The Lawyer's Lawyer

CHAPTER Twenty-Five



Thanksgiving Day was cold and blustery, but Jack still got up early and went for a run in the woods. He’d found the running path just a few days after he arrived in town. It was literally two blocks from the condo and there was nobody around in the early morning but him, the birds, the trees, and a host of other small creatures. An armadillo had startled him just last week. They both jumped at the same time, the armadillo running about five paces or so in the opposite direction before stopping. So far as he could remember, it was the first time Jack had ever seen a live armadillo in motion.

He ran five miles at an easy pace, breathing in the fresh air and taking the time to enjoy the beautiful morning.

Part of his run took him down a giant sinkhole, a break in the limestone foundation that had formed over thousands of years. It was his favorite place. Looking up from the very bottom, he could see the tall trees clustered around the rim at the top, their branches rustling in the breeze causing the leaves to unhinge. A small stream snaked along from top to bottom, the sound so steady, so unchanging, yet altering forever the surrounding landscape. The sun filtering through the woods served as the spotlight for the leaves as they cascaded end over end.

Jack always stopped for a few minutes to take it all in. It was here in places like this that he could make sense out of the world.

Henry was at the condo when he arrived home. Jack had expected Henry to stay with him but Henry had declined the invitation, saying he was going to stay with a relative in town. He was dressed in sweats.

“Have you been working out?” Jack asked, noticing that his friend was sweating.

“A little bit,” Henry replied evasively. “Now I’m hungry. Want to go for breakfast?”

“No. I’ll eat too much if I go out. Dinner is at two and I want to be hungry. I’ll scramble some eggs and make toast if you want.”

“Sounds good,” Henry replied.

It seemed strange to Jack that Henry did not stay with him then showed up sweaty in a jogging outfit. Something was going on.



A brown wreath made of bare branches hung on the front door of Danni’s house, perhaps a symbol of autumn’s end and Christmas to come. Jack rang the doorbell.

Danni answered wearing a snug brown sweater and jeans and the most beautiful smile Jack had yet seen. She gave Jack a big hug, then she opened her arms to Henry.

“Here’s the man who saved my life. Welcome to my home, Henry.”

She led them into the living room and sat them on the couch. A fire was just getting started in the fireplace, the wood crackling in the background. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“I’ll have a beer,” Jack said. Henry indicated that would be fine with him as well.

Danni left the room and returned a few seconds later with the beer and a beautiful young woman who bore a startling resemblance to her although her hair was dark brown.

“This is my daughter, Hannah. Hannah, these are my friends Jack Tobin and Henry Wilson.”

Hannah greeted them both warmly. She had a mature confidence about her that was rare for a woman her age.

“Gentlemen, if you will accompany us to the dining room, dinner is ready to be served,” she said after the introductions were complete.

The dining room was small, but it made the atmosphere even more intimate. Danni had decorated the table with a festive lace tablecloth, a gold leaf centerpiece, and deep orange candles. Danni and Hannah started bringing in the various dishes and setting them between the candles and the place settings: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, collard greens, corn, and cranberry sauce. Last but not least came the turkey, beautiful and golden brown.

“Gentlemen, please join us in a moment of thanks,” Danni said after she and Hannah sat down. They all held hands as Hannah spoke.

“Dear God, please bless this food we are about to eat and these friends who have joined us today. Amen.”

“Jack, will you carve the turkey?” Danni asked.

Jack stole a glance at Henry who just smiled and nodded.

“It will be my pleasure,” Jack said.

The food was delicious and they talked and laughed as if they were old, old friends. Henry told stories about his and Jack’s fishing excursions on Lake Okeechobee.

“The only thing that’s always missing is fish. They seem to know it’s our boat and that Jack’s cooking. I don’t want to eat what he’s cooking and they don’t want to be what he’s cooking.”

Henry was a good storyteller and everybody laughed. Hannah regaled them with stories of life in Boulder, hiking the Flatirons, and being a freshman in a college so far away from home.

“Mom sent me to Colorado when I was young and I hated it for a long time. Then I started to remember how beautiful it was. I couldn’t wait to go back.”

All in all it was a great meal. Both men helped with the cleanup. Jack cleared the table and Henry loaded the dishwasher.

“This is my job on the boat, too,” Henry told Danni. “Only we don’t have a dishwasher.”

“Sounds like you need to speak up, Henry,” Danni replied.

“It wouldn’t do any good. There are only two jobs in the galley and Jack’s a better cook but don’t tell him I said that.”

After dinner, Hannah sat on the couch with Henry and peppered him with questions about life in prison and what it was like on death row, issues Henry didn’t usually talk about. She was so genuinely interested in his experiences, however, that he found himself telling her everything.

“There were times when I thought I would never see the outside world; never have a delicious meal like the one we just shared; never enjoy a good conversation like this. It certainly teaches you to cherish every day.”

“And that made you and Jack friends forever, I guess?”

“We’re joined at the hip. He’s my brother as much as if we came from the same womb.”

“Kind of like my mom and me. We had our differences along the way. For a long time, I resented her for sending me away to Colorado. Now that I’m older, I understand what the circumstances were back then. We’re becoming friends. Like you and Jack, we only have each other.”

“There’ll be somebody else in your life eventually, Hannah. I’m sure of that.”

Jack and Danni lingered in the kitchen, slowly putting the dishes and the pots and pans away.

“It was a great day,” he told her. “Thanks for inviting us.”

“Thanks for coming. You made it special for Hannah. It would have been boring with just her and me.”

“You two seem very close.”

“We are. It’s been just the two of us for a long time. It’s nice to have men in the house, though.”

* * *

Jack didn’t see Danni again until the next Wednesday. She wanted to spend all her time with Hannah before her daughter had to return to school. On Wednesday, they had dinner at The Swamp before going to the movies. Ron was there as usual.

“Jack, are you still in town?” he asked, faking incredulity. “I know your case is over. What is it that keeps you here—The Swamp? You want to help me with the rent on my condo? I can’t figure it out.”

Danni thought she’d have a little fun of her own at Jack’s expense. “It’s the free meals, Ron. Like tonight, for instance, Jack knows you’re going to pick up the tab. That’s why he insisted on coming here. I’m beginning to wonder about him.”

“Beginning?” Ron replied. “He’s got more money than God and he’s living at my condo for half price and showing up here every night for dinner.”

Jack laughed. “Okay, okay, I get the picture. Ronnie, tell Liz we’re all going out Friday night on me—to the best restaurant in town. And then we’re going dancing.”

And they did. Ron and his wife, Liz, met them at a restaurant downtown called Preston’s where they had a wonderful meal. Afterward, they went dancing at a nightclub called Stella’s.

Jack wasn’t much of a dancer, but he’d had a few glasses of wine at dinner and it didn’t take long for Danni to get him out on the floor. She was smooth and, in no time, she had him dancing like he’d been a star pupil at Arthur Murray. Once they got into it, the two of them couldn’t get enough of each other. No matter whether it was a fast dance or slow, they were in each other’s arms, pressing close. Time had ceased to exist for them.

Ron and Liz left somewhere around midnight but Jack and Danni hardly noticed. They continued dancing until the lights came on and the bartenders were yelling for people to go home. Even after the band had stopped playing, they stood on the dance floor moving to music only they could hear.

“You guys gotta go,” the bartender yelled at them. “Get a room, for Chrissakes!”

He finally got them to leave on the third try.

“I’m gonna call the cops.”

That sobered Danni up quickly. “We’ve got to go,” she told Jack. “I don’t want any trouble at work. We can continue this at my house.”

When they finally arrived at Danni’s front door, there were no words between them. Jack simply followed her into the house. She closed the door behind them, took his hand, and led him to the bedroom.

They fell on the bed smothering each other with kisses. Jack lost all sense of everything but Danni. All he knew was the warmth of her skin, the sweetness of her smell, the moist touch of her lips. They made love slowly, softly, as if with a rhythm they had secretly known their entire lives.

In the morning, they awoke so enmeshed with each other it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began.

For the next two weeks, they saw each other constantly. The first weekend of their relationship, Jack had to speak at a conference in Siesta Key. Danni went with him. Friends of Jack’s and their wives were there along with other folks neither of them knew. Danni fit in with everybody. They stayed out too late having fun on Friday and got up early the next morning and played in the surf. On Sunday morning, they just stayed in bed and talked about the people they’d met and the fun they’d had. Jack knew he was falling hard.

The next week was more of the same. They saw each other every day. On Wednesday night they went to dinner, drank a bottle of wine, and then went to the movies. Halfway through the movie he turned to look at Danni and she was sound asleep. I love this woman, he thought to himself. She fits with me so easily.

On Friday they went back to Stella’s and, again, it was as if they were the only people on the dance floor although they left well before closing time. The dance at home was so much more fun.

They spent Saturday canoeing on the Santa Fe River. It was a glorious day, one that he would never forget. They were totally alone. The only sounds were the birds singing and the river flowing. The sky was cloudless and powder blue but they were shielded from the glare of the sun by the tall pines along the shore and the giant oaks a little further inland. Gators rested along the banks or glided effortlessly through the water. Turtles were everywhere, resting either on rocks in the water or on old tree limbs. Every once in a while, one would just slip off and disappear under the surface. The water itself was crystal clear and Jack could see mullet swimming along, seemingly oblivious to the boat above them. It was hard to believe civilization was only fifteen minutes away.

Civilization, Jack thought. It’s overrated.

Danni was in the front of the boat in her bathing suit. She turned to look at him, a huge smile on her face. She was radiant.

“Isn’t this gorgeous?” she said. “It’s like we’re the only two people alive in paradise.”

“It’s perfect,” Jack replied.