Page 78 of Ashes of Us

The rest of the trip was great. Xavier and Emilia came back around ten the next morning with a 'sorry-for-abandoning-you-in-tents-in-the-rain-while-we-enjoyed-a-hotel-room' breakfast from the hotel restaurant.

Both Danica and Alex told them it was fine and that they had a good time despite the rainy weather.

Danica was just happy that the underlying tension that had been present since they left Boston was gone, even if it meant they were now being treated to some not-so-stealthy PDAs from Emilia and Xavier every chance they thought her and Alex weren't paying attention.

Danica rode with Alex for most of the ride back, switching over to the SUV with Emilia just before they hit the heavier traffic closer to Boston, since it made her very uncomfortable to be on a motorcycle in it.

Curious about what happened on their afternoon together, Danica asked Emilia how things went.

“Obviously, things went really well.” Emilia chuckled.

“But it was a hard conversation to have.

I told him how I felt after Gracie was born and made sure that he knew it wasn't his fault.

He helped as much as he could, but as the primary parent who was constantly being touched or had a child in their arms, I couldn't handle it when I got in bed.

I apologized for not explaining why I was rejecting him all the time and assuming he understood why.

It was basically a whole hour of me having verbal diarrhea while he listened.

He was really not happy about me going through his work messages but understood why I did and admitted that if he were in my shoes, he probably would have done the same.

He apologized for what he referred to as “Listening to you but not hearing you” when I tried to talk to him about things before and promised to do better.

We agreed to make more of an effort to carve out time during the week for just us, where the kids are a taboo discussion topic, and then we got a hotel room and spent several hours 'reconnecting.

'“ She smirked and gave Danica a sidelong glance. “So, what did you and Alex do?”

“We rented a couple of kayaks for three hours, then rented a pot from the store and did a lobster boil for dinner, cleaned things up and played cards for the rest of the evening in our tent.” Danica rolled her eyes’, knowing Emilia was hoping for something more spicy.

“And I found out that he cheats when he plays card games.”

After a quick stop in Salem to pick up Indie, who was extremely excited to see Danica, and bringing Maverick and Antonia souvenirs from Maine as a thank you, she filled Emilia in on Heidi's messages to Alex.

“She actually sent him a picture of her sucking another man's dick?” Emilia made a face.

“What the hell did she think that was going to accomplish?”

“I have no idea.” Danica shook her head.

She didn't know if the intent was to make Alex jealous, remind him what he was missing or to piss him off.

“But whatever she wanted to happen, I guarantee she didn't get the response she wanted, because he just wished them a happy life together and blocked her.

I am very curious about who it is, though.

She said he was younger and richer than Alex, and that he's American.

Alex doesn't think she could afford to leave Boston, so she probably met him there, and I've been wracking my brain trying to think of someone who fits all that and is single.”

“You know he doesn't have to be single, right?” Emilia said after a moment of thought. “He could be cheating.”

“Ew.” It was Danica's turn to make a face. “Apparently, the guy was in the middle of a herpes flare-up when Heidi was slobbering on him, so that makes him doubly gross if that's the case.”

“Herpes?” Emilia frowned, and Danica could tell she was piecing something together.

“Didn't the CEO of StratusLink Systems get sued by a bunch of women for knowingly giving them herpes in college a few years ago?

He's only in his late twenties and is definitely richer than Alex.

Hell, he's richer than like ninety-five percent of Boston, thanks to the advances his company has made in AI integration in the last five years.”

“Adrian Cole?” Danica sort of knew him; he often rented out the banquet rooms at the Rose Gold for his Christmas and Annual General Meetings for his board of directors. She vaguely remembered an article about a settlement but hadn't cared enough to retain it.

“Yes! That's him!” Emilia snapped her fingers.

“Five women who went to MIT with him sued for pain and suffering, emotional damages and medical bills, and there was enough of a paper trail and witness testimonies that he knew he had it and didn't care about passing it on to other women, that he settled instead of having it tried in court.”

“Could be.” Danica nodded thoughtfully. “If it is, he's already booked the banquet hall for his Annual Christmas party, so it'll be fun to see what happens if they're still together and he tries to bring her. She has a permanent ban at all Rose Gold Hotels.” She had a feeling they would be.

Heidi seemed like the type to keep her claws firmly embedded when she met someone who met her money standards.

-------------------

By the middle of October, Danica and Alex had completed the audits on the hotels in Orlando, New Orleans, Nashville and Austin, and only had the three hotels in California and the Honolulu hotel left.

Spending a week at a time alone together in various cities around the country had brought them closer together than Danica would have ever thought possible back when she flew to London to bring him home after Alexander died.

They never seemed to get tired of one another's company or run out of things to talk about.

They appreciated how hard they both worked, but still made time for fun when they traveled, with Alex surprising her with fast passes for Disney World's Magic Kingdom Theme Park while they were in Orlando after he found out she'd never been, and she explained that when she travelled with Alexander there hadn't been any time for sightseeing or visiting places.

She repaid him for the park tickets in New Orleans by taking him to all her favourite jazz bars and restaurants and walking Bourbon Street with him.

In Nashville, they hit up the Parthenon in Centennial Park and the Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, followed by Danica convincing him to join her at a candy-making class at Goo Goo Cluster Store.

Neither one of them is into country music, so it was a little harder for them to find things they both enjoyed there, but they still managed to spend at least four evenings of the seven days they spent there out exploring the city and what it had to offer.

Austin was hard for Danica to enjoy, since that's where she was when she first found out about Jasper, But Alex seemed to determined to make it a fun place for her, taking her to see the Congress Avenue Bridge Bats emerge from the bridge in the evening, then on a haunted Hearse tour and to Toy Joy, a retro toy store where Danica couldn't help herself and bought a Rainbow Brite doll, explaining to Alex that it was one of the only toys that was just hers when she was growing up.

“Six foster kids at any given time meant that there were very few toys that belonged to just you; everything was kept in the toy room in the basement, and you were allowed to choose one toy that could live in your room with you.” She told him as they made their way to the cash registers. “I choose Rainbow Brite.”

“Did you have any contact with your biological family?” Alex asked curiously after they paid and were walking back to their rental car. “Do you know where your parents are?”

“Nope.” Danica shrugged. “No interest in finding them either.

My older siblings and I were removed when I was five because of neglect and my parents' heroin use.

They couldn't place all four of us together, so Michelle and Dustin, the two oldest, went into one foster home that later adopted them.

Michelle took off the day she turned eighteen by choice.

The police found her, but she told them she wasn't coming back.

We never heard from her again. Dustin's still in Southern California with his adoptive family.

We check in once in a while, but it's surface stuff, 'Hope you're doing well,' that sort of thing.”

She paused. “I was placed with my brother Leo, who was four years older than me. We stayed together until he ended up in juvie at twelve for burning down an abandoned house. He admitted he did it on purpose, and I never saw him again. Four years later, they found his body in another house fire.” Danica recited the story like it belonged to someone else, and in a way, it did.

She had been too young to remember much, and her siblings had never been especially close to her.

They were thirteen, eleven, and nine when the state stepped in, already a world apart from the five-year-old she'd been.

“It was later determined that he committed suicide.”

“How did they know your brother committed suicide?” Alex asked as he opened her car door for her. “If his body was found in a burnt-down house and he liked setting fires, it could have been an accident.”

“According to the newspaper article I managed to find about it, he was the ignition point for the fire.” Danica got in the car and looked up at him as he hesitated on closing the door, waiting for her response.

“There were the remains of drug paraphernalia, an empty gas can and a lighter next to him and no sign that he had been restrained in any way.

He was always a little... off, you know what I mean?

Not quite normal. I always felt uncomfortable around him, not because of any specific, overt reason; he wasn't mean or abusive or anything, but he only seemed alive when he was around fire.”

“A firebug.” He shut her door and walked around, climbing into the driver's seat. “How did your parents manage to raise four children while addicted to heroin?”

Danica chuckled. It was a fair question; she hadn't painted them in the best light.

“From what Dustin has told me, my mom wasn't very smart; she was very ditzy, no common sense at all.

She got pregnant with Michelle in high school and dropped out just before graduating to work full-time in a store while her parents looked after Michelle, then Dustin and then Leo.

She refused to tell her parents who the father was until they threatened to disown her and get custody of the kids.

She admitted that she had been having an affair with her father's very married best friend for several years.”

“My grandfather dropped dead from a heart attack while confronting him. His wife gave the best friend an ultimatum: cut off my mom and my siblings, move away and never have anything to do with them again, and he took it. My mom met my dad a few years later, who was not a good person and got pregnant with me. My grandmother was devastated after my grandfather died, and just... wasted away, dying a few months before I was born. Dad was already an addict, and after I was born, mom had severe postpartum and started using.”

Alex started the car and backed out of the parking space. “That's a lot of trauma to start your life with.” He remarked after a few minutes, glancing at her. “I'm sorry you had to go through all that.”

Danica smiled at him and lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug.

“It was obviously a lot worse for my sister and brothers.

I don't remember any of it; everything I know I've pieced together from Dustin and my social worker.

A part of me wishes I could have a conversation with Michelle so I can apologize, but she clearly doesn't want to be found and I respect that.”

“What would you apologize for, Dani? You didn't force your mom to get with your dad and have you.” She could hear the exasperation in Alex's voice and knew he was right; she hadn't done anything but be born, but she still felt guilty that things fell apart after she came along.

“Logically, I know that.” Danica agreed easily. “I know everything is a result of my mom’s poor decision-making and has nothing to do with me. I'd still like to apologize for how things turned out after I was born.”

Alex blew out a breath and rolled his eyes. “Don't you ever dare apologize for existing, Dani, I'll have to fire you if you do.”