Anything for Danny

“Okay,” Danny agreed easily.

Luke’s heart swelled with pride, and the peculiar kind of dread that was always there when he thought of his son. The latest prognosis was that Danny had six months to a year to live. There had been a time when Luke had been unable to imagine a life with a son. Now he couldn’t imagine life without Danny.

“Hey, Dad?”

“Yeah, sport?” Luke shoved his dark thoughts away.

“I told Mom I wanted to sleep on the top bunk, but she said we’d have to see. So what do you think? Can I have the top bunk and you and Mom can share the bottom one?”

Amusement rippled through Luke at the very thought. He tried to imagine he and Sherri in the small confines of the lower bunk. It was an interesting image.

Of course, it would be only natural that they’d inadvertently touch each other. A rubbing of shoulders, a brush of a thigh…it could be quite stimulating. But it was a stimulation neither of them needed, or wanted, he reminded himself firmly. Besides, if Sherri got cranky when she was tired, he’d hate to see her if she realized she would be sharing a bed with him once again.

“How about us men take the top one?” he countered. “If we can share my futon on weekends, surely we can share the upper bunk for the duration of this trip.”

“Okay,” Danny replied. Luke expelled a sigh. One crisis averted. He wondered how many more lay in wait for him.

Sherri awoke as the motor home pulled to a halt. “Where are we?” she asked, sitting up and looking out the window for orientation.

“At the Happy Camper’s Park just outside of Akron.” Luke shut off the engine and opened his door. “Just sit tight and I’ll get us a parking space for the night.”

“I’ll come with you, okay, big man?” Danny asked, scrambling after him.

“Okay, little man,” Luke replied.

“Danny, your coat!” Sherri called, holding the winter jacket out to him. She didn’t care if Luke caught a cold, but she didn’t want Danny getting ill. He shrugged on the jacket and together he and Luke left the R.V.

Sherri watched as the two of them approached the office. Her heart constricted as Luke threw an arm around Danny’s shoulders. They walked so much alike, with a sort of jaunty, rambling roll of natural arrogance. In Luke it was incredibly sexy, in Danny it was just plain cute.

As they disappeared into the office, she got up out of her seat and began putting together the items for their dinner. One thing she couldn’t take away from Luke: he was a terrific father. Even when he’d been traveling and was out of the country, a week didn’t pass that Danny didn’t receive several letters from wherever Luke was working.

It had surprised her over the years, the commitment that Luke had made to his son. She’d always believed the only thing Luke could be committed to was his work and his need for excitement. That had certainly always come before his commitment to her. She shoved the bitterness aside, knowing it would ruin the taste of the steaks.

Besides, it was the past, and there was no way to change it, no way to go back and reclaim it. She didn’t need Luke anymore. The only thing she needed was to make sure this was the best three weeks of Danny’s life.

“We’re all set,” Luke said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “We’ll have electrical and water hookups.” He restarted the motor home.

“And the man says we can have a camp fire so we can cook our steaks outside,” Danny said with excitement. “We can toast marshmallows, then tell ghost stories and stuff.”

“Sounds like a winner to me,” Sherri replied.

It took them nearly an hour to hook up and get a fire burning. By the time they cooked the steaks and ate, darkness had fallen and the air held a sharper nip of winter. The fire provided a welcoming light and warmth against the night. Again, Sherri was thankful that the weather was cooperating by remaining unusually mild for December. Now, if it would just hold.

She settled back against the fallen tree limb that provided her a seat in front of the fire. A quiet contentment swept through her as she listened to Luke and Danny talk about sports.

The dinner conversation had been pleasant. They had talked about the weather, their travel plans for the next day, the campsite…they’d managed to find things to talk about that were nonthreatening and safe. Now if they could just continue in the same vein for the next three weeks….

She gazed across the fire, watching her son’s face as he animatedly dissected the last New York Yankees ball game with Luke. She smiled, seeing her son’s hands flail in the air as he described a particular pop fly. Definitely a chip off the old block.

In the glow of the fire, Danny’s face looked like a youthful miniature of his father’s. But according to the doctors, his face would never reach the maturity of Luke’s. Sherri shoved this thought aside, unable to deal with the grief, the breath-stealing pain that tore through her at thoughts of losing Danny.

Doctors have been known to be wrong, she reminded herself firmly. And miracles did still happen in this world. All she had to do was keep praying for their own special miracle.

Her heart expanded as she heard Danny’s lilting laughter, saw Luke’s responding grin. She focused on their conversation, realizing that their talk had turned from sports to ghost stories.

As Luke related to Danny a story he’d heard while in Ireland, Sherri got up and went into the camper. Opening one of the cabinets, she drew out her camera. She wanted to chronicle this trip, these memories. She’d been surprised that Luke hadn’t brought his camera equipment. During their marriage, he’d even carried it with him on short trips to the grocery store, afraid he might miss the opportunity of getting an award-winning photo.

She loaded the film and checked the batteries to make sure the flash would work, then went outside and sat across from the two males.

Luke was at the climax of his story, his voice low and creepy. Danny’s eyes were wide, his mouth opened in an ohh of anticipation. Sherri snapped a picture, laughing as the flash made Danny jump and yell in surprise.

“Mom, you scared me,” he exclaimed. He clasped a hand to his heart and grinned. “Hey, let me take one of you and Dad,” he urged suddenly.

“Oh, no,” Sherri protested, looking to Luke for support.

“Come on, Mom, just one,” Danny pressed, his big blue eyes pleading his cause.

It’s just a picture, Sherri told herself as she reluctantly gave Danny the camera. But there was something intimate about a photograph, an image that lasted despite time and change. Luke had always told her that he thought pictures were the most telling medium of all, that relationships, character and emotion could all be read by studying a photo.

As she moved to sit next to Luke, she wondered what perceptions people would draw years from now about the picture of the man and woman sitting by the camp fire. Would they know the two were divorced, or would they guess that they were lovers enjoying a camp-out?

She eased down next to Luke, immediately able to smell his scent, a heady combination of spicy cologne and wood smoke and the smell of worn leather from his bomber jacket. She held herself stiff, not touching him, but aware of his body heat warming her as effectively as the flames of the fire.

“Relax,” Luke murmured to her as Danny worked the focus. “Give the kid what he wants.” He placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close against his side.

“That’s great,” Danny exclaimed in delight.

In the moment it took for him to snap the picture, myriad emotions flooded through Sherri. She had spent the last five years trying to forget everything about Luke, yet in the single instant in his arms, her body remembered the sweet familiarity of his touch.

The second the flash went off, with white dots still dancing in front of her eyes, she jerked away from Luke’s touch and stood up. “That’s enough pictures for one night,” she said as she took the camera back from Danny. “I think I’ll go in and take a quick shower.”

Luke grinned, his gray-blue eyes lingering on her for a moment. “While you shower, Danny and I will put out the fire.”

With a curt nod, Sherri hurried into the motor home. The shower was a confounded contraption. The nozzle produced a pathetic spray of water that was virtually ineffective against banishing the lingering feel of Luke’s body pressed against her side.

It had shocked her, the momentary stab of desire that had suddenly reared its head when he’d pressed her against his side. It was an emotion she hadn’t felt for a very long time, had thought never to feel again.

“Ridiculous,” she scoffed aloud, scrubbing her skin to a rosy hue with the washcloth and fresh-scented bar of soap. It had been shock she’d felt, not desire. It had been surprise and distaste. After all, how could she possibly feel desire for a man she disliked? How could she feel desire for a man who’d taken her love and left her bitter and empty? It had been a long time since she’d felt a man’s arms surrounding her, her body had simply reacted to the novelty of the embrace, nothing more.

By the time she’d finished showering and changed into a long, demure sleep shirt, Danny and Luke were back inside. They sat at the table, sharing a bedtime snack of peanut-butter crackers and milk.

“Danny, when you’re finished there, take your shower and don’t forget to brush your teeth,” Sherri reminded him.

“Ah, Mom, we’re on vacation,” Danny protested.

“Hey, sport, dirt and cavities don’t take vacations,” Luke said firmly. He stood up and put away the crackers and milk. “Besides, I don’t want a stinky, tooth-decayed bunk mate.”

“Okay.” Danny laughed and headed for the shower.