On Second Thought(34)

"Does she have a boyfriend?" I murmured to Daniel, who was standing at my side.

"She better not."

"Does she, though?"

"Lizzie!" he barked. "You got a boyfriend?"

I sighed. There was a reason I'd asked him, not her.

"No," she said. "Not that it's any of your business." But she started to  pick at her fingernail, then stopped. Tried to readjust, but her neck  muscles were stiff. She glanced to the left again.

I put the camera down and went to sit next to her. "Does he come to the park a lot?"

She looked at me for a second, then her eyes filled with tears. "I broke  up with him, and he's...he's not taking it well. I think  he's...stalking me."

Daniel was at her side in a flash, kneeling at her feet. "Who? Who's the  guy? Where does he live? What do you mean, not taking it well? Did he  threaten you? Want me to talk to him? Let's go right now."

"No! Daniel, you'll just make thing worse." She looked at me. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be stupid," Daniel growled.

"He's probably not going to do anything." Tears spilled over and ran down her perfect cheeks.

"I'm less than reassured," Daniel said. "Come on. Tell me. Right now."

Lizzie looked at me, rather than her brother. "It's just...like, I was  walking home the other day, and I heard him laughing, but when I turned  around, I didn't see anyone. And then... I don't know. My phone rings at  two in the morning, and it's ‘Unknown Caller.' He never liked the idea  of me trying to be a model. Yesterday, there was a note in my locker  that said I was ugly."

Daniel started to say something, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

"You know," I told Lizzie gently, "if I had a pesky ex and a big strong firefighter brother, I'd probably work that angle."

"Listen to her. She's smart," Daniel said.

"I just want him to leave me alone. I don't think he'd...do anything. You know. Hurt me."

Daniel's arm turned from old-fashioned hard to iron under my hand. I  squeezed his biceps to keep him calm (and for the thrill of it).  "Right," I said. "But even if he's harmless and just being a jerk, it  can't hurt for him to know you have this guy, you know what I mean?"

She picked her cuticle again. "Yeah. I guess."

"So maybe your brother should have a word with him."

"She's right," Daniel said, standing up. "Let's go."

"Daniel! Not this second! I'm getting my pictures done!"

"What's more important, you idiot?" he snapped. "Pictures, or your safety?"

"God! I knew I shouldn't have said anything!"

"Okay, how about this?" I asked. "Does this boy live fairly close?"

"Yes. Over on 8th Avenue."

"Let's finish this part of the shoot. Then you and Daniel can go talk to  the guy, Max and I will get a coffee, and we'll meet you at Daniel's  after."

"Perfect," Daniel said, crossing his Thor-like arms.

"No. Please come with us," Lizzie said. "Daniel will beat Ewan up, and  then the police will come and Daniel will get fired and Mom will have a  fit and tell me how she'd only planned to have four kids, not five."

"Ewan?" Daniel said. "You dated a guy named Ewan? You didn't sleep with  him, did you? Because that would break Ma's heart, and then I have to  kill him, and you will go to the convent."

"Daniel, shush," I said. "You're not in a position to criticize names. Didn't you date a girl named Waterfall once?"

He glared at me. "I don't remember."

"Of course you don't, you slut," Lizzie said.

Max sighed, which silenced the rest of us. "Let me fix your makeup,  honey. Then your brother can go scare the shit out of this boy, and  we'll all be in the mood for drama shots."

"Like there's not enough drama with her already," Daniel muttered.

But Lizzie perked up, and within fifteen minutes, I had some gorgeous shots of her, her shiny hair and lovely smile.         

     



 

"You just glow in this one," I said, showing her the shot. "And your eyes here are gorgeous."

Daniel was pacing, his arms crossed, which made for some first-rate arm  porn. "Can we get going here? Someone threatened my little sister. I'd  like to take care of it."

The little sister sighed. "Chill, Daniel." Now that the problem had a solution, she seemed back to normal.

Max glanced at his watch. "As much as I'd love to come and stand in the  background like the angel of death," he whisper-said, which was exactly  what I'd pictured, "I have to pick up the boys from soccer."

"Okay. I can handle the rest without you. Thanks, Max."

"Talk to you tomorrow." He walked off. A nearby toddler looked at him  and ran wailing to her mommy, making me smile. Good old Max.

I put my camera in the bag. "You sure you guys want me to come?"

"Yes!" Lizzie said. "Please. If you don't mind."

"No, no, it's fine. It's kind of..." Fun, I was going to say. But it was, sort of. So much better than being back home.

Daniel grabbed my bag and the light reflector. He already had Lizzie's suitcase. "Want me to carry something?" I offered.

"Please. I'm a New York City firefighter. I could carry all this, you, her and a German shepherd."

"Be careful. My ovaries are melting," I said, getting a snort from Lizzie. "And are you a firefighter? I somehow forgot that."

"Right?" she said. "I don't think he owns a shirt that doesn't have FDNY on it."

"Hush up and lead the way, Lizzie," he ordered.

Despite the fact that we were on our way to deliver a verbal and  hopefully not physical ass-whupping (or because of it...there was  something very appealing about the outraged Brooklyn male protecting one  of his own), I felt unexpectedly...happy. I snapped a few candids of  Lizzie, who was bouncing around like a puppy now, swinging around a  lamppost, hopping up on a rock, even doing a cartwheel on the grass.

We came out of the park into my old 'hood. Oh, the buildings.

There must be a term for us real estate junkies, who cooed over every  building, every door, every planter. I took a few pictures of them, too,  the gentle brownstones. A boy of about seven or eight skateboarded past  me wearing a David Bowie T-shirt and pink-printed jeans. Ah, the  hipster spawn.

When was the last time I'd been back in Park Slope? Two months? More?  Nathan and I had come out for the biannual dinner to benefit the  Re-Enter Center in February, and he'd grumbled about the traffic on the  West Side Highway. It was one of his rare bad moods; the weather wasn't  great, and parking, of course, was nonexistent, and the dinner was not  the type of gala he usually went to; it was a spaghetti supper in the  cafeteria filled with parolees.

Daniel hadn't been there; he'd been working, and I remember wishing he'd  been there to meet Nathan and see that I was happily married. And  maybe-maybe-to show Nathan that I had an extremely good-looking friend.  You know how we women are.

Speaking of the man, the legend, the hot firefighter, Daniel was half a  block ahead of me, his long legs and fury making him a lot faster. I ran  to catch up. Lizzie pointed to the door and then cringed as Daniel ran  up the stairs and pounded on the front door.

A young man opened the door. "Is this him?" Daniel asked his sister.

"Yes," Lizzie said.

Daniel grabbed him by the shirt, earning a yelp, and hauled him onto the  stoop. Closed the door behind him so no parents would interfere (I  assumed). The boy was cute, already manly but like a blade of grass  compared to Daniel.

Daniel gave him a shake. "Did you threaten my little sister?" he  growled. "This angel? This beautiful girl who means the world to me? Did  you scare her somehow? Did you in any way make her life less wonderful  for even one minute?"

The boy's eyes were wide, and he wisely opted not to struggle.  "I...uh-Hey, Elizabeth, um, I... No? I mean, if I did, I didn't mean  to?"

"What did he say to you again, Lizzie?"

"He said he'd make me sorry for breaking up with him."

Daniel gave Ewan a disappointed look. "Well, I'd say that sounds like  making her life less wonderful, Ewan. What did you mean by that?"

"Um...I don't know. Nothing?"

"So you didn't mean you'd hurt her or scare her or follow her or bully  her or spread rumors about her or make her life less wonderful in any  way."

"No," squeaked Ewan. "I...I wouldn't do any of those things."         

     



 

"So you were just hurt because she's moved on."

"Yeah."

"And she's perfectly safe in every conceivable way a person can be safe, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Did you know that in addition to me, she has forty-nine other  firefighters in Park Slope who care very deeply about her personal  happiness and safety? And not just that, Ewan. Did you know that we  firefighters consider each other brothers and sisters? We do. So in a  way, Lizzie here has more than ten thousand firefighters here in the  greatest city in the world who are her brothers and sisters. Isn't that  great?"