Dani started in on Sam as soon as they reached the car. "Oh, for heaven sakes, Sam! Amanda was part of his life for almost two years. You can't expect him to just erase all of those memories!"
"I don't expect him to do anything," Sam told her friend shortly. She opened the car door as Dani hit the unlock button on her keychain and slid into her seat. As much as she hoped Dani would just let the subject drop, she knew it wasn't going to happen. She decided to attack it head on and make Dani see that no matter how much she and Howie might wish otherwise, she and AJ were not meant to be together. "He's in love with her. He's always been in love with her," Sam said firmly. "Amanda was right. I was just an exotic toy for him." Dani rolled her eyes and snorted rudely as she left the park and pulled out on to the main road. "If he loves her so much, then explain to me why he told her it was over between them?" Sam's head jerked up, surprise in her eyes. "What do you mean, `it's over'?" she asked, hating that tiny flicker of hope she felt in her heart and the lump in her throat. She tamped them back down ruthlessly.
Dani sighed impatiently. "I told you. AJ and Amanda broke up." Sam shook her head. "Dani, you did not tell me that."
"Sure I did. On the way over to the park this morning," Dani insisted. Sam gave her an incredulous look. "Dani. . . .," Sam began but Dani interrupted. "Well, if I didn't, I meant to. But they did break up. He's all yours Sam, you just have to get over it and take him!"
"No," Sam said adamantly. "Been there, done that. Ain't going back! One broken heart is more than enough for me, thank you very much. Besides," she added cynically, "as soon as she crooks her finger, he'll go running back to her."
"See!" Dani said, the exasperation evident in her voice. "There you go. It's no wonder you couldn't hang onto him in the first place with an attitude like that. You just let Amanda waltz right in. . . . "
Sam glared at her. "You know, I'd really appreciate it if you and Mr. Wonderful would quit meddling in my life!" she said heatedly. Sam looked away, instantly ashamed of herself for spouting such harsh words at her best friend. The next few minutes passed in silence, both women lost in their own thoughts. After merging onto the freeway, Dani nervously looked at Sam. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean. . . . ." both women said at once. They laughed sheepishly together. "I'm sorry," Sam repeated. "I know you and Howie mean well. But face it," she said, "AJ and I are not meant to be together. Even if I wish we were," she conceded.
"Well, I happen to think differently," Dani said determinedly. "And as soon as I get this problem with the CD cleared up, I going to prove it to you. Even if I have to lock you two in a room together until you either talk it out.... or fuck it out," she added. And knowing those two, she was certain it would be the latter.
They let the matter of Sam and AJ drop, and Sam regaled Dani with stories about the rock stars and personalities that she had interviewed since they'd last seen each other. The rest of the drive passed quickly but both women were glad when Dani finally pulled her Explorer into the garage. It had been a long, full day and tomorrow would dawn too early. As soon as Dani unlocked the door to the house and swung it open, she sensed something was wrong. As she looked around there was no one thing she could put her finger on. Nothing was out of place. And yet a sense of foreboding hung over her. She put her arm out and stopped Sam in the doorway. Both women jumped as a loud crash sounded from Dani's office. "What in the hell?" Dani exclaimed as she started down the hall. "Dani! Wait!" Sam called as she hurried after her trying to stop her. Flinging the door to her office open, Dani was unprepared for what she found. "Oh, my God," she whispered soundlessly as what she found froze her in her tracks. She could only stare helplessly as she viewed the destruction that had been wrought in her private sanctuary. The drawers of her desk had been pulled out and overturned, their contents scattered across the floor. Books had been pulled from their shelves and tossed to the floor. Her computer monitor, obviously the source of the crash they had heard, lay shattered against one wall. The sofa cushions had been slashed and clumps of stuffing strewn about. The french doors stood open, the curtains swaying lightly in the breeze.
Dani knelt silently in the midst of it all, plucking from the chaos the picture of Howie and her that had previously resided on her desk. Angry tears began to roll down her face as she placed it reverently back in its proper place. Sam walked over to her friend and wrapped her arms tightly around her. Dani pushed her away and began scooping together papers and shuffling them into neat, orderly piles. Wordlessly Sam began to help, gathering up as much of the stuffing as she could and cramming it back into the sofa cushions. As she worked, Sam couldn't take her mind off of what neither of them had mentioned yet. The intruder had still been in the house when they had come home.
Thus was the scene that Howie and AJ found when they arrived little more than thirty minutes later. "Oh, God, baby," Howie exclaimed as he pulled Dani up into his arms. "Are you all right?" he asked, looking from one girl to the other. Sam gave him a slight nod, glancing quickly at AJ before returning to her chore. Howie kissed Dani's tear stained cheeks as he confirmed for himself that she was uninjured. "Ummm. . .," AJ said. "I don't think you all should be cleaning this mess up. The police will want it left the way you found it."
"They're not coming," Dani said.
"What?" Howie said, bewildered. Dani gazed up into his eyes. "I didn't call them." Howie quickly reached for the phone on the desk. "No!" she snapped, "we don't want the police here."
"Dani," Howie said patiently, trying to calm her, "Someone broke into our house. We have to call the police." As he began to dial 911, Dani grabbed the phone from him. "No!" she repeated. "No police!" Howie huffed exasperatedly. "Do you mind telling me why in the hell we don't want to report this to the police?" he asked.
"Because they'll try and find who did it!" she answered.
"And?. . . .," Howie prompted.
"And then we'll have to tell them about the CD!" she cried. "I don't know what that programming is
supposed to do yet, but it's not good. We can't let anybody know about it," she insisted. "If the police
come, the press will pick up the report on their scanners and this place will be crawling with reporters."
It took several more minutes of arguing on Dani's part before Howie finally gave in, although
reluctantly, and agreed not to call the police. But he and AJ checked the rest of the house thoroughly
until they were convinced that it was safe. The four worked for the next hour, cleaning and restoring the
room to some semblance of order. When Dani was finally satisfied they had done all they could for now,
she and Howie bid the others goodnight. As they climbed the stairs to their room, Howie said, "You
know, I couldn't have called the police from that phone anyway. The line was dead."
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