Danni Rose (The Sherwood)

Catering would be done by the bar, of course. Her brother Seth specifically would cook for her. He loved being behind the grill and was working on the menu suggestions she had provided her dad. She hadn’t mended fences with him, but Walker was encouraging her to do so. Maybe tonight would be a good night to do that.

Tonight, Walker sat at the bar. She was no longer serving. They were both running Hal’s now, and it was working out just fine. She liked being with Walker every day. Danni looked down the bar at her fiancé. She just couldn’t believe how happy they were together. Then, she saw Jackson between Ben and Elijah and she knew that he was not so ecstatic with her decision to marry Walker. She looked at Layla to avoid eye contact with him.

“So, how’s it going at the garage with Walker?” Her sister-in-law asked.

“Great, we complement each other. Walker has an amazing head for business and he knows a lot about cars.”

“No fallout because of his record?” She asked.

“One or two clients promised they would never bring their cars to me again.” She had to be honest. “I told them that was a shame because Walker was going to be my husband, so he wasn’t going anywhere. We won’t miss their business.” Danni couldn’t avoid it, she looked around the room and caught Jackson’s eye, so she focused on Layla once again.

Then Danni could tell

that she was looking down the bar where Matt separated Elijah from Jackson. “He’s not happy,” Layla stated.

“I can’t help that, Layla.”

Her sister-in-law patted her hand. “I know that, sweetie. I’m just warning you that he hasn’t stopped looking in this direction since the announcement by your dad.”

Danni nodded. She knew that Jackson had been looking her way from time to time. She had been trying to avoid him.

Almost everyone in the bar was dressed as something or someone. Her mother and Arte came as Ethel and Lucy. Her mother made a beautiful Lucy. Arte a funny looking Ethel with her dark coloring. Her father behind the bar was dressed as Mario from the video games. She wasn’t sure that he knew who Mario even was.

She and Layla were dressed as pirates with short skirts, off the shoulder tops with a black vest. Big, black hats with large plumes. A sword at their hips and knee high black boots. They were sexy, female pirates.

Walker approached and laid his hands on her shoulders. She glanced up at him. His breath was warm in her ear when he whispered, “I love the boots and the hat.” Later at home, he let her know that she could leave them on for some fun in the sack. She just rolled her eyes at him. He laughed. Danni loved it that Walker was laughing more often then he disappeared down the hall to the men’s room.

She groaned because she knew that the minute Walker disappeared, and Jackson got up that he was coming to her. Layla whispered, “Should I stay or go?”

“You stay right where you are,” Danni responded making Layla laugh beneath the hand she used to cover her mouth. Danni shot her a look just as Jackson stopped beside her.

“Can we talk?” He asked.

“Did you schedule your mother’s funeral?” She asked.

“Yes, it’s next week on Tuesday, evening at eight. I have the ashes back at the funeral home in town.”

She had gathered it would be there. They only had one funeral home, Dick’s Funeral Home. Steve Dick ran it. His father ran it before him and his father before him. It was a family business. She didn’t know if Steve’s son, Allan would become a mortician like the rest of the Dick men had.

“Now, can I talk to you?” He asked.

“Right here is fine, Jackson.”

“No, I would like to talk to you in private,” he insisted.

She watched her fiancé walk around the bar, eyeing her, waiting to see if she needed him. She looked at Jackson then she looked at Walker. Her future. Her love. “Jackson, there is nothing to say,” she insisted.

“I think there is,” he replied.

Danni was weary of this constant push by Jackson. “Even if I didn’t love Walker madly, I wouldn’t leave my family and go with you to Louisiana,” she informed him.

He rubbed his hand across his face. “Why not?”

She gazed at Jackson. “You just don’t get it, Jackson. I belong here at Ike’s. At Hal’s. With my family every Sunday morning having brunch. We just need to get Daddy on board again,” she said loudly enough that her father heard her. He grunted in response. Layla chuckled.

“I don’t get it,” Jackson responded.

“What don’t you get?” She was growing weary of this conversation.