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Tues Night
Dave drove home stopping just short of his driveway. Silently he counted the cars. 'Mark, Journey, John.' Looking up at the light still on in Journey's room he shook his head before pulling up to the curb. Getting out he walked slowly up the walkway, wanting to savor the quiet.
The front door opened before he could get his keys out.
"Where have you been?" Mark asked standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.
Dave brushed past him without saying a word, but was stopped when Mark spoke again. "You know you missed curfew." He said unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.
"Are you having fun?" Dave asked narrowing his eyes.
"How was the date?" The other man asked, laughing out loud at the look on his friend's face.
"Do the words none of your business mean anything to you?" Dave asked in a false sweet voice.
"I'm just happy for you. This is the first date you've had since your divorce two years ago."
"I've had dates." Dave retorted.
"I'm not talking about going out with friends. I'm talking about relationship dating." Mark clarified.
"Who said this was going to be a relationship type of thing?" Dave asked warily.
Mark just looked at him.
"Okay, so Jayden's special and we do have a second date planned." Dave admitted grudgingly.
"So how was the kiss?" Mark teased.
"Do you have a reason for staying up or are you just a busy body by nature?" The embarrassed man growled.
"I have to admit that I'm having a lot of fun teasing you. But" He started when Dave took a step towards him. "I wanted to let you know about the meeting tomorrow."
"Meeting?" Dave asked thrown off track.
"Paul wants to get together and discuss Steph and what's been going on."
"You mean he's starting to be sensible about this deal?" Dave asked relieved.
"Sounds like it. He said we need to have a plan of attack."
"Sounds good. Now if you're through I need to get to bed." Dave said heading for the stairs. Stopping at the top he turned towards the door on the right. Not wanting to see something he didn't want to see he waited for an answer to his knock. Walking in he smiled at the sight of John lying asleep on the bed.
"So how was the date?" Journey asked looking up from her computer.
"It was good." Dave answered noncommittally. "How did the studying go?" He asked changing the subject.
"Better. John helped me get four more pages done."
"She needs more sources." John mumbled.
"Where am I going to get more? This is all the library had and we're not allowed to use websites."
John shrugged glancing blearily at the clock. "What time is it?" He asked.
"Almost one." She answered frowning at him.
"Shit" He exclaimed jumping up. "Ari, babysitter. I've got to go." He said, stopping to give his girlfriend a kiss before rushing form the room.
"John" Dave called after him. "Are you okay to drive?"
His only answer was a quick wave over the shoulder. Dave shook his head and turned back to Journey. "You better get to bed. You have an eight o'clock class."
Journey shrugged. "So did you kiss her?" She asked mischievously.
Dave shut the door on her laughter. He walked down the hall to his own room, bypassing the room Laney was staying in. Pausing he listened to the soft music she slept with. Smiling he walked further down the hall and into his bedroom. Once there he sat down to remove his shoes and socks, taking the time to flex his feet, sore after being confined in his stiff dress shoes.
Placing the offending shoes in his closet he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, absent-mindedly sliding the soft garment down his arms. Turning he tossed the garment in the laundry basket in the corner
Unbuttoning his pants he pulled them off revealing his black silk boxers. Wearing only his underwear he wandered into the bathroom where he followed his ritual of getting ready for bed. Walking back into the big closet he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers, removing the last barrier and tossing it after the shirt.
Naked he padded across the room, pausing as he came across the open window. Briefly he gazed up at the half full moon before settling down atop the deep brown coverlet covering his bed. Laying back he reflected on what had transpired earlier in the night.
Earlier.
Looking over he watched the moonlight play off the water. "Nights like these amaze me." He said to the girl walking beside him.
"It's beautiful." Jayden agreed. "I hate that it's going to turn cold this week."
Contently they walked further down the river.
"So how did you and Steph become friends?" He asked, breaking the silence.
"I grew up with her and Shane. I lived down the street from them and we all went to the same school." She answered smiling fondly at memories.
"My turn." she teased him, thinking back to the game they had played earlier. "If you couldn't be a wrestler what would you have been?"
"Wrestling wasn't my first choice in a career. I actually started out to be a teacher." He informed her almost bashfully.
"So what happened? She asked intrigued.
"Didn't have the money for college right away so I was working trying to save up. My roommate asked me to wrestle with him at a weekend show. I was always a big guy." He said flashing her a smile. "But it didn't stop with just that show. Pretty soon I was skipping work to travel with him. Lost my job. Teaching just got shuffled away."
"Do you regret it?" She asked quietly.
"Sometimes." He admitted. "But when you think about it I have an opportunity to teach everyday."
She looked at him admirably. "You know you're a pretty amazing guy."
"Not me." He laughed. "I just have a soft spot." He replied glancing over at her. He saw her shiver. "You're cold." He said shrugging out of his jacket. Placing it over her bare shoulders he smiled down at her. "That should keep you warm."
"But won't you get cold?" She protested.
"Me? I have too many muscles to get cold." He reassured her. Surprised to hear her giggle he turned to face her.
"You um do have a lot of muscles." She got out trying to compose herself. Ignoring his look she continued walking.
Grinning to himself he hurried to catch up.
"So I had a good time tonight." He started. She smiled up at him. "I did too."
"Does that mean you would think about going out with me again?"
"I don't have to think. What are you doing tomorrow night?" She asked shyly.
Later Dave walked Jayden into the hospital. "Are you sure I can't take you home?"
"My car's here. I should probably drive it home." She responded.
"See you later today?" He asked. She smiled softly. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers.
Wednesday morning
Dave yawned as he carried a pot of coffee to the kitchen table. Mark laughed in amusement as he slathered jelly on a biscuit.
"Did you not get enough sleep last night?" He asked.
Dave growled as Paul looked over from where he was frying bacon. "What happened last night?"
"Dave's big date." Mark supplied grinning.
Unhappy Paul looked over at Dave. "She's a shrew."
The other man narrowed his eyes. "You're mad because she's constantly on your ass about how you treat Steph."
"I'm trying to protect my wife." Paul protested.
Dave held up his hands. "I know that but Jayden doesn't. She just sees you not around when Steph needs you."
"Well then lets find this SOB so I can be there." He said angrily, slapping the plate of bacon on the table.
Mark waited until the other man had turned off the stove and sat down at the table before continuing. "So when did everything start." He asked.
Paul frowned in concentration. "I've been thinking about that. When Steph first found out she was pregnant we got a couple of anonymous cards, simple stuff saying congrats and best wishes type stuff."
"Was this right after she found out?" Mark asked making a list on a piece of paper.
"Yea, that same week."
"Who knew she was pregnant that week? You didn't' tell us for almost a month." Dave asked salting his eggs.
"We wanted to share the secret between us a while. We didn't even tell our parents until later in the week. After the first note came." Paul answered, pausing as he realized that fact.
"Okay first assignment. List everyone who might have known prior to the first note. Everyone." Dave stressed handing a piece of paper to Paul.
"Okay, what happened next?" Mark asked continuing his list.
Paul swallowed his coffee before answering. "For the next four months there were flowers, a card hoping everything's going well." He supplied.
"Anything that stands out?" Dave asked.
"When she was sixteen weeks we found out the sex of the baby. We received a stuffed animal that same day that read congrats it's a boy." Paul shrugged. "The stuff came about once a month. We didn't think anything about them."
"Okay," Mark said handing the distressed man a new list. "Next assignment is to write down everything Steph did on the days she received an anonymous gift."
"When did things start getting ugly?" Dave asked.
"The first time Steph found out her blood pressure was too high. The next day she opened a card. It said she was a horrible person for not taking care of her baby better. It really upset her. After that I made sure I got all the mail."
"And the worse Steph's condition got the more angry this person became." Dave theorized.
Paul nodded.
"All the letters and gifts have been delivered through the mail?" Mark asked.
"The letters and cards have. The packages came from a mailbox place and the flowers from the same florist." Paul confirmed.
"Including the pink roses?" Dave asked, walking to the sink and rinsing his plate.
"Yea." Paul answered. "I checked into that when I got off the phone with you yesterday."
"You didn't cancel them did you?" Dave asked alarmed.
"No, I had the pink ones sent somewhere else. Then I ordered new flowers, the ones Steph likes, to be sent to her." He told them.
"Good, maybe he'll think they're working and won't send anything else for awhile." Dave reasoned.
"We can hope. What I don't get is what the purpose of the pink roses were? They're not exactly menacing." Mark asked.
"Unless you consider the fact that this person knew how angry they would make Steph at me. Anger is very harmful to the baby and it widens the gap between us." Paul suggested, his shoulders slumping.
"That could work." Mark said thoughtfully. He glanced at the clock. "I need to pick up my daughter. We have a plane to catch." He said. He looked over at Paul. "Email me those list when you get finished and I'll start looking for connections."
Paul agreed and the three said goodbye.
"I need to get going." Dave said as the two finished cleaning up the kitchen. "I have another date tonight and I want to take a look at the florist and mailbox place."
Paul frowned. "I've already been there. There wasn't anything they could tell me."
"I just want to look around. I might see something that interests me. Most preps like to stay close to home."
Dave said goodbye-leaving Paul staring at the empty lists in front of him.