The moment I saw her emerging from the building wearing her fitted green coat and boots, I knew I was in trouble. I’d been working on trying to keep my feelings toward Daisy nothing but friendly.
It’s what she’d said she wanted. It was likely what we needed. But she was a vision, like water gifted to a thirsty man. I couldn’t look away. She was walking slowly like she was being dragged to the guillotine and not to a car with her two best friends and her . . . me. I took her in, noticing the intense frown of worry on her face, how troubled she looked, and I was struck with the innate wrongness of the scene. I hated frowns on her face,;they should never be allowed purchase there. I hated that Julian was touching her things, and that he was the one to usher her to the car. I was out of the car and at Julian’s side relieving him of her bag in seconds. I got a glimpse of his too-pleased expression and ignored it.
I opened the rear car door for her and she looked up at me, surprise on beautiful face. “Thank you,” she said softly. When she brushed against me while sliding into the car, my heart danced in my chest and the familiar white-hot flame of lust shot down my spine. I realized three weeks was not enough time to get over Daisy Payton. Three lifetimes wouldn’t be enough.
I felt a little shaken at the revelation and because of that I almost missed the lightning quick voice of James Jones screeching, “Odessa Mae Boyd, what on earth is going on here?”
I quickly deposited Daisy’s bag and climbed into the front passenger seat. The girls had arranged themselves so Odie sat in the middle, James sat directly behind me, and Daisy sat directly behind Julian.
Julian took off. He pulled onto the road that would lead us to I-40 while Odie fidgeted with her purse strap.
I was glad Daisy sat catty-corner to me. I could see her facial expressions clearly if I glanced in the rearview mirror. Even better, the mirror was angled toward Julian so she probably couldn’t see me admiring her. I couldn’t bring myself to feel ashamed of the pleasure I felt at the possibility of being able to covertly watch Daisy Payton for the next three hours.
“Well, we are taking the bus to my folk’s house. But Daisy here . . .” She waved her hand at Daisy who stared impassively out the window. “Well, she extended an invitation for us to join her in Green Valley for a bit . . .”
Daisy’s expression told me she had no clue James had been part of this invitation.
“And I figured since it’s been such a trying semester it might be nice for all of us to have a little R&R in the mountains.”
I hoped Odie knew she wasn’t going to a ski resort. Green Valley wasn’t that.
“Incredible. I can’t believe you lied to me too, Odie.”
“I didn’t lie to you. We are taking the bus.”
James crossed her arms, clearly not placated. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They say you become who you hang around.”
“Don’t start,” Odie warned.
“No, let her start.” Daisy turned from the window, and leaned over Odie to face James. “James, you haven’t spoken to me in over a month. I am very well aware that you’re under the impression that I’m a compulsive liar, but just in case there’s any part of you in there that’s capable of believing any word that comes out of my mouth—”
“There isn’t,” James said flatly.
“Hey, hey now! Don’t be nasty to Daisy,” Jules reprimanded, and it grated on my nerves that he was the one jumping in to defend her.
“Shut up, Julian! Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Don’t tell Julian to shut up, this is his car.” This from me, because James was being disrespectful even though she’d been put in a tough spot.
“Don’t tell James what to do, Trevor,” retorted Daisy, of course, because why the hell not?
Maturity and sanity had all gone out the window. We began talking over one another trying to make our point, until Odessa cut in, more loudly than I thought possible.
“Everybody shut the hell up! I’m sick of you all. If you can’t be pleasant then at least be silent.”
We rode down the road in silence for a second. Just as Jules reached for the knob to turn the radio up, I heard Daisy’s voice.
“James, I just want you to know I had nothing to do with this. This wasn’t some elaborate scheme that I hatched with Odie in order to get you trapped in Green Valley or have you at my mercy so you’d have to forgive me. I already know you’re not going to forgive me.” Daisy shrugged and shook her head at the ceiling. She looked so sad that I wanted to be free from my seatbelt so I could pull her into a hug. But I was being ridiculous. Daisy and I were barely speaking. I needed to move slowly. I’d just gotten out of the same boat as James.
“I’m done trying to apologize to you. I’m done badgering you, hoping you’ll speak to me. That said, I’m perfectly fine with you staying at my house. You are welcome there for as long as you’d like. I won’t bother you but my father and sister are a delight, and Green Valley is stunning. However, I understand why it might not be appealing to you. I’d never want to be stuck somewhere that I didn’t wish to be, particularly with someone I hated. So if the idea of spending time with me and my family in our house is so untenable, I will borrow my sister’s car and drive you Merryville to the bus station in the morning.”
Daisy leaned back against her seat and stared forward. I turned my head and caught her eye and gave her a sympathetic look. She answered with the barest hint of a smile.
Jules took the continued silence as a sign to turn the radio up and the song “You are Everything” by the Stylistics caught my ear.
Even if the song wasn’t by one of Daisy’s favorite artists, and even if she hadn’t been sitting in the back seat so very, very close to me, the song would’ve reminded me of her anyway.
My eyes watched her in the mirror while listening to the band sing of not being able to forget the face or memories of being with a girl. I wished Daisy and I could—not start over, because I didn’t want to erase what we had in the beginning—but maybe start again.
I sighed. I didn’t want to hope or want or push for too much, too soon with Daisy. She wanted me to be her friend so I would be her friend.
I shifted my mind and concentrated on the other thing I’d been avoiding. How in the world was I going to spend almost a month with my parents?
I glanced over at Julian who—despite our very rocky semester—was here by my side like always, and I felt grateful for him. Julian was my brother. We never pulled our punches and we fought like mad sometimes, but we were always there when the other needed it.
Julian turned down the music and cleared his throat.
“James?”
“We are not in class and I don’t have to speak to you, Julian.”
I saw the quick hit of hurt before he reached for the knob again and I spoke up for him automatically. “Hey James, I know you hate everyone in this car at the moment, but this ride will go a lot faster if we’re not constantly laying into each other.”
She sighed mightily and said, “Fine. Yes, Julian?”
Julian cut a grateful glance at me, and then quickly looked away, “I, uhh . . . was doing some cleaning in preparation for graduation and noticed I still had a bunch of my old books. Most of them haven’t been changed out in the English Department curriculum. I was wondering if you would like to take any of them off my hands? It would do me a favor clearing up some of the clutter.”
Julian was lying. I didn’t know why he was lying but he was absolutely fibbing. Jules was a goddamned book miser. He didn’t loan books, and he didn’t give them away ever. He hoarded them. I knew he could feel me staring at him because his red undertones began to peek through as he drove.
After a long moment James replied, “Sure, I’ll take those off your hands . . . Thanks.”
Julian said nothing. He just turned up the radio.
It began to snow shortly thereafter and the rest of the ride was quiet with the exception of the sound of the wipers. Odie and James eventually fell asleep and
Daisy stared quietly out of the window while Jules nodded along to the radio. When we got our first view of Green Valley laid out like a painting of sleepy, peaceful hills the sun was just about to sink behind the mountains and the valley looked glorious.
Jules slowed the car. Odie and James, now awake, both gasped. And me? I didn’t know how I felt. There was some drumbeat inside me that said this is home, this is home, home, home.
But how could it be when I hadn’t been here in so long? But I remembered these views. I remembered seeing it just like this, laid out like a postcard as I’d ridden in the car with my father on our way up to his favorite fishing hole. Green Valley, even—or maybe especially—under a thin layer of snow and piping chimneys, was simply beatific. I took a deep breath and steeled myself as we began descending the switchbacks down the mountain.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Daisy
I helped Julian navigate to my house from the back seat of the car. Trevor’s parents would meet us at my house and would lead Trevor and Jules back to the Boone’s home.
My home was set a little way back from the main road and mostly surrounded by trees. As we turned off onto the driveway, I watched the fir trees with their soft boughs bent, weighted with a bit of snow. I’d always loved the way the tall trees looked after a dusting. After a minute of driving, I heard Julian cough and then say, “Daisy, not that I don’t trust you but . . . where the hell are we? Why am I driving through the woods?”
“Ye of little faith, Julian. Keep driving. The house will appear shortly.” Julian wasn’t wrong; for all intents and purposes, we did live in the woods.
“For safety,” my mother and father always said. My mother was from Brownsville, and when we’d gotten older, she’d told us a little about how Elbert Williams had been murdered and how Thomas Davis had to abandon his business and was run out of town for trying to stand up for his rights.
“Not everyone is happy about your father’s success,” she’d said simply.
Julian rounded the last corner and my house came into view. Two cars were parked along the curve of the driveway; one belonged to the Boones but I didn’t recognize the other. I saw Julian’s eyes bouncing back and forth as he took in the scene. Our house was not grand but it was stately. But what made our home special was the trees that surrounded it on all sides, forming a cover and a shield. There was walking trail that led to Ado’s grove behind the house, but you couldn’t see from the front. From the front our house appeared to be surrounded by a wall of trees.
It felt amazing to get out and stretch after such a long time in the car. I titled my head, letting the light snowfall hit my face. When I looked back, Trevor was staring at me. Our eyes snapped together like magnets and my heart began beating double time. The way he stared at me and his looks against this background of snow?
They scared me.
He looked just like he belonged here with us, with my family, with me. His stare heated and I felt warm despite the chilly weather. The sound of the door slamming broke his concentration and I reluctantly looked away to see Dolly on the front porch with my father and the Boones trailing behind her.
I did a little dance—the Daisy dance, she called it. It was the way I’d greeted my sister when I was excited to see her for as long as I could remember. And then we were off—running and jumping at each other.
I took extra care to introduce Julian to Dolly since he’d done her a favor in delivering me home.
“Dolly, this is the one and only Julian P. Marshall.”
“So you’re the one who my father can’t stop talking about?”
My sister laughed.
I saw Trevor’s head snap in Dolly’s direction at that comment.
I cut her off. “Julian, this is my sister Dolly Payton.”
“Dolly, like Parton?” he joked.
Oh no.
The laughter died in my sister’s throat immediately and she leveled him with a look that made Julian step back.
“No, Dolly like Payton.”
Julian’s eyes were wide and somber as he replied, “Noted.”
Bags were brought inside and we were ushered inside to the living room. Reverend Paul Smith, the owner of the unfamiliar vehicle, sat quietly by the fireplace and gave me a friendly smile before standing to give greetings and hugs to our entire cadre.
“Dinner will be served shortly, so go on and freshen up,” Dolly announced. I slipped into my role as co-host and directed Julian and Mrs. Boone to the bathrooms on the lower level. Then I ushered James and Odie to the guest bedrooms on the second level.
When I returned, Trevor was holding my bag.
“The boys are carrying your things up! Saves an old man his back.” My father declared this dramatically from the sofa, where he appeared to be wading into conversation with the Reverend and Mr. Boone.
“You are not old, Daddy.” I rolled my eyes. I looked at Trevor, realized my mistake, and simply waved my hand for him to follow me. I was all too aware of him trudging closely after me, step by step as we took the back stairwell up to the third level. We walked down the long hallway until we got to the back of the house.
“How many rooms are in this house?” I turned to see Trevor looking around.
“Um, there are seven bedrooms. I don’t know how many total rooms are in the house. I’ve never counted. There are two rooms at the back of the main level that aren’t in use. They’re only ever used when the house is really full, but that hasn’t happened in a while. My brother’s bedroom is downstairs along with two other guest rooms. My mother and father’s room is on this level along with Dolly’s, and my bedroom is up here. But you knew that because we’re up here.” I was rambling because I was nervous. And I had no idea why I was nervous; it wasn’t like anything would happen with Trevor in my bedroom.
I stepped into my room and made way for Trevor to follow. My room wasn’t overly small or large; it was cozy, with a white sleigh bed in the center and a large window facing the rear of our property on the far wall. He entered the room and as he walked past the bed he quietly joked, “That is a huge bed, fit for a fairy princess. I’m sure the adjustment to the dorm’s twin beds must’ve been hard for you.”
I laughed softly. I didn’t know why we were both being quiet; something about the moment seemed tenuous.
“Yes, the dorm beds were an adjustment, but I’m sure you went through the same thing. I’m certain the beds at casa Marshall are huge as well.”
He walked over to my window and looked out. The light had faded but you could still make out the backyard surrounded by the shadow of the mountains in the distance.
“I bet this is a million-dollar view when the sun is shining,” he said almost awestruck.
“You’re right. It’s spectacular.”
“The beds at casa Marshall are big, but I didn’t grow up there really. Jules and I spent most of our time in boarding school. And the beds there are dorm sized. It wasn’t hard for me.”
He turned from the window, sat my bag down, and began looking around my room. I stood silent, feeling oddly like I was under inspection as he ghosted from my dresser to my side table, looking at the knickknacks and whatnots that make up my life. He picked up a formal family portrait from when I was about five or six. His smile was automatic. “You were a cute kid.” His amusement made me grin. Then he squinted and pointed to Ado. “Your brother, right? He looks just like your father.”
I nodded.
“Does he live here or somewhere else?”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I’d assumed Trevor’s parents would’ve kept him in the know. Part of me wanted to say, “Somewhere else,” but I’d learned my lesson. No more lying, please and thank you. I took a deep breath. “He died in Vietnam a few years after that picture was taken. Just after my ninth birthday.”
Trevor immediately, carefully, replaced the picture. The reverence with how he handled it made my heart squeeze. He turned and inspected me again, like he was looking for bumps and bruises. I turned
from his gaze, afraid he would see too much, and said the thing that pressed on my mind. “Why didn’t you know that? Why didn’t your parents tell you?”
I peered at him from under my lashes. He slid both hands in his pockets and gave a shrug I thought was supposed to be lighthearted but somehow looked anything but. “My parents and I don’t talk much.”
“This must be strange for you.”
“Very.”
“Why did you decide to come back after all this time?”
He stared out the window for a moment into the darkness before he turned and looked at me. “I could say that it’s because I promised my mother and I try to keep my word when I give it.”
Trevor was nothing if not a man of his word, to his detriment even.
“But that’s not really it. My parents . . . I don’t know. I guess I’m here to find out if we can even have a relationship. Things right now are so broken between us, I don’t know if they can be fixed. But I feel like I owe it to myself to try.”
I reached over and rubbed his arm. The move was meant to reassure him but it sent a zing through me and I heard Trevor’s voice catch.
“They told me they would come back for me and they never did.” He tried to mask the pain in his voice with a smile but I heard it nonetheless and it speared me.
“I guess I want to find out why. What was wrong with me that made them—”
I couldn’t let Trevor go down that path. I cut him off the only way I knew how: I slipped my arms around his waist and pulled him in for a hug. His body was rigid and tense so I held on tighter and squeezed. After a moment, he relaxed and his arm came around me and held me back. He tucked me under his cheek and I held him until his racing heart slowed.
“You are perfect,” I whispered.
“You of all people know that’s not true. You know just how imperfect I am.”
“You’re perfect to me.”
I felt him shake his head in disagreement and I had a dawning realization. I wondered if maybe a small part of Trevor thought he didn’t deserve the same devotion he showed to everyone else.
Upsy Daisy: A First Love College Romance Page 34