Daisy's back in town

Chapter Three

The Lovett Country Club sat on the edge of an eighteen-hole golf course. #Elm trees lined the drive from thegates to the entrance of the building. Visitors had to walk across a bridge to get to the front doors. A stream ranbeneath the bridge and emptied into a pond filled with koi, their red and white bodies swaying in the slowcurrent.

At half past eight, Daisy pulled into a parking spot next to a Mercedes. This was the first time she'd gone out byherself since Steven's passing, and it did feel strange. Like she'd forgotten something at home. The sort ofpanicky feeling she'd usually get when she was in line at the airport before a trip, like she'd left the tickets onthe dining room table even though she knew they were in her purse. She wondered how much longer until thepanicky feeling went away? Until she was used to going out alone.

And dating. Forget it. She didn't think she'd ever be ready for that.

Daisy entered the glass double doors and caught a glimpse of her smeared reflection in the polished brass railingas she walked past the restaurant and down a long hall toward the banquet room. She wore a red sleevelesscocktail dress she'd borrowed from Lily. Daisy was a few inches taller than her five-foot-two-inch sister, a littlebigger in the chest too. Red might not be the most appropriate color to wear to a wedding reception, but it wasthe only dress Lily owned that wasn't too short or too tight across Daisy's breasts.

Covered silk buttons ran up the right side from the hem to her armpit, and her mother's small red purse hungfrom a long gold chain on her shoulder.

She set the gift she'd bought earlier on a table beside the door, and she moved just inside the banquet room. Thebridal party stood before teal-and-gold swags in a traditional line while a male photographer snapped pictureswith a digital camera.

About two hundred people toasted the happy couple with flutes of champagne. Teal and gold festoonedeverything and colored candles flickered atop round tables covered in white cloths. To Daisy's left, rows ofchafing dishes served what looked like barbeque chicken, roast beef, vegetables, and chili. Most of the guestswere already seated while others milled around.

The photographer wasn't using a video light to capture the glow of the room, which Daisy thought was too bad.

If she'd been hired for the shoot, she would have packed a number of cameras and numerous lenses in hergearbox. In this particular room, she would have used 1600color film with on-camera flash and a video light toenhance ambient light in the background. Every photographer worked a little differently, though. This guy'sphotographs would probably turn out all right.

"...to Jimmy and Shay Calhoun," someone toasted. Daisy grabbed a flute of champagne and turned her attentionfrom the photographer to tile bridal party. As her gaze scanned the line, she raised tile glass to her mouth,careful not to smudge her red lipstick. Behind her flute, Daisy smiled as her eyes took in her friend from highschool. Sylvia was decked out in some sort of teal gauze and gold satin harem-girl outfit. She was as big as ahouse. Not fat. Very pregnant. She looked tired, but as cute as ever, and was as short as Daisy remembered; andshe still wore the same lacquered bangs and big hair as in school.

Shay looked beautiful with her Texas-sized curls bouncing at her shoulder and soft veil floating like a cloudaround her. Jimmy Calhoun was better looking than he'd been when Daisy had lived here before. Or maybe hejust cleaned up nice in his tux. She wasn't sure, but his red hair was a shade or two darker and all his freckleshad faded.

"Excuse me, ma'am," a voice she instantly recognized spoke directly behind her. She scooted sideways out ofthe doorway and glanced over her shoulder, looking past the defined line of Jack Parrish's mouth and up into hisbeautiful eyes.

His gaze locked with hers as he passed, and the sleeve of his charcoal blazer brushed her bare arm. Surprisehalted his footsteps for about half a heartbeat, and within that fraction of a second, something hot and aliveflashed behind his eyes. Just as quickly it was gone, and Daisy wasn't sure if it had been a trick of the twochandeliers overhead or of the flickering candlelight. He moved past, and she watched his broad shoulders andthe hack of his head as he wove his way through the crowd toward the bride and groom. His dark hair brushedthe back of his collar and looked finger-combed, as if he'd just taken off his hat, tossed it on the seat of his car,and fixed his hair. In his suit, he looked liked he'd just stepped out of a fashion magazine. And as always, hemoved with an easy, laid-back stride that made it clear he was in no great hurry to get anywhere.

A little flutter that had nothing to do with his looks, and everything to do with who he was to her and her son,stirred in her stomach.

"Daisy Lee Brooks!" Sylvia hollered and Daisy turned her gaze to her friend. "You get over here." Sylvia'svoice had always been bigger than the rest of her. It had made her an excellent cheerleader.

Daisy laughed and walked to the front. She moved to stand beside Jack, who was speaking with the groom. Shehugged her friend and Mr. and Mrs. Brewton. Sylvia introduced her to her husband, Chris, then said, "Youremember Jimmy Calhoun."

"Hello, Daisy." Jimmy grinned, his silver tooth gone, replaced by porcelain. "You look great."

"Thank you." She glanced up at Jack who was doing a good job of pretending she wasn't alive. Her gazelowered to his shoulders and the blue dress shirt between the lapels of his suit jacket. He wasn't wearing a tie.

She returned her attention to the groom. "You look good yourself, Jimmy. I can't believe you married little ShayBrewton. I remember when Sylvia and I tried to teach her to ride a bike and she ran into a tree."

Shay laughed and Jimmy said, "I bet you thought I'd he in prison by now."

In the seventh grade, Jimmy and his Calhoun brothers had piled into their daddy's Monte Carlo, pressed theirnaked behinds to the windows, and mooned the middle school. In the tenth, Jimmy had called in a bomb threatbecause he wanted to get out of school a few hours early. He got caught because he used the pay phone outsidethe principal's office. "The thought never entered my head."

Sylvia laughed because she knew better. Daisy felt herself relax. The flutter in her stomach calmed. Now wasn'tthe time nor place to tell Jack about Nathan. She didn't have to think about it. She could relax. Have fun withold friends. It had been a long time since she'd had a little fun.

"Jack, do you remember the time you and Steven and I got arrested for racing out on the old highway?" Jimmyasked.

"Sure." He pulled back his cuff and looked at his watch.

"Were you there that night, Daisy?"

"No." She once again glanced up at the man by her side. "I never liked it when Steven and Jack raced cars. Iwas always afraid someone would get hurt."

"I was always in control." Jack dropped his hand to his side and his fingers brushed her dress. He lowered hisgaze to her, and his eyes were without expression when he said, "I was always safe."

No, being with him had rarely been safe.

"I was real sorry to hear about Steven," Jimmy said and she returned her gaze to him. "He was a good guy."

Daisy never knew what to say to that, so she raised her glass to her lips.

"Shay told me he died of brain cancer."

"Yes." It had a name, glioblastoma. And it was horrible and always fatal.

"I've been fixin' to get a hold of your momma to ask how you're doing," Sylvia told her.

"I'm okay." Which was the truth. She was okay. "Goodness, when's this baby due?" she asked Sylvia, purposelychanging the subject.

"Next month." She rubbed her big belly. "And I am more than ready. Do you have children?"

"Yes." She was very aware of Jack, of the sleeve of his jacket so close to her arm that if she moved just afraction, she would feel the texture of it against her bare skin. "My son, Nathan," she said and purposely didn'treveal his age. "He's in Seattle with Steven's sister Junie and her husband Oliver." She glanced up at Jack andgone was his carefully blank expression. Surprise filled his green eyes and lifted a brow. "You remember Juniedon't you?"

"Of course," he said and looked away.

"I remember her," Sylvia elaborated. "She was a lot older than its. I remember Steven's parents were pretty oldtoo."

Steven had been a real surprise when his parents were in their mid forties. They were both sixty-three when hegraduated high school. His mother was gone now, and his father lived in a retirement community in Arizona.

"Shay and I are gonna get to work on making a baby tonight." Jimmy laughed. "Don't want to wait too late inlife to have a baby."

Jack reached inside his jacket and pulled a cigar from the breast pocket of his dress shirt. "Congratulations," hesaid and handed it to Jimmy.

Jimmy pulled the cigar through his fingers. "My favorite. Thanks."

"Don't I get one?" Shay protested with a smile.

"I didn't know you smoked cigars," Jack said as he reached for her hand. He took it from the folds of her dressand brought it to his mouth. "Congratulations, Shay. Jimmy is a very lucky man." He kissed her knuckles anddrawled just above a whisper, "If he doesn't treat you right, you let me know."

Shay smiled and touched her curls with her free hand. "Are you going to open a can of whoop ass on mybehalf?"

"For you, I'll open two." He dropped her hand, then he excused himself.

Daisy's gaze fell to his broad shoulders as he made his way to the bar set up in one corner.

"He could always charm the pants off anyone," Sylvia sighed. "Even in the fifth grade."

She turned her attention to Sylvia as the others around them talked about football. While they debated whetherthe Cowboys needed stronger defense or offense, Daisy leaned her head closer to Sylvia.

"What happened with you and Jack in the filth grade?" she asked her friend.

A wistful smile curved Sylvia's lips, and the two of them turned to watch Jack order a beer at the bar.

"Come on," Daisy wheedled.

"He talked me into showing him my bottom."

In the fifth grade? She and Jack and Steven had been playing NASCAR in the fifth grade. Not doctor. "How?"

"He told me he'd show me his if I showed him mine."

"That's all it took?"

"I don't have brothers, and he doesn't have sisters. We were curious and checked out each other's bottoms.

Nothing bad happened. He was real sweet about it."

She'd never known that while he was boring her with Richard Petty stats, he was running around checking outother girl's bottoms. She wondered what else she didn't know.

"Don't tell me you were friends with Jack Parrish all those years and never showed him yours."

"Not in the fifth grade."

"Honey, sooner or later, everyone showed Jack their bottom." She ran her hand over her big belly. "It was just amatter of time."

Daisy was seventeen and practically had to beg him to look at her bottom. If she remembered correctly, hiswords had been, "Stop, Daisy. I don't mess around with virgins." But he had, and they'd begun a wild sexualrelationship that they'd kept secret from everyone. Even Steven. Especially Steven. It had been crazy andthrilling and intense. A roller coaster ride of love and jealousy and sex. And it had ended very badly.

Long forgotten memories rushed at Daisy, as if suddenly set free. One here, another there. A tangled mess ofmemory and chaotic emotion, as if they'd been smashed together, thrown in a box, and hurriedly taped shut.

Waiting all these years for someone to rip the tape off and throw open the tabs.

She recalled her own wedding. She and Steven at the courthouse. Her mother and his parents standing withthem. Steven squeezing her hand to keep it from shaking. She'd loved Steven Monroe for years before shemarried him. Maybe not a hot burning kind of love. Maybe she didn't crave him like a drug, but that kind oflove didn't last. It burned out. The love she'd felt for Steven had always been warm and comfortable, likecoming home cold and tired, curling up in front of a fire. That kind of love lasted, and it would last long afterSteven's passing.

She remembered riding with Steven in his car, on their way to tell Jack about their marriage. Her pregnancy hadmade her sick to her stomach. What they were about to do made her chest tight. She'd started to cry even beforethey pulled onto Jack's street. Again, Steven had held her hand.

She and Steven had been through a lot together, and everything they'd faced had brought them closer. Their firstfew years of marriage while he was attending school had been rough financially. Then when Nathan turnedfour, Steven got a good job and they decided to add another child to their family only to find out that Steven hada low sperm count. They'd tried everything to conceive, but nothing worked. After five years, they decided togive up and were happy with their lives.

The room suddenly went dark and Daisy was jarred from the past. A spotlight shined on the center of the dancefloor, and she tried to push all thoughts of the past from her head. led and the Rippers picked up theirinstruments and Jimmy and Shay danced their first dance as husband and wife.

When Daisy had decided to come home and tell Jack about Nathan, she hadn't counted on the memories. Shehadn't even known they were there, locked away, waiting for her.

Daisy moved away from the dance floor and placed her empty glass on a table. She headed to the bathroom inthe bar down the hail, and while she washed her hands, she looked at her reflection. She was no longer a scared,heartbroken girl. She was a lot tougher than she'd been growing up. While she wasn't here to relive memories,she wouldn't hide from them either. She was here to tell Jack about Nathan. She would tell him that she wassorry and hope he'd understand. Although she was fairly certain he wouldn't understand and would make thingsdifficult, she still had to do the right thing. No more putting it off. No more hiding.

She reapplied her red lipstick and dropped it into her purse. Let Jack do his worst. She might even deserve someof it, but she'd survive. She'd lived with just about the worst that life could deal her, and nothing Jack could dowould be as bad as that.

Daisy stopped in the bar and bought a glass of wine, then made her way back toward the banquet room.

Jack stood in the long hail with one shoulder shoved against the wall. He held a cell phone in one hand, theother was in the front pocket of his pants. He glanced up and watched her as she moved toward him.

"That'd be fine," he said into the phone. "I'll see y'all first thing Monday."

Her first impulse was to hurry past, but she stopped in front of him instead. "Hey, Jack."

He disconnected and put the phone in his pocket. "What do you want, Daisy?"

"Nothing. Just being friendly."

"I don't want to he 'friendly' with you." He straightened away from the wall and took his hand from his pocket.

"I thought I made myself clear last night."

"Oh, you did." She took a drink of her wine, then asked, "How's Billy?" All she remembered of Jack's brotherwas a pair of shiny blue eyes and sandy blond hair. Other than that, she couldn't recall much about him.

He looked over her head and said, "Billy's good."

She waited for him to elaborate. He didn't. "Married? Kids?"

"Yep."

"Where's Gina?" His gaze met hers and, in that suit, his eyes appeared more gray than green.

"At Slim Clem's, I imagine."

"She's not here?"

"I don't see her."

She took another sip of her wine. She was going to be pleasant if it killed her. Or him. "You didn't bring herwith you?"

"Why would I?"

"Isn't she your girlfriend?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

They both knew what had given her that idea. "Oh, maybe because she was wearing your shirt last night, andnothing else."

"You're wrong about that. She was wearin' a black lace thong." One corner of his mouth slid up, purposelyprovoking her - the jerk. "And a satisfied smile. You remember that smile, don't you, Daisy?"

She would not lose her temper and give him what he wanted. "Don't flatter yourself, Jack Parrish. You weren'tthat memorable."

"What? I was talking about Gina's smile last night." The other corner of his mouth slid up and laugh linesappeared in the corners of his eyes. "What were you talking about, buttercup?"

They both knew he hadn't been talking about Gina's smile. "You haven't changed since high school." She gavehim a withering glance and walked away before she lost her temper and said something she might regret. Likethat he should grow up.

Jack watched her go. His smile flat-lined, and his gaze slid from her blond hair, all slick and smooth, down theback of her red dress to her behind and the backs of her thighs. Who the hell was she to judge him? She'dscrewed around with him, said she'd love him forever; then married his best friend the same week he buriedboth his parents. In his book, that made her a hardcore hitch.

She disappeared into the banquet room, and Jack waited a few moments before he followed. At thirty-three,Daisy was even more beautiful than she'd been at eighteen. He'd seen it last night. In his kitchen, and he saw itnow So much about her was different, yet the same. Her hair was still the same shiny blond, but it wasn't bigand curly and sprayed stiff. Now it was smooth and sexy as hell. She'd grown an inch maybe two, to what hefigured was about five-foot-five, but she carried herself like she was still queen of the Lovett Rose Festival. Herlarge eyes were still the color of rich mahogany, but they'd lost the innocence and passion that he'd once foundso fascinating.

He walked down the hall and entered the dark banquet room. Marvin stopped him to talk about the '67 FordFairlane he'd just bought.

"It has its original 427," he said while Jed and the Rippers sang a Tim McGraw song about a girl in a miniskirt.

Like a magnet, Jack's gaze found Daisy. She stood at the edge of the lighted floor across the room, chatting withJ. P. Clark and his wife, Loretta. Daisy's red dress hugged the curves of her body without looking too tight. Sheclearly hadn't gone too fat. Didn't have thick ankles or a droopy butt. Which was too bad, as far as Jack wasconcerned.

For years he'd forgotten about her and Steven. He'd buried them in the past and got on with his life. Now hereshe was, dredging it all back up again.

Cal Turner approached her and she followed him to the middle of the dance floor. Everyone knew Cal was ahorny bastard and would naturally take all those buttons on the side of that dress as an invitation to let hisfingers do the walking. Maybe that's what she wanted. To get something going with Cal. Didn't matter, though.

It was none of Jack's business.

"Tile vinyl roof needs to be replaced," Marvin said, then rambled on about the interior.

Cal wrapped an arm around Daisy's waist and she smiled up at him. Light from the crystal ball slid along hercheek and got caught in her hair. Her red lips parted and she laughed. Daisy Lee Brooks, the fantasy of everyhorny guy at Lovett High, was back in town, turning heads and leading guys on with a smile.

Some things never changed.

Only she wasn't Daisy Lee Brooks. She was Daisy Monroe and she had a kid. A son. A baby with Steven. Hedidn't know why that surprised him. It shouldn't. Of course they'd had a kid. When he thought about it, it wasmore surprising that they'd just had the one.

Unexpected and unwanted, the memory of her flat stomach flashed across his brain. His mouth tasting her bareskin just above her navel as he gazed up into her face. At the hot drowsy passion in her eyes as he worked hisway down. Hcr lips moist and abraded from his kiss.

"Excuse me," he said just as Marvin was getting all hot about the Ford's dual carhs. He walked toward the exitsign and out the doors. He moved down the hall and out the front doors of the country club. The warm Junenight touched his face and throat. The sound of insects was thick in the air. There was some sort of pond toJack's right and lightning bugs blinked like white Christmas lights on the golf course beyond. A memory ofcatching lightning hugs with Steven and Daisy flashed across his brain. That had been back before insecticidesreduced their numbers, and they were still easy to catch in Mason jars. He, Steven and Daisy would smear thebugs on their arms, making fluorescent streaks that lasted a good ten minutes.

He pulled a cigar from his breast pocket and walked to a stone bench just beyond the lights of the club. He satand slid off the cigar hand. He stuck it in the corner of his mouth and patted his pockets, searching for the boxof matches he'd picked up in the tobacco store. He didn't smoke that often, but he did occasionally enjoy anexpensive cigar.

His pockets came up empty and he stuck the cigar back in his breast pocket. A bank of windows from therestaurant threw watery light on the pond. He ran his fingers through his hair, leaned his head back against thebuilding, and stared out at the night. His life was good. He had more business than he could handle and wasmaking more money than he needed. He'd taken Parrish American Classics and made it bigger and better thanhis father had ever dreamed. He owned his home and his business. He drove a Mustang worth seventy grandand a new Dodge Ram truck to pull his twenty-one-foot boat.

He was content, so why did Daisy have to show up now and dredge up old memories that were better left longburied? Memories of him and her. Of him and Steven. Of the three of them.

From almost the first day in grade school, he and Steven had both been a little in love with Daisy Brooks. It'dstarted out innocent enough. Two boys looking across the playground and seeing a little girl with gold hair andbig brown eyes. A girl who could play baseball, swing on the monkey bars, and outrun them. The attraction hadbeen pure and naive.

In the third grade, when Daisy had worried about who she'd marry when she grew up, they'd all three decidedthat she would marry the both of them. They'd all live in the tree house they planned to build, and Jack wouldget rich and famous driving NASCAR. Steven would become a lawyer like his dad, and Daisy a beauty queen.

They'd never heard of polygamy, and neither he nor Steven had thought of Daisy in a sexual way. Not that heand Steven hadn't talked about sex. They just hadn't thought about it in relation to Daisy.

But all that changed the summer going into the eighth grade. Daisy had gone away to work on her aunt's ranchin El Paso, and by the time she'd come hack, she'd popped out a pair of perfect breasts. She'd left looking likethe girl they'd always known, skinny and flat-chested, but she came back changed. Her legs longer. Her breastsbigger than his hands. Her hips fuller. Even her hair had seemed shinier.

Back then, his body had never needed a reason to get an erection. It was just something that happened to allpubescent boys for no reason at all and was embarrassing as hell. Sometimes it'd just happened when he wasdoing nothing more exciting than geometry or mowing the lawn.

But that summer, he'd taken one look at Daisy, and his body had reacted to the two very distinct reasons pressedagainst her T-shirt. His thoughts had dropped right to his crotch, and he'd gotten so hard he'd about passed outfrom lack of blood to his brain. She'd come over to tell him about her aunt's ranch, and while she was siftingthere beside him on his front porch, talking and laughing and filling him in on the horses she'd ridden, he wastrying not to stare at her tits. Yee-freakin'-ha!

That summer, he and Steven had known without exchanging words that each felt an attraction for her that wasno longer innocent. It was there between them. For the first time in their friendship, they had a real big problem.

One that wasn't going to be solved with an apology or an extra slug to equal things out.

Later they'd talked about it, about how they felt about Daisy. They decided that neither could have her. In orderto remain friends, they promised to keep their hands to themselves. Daisy was off limits. Jack had broken thatpromise, but Steven had ended up with her.