Resist - A Continuation
Parts 28-29
"Mama will be back by 10:00 P.M.." I kneel down to Andrew's level and kiss his forehead.
"How many is that Mama?"
"Two, baby. Two hours."
He counts on his fingers and sings, "One, two, buckle my shoe."
"That's right. Now give Mama a kiss." He kisses me on my forehead, mocking me. He is so smart, I think to myself.
I stand up and straighten my dress while addressing Kathleen. "You have my pager and cell phone numbers. Right?"
"Yes Mrs. Santos. Have fun." I give her a huge smile that says Oh, I intend to. Then, Colin and I leave for our date.
Colin arrived at 7:45 PM. With a white rose for Kathleen, a lavender rose for me and a Tigger book that is actually shaped like Tigger for Andrew. How sweet, I thought. Danny would never do that. Well, maybe the book for his boy.
My date is more handsome than I remember. And now I see those eyes that I could not visualize earlier. Blue. Bright Blue. Not the dark pools of Danny's eyes. Could I get lost in Colin's eyes?
Colin has on a simple light grey suit and a plain white button down shirt with no tie. Danny would never wear grey unless it was really dark.
I have on my baby blue sleeveless sheath. My honey blonde curls flow freely. Danny likes my hair like this. His hands would always get tangled up in it when we made love.
It is a beautiful calm night. The stars shine brightly. The sky is the limit, I tell myself. I feel pure excitement as Colin and me head for his car. We talk mostly about Andrew the whole ride to dinner. He takes me to a nice Thai restaurant on the waterfront.
My excitement turns to pure dread, however, as we have dinner. One would think we would have a lot to talk about; if not anything, at least the medical field. Our entire conversation is about his practice; his patients; his house in Spring Grove; his Labrador; his comic book collection.
I can't get a word in edgewise. Either this guy is the biggest jerk or I am suffering from the Danny Santos syndrome.
Danny. Damn him. I miss him and have been expecting Colin to be Danny. Not the asshole Danny. But the Danny that makes me laugh; that adores my-our son; that gives me butterflies with his sultry stare.
I feign a headache so that Colin takes me home immediately after dinner. He doesn't notice my dissatisfaction with him-at least he doesn't let on that he has a hint. He asks me to call him once I get settled in Springfield. Imagine that. He was listening to me after all.
I say sure and hurry out of the car before he can kiss me. He may not have even wanted to, but I sure as hell don't want to find out.
I look at my watch as I unlock the door to my apartment. It's 9:45 P.M.. Mama kept her promise. I'm home by 10:00 P.M..
As I put my purse on the coffee table, I call for Kathleen. No answer. She must not have heard me. Probably with Andrew.
I head back to Andrew's room talking aloud. "Andrew Bauer. You are supposed to be sleeping. What have you been putting Aunt Kathleen through?"
I enter my son's room and see he is sound asleep.
"Andrew Santos has been nothing but a saint tonight. Have you, Mrs. Santos?"
It's Danny's. Here. In Chicago. In my apartment.
Shit.
_________________________________________________
I turn to see the person, whose voice I know so well. And unfortunately, he is as beautiful as ever. But then when he plasters that damn grin on his face, I am jolted back to realty.
“What the hell are you doing here? And where is Kathleen?” I sneer as I walk out of Andrew’s room, gently closing the door behind me and then practically run back into the living room. Where I really want to go, though, is my bedroom and do what Danny and me do so well.
“Nice to see you, too. Honey.” His voice is oozing sarcasm. He falls back on the sofa; one leg completely on it while the other is hanging over with his foot planted on the floor. He places both hands on his head; still grinning as if he just won a bet. “I thought you would be glad to see me. Dr. Do-Little couldn’t scratch your itch after all? Huh? Well, don’t worry sweetie. I’m here for you now.”
I walk to the door and open it. “Get out.”
“You don’t want me to go. Besides, I just got here and I’m tired. And hungry,” he says practically undressing me with his eyes. “Only you can satisfy me, Michelle.” His voice is serious now. “Only you.”
I’m hungry for him, too and when he finally gets up from the sofa and saunters over to me, I realize that we both have a delicious feast ahead of us.
He’s standing directly in front me, staring into my soul with those dark pools I had reminisced about earlier. My hand drops from the doorknob, trying to anticipate his next move. I want to exert some will power and walk away, but I can’t. Danny shuts the door and locks it. He leans against it with his back and taking both my hands, he pulls me to him.
“I missed you. And I’ll even admit that I was jealous of Dr. Do-Rag.” I can’t help but smile at his names for Colin. He continues, “but I am not jealous anymore.”
“Why is that?” I ask trying to keep myself from melting under his stare.
He lifts a hand to entwine in my curls at the nape of my neck. “You didn’t invite him in. You didn’t even let him walk you to your door.”
“So what does that prove?”
“It proves,” he pauses as if he isn’t sure he should continue. But he does. “Well it proves that you’re mine.”
I snatch my hand from his and try to walk away, but he still has his other at the nape of my neck. “I’m yours Danny?! Yours?! I don’t belong to you. And if you think that you can just waltz in here and have me because my date didn’t work out, think again!” The fury in me must be rolling off in waves because he releases me completely and just stands there not sure of how to handle me.
“Why did you come here Danny? And don’t tell me you were jealous. We both know that you don’t give a damn about me. I told you Andrew and me would be back in three more days. You agreed we would do this my way. What the hell is going on with you?”
Danny walks back to the sofa and sits down. He bends forward and puts his face in his hands.
Something tells me that things have changed. What things, I don’t know. I walk over and sit down next to him. “Danny,” I say softly, “what’s wrong?”
“I missed Andrew.” When he looks up at me, the tears are streaming down from both eyes.
"And I missed you, too, Michelle."