All the Best Days

Chapter ONE

"And that's it. Have a great Christmas, guys! See you next year."

My students piled out in a rush, the exciting chatter of their conversations leaving the room as I stuffed my books inside my bag.

My phone suddenly rings. Mom calling. I sighed. There was only one reason why mom would call me. She'd be in some trouble that needed fixing. Oh boy. Please not now, Mom. I'm all booked for Hawaii. Please not now.

"Yes, mom?" I reluctantly answered.

"Dani. I hit someone's car. You have to get here right away. I can't deal with this right now. The guy --- he's really angry and..."

"Mom, you know I'm leaving tonight. I got to pack."

"Please Dani. I can't do this."

I sigh again and ask for the address of her whereabouts. Mom was always in some kind of mess, and she relied on me for everything. Not that Mom was helpless. She just assumed that ever since dad left, the universe owed her something at least. Like someone had to take care of her. Well, at least that's what I think.

I hung up the phone and grabbed my keys. So much for getting ready. I check my watch. Hopefully this thing will be over soon.

In twenty minutes, I reach Mom's location. I see that her car had crashed into a Porsche 718 Boxster. Oh shit. I see now why the owner would definitely be pissed.

I saw Mom standing next to the cars, surveying the damage with a worried frown on her face. She sees me, watches as I parked my car beside hers.

"Oh Dani. Thank you so much for coming. You know how clueless I am with this car insurance stuff. Hell, I don't even know if its way past its expiration." She was rambling on, I noted.

"Its ok, Mom." I say. I wasn't sure if Mom was even insured. This was going to be difficult. I prayed the owner would be nice.

"So," I begin, "where's the guy?"

"The guy," a deep, impatient voice says behind me, "is right here. Are you the daughter she was talking about?"

I turn around to find a tall guy in glasses. He looked rich, alright. Like he stepped out from GQ magazine. "Yes, I'm Dani Granger."

I extend my hand, but he gives me a steely stare. "Let me guess. No insurance."

I cleared my throat nervously. "Listen, Mr...."

"Sebastian Hayes."

"Yes, Mr. Hayes... Um... perhaps we could come to some sort of agreement over this? We aren't exactly the kind of people who can afford to have a Porsche repaired. Maybe we could..." My voice trailed off as I frantically tried to think of a solution.

His green eyes narrowed. Like I wasted his time.

He looked at his watch. "Ms. Granger, unfortunately, I have to be somewhere at the moment. Anyway, here is my card. I'll think of a way you can make it up to me somehow..."

He looked like he was in a hurry. I nod vigorously, almost too vigorously, as I take his card and hurriedly gives him mine. "I promise I'll call you the soonest."

He stares at my exaggerated reaction and suddenly, I don't know if I imagined it, but a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Yup, it kind of looked like he was laughing at me somehow.

A dark limousine suddenly appears. We watch as him enter the limo and in a few seconds, he was gone.

My mom heaves a sigh of relief. "Oh goodness. That went really well, Dani. Don't you have that trip you're going to tonight? Better hurry, if you don't want to be late."

I glare at her. "Yes, thank you for the reminder, Mother."

She looks wistfully at the Porsche, and then at the direction where the limo had gone. "What a pity, though. If I hadn't hit that man's car, he would have been a great match for you." Ignoring my disbelief, she continued, "Look how rich he was. His Porsche gets damaged, so he transfers to a freakin' limo. I heard him talking on the phone. Some assistant of his is picking up this Porsche later. Unbelievable rich people."

"Mom, you don't have to help me look for a husband. I'm twenty-six years old. That's still young if you think about it."

She looks at me disapprovingly. "Well, with your lifestyle, I don't think you'll ever get a boyfriend. Or a husband for that matter. Your idea of a blast is sitting in a coffee shop, reading a book. You never go out with your friends, that is, assuming you have any. And in a few hours, you're going to Hawaii, a dream destination for honeymooners, by yourself... Alone."

I shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with that, Mom."

"Do you know that a lot of boys in the neighborhood find you cute? I have talked to their mothers. If you would have paid more attention to your social life, you wouldn't even have a problem getting a boyfriend."

"Like I said, Mom, I don't think it's a problem."

She sighed exasperatedly. "And here I thought maybe, just maybe for once, for the sake of your troubled mother, you'd try to charm your way out of this with that wealthy guy. I had a strong feeling, despite his seemingly obnoxious, smug character, he would have been interested. And then, we wouldn't have to worry about how we can pay him back for the damage."

I glared at her. "Well, if you'd been more careful, then we would have this problem in the first place."

She ignored me as she snatched the guy's card from my hand. "Sebastian Hayes. CEO of Hayes Enterprises. See??? If you'd listen to me sometimes, you would have gotten a CEO for a husband."

"Whoa, Mom. Stop it. He was a complete jerk. And even if he was nice, like a rich guy like that would even look twice in my direction? No way, Mom. Did you see how he talked to me? He wouldn't even shake my hand."

"That's because you were acting like a frightened little rabbit. Make an effort to flirt, for pete's sake."

I rolled my eyes. My mother can dream all she wants, but a billionaire like Sebastian Hayes would never happen.

***

He sat inside the comfort of his private plane, sipping on a glass of wine. A bunch of documents were sitting on his lap, but his mind was not on it. Interestingly, he couldn't stop thinking about Miss Dani Granger.

He slowly took out the calling card she'd given him from his front jacket pocket. Daniella C. Granger.

"Mr. Hayes? We will be arriving in Honolulu shortly." One of his assistants on the plane informed him.

Sebastian nodded. He looked out the window and then once again, he recounted what had happened this afternoon. Some old, beat up Buick had crashed against his brother's car. At first, he was enraged that his dead brother's favorite car had been damaged by a woman who obviously didn't care if she was a bad driver or not. The woman didn't cooperate either, but only kept insisting that her daughter, who was on her way, would handle everything.

To Sebastian's surprise, the daughter who arrived was an unbelievably gorgeous woman who was also completely unaware of how she beautiful she looked given her simple clothes and disheveled hair. There was even an intelligence about her that was unusual for pretty women in Sebastian's circles. Much to Sebastian's amazement, Dani mentioned the words his brother often said to him, "I'll call you the soonest."

He stared at the card once again. Waiting was not his style, but something told him Dani was not the typical woman. He'd just have to wait for her call then.

***