Two weeks later Ryan and Dani were on their way for a week long stay with her parents.
Dani was worried about sleeping arrangements.
She told her mother that she and Ryan would be happy to stay at a hotel if the thought of them sleeping in the same bed made her uncomfortable. Her mother replied that it wasn't the sleeping that made her uncomfortable, but they would be fine with the arrangement and wouldn't hear of them going to a hotel.
Ryan pulled up to her parents' sprawling ranch style home on a quiet tree lined street. It was at that moment that Dani realized how much she really missed her parents. She hadn't seen them since she and Crystal spent a weekend with them five months ago.
Ryan parked the car in the drive way and went around to open the door for Dani. She took his offered hand and stepped out of the car. Taking a deep breath, she looked at him and said,
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
Ryan squeezed her close and kissed her forehead before replying.
"I'm duly warned and looking forward to the challenge."
Her parents must have heard the car because as soon as she and Ryan stepped onto the porch the door flew open. But whatever her mother was going to say got lodged in her throat when she saw Ryan. There was a stunned expression on her face, however, she recovered quickly and shrieked,
"Dani!"
Dani rushed into her mother's arms, gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. In the meantime her father, as cool as ever, stepped out and introduced himself to Ryan and shook his hand.
Releasing Dani, Michelle Carter, pulled Ryan to her and give him a big hug, too.
"My, my, you're a big one," She chuckled, shaking her head.
Dani looked at Ryan and arched an eyebrow; Ryan shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
"Come on in, come on in," Michelle said, urging them into the house, practically dragging Ryan along.
"Huh!" Dani thought.
They were led into the family room with her dad trailing behind.
The room was very comfortable and spacious decorated in the traditional style with warm upholstered furniture and rich dark woods. They sat on the sofa, Ryan's hand entwined with Dani's, while her parents sat in matching upholstered arm chairs.
Contrary to what Dani feared, her mother and father didn't ask any embarrassing questions. They mostly talked about Ryan's family and how he and Dani met. They showed interest in his business and her father, having served in the military himself, asked him about his tour of duty.
Dani was relieved, but suspicious and wondered why her parents were changing their usual mode of operation.
Ryan found Dani's apprehension unfounded, though amusing. Her parents were really sweet people; honest and open, just like his parents. He liked that and didn't mind their questions at all. They weren't as bad as she portrayed them to be, but then again, children often saw their parents in a way that others didn't. Maybe they just liked him. He wanted to believe that's what made the difference.
Ryan answered their questions, even divulging more than they ask knowing that they were concerned about the kind of person he was and his role in their daughter's life. It was a known fact that parents were more apt to worry about girls than boys; his parents were a testament to that with Haley. He and his brothers had it easy compared to their sister.
His dad was worse than a drill sergeant with Haley's dates. When she and Matt started dating Micah and Caleb took bets on how long Matt would hang around. Of course, Matt stayed around and married her, impressing all of them, including their father.
Ryan found out pretty quickly that Michelle and Davis Carter were characters. Davis had a penchant for telling bad jokes; not obscene jokes, just really, really bad jokes. They were so bad that they were hilarious.
Her mother took pride in the fact that she'd never lost an argument with her husband in twenty nine years of marriage. After making that statement, she looked over to Davis for confirmation.
On cue, he said, "Yes, dear," in such a dry tone that Ryan couldn't help laughing.
It was nearing five o'clock when Ryan announced that he needed to get their bags from the car. Davis went out to help him while Dani and Michelle went to the kitchen to heat up dinner. Michele cooked everything the night before so that she wouldn't be rushed when they arrived and could spend more time with them.
Once they were in the Kitchen, Michele put her hands on her hips and asked, "Why didn't you tell me he was white? I wasn't shocked mind you, but I was really...uh... uh...surprised."
At the look of disbelief on Dani's face, her mother laughed and amended her statement.
"Well damn, I was shocked."
"Does that make a difference to you and Daddy?"
"Oh, hell no," Michelle assured her.
"It's just that none of you have ever dated anyone white before and I was just stunned. Why didn't you tell us? Did you think we'd object?"
"Frankly Mom, as hard as it might be to believe, I didn't even think about it. When I look at Ryan, his color isn't the first thing I see. It's just been a non-issue for me."
"I can understand that. Have you gotten a good luck at him?" she teased. "That is one good looking man. I do believe he'll make some pretty babies."
"Mom!" Dani groan.
"Oh, hush, child, you know I'm always thinking of getting me some grand kids."
"By the way Mom, what happened to the big third degree? I was beginning to think that some aliens had kidnapped my parents and left you guys," Dani said.
"Hell baby, anyone with eyes can see that Ryan loves you."
"Wow!" Dani thought. She and Ryan loved each other, but she didn't know that it was that obvious to anyone else, especially her mother who usually found a lot not to like in the men she dated.
Shaking her head, she helped her mother set the table for dinner.
She and Ryan spent a fair amount of time with her parents, but they also needed some time alone. Ryan was a sexual beast and he'd taught Dani to unleash her own sexual side. Even so, she was nervous about having sex in her parents' home. No one wanted their parents hearing them in the throes of an orgasm, least of all Dani.
Ryan, however, wasn't going to wait a week to make love again. He told her she'd just have to find a way to keep the noise level down. In mock offense, Dani replied that he'd better worry about his own noise. To prove his point, Ryan brought her to a gut wrenching orgasm with his tongue as she held a pillow over her face to drown out the screams. After regaining her composure, she conceded sheepishly that she just might be a little louder than he was.
After that, Dani got over her reticence pretty quickly.
She enjoyed making love with Ryan too much to give it up for an entire week unless it was absolutely necessary. It helped that her parents' bedroom was on the opposite side of the house. Still, the morning afterward, she always paid close attention to them to see if they were sharing any knowing looks. Ryan, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less if the whole world knew that he was making love to his woman.
In the end, Dani realized that she was being silly; her parents knew what they were doing. They'd even given them some time alone by visiting their friends during their stay. She knew that's what they were doing because her mother made a special point of telling her the exact time that they would be coming back. It was sweet of them, albeit a little disturbing.
She and Ryan found time to visit some of the sights of the city after her mother informed her that they didn't expect them to be home bound the entire week. They were young and active and she and Davis expected them to be up and about without them tagging along.
When it came time to leave, Dani's parents expressed how much they hated to see them go. They made Ryan promise that he would keep in touch and Michelle gave him a kiss on his cheek and a big hug.
Davis shook Ryan's hand and gave him a hug too.
After saying their goodbyes, Ryan and Dani got back on the road and headed home.
*
Two months later.
Caroline Jameson was pissed. It was bad enough that finishing the job in London took longer than she anticipated, but having gotten a direct flight from Heathrow to Tampa, they'd touched down to a bloody monsoon. Well, maybe it wasn't that bad, but there was a hell of a rainstorm and getting a taxi was a bitch.
It took an hour between her luggage being unloaded, waiting for it at the luggage carousel and getting a taxi. She could have reserved a rental car, but it didn't seem worth the trouble for a thirty minute trip, especially since she wouldn't need it once she got home. But, most of all, she loathed driving in rain.
Now, sitting in the back seat of the cab, her frustration grew as the traffic moved at a snail's pace. "Damn rain!" she grumbled. It was the hurricane season and with its unpredictable weather she should have expected the deluge.
That is one thing she hadn't missed about Florida. It wasn't that there was imminent danger of a hurricane; it was just that the weather was so changeable. It might be rainy all morning and sunshine in the afternoon or vice-versa. It also was damn hot during the summer. It wasn't just hot, it was humid. The humidity filled the air and sapped your breath and strength. Although she'd lived in Tampa most of her life, she never got use to the sweltering heat. So, what was she doing? She was returning home near the end of summer and it was still damn hot.
Caroline wanted to get out of dodge, as it were, when she and Ryan broke up. It was just the stars aligning at the right time that made it possible for her to get the job in England. There was a security leak in the product development team and it came from the top. It was discovered that the head of the division, Shelly Pinkney, was selling information to their competitors. She was arrested trying to sell one of the company's cutting edge software programs to a German company.
As the fates would have it, Caroline was one of the few people qualified to immediately take over the position. The fact that she was single helped as the other likely candidates were married and hadn't wanted to leave or uproot their families for an indeterminable length of time. Since the division was plagued with other security problems, home office didn't want to trust the team to someone less experienced.
Caroline cleaned house and plugged the leaks, turning in a fabulous job for the company and winning the accolades of the CEO. Of course, all of this took time, including time for a replacement to be found. As luck would have it, they got a huge break on that score too.
A Personnel Divisional Manager from Reynolds and Taylor, a multi-line insurance carrier, applied for the job. He was working in Seattle, but his home was in London and he wanted to be closer to his extended family. Walter Abrams was working in Personnel only because his contract with his prior employer, Waxman Technologies, forbade him from working in the same field for two years after he left the company. The two years would be up just days before taking on the new position.
As far as Caroline was concerned, he was a godsend. Because Abrams was already experienced, it didn't take long to do the background check, put him under contract and bring him up to speed. Once that was done, he hit the ground running.
