“No, not an accent,” she said. “You talk as if you got the joke, but didn’t really expect me to get it. Only just now I think I did get it. Isn’t that funny?”

Danny smiled. And as he looked at her, he realized that the hand to the mouth, the way she was looking at the cups instead of at him—this woman was shy.

Not really shy. Just sort of generally embarrassed. He saw this all the time, but not with adults. No, he saw it at high school. He saw it with girls when some guy talked to them. A guy she kind of liked, or maybe liked a lot, and she couldn’t believe he was paying attention to her.

This isn’t Coach Lieder’s wife, thought Danny. This is his daughter.

She called him daddy, not by the habit of a husband and wife, but because he really was her father.

“Do you mind if I ask how old you are?” asked Danny.

“How old do you think?” she asked. But her face showed that she hated the question.

“I’m deciding between sixteen and eighteen,” said Danny.

“What’s wrong with seventeen?” she asked. But there was relief in her voice. Nobody had guessed so young an age in a long time. How could they?

“Seventeen is a nothing age,” said Danny. “Sixteen is driving and eighteen is voting.”

“You can get into R-rated movies by yourself at seventeen,” said Nicki. “Not that I go anywhere.”

“Not that there’s a theater worth going to,” said Danny.

“Not in BV,” said Nicki. “But there’s a theater in Lexington. I just … don’t go out much. I don’t even watch movies on TV anymore. I lose interest, somehow. I fall asleep. No point in renting a movie just to sleep through it.”

“You’ve been sick.”

“Oh, I’m dying,” she said. “There are ups and downs. Right now I think today might be a good day. A very good day. But probably that’s just because of the company.”

“This is very good cocoa,” said Danny.

“Daddy buys me only the best. There’s not much he can do for me, but he can get me first-rate cocoa. He’s so gruff with other people, but he’s really very kind to me. I like to think that only I get to see who he really is.” She looked at him over the cocoa cup as she took a sip. “I know he was angry with you. That’s why I came to the door.”

“Thanks for saving me,” said Danny. “I think your father has a low opinion of my team spirit.”