Dinner First, Me Later? Page 8

  Anger kept her from feeling anything.

  Just like when Carla was killed. She’d never shed a tear. She hated to say it, but her mother dying had almost been a relief. She could deal with a dead mother not being there for her. But having a mother who was alive and who never looked in her direction hurt way more than she’d ever admit.

  But she didn’t want to think about her mother.

  She also didn’t want to think about her father, but thanks to some idiot judge she didn’t have a choice. Dani shook her head and sighed. Jake Sims. Her washed-up baseball player of a father who walked around on TV in his underwear. A man so clueless he’d suggested taking her on a Disney cruise after Carla’s funeral to get her away from the media.

  A Disney cruise!

  At her age!

  She’d refused to go, and not only because Natta wouldn’t have allowed Jake to take her on any kind of cruise. She’d preferred instead to hide from the media at the home of her best friend, Hayley Watson. And why wouldn’t she? It was a better choice than being stuck on a boat with a father she’d only seen twenty-six times in her whole life.

  He’d always flown out to LA twice a year: on her birthday in May, and at Christmas. Big whoop! She’d hated those visits. Hated that she’d been forced to meet him at some stupid restaurant. Hated that they’d never known exactly what to say to each other. Hated that she’d had to sit across the table from him while her grandmother’s chauffeur, Raoul, stood nearby supervising the visit.

  If Jake had really wanted to get to know her, why hadn’t he demanded more time with her? Offered to have her flown out to Chicago before now? Maybe even offered to let her spend the summer with him when she was out of school? She had plenty of friends whose parents were divorced, and they spent the summer with their fathers all the time.

  She’d hated Jake’s Sunday phone calls almost as much as she’d hated his visits, the reason she usually had the maid tell him she was out. Except for last Sunday when she’d begged him to let her stay in LA. He’d had the nerve to say they both deserved a chance to get to know each other better.

  Well, she had a news flash for Jake.

  No one liked to be forced into getting to know someone better!

  Dani let out another deep sigh. Ding. Ding. Ding, she thought. Step right up, Dani Sims. Your screwed-up life wins first prize!

  But a ding of a different nature brought Dani’s attention back to her cell phone again. She smiled when she saw it was a text message from Hayley. Hayley had slept over the night before, and had also ridden in her grandmother’s limo with her to the airport to see her off.

  Natta didn’t do airports.

  When Natta flew, she used the company’s private jet that was kept in a private hangar away from what Natta referred to as “middle-class morons.” Natta also didn’t like to be disturbed before noon on weekends after her hectic week at the modeling agency. That meant a 10:00 A.M. departure from LA to Chicago on Saturday simply wasn’t an option—not even if her only granddaughter happened to be leaving on the plane.

  But she and Natta had said their temporary good-bye (as Natta had called it) the night before at dinner—a rare treat since Dani usually ate her meals alone. Unless whatever maid they had at the moment took pity on her and sat in Natta’s huge formal dining room with her while she ate, where Natta insisted people of their caliber were supposed to eat every meal. Natta never kept any maid more than two weeks—no maid so far had ever been able to please her.

  Dani looked down at the message again.

  Hayley had texted: Miss U already.

  Dani texted back: This sux.

  Hayley’s response: Think positive thoughts.

  Dani: I’m positive this sux.

  Hayley: LOL!

  Dani texted back and forth with her best friend until the pilot announced over the intercom that flight 716 from LA was less than an hour away from landing in Chicago. She quickly typed in: Got 2 Go! and dropped her cell phone into her oversized purse. But before she left her seat, she leaned forward and peeked inside the pet carrier stored carefully beneath her seat.

  “You be good. I’ll be right back,” Dani said, and headed for the first-class bathroom with her purse strap slung over her shoulder.

  Fifteen minutes later when she walked out of the bathroom, the surprised look on the flight attendant’s face told Dani her trip to the bathroom had been a huge success. And by the time she made it back to her seat, a satisfied smile had settled on her expertly outlined jet-black lips.

  Jake didn’t know it, but Daddy’s little girl was about to give Daddy the shock of a lifetime!

  Jake paced back and forth in the terminal like a caged lion, longing for the good old days when a person could be standing right beside the terminal gate waiting for their loved one to deboard the plane. He was also beginning to second-guess his decision to follow his attorney’s advice to turn Ranatta down when she’d insisted she would be sending Danielle to Chicago in her private company jet.

  His attorney kept insisting that Jake needed to remind Ranatta immediately that he was the father. That he would be making the decisions where Danielle was concerned. And that he was perfectly capable of making those decisions without any input from her.

  Since he’d already backed down from Ranatta in the past, Jake had taken that advice.

  Carla was out of the picture now, his attorney kept reminding him. Now it was time, his attorney insisted, to let Ranatta know her calling-the-shots days were over where Danielle was concerned. His attorney also insisted that Jake hold Ranatta to the Sunday-only phone call, the way Ranatta had done with him for the last thirteen years. In his attorney’s way of thinking, if Ranatta got a taste of her own medicine, maybe she wouldn’t be as harsh in the future if Danielle did end up back in LA with her.

  Except his attorney didn’t know Ranatta Harper the way Jake did. Jake knew Ranatta played by her own set of rules, regardless of whom it hurt. He wouldn’t even put it past her to encourage Danielle to pretend to be lost when she arrived at O’Hare—just to prove a point. And for that reason, Jake had given strict instructions for the flight attendant to personally hand Danielle over to an airport security guard who would then escort Danielle directly to him.

  Jake checked his watch again, getting a little nervous.

  According to the airport monitor, Danielle’s plane had arrived on time. If things were going according to schedule, she should be coming into the terminal with the security guard any minute now. Jake was still searching the crowd so intently, he didn’t notice when an airport security cart rolled to a stop beside him.

  “Mr. Sims?”

  Jake turned his head, but it took a second to realize he was staring at Danielle. She was seated in the cart next to the airport security guard. His first thought was, What in the hell happened to my beautiful little girl? He’d just seen her in May for her birthday, and though Danielle had been angry with him over the custody suit, nothing could have prepared Jake for a shock like this one.

  She was dressed all in black—black shirt, black jeans, even black sandals. Her dark hair had a wide purple streak down the middle and hot-pink streaks framing her face. Her eyes and her mouth looked as if she’d outlined them with black Magic Marker. But it was the shiny silver ring in her nose that worried Jake most.

  If there was ever a cry for help, he was looking at it.

  And it filled Jake’s heart with an incredible sadness wondering if the tragedy of Carla’s misspent life would hang over both of them for the rest of their lives.

  By the time Danielle got out of the cart, Jake had managed to pull himself back together. She sent him a bored look, but she didn’t say a word. Jake forced a smile and said, “Welcome to . . .”

  “Hell?” Danielle finished for him.

  “Chicago,” Jake said. “You’ve obviously already made a stop in hell.”

  “It’s the new punk-Goth look,” she snipped. “Get used to it.” She tossed her long, streaked hair defiantly over one sh
oulder and mumbled loud enough for Jake and the security guard to hear, “If I have to live in hell, I might as well look the part.”

  Jake looked over at the security guard and shrugged. “Teenagers,” he joked, and pressed a sizable bill into the man’s hand.

  He got his next big surprise when the guard reached behind his seat and handed Jake a pet carrier. When the cart sped away, Jake brought the carrier up to eye level and leaned his head forward to peek inside. He jerked his head back when a twitching nose poked through a hole in the cage grill.

  “A rat!” Jake exclaimed.

  Danielle wrestled the pet carrier away from him and placed it on the floor. “He is not a rat!” she said indignantly. “He’s a purebred Chinese crested hairless with a pedigree that I’m sure is far superior to yours.”

  She unfastened the latch and brought out the funniest-looking excuse for a dog Jake had ever seen. It wasn’t much larger than a rat. It was brown like a rat. And it was hairless like a rat—except for the tufts of blond hair on its ears and on the tip of its tail.

  Danielle cradled the dog in the crook of her arm, stood up, and thrust the carrier back at Jake. Was it his imagination? Or did the dog have the same surly expression on its pointed little face?

  “Is it housebroken?” was Jake’s first question.

  The ring in her nose jiggled slightly when Danielle gave him a smug what-do-you-think? smile. “We’re still working on that,” she said.

  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Jake answered. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and handed it to Danielle. “Call your grandmother and let her know you arrived safely,” he said. “Then we’ll go get your luggage.”

  Dani took her own sweet time walking across the airport parking lot. She knew she was trying Jake’s patience, but she didn’t care. He stopped again a few paces ahead of her, waiting for her to catch up. When she did catch up, he started off again.

  Dani froze when he stopped behind a minivan.

  She said a silent prayer he was only getting a better grip on her luggage. Her mouth dropped open when he aimed his keyless remote and the back of the minivan popped open.

  “You expect me to ride around in that?” Dani wailed, stomping in his direction.

  He looked over his shoulder at her. “I realize the van is a far cry from your grandmother’s limo, but when public school starts at the end of the summer we’ll need it. The van has plenty of room for the days when we car pool.”

  “Carpool!” Dani shrieked. “And what do you mean public school? I go to private school in LA!”

  He lifted one of her bags into the van and looked at her again. “You’re not in LA now,” he said, “You can ride the school bus. Or we can car pool to your new public school. Your choice.”

  Dani stomped past him. She jerked the side door of the van open, climbed inside, and flopped down on the bench seat. The dog grunted slightly when she plopped him down onto her lap.

  “I assumed you would ride up front with me,” he called out from the back of the van.

  “And I assumed you’d want me to start practicing for our car pool days,” Dani shot back.

  He didn’t argue. He closed the back and walked to the driver’s side of the van. Minutes later, they were speeding along the Interstate straight to hell.

  He kept looking at her in the rearview mirror, but Dani pretended not to notice. She kept her eyes fixed on the window next to her seat, her right hand stroking the dog in her lap.

  After ten more minutes, dear old dad finally broke the silence. “I know this is going to be a big adjustment for you, Danielle,” he said. “But all I’m asking for is a fair chance. It’s time we got to know each other the way a father and a daughter should know each other.”

  Dani refused to answer.

  He said, “Woodberry Park is a nice subdivision, and I think it will be a great place for us to live. We have great neighbors, too. I thought you might like to meet them, so I’ve accepted an invitation from Tish and Joe Jones tonight for a welcome to the neighborhood cookout they’re having in your honor.”

  “A thought crossed your mind?” Dani snipped. “That must have been a long and lonely journey.”

  He had the nerve to laugh.

  “I’m on to you, Danielle,” he said.

  Dani’s eyes met his in the mirror for the first time.

  He said, “You can walk around looking like a freak. And you can insult me all you want. But it isn’t going to work. You’re stuck with me. At least for the next six months.”

  Dani looked away, and stared out the window again. He was trying to fool her, just as Natta had warned her he would try to do. Acting as if he really wanted them to have some big father-daughter relationship.

  Yeah, right.

  Like that was going to happen.

  It was just like Natta had told her.

  She’d never been that important to Jake.

  And Jake wasn’t going to be important to her now!

  She was going to stick to the plan. She was going to make his life as miserable as possible, and as fast as possible. And maybe then she’d never have to worry about getting to know him better or public school and carpool days.

  Today was only the first day of June, Dani reminded herself, quickly doing the math in her head. That meant she had ninety-two days before summer was officially over and school would start. Ninety-two days should give her plenty of time to be a big enough brat that Jake would send her back to LA where she belonged.

  Dani smiled inwardly, already knowing the title for the essay her English teacher in her private school back in LA would make her write on how she spent her summer vacation: “How I Made Life a Living Hell for My Father Whom I Barely Even Know.”

  Jake spoke up again and said, “I duplicated everything you had on the list you sent my attorney. You’ll have everything in your bedroom at Woodberry Park that you have in LA. And you don’t have to worry that I did the decorating for your bedroom. I hired a decorator who assured me it was the type of bedroom any teenage girl would want.”

  Dani definitely didn’t answer Jake this time.

  And okay, so she’d fudged on the list she’d sent to his attorney—like BIG TIME. The forty-two-inch flat-screen LCD TV she’d been wanting forever, for instance. And the laptop computer with high-speed wireless Internet connection. Not to mention, cable TV in her bedroom with both HBO and Showtime channels.

  Dani almost laughed.

  What a butt-munch, trying to win me over any way he can.

  Did Jake really think she had all that in her room in LA? Even Natta wasn’t that extravagant. At least, not when it came to her.

  She didn’t even have a TV in her room, because Natta was a firm believer in “beauty rest” and wouldn’t risk her staying up all night watching the “idiot box” as Natta called it. Natta also thought the Internet was the devil’s spawn, and refused to even talk about computers and high-speed connections. And her grandmother never would have given her free rein to watch HBO and Showtime.

  Where had Jake been living? Under a rock? Calling him an idiot would be an insult to stupid people. Didn’t he realize movies were rated for a reason? Did he think R-rated stood for routine? And X-rated stood for excellent? Wait until she told the social worker Jake allowed her to watch R-rated and X-rated movies!

  He spoke up again. “But you can forget the HBO and Showtime channels, Danielle,” he said. “That’s where I had to draw the line. Sometimes those channels can be a bit much even for me.”

  Okay, so maybe Jake wasn’t as stupid as she thought, Dani decided, sitting up a little straighter in her seat when she heard the turn signal click. And what was he up to now? This wasn’t any subdivision. It was a minimall. And they were pulling up in front of what? A supermarket?

  “And we’re stopping here because?” Dani asked.

  “We need to go grocery shopping,” he said, turning around in his seat to look at her. “You forgot to mention I needed to buy dog food. And you need to help me sho
p for the types of things you like to eat.”

  “I have dog food in my luggage,” Dani informed him curtly. “And why can’t I just give the maid or the housekeeper a list of what I like and let one of them do the shopping?”

  He said, “No maid. No housekeeper. In Woodberry Park it’s going to be . . .” He paused and looked down at the dog on her lap. When he looked back up at her he said, “In Woodberry Park it’s just going to be the three of us.”

  “Have you ever thought of suing your brain for nonsupport?” Dani asked in a huff. “If there isn’t any maid or housekeeper, who’s going to do all the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, and all that crap?”

  “We are,” he said, as if that made perfect sense.

  Dani laughed. “Then I’ll be going back to LA sooner than I thought,” she told him. “There are child labor laws in this country, you know. Wait until the social worker hears about this!”

  “I’ll take my chances,” he said.

  Dani wasn’t prepared when he reached out and patted the dog on the head. “Toto,” he said, “you need to explain to Dorothy that she isn’t in Kansas anymore.”

  “Very funny,” Dani said. “And his name isn’t Toto.”

  “What did you name him?”

  Dani frowned. “We’re still working on that, too,” she admitted, but what she didn’t tell Jake was that she’d only had the dog a few days. Natta hated animals even more than she hated middle-class morons. The dog—especially a frou-frou dog like this one—had been another one of Natta’s ideas she hoped would drive a jock like Jake straight up the wall.

  “I’m sure you’ll think of a name eventually,” Jake said as he opened his driver’s side door. When he slid the back door of the van open he pointed to her purse. “Your purse looks big enough to hold the dog,” he said. “If you put him into your purse, we can sneak him inside. It’s still too hot this afternoon to leave him in the van while we shop for groceries.”

  Dani did as she was told.

  But as she walked across the supermarket parking lot, she was beginning to wonder if Natta knew Jake as well as Natta thought she did. Jake didn’t seem to hate the dog at all. And her punk-Goth look sure didn’t seem to bother him.