Dreaming of Daisy (A Red Maple Falls Novel, #6)

by Theresa Paolo

  He leaned against the counter, unsure he could rely on his legs to hold him up. “Oh.”

  First Daisy, then his dad and now his mom. Everyone left him.

  “I know this is unexpected, and I had every intention of coming home, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I’m just going back to things I’d rather not remember.”

  “Not all the memories are bad,” he snapped then instantly felt guilty.

  “I know that. Red Maple Falls will always be home to me, and I’ll cherish every memory I made there with you, your father, and your brother, my friends… but so much of Red Maple Falls is your father.”

  “Which is exactly why you should come home.”

  “It doesn’t seem right without him. I’m happy here. I smile and I laugh. I still cry, but I don’t get lost in the sadness anymore.”

  Nick felt like he had to say something, but he didn’t know what. This was the most open his mom had been with him since his dad had died. He closed his eyes, allowing the tension in his neck to ease.

  “You of all people should understand. You never wanted to leave Red Maple Falls, but after Daisy left, it was easier to put everything behind you and move on.”

  Except he never really did move on. He might’ve left Red Maple Falls but that didn’t mean he left Daisy behind. She stayed with him through every lecture, every late-night study session and every exam. He held on to the regrets, the disappointment and the anger, and used his battling emotions as fuel to succeed at a future he knew he could control.

  Running away from grief was a recipe for disaster which was exactly why he wouldn’t do it again. Living in his parent’s house, facing the sad memories was all part of accepting the things he couldn’t change. It was also the only thing he had left to hold onto.

  If his mom didn’t come home, he would truly be alone and that had always been his biggest fear.

  “Do you really think this is the best answer?” he asked, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt.

  “I do. I’m going to look at condos tomorrow. I don’t want to impose on your aunt much longer”

  “But what about the house?”

  Nick looked around at the place that held all of his childhood memories. He could look at a scratch on the floor or a chip in the paint on the wall and suddenly be brought back to a moment in his past. He could remember his dad exactly as he was before he’d gotten sick. The house was all he had left of him.

  “That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Nick sat down at the kitchen table and took a deep breath. He didn’t even bother bracing himself, his mother had already knocked him down. It couldn’t possible get any worse.

  “I was lucky,” she said. “Your father had a great insurance policy and we had money in savings. We paid the house off when you were in high school. I don’t need the money in other words, so I’m giving the house to you to do as you see fit.”

  “What?”

  “You can keep it, remodel it if you want, or you can sell it and take the money. If you sell it, I ask that you give your brother part of the profit.”

  Nick’s thoughts were a jumbled mess in his mind. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to grasp his mother’s words. Sell the house? Was she out of her mind? If she gave him the option there was no way in hell he was selling the house.

  “I don’t expect you to give me an answer now, obviously. You don’t even have to tell me what you plan on doing. I wanted you to know that the choice is yours.”

  “Why?” he asked not understanding why she was dumping this all on him.

  “Honestly… I wanted to sell the house. Like I said too much sadness, but I couldn’t do that to you. Not after everything you did for your dad and me while he was sick. So I’m giving you the choice.”

  “I can’t sell the house, Mom.”

  “I figured that’s what you’d say and that’s okay, but I also don’t want you getting stuck in the past.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Saying and doing are two different things. Don’t tell me, show me.”

  “Like you’re showing me?” he asked with a little too much bite to his tone.

  “I guess so. I’ll never get over your father, but I know he’d want me to let go of the past as much as I can.”

  He heard the crack in his mom’s voice, and it killed him that he couldn’t reach through the phone and comfort her. He hated being so far away, but maybe she was right. She wasn’t him and maybe she needed to stay where she wasn’t consumed by the sadness.

  She cleared her throat, and he imagined her forcing a smile on her face. “All we can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

  Heat climbed Nick’s throat, spreading up his cheeks and into his eyes. He took a deep breath, fighting back the emotions trying to overtake him. “Dad would be proud of you,” he said and not because he thought it was the right thing to say but because he honestly believed it.

  “I like to think so,” she said softly. “So now that’s out of the way. What’s new with you?”

  Daisy’s blonde curls popped into his mind, but he wasn’t going to tell his Mom about that. His muscles were tense enough.

  “Nothing much. Closed a few new accounts this weekend.”

  “That’s fantastic.”

  His call waiting beeped, and he felt like he was being saved by the bell. “I have another call. Can you hold on a second?”

  “No, no go answer it. I was about to go make a pitcher of lemonade and take it outside to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day anyway.”

  “Okay then. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you too, Mom.” Nick hung up, his shoulders deflating as the tension eased. He transferred to the other call. “Hello?”

  “Hey Nick,” Mason’s voice came through the phone, and all the emotion that had been clogging his throat dissipated. “Daisy told me you have her suitcases. I can swing by tonight after I get out of here and grab them if that’s okay.”

  Nick doubted Mason actually had time for that. The brewery was open for another few hours and then he’d have to clean and close everything up. By the time he got to Nick’s it’d be well into the night. He had no desire to see Daisy again, but he found himself saying, “I can bring them to her. Where’s she staying?”

  “I can’t do that to you. I already let you pick her up at the train station when I should have fought you on that.”

  “But you didn’t because you have too much shit on your plate. So just tell me where she’s staying.”

  “My grandparent’s house. Betty thinks my grandpa needs a babysitter.”

  Nick laughed. “Probably because he does.”

  “I don’t know if Daisy is the right choice for that. Not even sure the girl knows how to turn a stove on.”

  Daisy was the only person Nick knew that could set a smoke detector off by boiling water. “Hopefully she learned some of those skills in New York.”

  “I doubt it,” Mason said.

  Me too, Nick thought.

  “Can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. You’ve really helped me out today.”

  If only Mason realized how much he’d helped him over the past year. “Figured it was my turn.”

  “No need to keep score.” There were faint voices on the other end and Nick listened as Mason replied. “Look I have to go. We have a lot to catch up on though.”

  “You bet.”

  “We’ll talk soon then.”

  “By the way, before you go, we’re in Merrimack.”

  “You son of a bitch. You did it again.”

  “I told you I’d be worth it.”

  “I never doubted as much.”

  A smile tugged at the edges of Nick’s mouth. The fact that Mason believed in him from the start meant more than he could ever know and in moments like these, he wished his dad was around so he could see Nick continue to succeed. Nick looked up, knowing somewhere his dad could see him. />
  “I’ll see you later.” Nick hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket, gathering the strength to walk out the door and see Daisy again.

  It was a favor for Mason nothing more. Once he did this he could put Daisy back where she belonged, out of his mind.

  He headed for the door and when he swiped his keys off the table, Tyler’s words from earlier popped back into his head.

  As long as that favor doesn’t wind up in your bed.

  Chapter 5

  Daisy pulled up to Nick’s house and put the Jeep in park. After texting Mason, she decided to come get the bags herself, show Nick that she was a different girl and didn’t expect people to go out of their way for her. She was more than capable of getting her own stuff.

  She wasn’t expecting the flood of nostalgia that practically smacked her across the face as she slid out of the Jeep and faced the house. She could see her and Nick rushing through the door after school because they knew they had exactly an hour and thirteen minutes before his mom got home for the day, an hour and twenty-two minutes before his brother did, and an hour and thirty-four minutes before his dad. They had it down to a science, knowing when they could sneak away to his bedroom and for how long.

  A laugh slipped through her lips when she thought about the time his dad unexpectedly came home early—the mad dash to get their clothes back on and how Nick had tripped over his own pants and went head first into the wall. Even with that misstep, he’d been able to get into the living room while she disappeared into the bathroom and his dad had been none the wiser. Though she wondered if they were as slick as they’d thought.

  So many memories… memories that made her smile and laugh. Memories that she’d recall whenever she’d have a bad day. Sometimes they didn’t make her smile, instead they ripped at her heart, reminding her of the sacrifices she’d made.

  She’d spent so much time at the Davis’ house. Mr. Davis was like a second father to her and she didn’t even come home for the funeral. She lied to her family and told them she had an audition for a leading role she couldn’t miss and then tried to inadvertently lay blame on Nick.

  He wouldn’t want her there after what she had done to him. It would’ve been weird and uncomfortable and that was the last thing he’d needed. And though it may have been mostly true, there was also the small part that she couldn’t afford a train ticket home. A sad reality that she’d refused to admit to anyone.

  “Daisy?” Her eyes darted to Nick standing just outside the door, keys in hand and a look of confusion on his face. “What are you doing here?”

  She moved closer to the door and hitched her thumb over her shoulder toward his truck. “I came to get my stuff.”

  “I was about to bring it to you,” he said and there was something in his eyes that she couldn’t quite grasp, a sadness or despair.

  She resisted the urge to ask him what was wrong. She offered him a smile but it didn’t help loosen the rigid set of his jaw, so she settled with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. “I didn’t want you to have to go out of your way.”

  “That was thoughtful.”

  “I have my moments.” She could hear the reserved hostility in his voice, and she wanted to ease it. “I heard your Mom’s visiting her sister in South Carolina.”

  His eyes darkened to two black stones and his lips pressed into a flat line. “She’s no longer visiting,” he growled. “She’s staying.”

  “Oh…” Hot waves of anger seemed to roll off of him and Daisy stepped back with the force it. She bit her lip and debated taking the step back. It was obvious he didn’t want to be bothered, especially by her, but something upset him and while she hadn’t been there for him during his dad’s last days, she was there now. “I didn’t know.”

  “Me neither, until about twenty minutes ago.”

  That could explain the harsh clip of his voice, the rigid set of his jaw and his dark glare that was now directed entirely on her.

  She ignored the voice in her head telling her to walk away and took the step back toward him. She went to reach for his arm then stopped herself. “How do you feel about that?”

  He looked at her like she’d lost her damn mind. “Why the hell do you care?”

  “Sorry, I just…” Her words faltered under the intensity of his gaze.

  “You just what?” he barked.

  “Forget it.” Whatever he was feeling was still too fresh and she was probably the last person in the world he wanted to talk to about it. She came here to get her bags and that’s exactly what she was going to do. So she turned toward the truck but something in her gut told her she could fix this. And if she couldn’t she at least had to try.

  “I want to see something?” she said and hurried by him.

  “Where the hell are you going?” he called after her, but she didn’t stop. Not even when her heels sunk into the snow and she lost her footing. She was sure she was going down before she managed to regain her balance. She immediately wished she’d put on a more sensible pair of boots, but she didn’t originally plan to cut across his lawn, trek through the deeper snow and into the woods behind his house.

  Cold puffs of air billowed from her mouth but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t leave without knowing and she hoped her little adventure would help distract Nick for a little while. If she could just get him to smile for a single second, she would claim a victory.

  They broke through the first line of trees and she curved to the right. Her eyes settled on a familiar, tall, sturdy maple tree and she came to a stop. She scanned up the makeshift ladder to the decade old tree house she’d helped him build along with his father and little brother.

  They had been friends since they were kids, but that summer together was when their friendship had turned to something more. It was the summer of not only her first kiss but also the first time and—if she was completely honest with herself—the last time she’d fallen in love.

  “I can’t believe it’s still standing,” she said.

  She waited for him to spit fire at her, but instead he looked up at the old structure. “Had a few rotted beams over the years, but I replaced them. I couldn’t watch it deteriorate.”

  “I’m happy you didn’t. We had so many good times up there. Do you remember when your Dad ripped his pants on that nail?”

  He didn’t say anything but the corner of his lip quirked ever so slightly. It wasn’t a full-blown smile but it was a start.

  “It went all the way down his backside.”

  “My mom thought he was attacked by a bear.”

  Daisy laughed and she noticed Nick’s shoulders relax a smidge.

  She glanced over to the stairs, which were nothing more than pieces of wood nailed to the tree. It had been years since she stepped foot on that ladder. “Can we go up?”

  “Just be careful with those contraptions you have on your feet.”

  “They’re called boots.”

  “They are too high on the wrong side to be considered boots.”

  “They’re fashionable,” she argued.

  “And completely impractical.”

  She stepped up on the first wrung and turned to him not expecting to be eye to eye. She ignored the unexpected rush of heat surging through her body. “I didn’t come back here so you could make fun of what I’m wearing.”

  “Why did you come back here, then?” he asked.

  “I can tell something’s bothering you and this used to be the place you went to think. I was curious if it was still here.”

  “You could’ve just asked.”

  “What’s the fun in that?”

  She turned back to the tree and scaled the rest of the way until she popped through a square opening in the floor.

  She pulled herself up into the small structure and when she was finally on two feet, she looked around.

  Everything was exactly as she remembered it, from the navy blue indoor/outdoor area rug to a bench Nick’s dad had made out of a fallen oak tree and a bean bag chair that she was sur
prised hadn’t disintegrated by now.

  She walked over to the far-right corner, where the tree trunk cut through the house, and there, carved in the wood, was N&D 4eva surrounded by a heart.

  She reached out, unable to help herself, and traced the outline of the heart with her finger. The day he’d carved it was the day they’d lost their virginity to each other. She dropped her hand, not wanting to think about that perfect day, and turned away before the memories flooded her mind.

  She ran her finger down the curtain, remembering the exact day she showed up with them and the utter resistance that had been in Nick’s eyes. Of course he eventually caved. He always did. “I can’t believe you kept the curtains,” she said.

  He leaned against the far wall, arms crossed over his chest. “Someone once told me without curtains this place was just a pile of wood. She told me curtains made it a house.”

  “She sounds like a smart girl.”

  “She was.”

  A smile tugged at the edge of her mouth. “That sounded like a compliment.”

  “If you say so.”

  She turned back to him not expecting his gaze to be locked on her so intently. He wiped a hand over his face but that didn’t change the fact that she caught him staring at her. Heat bloomed in her cheeks and she ducked her head away, turning back to their carved initials.

  “What’s going to happen to this place now that your mom’s not coming back?” she asked.

  “I have to figure that out.”

  She spun back toward him. “You?”

  He nodded. “She’s letting me decide whether I want to keep the house or sell it.”

  “That’s a big decision.” She couldn’t imagine being put in that position. Her parents’ house, the farm… She knew no matter where she went and however long she was gone for she could always come home, and it would always be there. If for whatever reason she was given the choice to sell it or keep it, she’d be lost. “But I know you’ll make the right choice. You always do.”

  He scoffed. “Not always.”

  She remembered him down on one knee in front of her. How after he’d asked her to marry him, she’d been stunned into silence. She never had given him an answer. The hurt etched into his boyish features was an image she would never forget.