Sierra Hearts (Part One) (6 page)

“Oh come on Jenn. I thought it would get you out of
your funk.” She thought about it some more. This was probably why
her mom had been so insistent on her helping out with groceries
this morning. She groaned out load. The two of them! Her parents,
working together to make up an excuse for her to see Danny. She
couldn’t believe it. No, that wasn’t true. She
could
believe
it, which is why she was groaning.

At the house, her dad ran interference and shielded
her from her mother and the inevitable questions. She practically
ran up to her room for sanctuary. At the top of the steps, she
stopped. She realized she was retreating, again. She had faced a
scary, uncertain situation, and her first impulse was to run to her
childhood room and shut out the world. Just like she had with the
whole Danny situation. Jenn frowned. She was sick of running and
retreating. She was sick of being
managed
by her parents.
She wanted to do something different.

Chapter 4

The snow leading up to the front door had hardened
into ice. Jenn made sure to avoid the bigger chunks as she
approached the steps to the front door. She knew from experience
that it was a simple equation: losing your balance plus ice
hardened concrete equals the kind of pain that takes days to wear
off.

The storm had passed and the sky was relatively
clear now with only a few wisps of cloud cover above. Sunlight was
reflecting off the snow and ice around her, but it didn’t offer any
respite from the cold. She could still see her breath. She felt
herself tremble but wasn’t sure if it was from the temperature or
her own nervousness. Nervousness wasn’t quite it though. Maybe a
dash of embarrassment too? Heck, why not add in a touch of guilt
with a good helping of regret?

Mick had told her that morning that Danny had been
released from the hospital. He was back home. Even though she still
resented the fact that the whole set up the day before was really
an excuse just to get her to leave the house, Jenn felt herself go
through the motions of getting dressed, mumble to her parents that
she was going over to the Williams to check on Danny, and walk out
the door. Her feet took her along the edge of the road, and she
paid extra attention for the sounds of fast-moving cars. She barely
registered she was at the front door until she practically ran into
it.

Jenn held her arm out to knock but hesitated.

Would he even want to see me right now? Do I really
want to see him right now? She shook her head. Snap out of it
McKenzie, she thought. Be an adult. Because you are an adult. He is
an adult. There isn’t anything to worry about.

She knocked. It could have been an instant or an
eternity before Danny opened the door, but when he did Jenn felt
herself relax.

“Well look who it is!” Danny laughed.

“I heard you were released this morning. I wanted
to… to make sure you were alright… and…”

“I’m fine. Really,” Danny said. “I just have to make
sure nothing else hits my head for the next couple of days,” he
said, smiling. Jenn finally noticed he was holding a beer in his
hand.

“Are you drinking?” Jenn asked incredulously. “Is
that a good idea in your condition?”

Was this some kind of macho caveman thing? Survive
car crash, drink beer?

“The doctor said I had a minor concussion. No broken
bones. No signs of internal bleeding anywhere. Just a nasty bump on
the head and some bruises. I’m expected to make a full recovery.
So, yes, in my condition, in my professional medical opinion, it is
a good idea.”

Jenn made a face that told him she was thinking
about everything he just said.

“Come on in,” he said. “Can I get you something? A
drink?”

Inside the house was a night and day difference from
the cold icy exterior world Jenn had just walked through. The cold,
grey and blue world outside was replaced with a warm and inviting
yellow hue on everything. There was a nice fire going in the
fireplace. For such a tiny house the fireplace was massive. It
dominated an entire wall. It made sense for it to be so big. It was
the only source of heat. The mantle had a few knick knacks on it. A
piece of white quartz probably found out in the woods somewhere. A
giant pinecone. A photo of Danny and his parents that must have
been taken at a point before he was in the army because he was so
skinny. There was some music playing in the background that she
didn’t quite recognize but it was some kind of rock music with a
distinctive guitar riff she knew she had heard somewhere before.
Boys. Was listening to rock and roll a requirement to being a white
guy? It seemed like was. Do their fathers sit them down and tell
them the birds and the bees and about the bass guitar? On the
dining table was a stack of puzzle boxes. There must have been half
a dozen or more. A freshly split stack of firewood rested beside
the fireplace, and the whole room had a pleasant smoky scent. There
was something else she could smell, too. Whatever it was, it made
her mouth water.

“I’ll pass on the drink. Can I have some water?” she
said. Another wave of that delicious smell hit her. “Are you
cooking something? It smells amazing.”

“The storm knocked out the TV, so I’m making rack of
lamb to keep me busy. Do you want any ice?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” she said.

Rack of lamb?

“You got it,” he said. Jenn could hear him crack
open another beer.

“Do… do you need any help cooking? Is there anything
I can help with?”

“Sure! Want to give me a hand with the Brussels
sprouts?” he asked.

Not knowing what else to say, Jenn said yes.

Food covered every square inch of counter space in
the kitchen. Onions, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, of course,
were all grouped together. There were also garlic cloves, herbs,
and spices along with meat. Lots of meat. There were multiple racks
of lamb on display as well as what seemed like an unhealthy amount
of bacon. A bottle of red wine stood by itself at the edge of the
counter, unopened.

“Wow, that’s a lot of food,” Jenn said. “If all of
this stuff is out, what’s cooking? What’s that delicious
smell?”

“Oh, that’s the cornbread cooling. I made some this
morning. Would you like some?” Danny reached for a backing tray on
the stove. “I made it earlier this morning.” He held it out for
Jenn.

“Where do you get the energy for all this!”

“I didn’t use to like cooking or baking. When I got
out of the army, I needed something to do. Something to pass the
time. I wasn’t very good at first, but after a while I figured that
cooking is like a putting together a puzzle or building something.
You assemble all of the ingredients like little pieces. Then you
create something. Recipes are like sample instruction manuals,” he
said.

Jenn took a small bite of the cornbread. It melted
in her mouth.

“Mmmhmmm
. It’s great.”

“Good. Glad you like it.” Danny put the tray back on
the stove. “Ready to start chopping?”

“Absolutely. Where should I start?” She took another
look at the mountain of food.

“Here, let me show you,” he said. He cleared some
room on the counter for a cutting board. He grabbed a Brussels
sprout.

“Take the sprouts and remove the end here. Like
this. Then you can put them in this pot. When you’re all done, add
some water to the pot so they are just barely floating,” he
said.

“Got it.”

Jenn watched. He seemed so comfortable in the
kitchen, as if this were the natural order of things. Cooking an
elaborate meal the day after a blizzard—after a car crash!—sipping
drinks. There was something deeply reassuring about that. As if the
world really did make sense around him, and that things were as
they were supposed to be. As if Jenn by simply being here were part
of that natural state of being as well.

“When the sprouts are soft, we take them out and fry
them up in a pan with some bacon and onion. We cook the bacon first
so we get some of the grease in the pan and then get the onions to
caramelize. It’s my favorite thing to make,” he said.

“Oh really? Why’s that?”

“It gives me a chance to use white pepper,” Danny
said. “Just a little once everything is almost done. It is a pretty
powerful taste, so you have to use just enough otherwise it is
under- or overwhelming.”

“So, we want… whelming?” Jenn asked.

His laugh echoed in the kitchen. “Yes. We want to be
whelmed.”

A tinge of happiness hit her. It was good knowing
that she could make him genuinely laugh like that. And to think,
this time yesterday was probably the scariest moment in her life.
Now she was cracking jokes, listening to rock music, and
cooking.

While she prepared the Brussels sprouts, Danny kept
busy with peeling potatoes, chopping onions, boiling water, cooking
bacon, and whatever else in a complex dance of movement. Jenn was
impressed. It was refreshing to see someone take pride in what she
usually thought of as a chore. She watched as he chopped some
parsley. He mixed the two in a bowl and added some olive oil, salt,
and pepper to make a paste. He marinated the rack of lamb with it.
He did it like someone who had done this before. He passed the
bottle of red wine to her.

“Mind opening this? I’m going to add some to the
lamb.”

“Sure.” She grabbed the bottle by its neck. She was
careful opening the foil and uncorking it. The cork came out with a
pop
sound. She handed it back to Danny, then turned to
finish chopping the Brussels sprouts. Next, she put the pot under
the tap to fill it with water just like he had told her. She placed
it on the stove and turned on the burner.

“OK. Now what?”

“Now? Now we throw the lamb in the oven and wait.
When it gets close to being done, we can finish up the
sprouts.”

“How long?”

“Oh, probably around a half an hour,” Danny
said.

“In that case, I think I will have a glass of wine.”
Jenn put on her best devious grin she could manage and picked up
the bottle. He grinned back and offered her a glass.

“Should we sit? Take a break from the kitchen?” He
cocked his head in the direction of the living room.

“Sure.” She followed him. It wasn’t as warm in the
living room as the kitchen. She saw the stack of puzzles again.

“Cheers,” she lifted her drink. “You must do a lot
of puzzles. Is that why you compared cooking to puzzles?” She was
surprised how forward she sounded, but Danny didn’t seem to
mind.

“Oh those?” He turned to the stack. “Yeah, I guess I
do a lot of puzzles. I like solving them.” He paused and an uneasy
silence followed.

Jenn took a sip of her wine. “Yesterday… yesterday
was scary,” she said.

“Yes.” Jenn waited for him to say more, but it
didn’t seem like he was going to.

“How do you do it? How can you just get over
something like that so quickly?”

Danny took a long pull of his beer. He seemed lost
in thought until he finally spoke.

“You have to sometimes just react. Things can be
scary or they can hurt, but you have to keep moving on otherwise
you will be scared of everything or everything will hurt.” He
finished his beer. “More wine?”

“Yes, please,” she said.

He stood up and ambled over to the kitchen. Jenn
could hear the refrigerator open as Danny opened it to get another
drink. Then the sound of the drawer with the bottle opener sliding
open, followed up the light hiss of the bottle opening. Without
thinking she was up and gliding to the source of the sound. Her
body was on autopilot again. She wasn’t aware of consciously
willing herself to get up and head towards Danny. He had is back to
her.

Yet another rock song was playing. Jenn didn’t
recognize it.

“I think the sprouts are soft now.” Danny turned his
attention to frying the bacon and onion. “Here,” he said. “Move
everything round like this with the spoon.” He gestured for Jenn to
take his place.

She couldn’t help but notice that he guided her to
the stove with his hand. Not counting the time he hauled her out of
the wrecked car, this was the first time he touched her. And she
didn’t mind it.

“Do you only listen to classic rock music?” she
asked as she stirred. “Don’t you ever listen to anything else?” As
soon as she said it, she knew it was the booze talking. No way
would she have the confidence to ask such a rude question.

He laughed. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. Like, something you can dance to?”
Jenn said.

He made a fake frowning face. “Hmmm. Let me see.” He
picked up an old, scratched iPod that was connected to some
speakers on the counter. He stopped the song that was playing. Jenn
looked at the way he held himself. Even at ease, he possessed a
kind of quiet confidence, a certainty, that made him handsome. She
tried to picture what he had looked like before. She could just
make out how he looked, but the extra muscle and longer hair fit
him so much better. It was a night and day difference. And she
couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have his body
pressed against hers.

“Ah ha!” Danny said, bringing Jenn back to reality.
“This ought to do.” A second later, Jenn heard the opening of
Spice Up Your Life
by the Spice Girls.

“Really?” Jenn asked. “
This
is what you put
on?” she asked, playfully.

Careful there, you are flirting
, Jenn thought
to herself.

But goodness, did it feel good to just… what was the
word?
Flirt
didn’t quite seem right. But it hung there in
her mind, bringing with it low levels of uncertainty and doubt.
What if he wasn’t flirting? What if she was reading the situation
incorrectly? What if he didn’t feel the same way?

“Care to dance?” Danny asked, obvious humor in his
voice. He offered his hand to her. Jenn thought of all of the Jane
Austen movies she had seen, where the dashing British gentleman,
dressed formally, asked the young heroine to be his partner for a
high society dance. There was a twinkle in his eye that hinted at
something exciting, as if dancing were the last thing he really
wanted to do. At least, Jenn hoped so. She found herself wanting
him to reach out to her and pull her in closely.