stoic concentration in their crisp blue uniforms, perfectly creased, not yet marred by underarm sweat stains. They clearly hadn’t been talking to Daisy for very long, Steve thought. She was waving her hands and rolling her eyes, her blond curls bobbing about in agitation.

He made his way over to the knot of policemen and security guards. “What’s the problem?” he asked.

“You won’t believe what happened!” Daisy said. “Someone’s stolen my car.”

“You’re right. That’s hard to believe,” Steve said. “Why would anyone want to steal your car? You sure it didn’t just roll away? Have you looked at the rest of the parking garage?”

“It’s gone,” she said. “It’s been stolen.”

“Must have been one of them mercy stealings,” Elsie said. “That car was pitiful.”

Daisy flapped her arms some more. “How am I ever going to manage without my car? How am I going to get to work? How am I going to go grocery shopping?”

Steve tried to look sympathetic, but he was having a hard time keeping the grin off his face. He hated that car. “I wouldn’t worry about it. It only gets a couple miles to a quart of oil. I’m sure it’ll turn up before long. All we have to do is listen for a traffic jam.”

“I know it wasn’t such a great car,” Daisy said. “But it was all I had. I can’t afford to buy a new one.”

“I have an extra car,” Steve told her. “I’ll loan you mine until yours is found.”

“That’s very nice of you, but I couldn’t possibly accept.”

“Yes you can. I can’t drive two cars at once. I don’t even want two cars.” He turned to the policeman. “Is there anything else?”

The officer shook his head. “I have all the information I need. If she comes to the station tomorrow, she can pick up a copy of the report for insurance purposes.”

“Well, I’m going home,” Elsie said, heading for her Cadillac. “I got a date tonight. I told Clarence Funk I’d go to bingo with him.”

Steve took Daisy by the hand and led her to his SUV. “We should go home, too. If the police find your car, they’ll call you.”

She was quiet on the ride home. She stared straight ahead, lost in thought. Every now and then her lower lip quivered ever so slightly, and she’d clamp down hard on it with her front teeth.

Steve reached over and covered her hand with his. “It’s only a car,” he said gently. “You’ll get another one.”

“It’s not the car so much,” she said. “It’s being a victim of a crime. I’ve never thought about it before… never experienced it. It makes you feel very vulnerable.”

“Maybe it was a mistake,” Steve said. “You know it was a little disreputable-looking. Maybe it accidentally got towed away.”

She brightened at that. “And when the garage discovers its mistake they’ll bring my car back!”

He slowly drove down his street and parked in front of his house. The black car was parked in the driveway. “In the meantime, you’re going to drive my car. It’s worthless to me. Bob doesn’t fit in it, and it takes up space in my driveway.”

“Why don’t you put one of your cars in your garage?”

He looked at her blank-faced for a minute while his mind raced for an answer. “It’s locked, and I can’t find the key,” he finally said. “I can’t get the door unlocked.”

“And why are the garage-door windows painted black?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never noticed. Weren’t they always black?” He ran around the car and opened the door for her. “Anyway, it’ll be easier for me with only one car.” He took keys off his key ring and handed them to her. “You drive, and I’ll ride along with you to pick up Bob. I left him with Kevin this morning.”

She reluctantly climbed into the car and put the key into the ignition. “I don’t know about this,” she said, peeking over the black leather steering wheel. “It feels a little racy for me.” That was an understatement. It was like being in the cockpit of the Batmobile. She felt like she should be wearing a garter belt and black leather boots that came up past her knee and had high spike heels.

“It drives like any other car,” Steve told her. “Just go slow at first until you get the feel of it.”

She put it into reverse and peeled out of the driveway, laying an eighth of an inch of rubber on the asphalt.

Steve made a sound that went something like “Ark” when the seat belt caught, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

The car came to a standstill in the middle of the road. Daisy licked dry lips and put her hand on the gearshift knob. She slanted a look at Steve and smiled. “I think I’m going to like this,” she said, putting the car into first.

Kevin and Bob were waiting on the front steps when Daisy drove up. “We’re out of food,” Kevin told Daisy. “Bob ate everything.”

Half an hour later Daisy and Steve wheeled several carts full of groceries out of the supermarket. When they reached the car Daisy found a pair of men’s navy briefs hanging on her antenna.

She gingerly picked them off, holding them between thumb and forefinger. “I’m glad I wasn’t here when he took them off,” she said, dropping the briefs onto the pavement.

“It’s the car,” Steve said. “It draws underwear. You’ll get used to it after a while.”

They stored the bags away, Daisy got behind the wheel and backed over the briefs. She looked at the flattened navy material and smiled. “Roadkill,” she said, driving over it one more time as she left the parking lot.

Supper consisted of canned soup and grilled cheese sandwiches-lots of them.

“The trick to making grilled cheese is tons of grease,” Daisy said. “You need to fry all of the bread surfaces, and then you need this disgusting yellow cheese that has lots of salt in it. That way you can clog up your arteries and give yourself high blood pressure all at the same time.”

She was frying the seventh sandwich when the phone rang. She cradled the mouthpiece on her shoulder while she flipped slices of bread. “This is who?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed and her lips compressed flat together. “Uhhuh,” she said into the phone. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.” Her eyes got small and glittery, and she wrinkled her nose, causing little squint lines to appear between her brows. “Now let me tell you something, you disgusting insect-” she shouted. She blinked at the click when the caller disconnected. “Creep! Unh,” she grunted, slamming the phone back into the wall hanger.

Steve raised his eyebrows. “What was that all about?”

“Crank call,” she said, turning back to the sandwiches.

“What did he say?”

She slid the grilled cheese onto Bob’s dish and put a frozen apple pie into the oven. “He said the Roach didn’t like smart-ass reporters interfering with his business, and he was going to do some unpleasant things to my anatomy. Actually, that’s paraphrased. He was more specific, but it’s not worth repeating.”

“You need to call the police and tell them you were threatened.”

“I’ll do it tomorrow when I get the stolen-car report. I don’t have time tonight. I have to be at a lecture at eight.”

Steve pushed his plate away. “I’ll go with you.”

“To tell you the truth, I’d rather you stay with Kevin. I don’t feel comfortable about leaving him home alone tonight.”

Between a rock and a hard spot, Steve thought. He didn’t want to leave either of them alone. “Kevin can go with us.”

“A lecture?” Kevin said. “Give me a break. It’ll be about old people. They’re always about old people.”

“I’ll let you drive my car to the end of the parking lot,” Steve said.

Kevin was on his feet. “A lecture wouldn’t be so bad,” he decided. “Maybe they’ll show a cartoon.”

Steve wanted to increase Daisy’s protection. He wanted twenty-four-hour guard service. He’d requested it earlier from the police, but they claimed they didn’t have the manpower. The line of his mouth slanted down at the thought of his alternative-Elsie Hawkins. Elsie Hawkins didn’t instill a lot of confidence in Steve, but Daisy wasn’t willing to accept anyone else. Not only didn’t he think Elsie could protect Daisy, he was terrified that she’d shoot Daisy by mistake. The only positive point was that Elsie seemed to genuinely care for Daisy. And at least Elsie was a cantankerous diversion to a would-be assailant. She was another set of eyes and ears, another person capable of making an emergency phone call. He supposed she was better than nothing at all.

“I’ll be ready in a minute,” Steve said. “I have to make a phone call. I’m going to see if Elsie is willing to work extra hours.”

It was ten o’clock when Steve brought Daisy and Kevin home. He pulled into the lot and parked next to Elsie’s Cadillac. Kevin tumbled out of the sports car, and Daisy eased herself over the gearshift.

“Holy cow,” Kevin said, “look at this dinosaur!” He ran his hand over the powder blue fender. “It’s not even fiberglass. It’s real metal! I bet it gets two miles to a gallon. It’s a wonder the parking lot isn’t caving in under the strain.”

Elsie had been sitting in the shadows on Daisy’s front porch. She lurched to her feet and marched over to her car. “This here’s a real car,” she said. “They don’t make cars like this anymore.” She thumped on the fender. “This car’s got substance. This car’s got quality.”

“Yeah, but this car’s got cool,” Kevin said, patting Steve’s low-slung black sports car.

Elsie looked at Steve’s car and worked her dentures around in her mouth a little. “It’s a beauty, all right. I guess I wouldn’t mind having a car like that. I’d look hot driving around town in one of them things.”

“This is Elsie Hawkins,” Steve said to Kevin. “She’s your sister’s bodyguard. She’s going to be staying here until things calm down.”

“Very suave,” Kevin said. He looked at the Cadillac and grinned. “Are they gonna drive around in the armored car?”

“I’ve chased down kidnappers, dope dealers, and flashers in this baby,” Elsie said. “I’ll take my Caddy any day in a high-speed chase. You ever hear of Carolyn Towne? She plays the violin with that fancy orchestra in Washington. She was kidnapped by a dope dealer, and I rescued her in this here car. I wasn’t even a certified guard back then.” Elsie’s eyes narrowed on Kevin. “I was just a mean old lady.”

“You still look pretty mean,” Kevin said to her, grinning.

Elsie adjusted her pocketbook on her arm. “I try to keep up appearances. I got a reputation, you know.”

They went inside, and Daisy showed Elsie to the guest room. Bob was asleep on the bed.

“This is Bob,” Daisy explained. “He belongs to Steve.”

“Do I gotta share a room with Bob?” Elsie asked. “I don’t mind, so long as he don’t hog my side of the bed. I’m an old lady. I need my rest.”

Daisy jumped when the phone rang.

“I’ve got it,” Steve called from the kitchen. “Let me answer.”

Everyone was silent when he said hello twice. Daisy and Elsie waited at the top of the stairs.

“Nobody on the line,” Steve said. “They hung up when they heard my voice.”

“Don’t worry,” Elsie told him. “From now on I answer the phone. I’ll take care of this. And I’d just like to see someone try to break into the house,” she said, patting her pocketbook.

Steve walked Bob home and put him to bed. He changed into a pair of jeans and a navy shirt. He took a blanket, a pillow, a thermos of coffee, and a package of Oreos out to the SUV. He locked his house and drove to Daisy’s subdivision. As a reporter, he’d acquired a certain amount of street smarts over the years, and experience told him Daisy probably wasn’t in a lot of danger. The Roach had threatened to get even, but there were lots of ways of getting even. Steve thought harassment would be high on the list. If someone were serious about hurting Daisy, they wouldn’t have called to tell her about it. That was providing the guy with the spray paint and bad phone manners was a card-carrying, professional dope pusher. If the man was a druggie with a few cans missing from his case, the prognosis wasn’t nearly so positive. No sense taking chances, Steve thought. Until he had a better handle on the situation, he was sticking close to Daisy. He parked across the street from her house. He rolled his window down, adjusted the pillow for comfort, and poured himself a cup of coffee.

At two-fifteen his head snapped off the back of the seat. The crack of a gunshot had broken the stillness of the night. Another shot rang out, and Steve was on his feet, running to Daisy’s house. He pulled at the front door, but it was locked. The windows were dark. He heard shouting behind the locked door. He heard the muffled thud of feet pounding downstairs. A light blinked on in the foyer, the living room, and upstairs behind bedroom curtains. He hammered at the door. “It’s Steve. Let me in.”

Elsie opened the door with her gun in her hand. “What are you doing here?”

He pushed past Elsie and almost collapsed with relief when he saw Daisy. “You aren’t shot?” he asked, not so subtly examining her for bullet holes.

Daisy rolled her eyes.

“Some yahoo broke into the house,” Elsie said. “I got up to go to the john and thought I heard a funny noise coming from downstairs. So I got my purse and went down to investigate. Danged if I didn’t catch some slimeball creeping through the kitchen. I said, ‘Stop or I’ll blast you from here to kingdom come.’ It was real dark, and I couldn’t get a good look at him, but it didn’t take much sight to know he wasn’t stopping.”

“There isn’t anyone bleeding to death on the kitchen floor, is there?” Steve asked.

“No,” Elsie said. “He was moving fast once he saw me take out my gun. He was heading for the back door, and I had to aim real low so as to get him in the leg. Police get testy when you shoot a man too high in the back.”

“Did you get him in the leg?”

“No. I’m not so good at legs.”

Steve went into the kitchen. There was a large hole in the back door and another one in the wastebasket beside the door.

Kevin was at the kitchen table, eating a piece of leftover pie. “She’s death to wastebaskets,” he said. “Got it right in the kneecap.”

“How’d he get in?”

Kevin pointed to the patio door in the dining room. “Carved out a chunk of glass with a glazier’s knife and unlocked the door.”

Steve started to dial the police. He punched in two numbers and stopped. Elsie didn’t have a license for her gun. If Elsie were in trouble with the police, he wouldn’t have anyone to ride with Daisy. He ran his hand through his hair and swore under his breath. “Everyone pack up. You’re all coming to my house, and you’re going to stay there until we find out what’s going on with this guy. Take clothes for overnight. We can do a more thorough move tomorrow.”

“That’s fine with me,” Kevin said. “I’m no hero. I’m not excited about staying here to get blown away while I sleep. I’m only fourteen. I have a long life ahead of me. I got an A in sex ed last year. It would be terrible to waste all that knowledge.”

Elsie shrugged. “Don’t make any difference to me. I haven’t hardly unpacked yet.”

Daisy leaned against the doorjamb. She’d never been so scared in her life. Her heart was still racing, and her stomach was nauseous. She’d felt vulnerable and victimized when her car had been stolen, but that was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. She shivered when she thought what might have happened if it hadn’t been for Elsie and her gun. She’d been lucky, she realized. She hadn’t taken any of this seriously. She’d hired Elsie, not because she thought Elsie would make a good guard but because she wanted to give a chance to the elderly.

Now she didn’t know what to do. A one-way ticket to Texas sounded appealing. She realized she’d been thinking along those lines a lot lately and pushed the thought aside. Running away never solved anything, she told herself. She didn’t like being bullied out of her house, and she didn’t like giving in to her fear. Unfortunately, she had Kevin and Elsie to consider. It would be wrong to endanger them just to satisfy her belligerent pursuit of independence.

“I suppose it would be a good idea to hide out for a while,” she said to Steve. “It’s nice of you to offer us the use of your house.”

Daisy was sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying a second cup of coffee, when Steve ambled in. She opened her mouth to tease him about sleeping late on a glorious Saturday, but her thoughts scattered at the sight of him. His hair was silky clean, fresh from a shower. His movements were efficient, but his eyes were soft and drowsy, as if the shower hadn’t quite awakened him.

He wore a gray T-shirt with the sleeves cut out and a pair of shorts that had been washed to butter softness. She’d never been a sucker for muscle, but Steve Crow in a sleeveless shirt made her eyes glaze over. He wasn’t big and full of bulges like a wrestler; Steve was lean and hard and dangerous-looking. Her thoughts flew back to the night of the barbecue when they’d made love on his living room floor, and she remembered in breathtaking clarity just how lean and hard and yummy he could be.

She’d spent a lot of time lying awake thinking last night and had reached the conclusion that she would be much better off if she could maintain a platonic relationship with Steve. It wasn’t exactly a new concept, but it seemed to be a decision that required constant rethinking and reinforcement.

Now they were alone in the kitchen, and she was having a difficult time remembering why a platonic relationship had seemed so important. It would be easier if Elsie or Kevin were here, she told herself. There wouldn’t be such a strong feeling of morning intimacy; there would be diversions. As it was, she found her attention focused on Steve, and she found herself trying desperately not to look like a starving woman suddenly confronted with a five-course meal.

Steve poured himself a cup of coffee, leaned against a kitchen counter, and openly studied Daisy. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were wide. She had that “kid in a candy shop” expression on her face again, he thought. She was looking at him like he was lunch-and he loved it. He wanted to be the bill of fare for the next fifty years.

“Where did Elsie and Kevin disappear to?” he asked.

“They went back to the town house to get essentials. You know, clothes, toiletries, the kitchen sink.” Her eyes narrowed a little as she looked at him. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

“Anything.”

“What were you doing at my house at two in the morning?”

“I was worried about you, and didn’t entirely trust Elsie to be able to handle a disaster. So I camped out in the SUV.”

“You were willing to sleep in your car all night just to protect me?”

“Mmmm.” He sipped his coffee. “I have plans.”

“Oh, boy.”

“Oh, boy? Is that a negative reaction?”

“I don’t know if I can handle any more plans right now. I’m about all planned out.”

“Some of my plans don’t require much planning. For instance, I plan to take you to a garden party this afternoon.”

“You mean a barbecue?”

“No. This is definitely a garden party. There’ll be inedible little sandwiches without crusts, white wine with fruit floating in it, and tasteless cookies for dessert.”

“Gee, I can hardly wait.”

He took a frozen waffle from the freezer and slid it into the toaster. “You haven’t even heard the best part. My Aunt Zena will be there.”

Daisy leaned forward in her seat. “You mean there’s really an Aunt Zena?”

“You bet. Aunt Zena comes from the Crow side of the family. Her father was Crow, but her mother was Hungarian. Her third husband was elected to Congress sort of late in life. He died six months after taking office. Aunt Zena decided she liked Washington, so she stayed here. Now she’s heavily into fundraising.”

“Is this party a fund-raiser?”

He took his waffle from the toaster and ate it like a cookie. “Yup.Some junior congressman from Oklahoma. I get invited to all of Aunt Zena’s fund-raisers. She’s decided I need to get married. Not only do I have to contribute to all of her causes, but I have to show up and run the gauntlet of eligible women she’s drummed up for me.”

He sat across from Daisy, slouching back in his chair with his coffee cup resting on his stomach. “This is the part where you are supposed to show some jealousy as you contemplate all those eligible women.”

Daisy smiled at him. “Won’t Aunt Zena be disappointed if you show up with me in tow? What about the sacrificial lambs she’s recruited for this bash?”

“Hell, she’ll be ecstatic. I’ll tell her I’m madly in love with you, that we’ve already made whoopee on the floor and our bodies fit together like a dream, and that you’ve moved into my house. Aunt Zena will be relieved. I think she’s running out of marriage applicants.”

“You wouldn’t dare tell her that!”

“I might.”

She tipped her nose up a little. “Well, then I’m not going with you.”

“Okay, then how about if we tell her we’re engaged?”

“No.”

“You’re not very cooperative,” he said. “This is my big chance to get Aunt Zena off my back.”

“You can tell her we’re friends.”

“Honey, I’m friends with eighty percent of all the unmarried women in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.”

“That’s a lot of women.”

“I’ve been to a lot of fund-raisers.”

“Well, it’s friends or nothing.”

He reached forward, took her face in his hands and kissed her. It started out as a playful type of kiss with his eyes open and smiling, but all that changed when their mouths met. He dragged her onto the table, mindless of the coffee cups crashing to the floor, and in an instant his hands were under her shirt.

She gasped in protest, but his mouth covered hers, and objection quickly turned to obsession as desire bit into her.

He came fast and hard, trembling under the intensity of his own passion, wondering at the pinnacle if he would live through it, wondering if a man could survive loving a woman like this.

Still on the kitchen table, they slowly became aware of their surroundings. Coffee and cereal had been flung from one end of the kitchen to the other, dishes lay broken on the floor, chairs had been overturned.

There was the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, and Daisy and Steve looked into each other’s eyes and saw panic.

“Elsie and Kevin,” Daisy whispered.

They scrambled to their feet and adjusted their clothes. They both glanced furtively at the only escape route which would lead to a shower and knew they’d never make it. Elsie was already in the foyer.

“Just act like nothing happened,” Steve said. “We can pull this off.”

Daisy clapped a hand to her mouth to stop a hysterical giggle. He had smashed Froot Loops on his knees and his shirt was torn.

Elsie stopped in her tracks at the kitchen door, and Kevin looked over her shoulder. “Whoa,” he said, “who trashed the kitchen?”

“Bob,” Steve told him. “Bob did it.”