A Sense of Symmetry Pt. 06

"Dani was already married to Jason when Julie was with Ben," Robin said. "Why would she even know Dani's maiden name?"

"Ben always introduced me to his friends as Dani Phillips, even after I got married," Dani said. "Why, is anyone's guess. He always said he couldn't remember his own name, so I shouldn't expect him to remember my married name."

"Yeah, well, Julie knew you were married, but it didn't matter," Shannon said. "She used to talk about if she ever caught you near Ben, she'd beat the shit out of you. Making you Sean's guardian, Ben couldn't have pissed Julie off more if he'd killed the kid."

"Don't worry, Dani," Leah said. "If Julie's even stupid enough to try something, we'll stick behind you."

"Thanks," Dani said. "I'm not really worried about her beating me up or anything. It would be a good thing if she did, actually, because then I could have her arrested and put a restraining order against her. What I'm worried about is her suing us for custody."

"Don't worry about that either," Shannon said. "Unless she's changed a whole lot since I knew her, she hasn't got a chance in hell of getting the kid back."

"I hope you're right," Dani said.

Phyllis, looking lost, joined the group. "What are we talking about?" she asked.

"Julie," Dani replied. "Shannon used to know her. Oh, Phyllis, these are Jason's cousins, Shannon and Corinne, and did you meet my sisters-in-law, Robin and Leah? This is Phyllis, Ben's stepmother."

"I think we met a couple of times at Ben and Julie's apartment," Shannon said. "Sorry to hear about Ben, Phyllis."

"Thank you," Phyllis said. "Now, what about Julie?"

"Shannon was just telling us how much Julie hates Dani," Leah said.

"Well, that is the truth," Phyllis admitted. "When I was around, if Ben even mentioned your name to me, Julie'd fly right off the handle."

"Great," Dani said. "That's really encouraging."

"She'll leave you alone, if she has any brain," Robin said.

"I don't think she has any brain," Shannon said. "She did too many drugs."

"I wouldn't worry," Phyllis said. "Julie always struck me as all bark and no bite."

"She didn't look much like a dog, though," Corinne said.

"No, but she used to tell me how much she liked getting laid doggy-style," leered Shannon. Everyone laughed, and the conversation degenerated into talk about sex.

* * *

Since it was an open house, people came and went when they wanted. When Dani, Jason, Phyllis, and the kids left that night at nine, the place was still packed. Melanie was already asleep in her car seat; Sean and Anna fell asleep as Jason navigated around the parked cars to get out of his parents' driveway. "Mom said she's going to throw everyone out by midnight," Jason said as they drove to Phyllis's to drop her off.

"She says that every year," Dani said. "She never does it."

"Well, Dad kept coming up behind her and groping her, so maybe she'll follow through this year. Did you enjoy yourself, Phyllis?"

"Well, your family's definitely a friendly bunch," Phyllis said. "I knew a couple of them."

"Everyone always knows someone in this family," Jason said.

"That's for sure," Dani said. "One of your cousins used to be friends with Julie."

"Which cousin?" Jason asked.

"Shannon." She told him what Shannon had said. "I'm not really worried for myself," she said. "I certainly can't take Ben away from her now. But if she's still that vindictive, I can't imagine what she might do to get custody of Sean."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Phyllis said.

"I wish I could manage not to," Dani said. "But as long as Julie's around, I'm going to worry about what she's going to do."

"Well, don't worry about it tonight," Jason advised. "We've had too much to eat to get depressed."

They dropped Phyllis off and went home. It was almost ten thirty when they carried the kids inside and put them in their beds. Not even Anna woke up. "Thank God that's over," Dani said. She began undressing for her shower.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason seemed unsure whether to laugh or be offended.

"Jason, you know I love your family, but all of them at once always overwhelms me. And even though I know the kids are safe there, I hate not knowing where they are."

"Better get used to that, because it will happen a lot more as they get older." He hesitated. "Did Shannon say anything about Julie that might help us?"

"Not really," Dani said. "Just how much Julie used to party, which we already knew. And how much Julie hates me."

"Hates you? Why?"

"Same reason you always hated Ben. Jealousy."

"I never said I hated Ben," Jason said defensively.

"You never needed to."

"I'm sorry," Jason said. "I don't want to argue. Let's drop it for now."

"Okay," Dani agreed. She finished undressing and headed for the bathroom.

Jason grabbed her arm gently as she started to leave the room. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"To take my shower." Dani removed his hand from her arm.

"You stand in front of me completely naked, then leave me here by myself? How can you do that to me?"

"I didn't say you had to stay here."

"So I could join you in the shower?"

"If you want to."

He did. They spent about half an hour in the shower, fondling each other. They even tried to fuck, but gave up when Dani couldn't keep her balance. After drying off, they went to bed and finished what they'd started. And then fell asleep.

Dani had only been sleeping an hour when she woke suddenly, short of breath and sweating. Unable to remember what had awakened her, she got up and made her usual middle-of-the-night circuit: into the girl's room, hand on Melanie's chest to make sure the baby was breathing, put the blanket back over Anna; into Sean's room, close the closet door to keep the monster inside, take the pillow off Sean's face (Dani had yet to figure out why he slept that way); downstairs to make sure that the cats hadn't destroyed anything and that no one was breaking in. It wasn't until she went into the kitchen to turn off a light that had been left on that she remembered the dream that had awakened her.

Standing outside in the moonlight, Dani saw Ben in front of her. But when she reached out to touch him, he was gone. "You can't have me now," his voice said from nowhere. "Julie took me away. You let her do it."

"No," Dani said. "A car accident took you away from me."

"Look again," said Ben's voice.

Dani was standing in the middle of the road. A white station wagon, which Dani recognized as Ben's, rounded a curve. Suddenly, another car seemed to come out of nowhere. In the strange manner of dreams, Dani recognized the driver of the second car as Julie, although the driver looked nothing like the way Julie had been described. The driver, in fact, looked like a skeleton, with a grinning, luminescent green skull that turned its gaze on Dani as the car struck Ben's broadside, pushing it into a tree.

It was the sound of the crash that had awakened Dani.