Page 35 of Killer Summer
“I’m all ears.” Ethan smiled and forked a hunk of steak into his mouth.
Dani took a sip of wine and sighed. “Well, I grew up in California. My life was great, perfect actually, until the summer I turned eighteen.”
“What happened then?”
“Matt Vickers happened.”
“Old boyfriend?”
“No. He was a customer at the video store I worked at. He—”
Ethan gagged and covered his mouth with a napkin. His face turned red, and for a moment, Dani panicked. She stood to assist him, but Ethan put up his hands and coughed. “Sorry. My steak went down the wrong pipe.”
“Are you okay?” Dani asked.
“I’m fine. Go on.” Ethan reached across the table and covered her hand with his. His touch was soft and warm and reassuring. She liked the weight of him and the feel of his skin. Dani drained her glass, her nerves subsiding. Ethan’s hand was still firmly planted on hers, and she wasn’t in any rush to make him move it.
“Let’s just say, he ruined my life in a way that I’ll never be able to get over.” She wanted to tell him more, but laying her life story out on their first and only date was a little too heavy. Besides, she liked the way that he made her feel. Normal. The night was too early to scare him away with real life stories about stalkers and serial killers.
“You don’t have to share anything more if you feel uncomfortable,” Ethan said.
“I appreciate that. Thank you for coming over and making me dinner and just … listening.”
“Any time,” he said. “I just hope you’re okay.”
“I’m not, not really,” she admitted. “My teen years were the worst time in my life, and some things have come back to remind me about it. I had a stalker.”
“Oh. That’s pretty heavy.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I don’t mind listening,” he said. “I wanted to get to know you a little more, but I understand if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“Thanks.” Dani turned her hand over and squeezed his palm. Long forgotten feel-good chemicals cloaked her brain in warmth. “The thing is, I don’t even know what I did to get this guy's attention. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time. Why me? What could I have done differently, you know?”
“You just existed,” he said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Some people think that if you’re nice to them, then they deserve access to you.”
“That’s true.”
Ethan squeezed her hand again. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
Dani nodded. “Absolutely. I’m probably being overly cautious anyway. I’m happy to have the company for tonight, at least.”
“I’m happy to be here.”
“Let’s change the subject,” she said. “Tell me about you instead.”
Dani thoughtfully chewed her steak as Ethan told her about his childhood in Michigan and the screenplay he was currently working on. He told her how he broke his leg skateboarding as a kid and how he has a pet cat named Cat Blanchett. She gave him little snippets of information about her day-to-day life but didn’t bring up the past again. Dani was enjoying herself for a change, maybe a little too much. If this was going to be their only night together, she wanted it to end on a good note.
With their dinner gone and almost two bottles of wine emptied too, Ethan cleared the table and began to do the dishes.
“So what are you working on now?” he asked.
“Hmm?” Dani sipped at her fourth tall glass of wine, positively floating. “Oh, like, outside of work stuff?”
“Yeah. You’re a screenwriter too, right?”
Dani’s eyes squinted into suspicious slits. “How did you know about that?”
