Was It The "Wrong" Number? Ch. 12

"Okay, Danny," I replied. "I should probably let you go so you can sleep. You're leaving early I guess."

"Yeah. I'm driving with another guy. He's going to work there, too," Danny replied.

"That'll be nice so that you won't be driving by yourself," I said.

"Yeah. Look, Jill, I don't know how to say this, but I don't want this to be the end of it," he said.

"The end of what," I asked.

"The end of something that I think can be really great," he said.

"Okay Danny. We'll see," I said. "I mean we just met and now you're leaving."

"I know, and if there was anyway I could postpone things I would," he said. I just sat there on the other end of the phone not knowing what else to say. I knew I should probably just tell him goodbye and wish him good luck, but I also wanted to tell him that I thought I was falling in love with him. I knew the time wasn't right for either one though.

"Are you okay, Jill," he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied. "Please write me Danny."

"I promise Jill," he said. "Every day, if I can. I better say good night."

"Yes Danny. Good night," I said.

I laid in bed thinking after we'd hung up. It was a good thing it was a Friday night and I didn't have to work the next day, since I laid there wide awake until almost 3 A.M.

---

True to his word, I received a letter from Danny the next week. He included some pictures of the beach and palm trees. It looked so different from anything I'd ever seen. He talked a little about his new job but was mostly concerned with how I was. I wrote him back immediately. As the weeks passed, it seemed I received a letter nearly every day. If I came home from work and didn't find one, I was extremely disappointed. One day I received a letter from him and when I opened it, I saw that he'd crossed out

"Dear Jill," and replaced it with "My Dearest Jill."

Towards the end of August, Danny said in the letter that he was going to get an apartment of his own the following week. He didn't outright ask me to come down, but it seemed that he was suggesting that he was on his feet as he'd put it.

The following day, I received another letter from him. When I unfolded it, I found a bus ticket inside. I read what he wrote:

'My dearest Jill:

I don't want to be overly suggestive, but I thought maybe you could come down for a few days soon. I have a 2-bedroom apartment, so you'll have a room of your own. Please let me know if you can come. My new phone number is...'

I re-read those few lines a dozen times. I couldn't believe he'd just bought me a bus ticket like that. I called him that night. We tried to be brief, but we ended up talking for over 30 minutes. Neither of us mentioned the ticket until at the very end of the call.

"So, have you got plans this weekend," I asked.

"No," he said. I could sense the caution and anticipation in his voice.

"Do you think you can pick me up at the bus station Friday afternoon," I asked.

"I certainly can," he said. "I can leave work a little early I think."

"No, you need your work. If we get there early, I can wait," I said.

"I don't want you waiting in the bus station," he said. "I want to be spending time with you."

"We will, we will," I said. "I better let you go. This phone call is going to cost as much as the bus ticket."

"Maybe," Danny laughed. "I can't wait to see you."

"I can't either, Danny," I replied.

---

July 6^th, 1992 6:00 P.M.

As I pulled out of the grocery store that day almost 24 years later, I was amazed how well I remembered it all. How that weekend with Danny had been so amazing. How he'd been such a gentleman that I had to practically beg for a kiss after our "first date" when he took me to amusement park, and how he'd asked me to be his wife, the day I went back to Austin.

Then, there the wonderful happy years that followed. He'd helped me get through nursing school, then we'd had Bradley and every thing was right until that September day in 1987 when my whole world stopped. I was at the nurse's desk charting when two police officers walked up. I knew them both by sight as they'd both stopped by when a fellow officer had been admitted following a high-speed chase the week before. The officer that was injured had moved upstairs three days ago. Why were they at the desk, I wondered? It became all too apparent, when they asked if I knew Danny Williams. I just stared at them in shock, nodding my head. They explained there'd been an accident. Danny had been transported to a neighboring hospital, but he was gone. Just like that. I'd kissed him on the cheek that morning when he'd left the house at his usual 5:30. If only I'd known, I remembered thinking. I could have told him everything that he meant to me.

I drove home and I was relieved to see that only Bradley's truck was in the driveway. Hopefully, he still didn't have young female company. I honked the horn of the car as I often did when I'd been shopping, and he came right out to help me. After we hugged and kissed briefly inside the house, I realized he'd been making dinner.

"What are you making?" I asked.

"Pork chops," Bradley smiled.

"Great," I replied. "I can't wait. I'm going to miss my young chef."

"I'll still cook for you when I can," he laughed.

"Could you pour me a glass of wine? And help yourself," I said. "We need to have a talk tonight."

"Sure," he said. I could see the worried expression on his face. "Is everything okay, Mom?"

"Yes, everything is fine, my baby," I said. I walked back over to him as he stood next to the stove. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him close. I looked up at him. "I just need to tell you everything I haven't."

"Okay, Mom," he said. I could see worry in his eyes, but he nodded and smiled.

"It looks like I might have time for a quick shower," I said.

"Yeah, you do," he replied. He poured me a glass of wine and I kissed him before I walked to my bedroom. It was certainly time that he knew, I thought...