Daisy's back in town lt-1

by Rachel Gibson

  "What does it say?"

  She shook her head again, then stared straight ahead. "I don't know. I haven't read it."

  "Send it to the shop."

  "I can't do that. He asked me to give it to you in person."

  "If it's so damn important, why didn't he give it to me himself? Instead of sending you?"

  "Pippen, don't throw that," she told her nephew before she turned to face Jack. Red and blue lights from a videogame to the right flashed on her bare shoulder, the side of her neck, and the corner of her mouth. "I think hemeant to at first. For the first year of his illness, he believed he'd beat his cancer. We knew all along that no onehad ever survived glioblastoma, but he was young and healthy and the early treatments seemed to be working.

  He fought so hard, Jack." She turned back to Pippen and grasped the mesh with her hands. "By the time heaccepted that he was going to die, it was too late to talk to you in person." The little heart on her braceletdangled from her wrist. He stared at it, not wanting to feel anything for Steven or for her. Not wanting to give ashit.

  But he did have one question. "How long did he live after he accepted that he was going to the?"

  "About eight or nine months."

  That's what he thought Steven had always wanted someone to "go first" - whether it was telling Daisy she had abig ugly hair bow, or jumping off a roof, or throwing rotten tomatoes at cars. Growing up, it had never botheredhim, but that was a long time ago. "Then there was time to come and talk to me before he died. He didn't haveto send you."

  She laughed ruthlessly. "You've obviously never seen anyone who's gone through radical cancer treatments. Ifyou had, you wouldn't say that." One of her hands dropped to her side, and tears shimmered along the bottomsof her eyelids as she gazed up at him. "You wouldn't have recognized him, Jack." One tear slid from her lashesand ran down her cheek. He clenched his hands to keep from reaching up and wiping it with his fingertips.

  "Toward the end," she continued, "he forgot how to tie his shoes, but he insisted on getting dressed every daylike it mattered. So, I lied his shoes for him... every day. Like it mattered. And it did because it gave him a littledignity, I think. Some feeling like he was still an adult. A man."

  A piece of his heart fell to his stomach and his breath with it. "Stop it, Daisy."

  "Jack -"

  "No." He knew she would not stop until she carved him up. Just like before. He wasn't about to let that happen.

  Not again. Not for anything. "I don't want to hear any more." He was sorry for Steven. Sorrier than he wouldhave thought possible two minutes ago, but he would not let her tear him to shreds.

  "I didn't mean to talk about this now." She wiped the tear from her cheek. "Meet with me later so you can hearme out."

  The only thing I want to hear from you, Daisy Monroe, is the word goodbye," he said, and then he walkedaway. He moved back into the dining room and told his brother and Rhonda he was leaving. For once he wasgrateful to the damn dancing bears and their loud annoying music that didn't allow for questions. He gave hisnieces some money for game tokens and left. He didn't see Daisy when he walked back out, but he wasn'tlooking for her either.

  He took a deep breath and kept right on moving. He didn't think he took a full breath again until he was home.

  Shut up in his house. Locked tight against the memory of Daisy and Steven and him. But the memoriesfollowed him inside, and he sat down hard on his mother's piano bench and put his hands on his knees.

  He'd hated Steven for about as many years as he'd loved him like a brother. But even in his earliest rage, he'dnever wanted Steven dead. Not really. Maybe there had been a time in the beginning when the thought ofSteven wiped off the planet had held a certain appeal, but he had never wanted him to die the way Daisy haddescribed it. Not like that. Not even back when his anger had burned the hottest.

  When it came right down to it, he'd never wanted him to die at all. Because in the end, he understood Steven.

  He understood that he had betrayed Steven every bit as much as Steven had betrayed him.

  It'd been Steven who'd told him about Daisy being stood up for that damn high school prom their senior year. Ithad been both their ideas that Jack take her since Steven already had a date. It had seemed so simple at the time.

  Take Daisy so she wouldn't spend the night crying her eyes out. No big deal, but that night had changed all theirlives.

  Jack didn't really remember the actual dance, other than trying to touch as little of Daisy as possible. What hedid remember, though, was standing on her front porch looking down at her, wanting her so much he ached, andtelling himself to leave. To get into his car and drive away.

  Then she kissed him.

  Compared to kisses he'd experienced with other girls, it was nothing really. Just her closed lips pressed to his,but it had hit him square in the chest. He'd been stunned and angry and he'd pushed her away. Then she'dtouched the side of his neck and looked up at him as if she wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her. Asmuch as he'd always wanted her.

  "Please, Jack," she'd whispered, and even as he'd lowered his mouth for more, he'd told himself it was amistake. Even as he'd stood there, kissing her and tasting her mouth, he'd told himself to stop. Even as he'd kepthis grasp on her shoulders, he'd pulled her into his chest and felt the weight of her breasts against hint Even ashe told himself that it could not happen again, he'd known that it would. He'd wanted her for years, and onelittle bite had not been enough.

  Not nearly.

  He'd told himself to stay away, but even if he'd been able to control his eighteen-year-old lust, Daisy wouldn'tlet him. At Jimmy Calhoun's party the next night, she'd pulled him into a dark closet and put his hand on herbreast.

  "Touch me, Jack," she'd whispered into his mouth, and he'd about gone off in his boxer shorts.

  A few days later he'd told Steven he couldn't hang out because he was grounded. Then he'd jumped in hisCamaro, picked Daisy up at her house, and they'd driven out to a deserted road. He'd parked and told her aboutSteven, about the two of them being attracted to her, and he explained why he andDaisy had to stop.

  She said she understood. She agreed, then she'd kissed his ear and told him that Steven didn't have to find out.

  "I love Steven. He's my friend," she'd said. "But I don't think of him the same way I think of you. I'm in lovewith you, Jack. I want more from you. I want you to show me how to make love."

  That night he'd taken off her shirt and unhooked her bra. White with tiny blue dots on it Her breasts were themost beautiful things he'd ever seen. Firm and white, her tight pink nipples fit perfectly into his mouth.

  He hadn't made love to her that night No, he'd tried to do the noble thing. He'd told her he didn't mess withvirgins. He'd told himself it was okay as long as he didn't stick his hand in her panties and touch her there. He'dtold himself to go slow with her, but that resolve quickly disappeared like a kid with candy. Then he'd had totell himself it wasn't really wrong unless he took her hymen.

  After two weeks of touching and kissing and rubbing against each other, he'd picked her up and driven with herto a hotel on the outskirts of Amarillo. They'd taken it all the way that night, and he'd leaned the differencebetween sex and making love. He'd learned the difference between sex where just his genitals were involved,and sex that involved his soul. He'd learned that being inside of Daisy Lee burned hint up and left his chestaching. And the whole time he'd known it was wrong. He'd known Steven loved her as much as he did, but he'dtold himself that Daisy was right It was okay as long as Steven didn't find out.

  In public, he and Daisy behaved as they always had, as friends, but it hadn't been easy. Seeing but not touchinghad driven him insane. Watching her walk down the school halls or jump around in her little cheerleader skirt,had made him insanely jealous.

  He hadn't been the only one driven crazy by their situation. Daisy had always wanted him just as much as he'dwanted her, and when he couldn't meet with her, which wasn't often, she'd ac
cuse him of not loving her. Ofbeing with other girls. She'd tell him she didn't love him anymore, then the next chance they got, they'd tear ateach other's clothes and satisfy the lust that burned too hot.

  Neither of them wanted to hurt Steven and they decided to wait until he left for college to be more open abouttheir relationship. Steven had been accepted to the University of Washington, and after high school graduation,he planned to live with his sister and brother-in-law until he could afford his own apartment. Both Jack andDaisy planned to take classes at West Texas A&M, about seventy miles south. They'd planned to tell Steventhat they were in love when he came home for Christmas that year.

  Jack rose from the piano bench and moved into the dark kitchen. He flipped on the light and opened therefrigerator. He pushed aside a quart of milk and reached for a Lone Star instead.

  Being with Daisy had been like having one long orgasm while on a roller coaster. Damn exciting, but not if youwanted some calm.

  He popped the top off his beer and tossed it on the counter. Two weeks after he graduated from high school, hisparents had been killed in a car wreck. They'd been out driving in their '59 Bonneville when a drunk driver hitthem. That old Pontiac may have been built like a tank, but it hadn't been built with safety features. His fatherhad been killed instantly. His mother died on the way to the hospital. And at the age of eighteen, he'd suddenlybecome responsible not only from himself but for Billy too.

  Jack raised the bottle to his mouth and took a drink. Whenever he thought back on that time in his life, he had ahard time remembering details. He'd been torn up and confused and scared. And just plain raw. His whole lifehad changed in an instant, and it had seemed that the more he wanted space to think, the more clinging Daisygot. The more he pushed her away so he could breathe, the tighter she'd held on to him. He remembered thenight he'd told her they needed time apart, that he needed time away from her to think. That he didn't want tosee her for a while. She became hysterical. Then the next time he saw her, she was Steven's wife.

  He recalled exactly what she'd been wearing that night. A blue sun dress with little white flowers. She andSteven had stood in his front yard and asked him to come outside. He remembered walking toward her and herlooking so good to him that he'd wanted to grab her and hold her and tell her to stay with him forever.

  Instead Steven told him that the two of them had married that afternoon. At first, he couldn't believe it. Daisydidn't love Steven. She loved him. But he'd taken one look at her guilty face and knew it was true. He grabbedher and told her she belonged to him, not Steven. He tried to kiss her and touch her and make her admit sheloved him. Steven got between them, and Jack smashed his fist into Steven's face. They proceeded to beat thehell out of each other, but Steven Monroe had never been a fighter. He'd ended up taking the bad end of thebeating.

  Jack raised the beer to his mouth again and swallowed hard. The night he'd lost Daisy, he'd lost Steven too. He'dlost the girl he'd loved and craved and wanted to live with forever.

  He'd lost his best friend. The boy who'd been by his side during every hair-brained adventure. Steven mighthave been a "you go first" kind of guy, but Jack had always known that Steven was right there behind him.

  Backing him up. Ready to go next. Then in the course of one night, they were both gone and Jack was alone.

  He'd learned a valuable lesson that night that he'd lost everything. He'd learned that no one could take from youwhat you didn't give them. No one could slice your insides up if you didn't hand them the knife. He didn't thinkthat made him bitter, just a man who learned from mistakes. And it didn't make him one of those commitment-phobic guys Rhonda was always accusing him of being.

  Hell, he might get married one day. Marriage wasn't something he'd ever rule out, but it wasn't something hewas looking for either If it happened, it happened. He had a family. Billy and Rhonda and the girls were enoughfor him, but there was room in his life for someone else. He was only thirty-three. There was time.

  Except Daisy. There would never be room for Daisy Monroe. Not only had she sliced up his insides, she'dstomped them into the ground. He would never allow Daisy into his life again.

  No, he'd learned his lesson the first time.

  Chapter Seven

  Daisy shoved her tortoise-shell Vuarnet sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose and looked over at Lily, whoconcealed her eyes behind lavender Adrienne Vittadinis.

  Like a cop on a stakeout, Lily backed her Ford Taurus in between a truck and a minivan and shoved the car intopark. The last strain of "Earl Had to Die" wound to a close, and the dying notes of an electric keyboard filled thespace between the two sisters. Normally, Daisy had nothing against the Dixie Chicks, in fact the had two oftheir CDs, but if Lily hit the back arrow on the car's stereo one more time, Daisy wasn't responsible for what themight do next.

  "Do you see him anywhere?" Lily asked as the scanned the parking lot to a stucco apartment complex offEldorado Street. Her hand lowered from the steering wheel, hovered, then she hit the back button.

  "Damn it!" Daisy swore, driven to near madness. "That's the fifth time in a row you've played that song."

  Lily looked across the seat at Daisy. Her brows lowered, and frown lines creased her forehead. "You'recounting? That's warped."

  "Me! I'm not the one wearing out 'Earl Had to Die' while parked outside my soon to be ex-husband'sapartment."

  "It's not his apartment. He's renting a house over on Locust Grove near the hospital. It's her apartment. Kelly theskank," Lily said and returned her attention to the complex.

  The Chicks started with the first verse again, and Daisy leaned over and hit the off button. The car wasblessedly silent. After leaving Showtime last night, Lily had taken a detour, passing Kelly's apartment. She'ddriven past three times like some crazed stalker before dropping Daisy off at their mother's house.

  This morning she showed up bright and early to drop Pippen off so she could "find a job." Daisy took one lookat her sister's flat hair and wrinkled running sweats, and she knew something was up. She told Lily she wascoming along. She pulled on a pair of jean shorts, a black T-shirt, and shoved her feet into flip-flops as shetwisted her hair up onto the back of her head and secured it with a claw.

  "How long have you been doing this?" she asked.

  Lily's hands tightened on the gray steering wheel. "Awhile."

  "Why?"

  "I have to see them together."

  "Why?" she asked again. "That's crazy."

  Lily shrugged, but didn't take her gaze from the apartment complex.

  "What are you going to do if you see them together? Run them down with your car?"

  "Maybe."

  She didn't think her sister would actually mow Ronnie down, but the fact that she was sitting here thinkingabout it was a bit worrisome. "Lily, you can't kill them."

  "Maybe I'll just clip them with the bumper. Or ram Ronnie's balls so he'll be useless to his girlfriend."

  "You can't ram Ronnie Darlington's balls. You'll go to jail."

  "Maybe I won't get caught."

  "You'll get caught The ex-wife always gets caught." She reached over and rubbed Lily's shoulder though her redjogging suit. "You have to stop doing this."

  Lily shook her head as a tear slipped beneath her glasses and ran down her cheek. "Why does he get to behappy? Why does he just get to move on with his girlfriend and be happy while I feel like I have add eating ahole in my heart? He should have to feel what he's done to us, Daisy. He should suffer like Pippen and me."

  "I know."

  "No, you don't. No one has ever broken your heart. Steven died, he didn't run off with a woman and break yourheart."

  Daisy dropped her hand to the seat. "You don't think watching Steven die broke my heart?"

  Lily looked over at Daisy and brushed the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Yes, I guess. But it's different.

  Steven didn't leave you because he wanted to." She sucked in a deep breath and added, "You're lucky."

  "What? Tha
t's a horrible thing to say."

  "I don't mean that you're lucky Steven died, just that you don't have to think about Steven having sex withanother woman. You don't have to wonder if he's kissing her and touching her and loving her."

  "You're right. I have to think of him dead in the ground." She folded her arms beneath her breasts and stared ather sister. "I'm going to let that go because you're having a bad day." But she guessed she wasn't quite ready tolet it go because she couldn't keep from adding, "I know you don't mean to be an insensitive brat. That's just theway you are."

  "And I'm sure you don't mean to be so selfish.

  That's just the way you are."

  Daisy's mouth fell open. She was sitting in her sister's car to keep Lily from doing something stupid, and shewas selfish. "Yeah right, and I want to sit here watching Ronnie's apartment because I have nothing better todo."

  "Do you think I wanted to sit in Showtime last night while you stalked Jack Parrish?"

  "It's not the same thing. It's important that I speak with Jack. You know that." She turned her head and lookedout the passenger-side window at an old lady in a pink housecoat walking her beagle down the sidewalk. "AndI'm not stalking him."

  "I don't think he sees it that way."

  No, he didn't. And after last night, she supposed he had reason to think that. Going to Showtime and crashinghis niece's birthday party might not have been one of her brightest ideas, but she was running out of time. Sheonly had a few more days, and if Jack hadn't lied to her about being out of town, she wouldn't have wasted fourof those days already. She was under the gun and felt the pressure mounting.

  "Did you see how he was with Billy's little girls?" she asked. Watching him walk toward her with those twogirls clinging to him, she'd felt a surprising little pinch in her heart. "He was really good with them, and youcould see that they really love him. You can't fake something like that with kids."

  "Did it make you think you should have stuck around and not married Steven?"