Chapter 4
“How come we never came here when we were married?” Hayley asked after swallowing a pan-seared lemon scallop at the Reading Room Restaurant inside the Bar Harbor Inn.
“Because we were poor back then,” Danny said, laughing.
“We still are,” Hayley reminded him.
Danny shrugged. “I’ll give you that. But it’s not every day I get to have lunch with you so it’s kind of a special occasion.”
Hayley took in the sweeping ocean views and romantic setting.
She assumed when Danny invited her to lunch they would split a pizza and a pitcher of beer at the more downscale Geddy’s Pub, but clearly Danny had something a little more fancy in mind.
The waitress appeared with their entrees.
A petite filet mignon with Maine lobster tail for Danny and a roasted rack of lamb with rosemary and garlic for Hayley.
She was certain after gorging on a feast like this, she would nod off at her desk before quitting time.
Heavy meals always made her sleepy.
The waitress, Denise, a statuesque blonde in her late thirties who recognized Danny right away from high school but chose to basically ignore Hayley, whom she ran into all the time, leaned in close as she set the plate down in front of him, situating herself so her ample chest was close enough that he could touch it with his nose.
She had been shamelessly flirting with him ever since they had sat down.
Hayley found it amusing.
“Let me know if the steak isn’t cooked to your satisfaction,” she cooed, batting her eyes.
Danny picked up his knife and cut into the piece of meat.
Red juice oozed out onto the plate.
“Blood red. Just the way I like it.”
“I’m happy if you’re happy,” she said, not quite ready to leave them alone to enjoy their meal in peace.
“My lamb looks delicious,” Hayley said.
Denise turned as if noticing Hayley for the first time and smiled politely, realizing she should at least acknowledge Danny’s dining companion. “That’s nice.”
Hayley stifled a laugh.
“Danny, do you remember that time we went out together?” Denise said, turning her back on Hayley again.
“We dated?” Danny asked, genuinely surprised.
“Just once. We went to the movies in Ellsworth and saw Clueless,” Denise said, covering her disappointment. “Don’t you remember? I recently saw the movie again on Netflix. I had no idea how funny it was since we missed most of it when we first saw it.”
“Let me guess. You made out in the back row and missed the whole thing?” Hayley said, smirking.
“Well, yes. We were definitely in the back row. But we did a lot more than just make out. Remember, Danny?”
Danny nodded, focusing on his steak, not wanting to discuss the sordid details in front of his ex-wife.
Hayley was actually enjoying this.
She loved watching him squirm with embarrassment.
His checkered past as a conquering lothario was finally coming back to haunt him.
Danny must have worked his way through half the female population of Bar Harbor before he turned twenty-one.
“Anyway, let me know if you need anything,” she said flirtatiously, touching his arm. “Anything at all.”
“Thanks, darling,” Danny said, lowering his voice just enough that it sounded smoky and sexy and had Denise swooning.
For a minute Hayley thought Denise was going to pass out and need smelling salts, but the smitten waitress collected herself and bounced back into the kitchen, swinging her curvaceous hips and jiggling her perfectly round butt, giving Danny a better view than the breathtaking ocean outside the giant bay window in front of them.
“You know, Becky might not be too thrilled to know you’re here flirting with old girlfriends while you’re here in Bar Harbor,” Hayley said, laughing.
“She wasn’t a girlfriend. We went out once and I barely remember it. Besides, what Becky thinks doesn’t really matter anymore.”
Hayley set her fork down. “Why? What happened?”
“We broke up,” Danny said, shrugging.
“You what?” Hayley screeched, catching herself. “Danny, what did you do?”
Danny, who was about to take a big bite of his steak, dropped it back on his plate. “What do you mean, what did I do? Why do you assume I did something to drive her away?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Your entire history?”
“That’s just mean, Hayley,” Danny said with a hangdog face and sad eyes.
He was really good at playing the wronged victim when he wanted to garner sympathy.
“I’m sorry. But you two were together for a few years, and she seemed really devoted to you, and so I just assumed that you did something . . . you know . . .”
“You mean you assumed I cheated on her?”
“Well, since you said it—”
“I didn’t cheat on Becky!”
“Okay.”
“No, I really didn’t.”
“I said okay.”
“You said okay, but that look on your face says you don’t believe me.”
“Like I said, Danny, you have a history.”
They ate in awkward silence for a minute.
Danny angrily clawed at his lobster tail with a tiny fork.
Hayley chewed on a piece of lamb.
Finally, Danny slammed the hard shell of the lobster tail back down on his plate. “For your information, I was the one who broke it off. Not her! Me!”
Hayley nodded, biting into another piece of lamb, frustrating Danny who was convinced she was just humoring him.
“If you must know . . .”
“I really don’t need to know anything,” Hayley said.
“I woke up one morning and realized Becky was just too young for me.”
That was it.
That was just too much to bear.
Hayley howled with laughter.
“What? What’s so funny?”
It took her a few seconds to compose herself.
“Since when has a woman’s age ever, ever been an issue with you, Danny? You’ve been chasing girls half your age for years.”
“That’s not fair,” Danny said, frowning.
“This has nothing to do with fairness. I’m just stating the facts.”
“Okay, so what? I like younger women. That doesn’t mean my tastes can’t change.”
Hayley desperately tried to stifle herself. “How, Danny? How have your tastes changed?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and maybe it’s time I find a more mature woman to grow old with, someone who understands me and has shared similar experiences. Someone like . . .”
His voice trailed off.
She prayed he didn’t go there.
She had no desire to rehash their failed marriage.
She just wanted to enjoy her lamb and then get back to work, back to her life, without Danny and his typical shenanigans.
They ate in silence some more until both their plates were empty except for a meat bone on Hayley’s and a hollow lobster shell on Danny’s.
Danny cleared his throat.
Hayley stared out the window at the harbor.
“Screwing things up with you was the worst mistake of my life,” he said softly, looking at her, trying to make eye contact.
Hayley didn’t answer him.
She just kept her eyes fixed on the small islands dotting Frenchman’s Bay in the distance.
Danny’s words did seem sincere, even sweet, actually, but she definitely wasn’t ready to have this conversation.
To be honest, she still just wasn’t buying what he had to sell.
She had seen this winsome side of him too many times before.
Hayley flagged down Denise, who was only too happy to rush over to Danny’s side again. “Can I show you our dessert menu?”
“No, thank you. I have to get back to work.”
“I’ll bring your check,” she said, disappointed.
Danny already had his wallet out and handed Denise a credit card. “Let me take care of it.”
Hayley was floored.
This was definitely a first.
Danny Powell was picking up the check.
They weren’t even going dutch.
He was paying the whole bill.
It was as if she had just awakened in some kind of alternate reality.
Danny noticed the shocked look on her face.
“Don’t look so surprised. I’ve been saving.”
“You mean you actually have your own bank account now?”
“Yes. Both a checking and a savings. How about that?”
“I’m impressed.”
“I’m trying to be more responsible. I figure I’d like to get married again someday and I don’t want to be that guy I once was. I really am trying to change.”
Denise returned with Danny’s card and a slip for him to sign.
Danny took the card and glanced at Hayley. “Hey, imagine that. It wasn’t declined.”
He got a smile out of Hayley and that made him happy.
Denise pulled a pen out of her breast pocket and handed it to him.
He didn’t even look up at her as he added the tip and scribbled his name.
She waited a few seconds for some kind of eye contact before giving up and slouching away, defeated.
Hayley glanced at the credit card receipt and giggled.
Danny sat back and sighed. “What’s so funny now?”
“She wrote her number on the top of the receipt.”
Danny picked up the piece of paper. “So she did. How about that?”
“You’re still a hit with the ladies.”
Danny crumpled up the receipt in his hand and dropped it on the table.
Another first.
Danny ignoring a woman trying to slip him her phone number.
Maybe he had changed.
Or maybe this was just an act and he was playing this role as “the new, improved, mature Danny Powell” to get something from her.
It was hard to tell.
He opened the door for her like a true gentleman as they left the restaurant, never once eyeballing Denise, who stood by the hostess station, forlorn and crushed by his blatant rejection.
And to his credit, Danny didn’t even pretend to forget his wallet and race back to the table to pocket that piece of paper with Denise’s number on it.
Maybe he was telling the truth this time.
But she was determined to keep her guard up.
Do not waver.
This was Danny Powell.
And years of hard experience had trained her to be vigilant and alert.