A Dare Between Enemies

Chapter 5

"Dare, can you explain to me what has gotten in to you lately?" Naomi scolded into her phone. She heard him grumbling under his breath. "Speak up, Dare."

"It was an accident, Mommy."

She let out a frustrated sigh as she leaned back in her office chair. "Dare, do you understand that I am busy at work? I don't like to get phone calls during the day about you misbehaving. And don't you lie to me. Calling Ms. Shondra 'stupid' is not an accident. How many times have I told you that you shouldn't be rude to adults, especially Ms. Shondra, who has taken care of you since you were a baby? Haven't I told you that stupid is a bad word?"

She paused for a moment, in case he had anything to say for himself, but when he remained silent she continued on. "This is the last straw, Dare. You've been misbehaving all weekend, even after I told you to change your attitude, and you still haven't learned your lesson. You're grounded, which means no toys, no movie night and absolutely no new Power Rangers episode for you tonight."

"No!" he exclaimed in terror, breaking his resolution of silence. "I'm sorry, Mommy. I'm sorry!"

"No, Dare," she countered rigidly, "You did something wrong and now you have to be punished for it. I'm not the one you need to apologize to. Go on and tell Ms. Shondra that you're sorry and when I get home we are going to have a talk about you becoming a trouble-maker."

She heard his whimpered cries through the receiver before passing the phone back to Ms. Shondra. After spending a few minutes apologizing to her she clicked off her phone. Naomi was grateful for Ms. Shondra's understanding. Being a retired grade school teacher, she had exceptional tolerance and patience with children Dare's age so his outlandish behavior wasn't something she hadn't seen before. But her son's behavior was inexcusable.

When she had picked up Dare from Nathan's barbecue Saturday night, Sophie had ran to her in tears because Dare had pushed her to the ground. Naomi had been angered as well as surprised that he would do something like that. Dare had never been violent toward Sophie or anyone and when she asked for an explanation, he poked out a stubborn chin and keep his mouth shut. Even when Naomi had instructed him to apologize to Sophie he refused. And although Nathan had been understanding, she could see that Dare's stubbornness was rubbing him the wrong way.

The rest of the weekend had continued the same way. His grumpy attitude took on an edge and she had tried to snap him out of it, but nothing had worked. She rubbed at her temples to ease the tension. Without a doubt she was going to straighten out Dare tonight with a long talk.

Leaning forward, she looked down at last quarter's financial reports that her accountants had prepared. She glanced over the papers with gloom, which further added to her stress load. Like she had predicted, the business's profits suffered a major hit with the opening of Project Planning and by the projections made in the report, if the pattern continued, Marked Impressions would be in financial ruin within the next year. Her stomach twisted in fear. What would she do then? How would she be able to take care of Dare?

The smell of flowers wafted in the air and automatically she swiveled her chair toward the window sill to look at the vase of orchids that A.E & Associates had had delivered to her office earlier. It was unlike the beautiful bouquet of carnations that sat outside in the waiting area for all the co-workers to enjoy. The vase full of orchids she was staring was personally sent from Darryl. She reached over, plucked the card from its holder and read the message once more.

Thinking of you -Darryl

She felt her face heat up in a hot blush. Though she wasn't willing to admit it, she was thinking about him, too, but more specifically about that kiss. Oh, that kiss, she thought as she closed her eyes, replaying every detail in her head. That kiss was incredible. The pit of her stomach still quivered at the memory, leaving her hot and bothered and out of breath. She had already done away with the jacket she had on when she came into the office but nothing had helped cool off her overheated body whenever she had recounted the way Darryl's mouth worked hers.