{Kane's POV}
That was one of the best nights of my life, and all we did was talk. Heck, we even did dishes and wiped down tables. If someone told me their best night was what just happened to me I wouldn't believe them, but its true.
Since a week and a half ago, when I was first in the diner, I can't get her-Dani, out of my head. That's why I went back.
Dani.
What a great name. It suits her. It's short and strong. Just like her. She's shorter than me, but most girls are when you're over six foot. She's probably five and a half feet tall but she's independent. She has a strong will and the odd time she smiles it lights up her whole face. It even adds a twinkle to her eyes.
And what eyes they are. She has brown eyes that seem deep, like she's older than her years, but there's also sadness in them. I wanted to make it go away. I tried getting her to laugh but haven't. Yet. She has a sadness to her, like something is holding her back.
I'm definitely going to make her laugh. No matter how many hours I sit in that diner drinking coffee. Its going to happen. Just seeing her smile makes me relax in a weird way. And she smiled a lot more tonight. She does smile, but tonight it reached her eyes, making her whole face brighter.
Not just her eyes, she has thick dark brown hair that shines when the light hits it. She always has it up, and I wonder what it looks like draped around her shoulders, it's probably a good four-five inches past her shoulders. It looks so smooth, like I could run my hands through it. By the end of her shift, its loosely held by her elastic and little strands fall out, I was tempted so many times tonight to push them behind her ear. But I didn't want to spook her, again.
I was so mad at myself for scaring her. Not just once, three times. Once, I snuck up on her, not even realizing how close I had come, good thing I was on the other side of the counter. And the next time I was so close she turned and walked into me. I went to grab her arms to steady her but she jumped back, which she does. A lot. But I don't blame her, she doesn't know me. The third time I scared her though, was by far the worst.
She was shaking and the look on her face was pure terror. I wanted to run to her and just hold her until she calmed down, but knew she wouldn't take it well. I apologized so many times, but saying it didn't change anything. I think it was the dark that brought it on. She instantly froze when I shut the lights off. She didn't calm down for a good five minutes just standing there, lost in thought.
Other than fear, her face was blank, I've never seen anything like that before. It scared me, but I tried not to show it. I didn't want her to think I would leave. I'd never leave her.
She makes me want to protect her from everything in the world, have her with me all day and never leave her side. Even her personality. I could talk to her for hours and never be sick of her voice, or run out of things to talk to her about. And the way she says my name... most people say it with a gutteral sound, but it comes out smooth as silk off her tongue. I never liked my name, but now I sure as hell do.
She does something to me.
And she keeps me on the ball. Tonight when I made her guess, I was expecting regular jobs like, mechanic, salesman, and stuff. Not landscaper. And certainly not stripper! That caught me off guard and I couldn't help but laugh. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. It felt so good. Then her face lit up so bright! It was like someone flipped a switch, and I couldn't take my smile off my face the rest of the night. 'I'm still grinning like a fool.' She looked incredible.
Beautiful.
My breath had gotten caught in my throat and it took me forever to breath normal again. I'm happy my job is slow in the winter, it means I can see her more often. I thought for sure she would guess construction worker, it's pretty common, although she didn't guess many other common jobs so it shouldn't shock me.
At least now I get to see her again.
Hopefully she's working tomorrow.
I had driven home by this time and as my head hit the pillow I had a brown-eyed girl running through my brain.
{Dani's POV}
I woke up feeling refreshed. I don't remember ever sleeping that good. The last time was the day I worked that really long shift. When I met him.
Kane.
I loved his name. For some reason, it was just so... him. It's masculine with an edge of mystery. 'When will I see him again?' Then as soon as I thought that, 'Probably never! You made him clean tables, dry dishes and freaked out on him for turning the lights off.'
I got out of bed and walked to the balcony and sat down, pulling a blanket over me. It was cold outside but I loved watching the sun rise. It was a new beginning. Something I could relate to.
It was half hour later when Kat came out of the washroom with a towel around her hair.
"Sleep well?"
"Yes. Thanks. You?"
"Okay I guess. Have you thought about next week?"
"No, why?" 'Did she want me to leave? She just has to say it. She's done so much for me already, both of them. We've gotten closer, she's closer to a sister to me now.'
"Well, it's going to be Christmas. Don't you want to see... umm... see your... umm... family?"
I thought a lot about them the past weeks, in fact the past seven and a half years. But I wouldn't even know where to look. I called the old phone number but it said it wasn't in service anymore. What if they moved and I end up showing up at a random house? That would be horrible. And I don't want to ruin their lives, they've moved on, its been years. My sister is probably done university or college, my younger sister just one or two years in, and my parents have probably travelled like they've always wanted to do. I would stir all that up. The past couple weeks I've convinced myself they're probably better off without me.
"I don't know where they are."
"Oh." She looked really sad, and kind of confused.
"I can leave though, I'll find somewhere else, I've been saving up almost everything I've earned. I understand if you guys want to be alone at Christmas. My bedroom is probably used for your family anyways."
"No! No, that came out wrong. I didn't mean for you to move in with your family, we just thought you might want to go see them. And its usually just Aunt Lily and I. Sometimes a couple others stop in, my aunts and uncles with their children but I'm not close with them. They sort of left me when my parents died."
"That's horrible." She had told me that her parents died in a car accident when the car fell down a hill off the side of the road when the oncoming traffic swerved into her lane and her dad turned the wheel to avoid them, ending up down the cliff. She never had any siblings, so she moved in with her Aunt.
"My mom's only sister was Aunt Lily, she had two brothers but they don't come around much. Sometimes they call around the holidays. And my Dad was an only child, and my grandparents died a couple years ago, they used to visit all the time. I was going to live with them, but grandpa got really sick, so Aunt Lily took me in."
"I'm so sorry. I just assumed."
"It's okay. Aunt Lily treats me like her daughter. We were always close, even when mom and dad were around. She would have me over for sleep overs and take me shopping. Her brothers only ever cared about money, financials over family. But not Aunt Lily. I used to sit at the counter and watch her work, and when I got older I helped for fun, and stuck to it when I moved here. I love the work. And the townspeople are great."
"I agree." The town was wonderful and the job was perfect.
"Anyway, we would love it if you stayed for the holidays, Dani. I know Aunt Lily wants you to stay. She already thinks of you as a daughter, and I think of you as a sister. We understand if you have to leave, but we want you to know the door will always, always, be open to you."
"Thank you so much." And I hugged her. I think she was shocked at first, but soon wrapped her arms around me. We stood there until she asked if I wanted to make Aunt Lily a pile of pancakes and surprise her with them.
"Absolutely," and we turned to go to the kitchen.
"So you'll think about staying?"
"No. I don't have to," her face fell as I continued, "its an easy choice. I would love to spend the holidays with you guys," and her face lit up.
Half hour later we had ten blueberry pancakes made and put four on one plate and three on the other two. We put the biggest plate on a tray with syrup and butter, with a small bowl of fruit and a coffee and put it on the table, just as Lily walked out.
She gasped and walked over pulling each of us into her arms together. I smiled at her and then at Kat. It had been a while since I felt this at home, and realized they were my family now. I would never forget my sisters and parents, and eventually I would find them. But right now, these two meant everything in the world to me.
I poured two more coffees and brought them over as Kat made up two more bowls of fruit and placed them at each of our places at the table. It was a small round table with flowers in the middle, and right now we were all sitting down to eat. I had no idea when the last time was that I ate a meal this big, but knew Lily expected me to finish. She worried about my eating, or lack there-of.
Half hour later I had my pancakes done, fruit almost gone, and was just finishing off my coffee.
"I'll open today, you two can finish up eating." I said getting up to put my dishes in the sink.
"Dani, what did I say about over working?"
"That I shouldn't. And I won't. Promise. But I find it soothing and calming. I enjoy working, it keeps my mind occupied and I don't think as much. Plus, Lily, you have to run errands since the storm hit yesterday."
"Okay. I understand. I think Lily and I are going to go this afternoon though, so we'll open for a couple hours-"
"But-"
"I said, we'll open for a couple hours, and when we head out, you can start working. It shouldn't be busy on a Monday, you can start around nine, that gives you two hours. Okay? You can start at nine."
"Can I close?"
"Hun, I thought you said you agreed not to over work?"
"I'm not starting until nine."
"Okay. That gives us all afternoon to finish, and I think Kat is going out tonight, with Stacy, anyways so that works. Thanks, Dani."
"Yeah, I'm going to walk over to the salon and then we're going to go to a friends house, I think Jules'. If that's okay." Piped up Kat.
"Sounds perfect." And I walked off to my bedroom. I was kind of hoping to see Kane this morning, but knowing him, he'd probably be there all day anyways. 'Why can't I get him out of my head?'
I got out of the shower at quarter to eight and blow dried my hair. I even left it down as I got out the two gifts I bought. I'm really hoping they didn't buy me anything, just letting me stay the couple months is more than enough. I could never repay them for it.
I found the small box to go with the necklace for Lily. I still loved it. It was simple but intricate and the box had 'Thank You' in cursive across the bottom of the lid of it. I know it wasn't much but I thought she would appreciate it. Then I got out a shoe box and placed Kat's gifts inside. There were two. One was a picture frame with a quote that read 'A sister is a friend forever', and with a ribbon I tied a bracelet to it that had 'Family' engraved on it. I wasn't sure if she would like it back when I got it, but after this morning I feel more confident giving it to her in a couple days.
I tucked both gifts into a plain paper bag and tucked it in the back of my closet. Glancing at the clock I realized I had half an hour so I got changed, wearing a salmon shirt that Kat had given me, after it shrunk in the wash. I had never worn it but figured I should. Plus, all my clothes were plain black, so I liked the colour change. I threw on straight leg blue jeans, put my hair into a French braid and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked so different, compared to my usual black on black with a ponytail. I did the dishes quick, pulled on socks and my running shoes and jogged downstairs.