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Chapter 3

Danny stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. He shivered as he knocked the ice and snow out of his hair. When he was a small boy, his grandfather would encourage him to stomp his feet to warm them up. He unconsciously did it out of habit and quickly stopped himself.

"Shit." He groaned. "I think that slowed it down worse."

He reached over and hit the button for the top floor again. The elevator continued its slow journey. He started to remove the coat that he had brought from the limo, and stopped himself.

"Danny." He spoke to himself aloud, "You'll freeze to death as slow as Ole Bertha is here."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. He had only reached the third floor.

A man held the door open, "Going down?"

"No." Danny said, "Up. Sorry."

"Hell," the man complained. "I probably can walk it faster."

"You could probably walk to the other side of Manhatten before this thing gets back to pick you up."

The man laughed and allowed the door to close.

Danny planted his feet as he felt the elevator began to move again. Left with nothing to do, he looked at his hands. He hadn't worn a wedding ring in years, but always found it surprising when he didn't see it on his finger. He rolled his hands over and looked at his palms. He rubbed his fingers together and closely examined each fingertip before making two fists and dropping his hands.

Without warning, a lump began to grow in his throat. Tears threatened to overtake him. He cleared his throat and looked up at the next floor light upon the sign.

He folded the collar down on Lewis's coat. "What's the matter, Bertha? Cold?"

He wiped the tears that had formed in his eyes just as his phone rang in his pocket. He answered it.

"Hey, Russ."

"How did it go?" Russ asked.

"It was rather interesting"

"You got the drinks I had Marvin make for you, right?"

Danny rubbed his forehead and groaned. He was still quite drunk. "Yeah, he had two waiting for me."

"Good man." Rusty insisted.

"You told me to be there at 10:00."

"That's so you wouldn't be late for the 1:00."

"And the drinks?"

"You were relaxed, weren't you?"

"I still am. Thank you."

"Well, did it help?"

He smiled, "Yeah. I got it."

"See! No thanks are needed."

He chuckled. "I just have to decide if I want to do it or not."

"What?"

"I asked him to give me 24-hours to think about it."

"Why?"

"I'm trying out this new thing where I make decisions sober."

"Therapist thing?"

"I'm not seeing a therapist."

"You need to."

"Yeah, we'll see how it goes."

"How drunk are you?"

"Not bad. Maybe a four. Four and a half."

"Which means you're really a six because you finished with a dirty martini."

"It is frightening how well you know me."

"Oh, then good. It's probably the time to talk about some stuff I need answers on. Just yes or no."

"Okay, go."

"I sent most of your stuff to the new place."

"Yes." Danny said quickly and chuckled.

"Awesome. There's some stuff I'm not sure if you want it at the new place, or in storage for now. Answer yes if you want me to move it."

"Okay, go."

"Books."

"No."

"Fishing poles."

"I have fishing poles?"

"Not anymore, that's no. Photos?"

"Ummm. No."

"There's this old, red quilt-"

"Yeah. In fact, I may have you send that to me here."

"Do you need it?"

"Nah. I'm teasing." He smiled, "It's snowing here."

"Seventy degrees and sunny here in California, man."

"Sure, rub it in." He groaned, "Is this the slowest elevator in the damn world?"

"It's listed in Guinness. Look it up. Alright, last one. Casey's teddy bear?"

He closed his eyes tightly. "Maybe."

"Taken care of. Okay, easier questions. You have a buyer for her place. But for $50K less than-"

"Sell it. Yes."

"Alright. It's done."

"There's progress on everything else, but nothing that I need big decisions on."

Danny rubbed his forehead. "Okay. Good."

The elevator dinged. Danny had nearly forgotten he was in an elevator and stumbled when it stopped. "I may be closer to a seven."

"Nah, you're fine, Tiger. Go sleep it off and I'll call you tomorrow if I need you."

Danny slipped his phone into his pocket and stepped off of the elevator. He walked to the end of the hall where he knew the other apartment on that floor's door was. He took off the coat and held it draped over his arm as he knocked on the door.

He looked down at the beautiful carpet and ran his hands through his hair again. It was still wet in places.

The door opened and Lewis smiled at him, "Hey."

"I'm returning your coat."

"Come in. I've made some soup that will warm you up."

Danny followed Lewis inside and was shocked at the room he entered. Two stories tall with white walls and a glass fence upstairs. Floor-to-ceiling windows made the room seem even bigger than it already was. A potted palm tree overlooked the top floor. Just before walking behind the staircase, he lay Lewis' coat on the back of the sofa. His eyes saw the beautiful chandelier that was at least eight feet long.

"Thank you, Lewis. You saved my life. It's already below freezing out there."

Lewis walked in front of him. The sleeves of his oxford were rolled up, showing more of his tattoo that Danny had just noticed.

"Did you get to your meeting in time?"

"With two hours and six pints to spare."

Lewis chuckled.

"The driver wouldn't take any form of payment-"

"Nah. It's taken care of. You helped me out this morning."

"By taking a limo?"

"Sometimes it's the small things."

They arrived in the kitchen. Lewis held out his hand to invite him to sit at the bar. "I'll get you some soup."

Danny sat down and looked around. "This is some place. Yours?"

Lewis stood on the other side of the bar. "Nah. A friend of mine's. I do seem to be here a lot, though."

He sat the bowl in front of Danny and handed him a spoon.

"Drink?" Lewis offered.

"Water."

Lewis nodded and pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. He sat it next to Danny who had closed his eyes to savor the warmth run down his throat. Lewis was right. It seemed to warm him completely to his bones.

"Lewis. This is really good."

Lewis leaned against the cabinet facing Danny, "Thank you. Soup is the best for the cold."

"Did you make this?"

Lewis smiled. "It's my girlfriend's recipe. She's having the same thing for dinner tonight."

"She's not here?"

"No. She's working, so she's at her place. It's snowing there, too."

"What does she do?"

"Interior designer."

"Is she any good?"

"She did this place."

"Yeah?" Danny sipped the soup. "What's the deal with the palm tree then?"

Lewis smiled, "It's a tradition. Instead of bringing a woman flowers, something that you have destroyed and removed from where it was created….you plant something together."

"Symbolic. I like that." He sipped the soup again, "I didn't realize you were a romantic there, Lewis."

"Just trying to get it right. Like everyone else."

"I worry what expectations you are building for this woman, though."

"What do you mean?"

"That chandelier in there. It's taller than I am."

Lewis chuckled, "Yeah, it's quite the centerpiece. Arla had a tough time with where she wanted to hang it. In the end, I suggested hanging it there. I immediately regretted it."

"Why?"

"Ah, an idiot kid I know likes to beam it at the Zeppliens if he feels they get too close to the building."

Danny laughed. "Kid, huh? Yours?"

"Close enough." Lewis smiled. "His Dad and I are close friends."

Danny glanced up and him and grinned. "I have a few like that, too. One just lost her two top teeth, so she's not as threatening anymore."

Lewis laughed.

Danny went back to eating the soup. "How long have you and Arla been together?"

"A bit over 18 months. We came back over here to check on everything here, and run some errands for my boss."

Danny teased, "The Mysterious Purple Pie Man."

Lewis grinned, "Right. Anyway, that's the reason we were back over here. Well, that. And it was our anniversary."

Danny smiled. "You brought her to New York to celebrate 18 months?"

"Yeah. She loved the shopping."

Danny chuckled. "What did you do for your first anniversary?"

"We were both working. So we didn't do anything."

Danny nodded and continued to eat the soup.

Lewis smiled, "She's designing a nursery. Her first one."

"For her?"

"No. Not for her. It better not be."

Danny glanced up at him and chuckled. "What's the matter, Lewis? You don't want to have any kids?"

"We've talked about it. But, we've decided to wait. Take it slow."

"Doesn't sound like you're taking it too slowly if she's already designing a nursery, man." He teased. "I'm telling you. Women get around other pregnant women. Or they hold an infant in their arms, and the next thing you know, she's pregnant. It's like it activates some unknown hormone."

Lewis laughed. "There may be something to that."

Rose walked around the corner. "Lewis. Do you have another charger? I've lost mine."

"Yeah, there's one over here." He pulled it out of the wall and handed it to her.

"I'll bring it back, thanks."

She walked out of the kitchen.

Lewis crossed his arms. "She didn't even notice you were in here, Danny. Man, I need to work on her."

Danny started to say something, and instead decided to eat his soup.

Lewis laughed at his reaction. "Rather wishing you made that bet now, huh? I'm surprised you figured it out. Rather impressed, if I'm honest about it. Just one question."

"Hell, man. Ask me two."

"You did sort that out on your own, didn't you? No one told you, right?"

"There's been rumors that it was someplace in this building."

Lewis nodded. "So, you concluded that from a rumor?"

"I took a wild guess." Danny shrugged and took another bite of soup. "There are only two apartments on this floor, and I know the one I'm in isn't anywhere close to this big. Something had to be taking most of the space up here."

"Clever." Lewis said, "Yeah, they tore out this entire floor and remodeled several apartments. They were able to keep the one after Pete reduced how many bedrooms he would need."

"I hear there are ten-"

"Nah, eight."

"Oh, that's so much better." Danny teased. "Not to mention, you have another set of eyes up here."

"Exactly."

Danny finished his soup and wiped his mouth on a napkin. "Lewis. That was delicious. Exactly what I needed. Thank you."

"Want some more?"

"Nah. I'm surprised I was able to finish that. My stomach is full of booze and appetizers."

Lewis smiled as he reached out his hand for the bowl that Danny handed to him. "Like a 50/50?"

Danny rubbed his face and laughed. "Not even close, man."

Lewis washed the bowl, "Sleeping helps."

"Yeah." Danny agreed and continued to rub his face until his phone dinged in his pocket. He took it out and read the message.

He sighed loudly. "Damn lawyers."

"Problem?"

Danny answered before he even realized it, "I've got a buyer for my wife's house. But, the lawyer says that I-"

He stopped talking and looked up at Lewis. He was putting the clean bowl back into the cabinet.

"Sorry. Nevermind."

Lewis closed the cabinet door, "You can talk about it here. There's no press."

"This spot could become my new vacation favorite." He insisted and read the message again. He mumbled, "I'll figure something out."

He put his phone in his pocket. "A life without problems is wasted."

Lewis chuckled. "Interesting."

"Something my grandfather used to tell me." Danny stood with his hand on the back of the barstool he had just pushed back under the bar.

"Sounds like a good guy." Lewis smiled.

"Yeah." Danny nodded. "Well, thank you for the soup, Lewis. Limo. Chat. And the near-fatal heart attack just now-"

"Just keeping you on your toes. Trying to make a bodyguard out of you."

"I'm going home to sleep this off. Tell Arla, "Guten Tag" for me."

Lewis looked at his watch. He wore a silver round bracelet made of brushed metal next to it. "It's more like, "Guten Morgen" now."

Danny chuckled, "Good night, Lewis."

"Gute Nacht." Lewis smiled and watched him leave the room. He waited until he heard the door close before he picked up his phone and made the call.

"Hey, Melody. It's Lewis."

"Nah, everything is fine. Um. The name I had you run all of that background on, I need some more information."

"Yeah. I need to know what real estate he has."

"Yeah, all of it. I know he's selling one."

Melody had been Pete's assistant for only a few months but had already made a place for herself. She always seemed one step ahead of anything Lewis ever asked for.

"He's selling three, actually." She told him.

"Three?" Lewis asked. "Wow. You already had this information?"

"I thought you may want it at some point. Yes. He's selling all of his properties."

"The one in New York?"

"No, that one is owned by his friend, Russ Mitchell of Los Angeles, California."

"So, he's just. Selling everything?"

"That's what my information shows."

"Interesting. Thanks, Melody."

"It's my pleasure to help, Lewis."

Lewis ended the call and leaned against the cabinet to collect his thoughts.

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