Daisy Does It All (Clover Park, Book 2) Contemporary Romance (The Clover Park Series)

by Kylie Gilmore

  “I like neat freaks.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

  “Ryan, I’m all gross,” Liz protested.

  “I’ll help you clean, sis,” Daisy said.

  Liz’s mouth dropped open. “You want to help me clean?”

  “Sure.”

  Trav and Ryan headed for the living room with its leather sofa and giant-screen TV. Except the TV had no power or cable with the blackout. Still, they sat in front of it.

  Daisy followed Liz into the downstairs powder room. “It’s already clean.”

  “No, it’s not,” Liz said. “I just started. Lucky for you I already cleaned the toilet.” She handed Daisy some paper towels and Windex. “Here, get that mirror.”

  Liz got on all fours to scrub the floor. At least she wasn’t attacking the grout with a toothbrush.

  Daisy squirted the cleaner and rubbed wide circles around the mirror.

  “Not circles,” Liz said, peering up from the floor. “Top to bottom. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  They cleaned a few moments in silence.

  “Tell me why you’re upset,” Liz said.

  Daisy snapped her head around. “I didn’t say I was upset.”

  “You have never, ever signed up for cleaning duty in your life. What happened? Was it Jessica? She stopped by here and ordered the crew around. I get a bad feeling from that one. She’s not perky and nice like she seems on TV.”

  Daisy told her the whole awful story.

  “Oh, Daisy, I’m sorry.”

  Daisy swiped at the mirror. They cleaned in silence while Daisy berated herself for this latest screw-up. For the fallout that would no doubt fall on her and Bryce. She glanced over at her sister, who whipped a toothbrush from her back pocket and attacked the grout.

  “Can Bryce and I stay with you for the rest of the power outage?” Daisy asked.

  Liz stopped brushing. “Of course you’re always welcome here, but don’t you want to stay with Trav? I know he cares about you.”

  Daisy turned away and caught her sad reflection in the mirror. Her face crumpled in misery.

  Liz jumped up. “Oh, no. It’s okay. Forget I said that. You can stay here.”

  Daisy nodded. “Thank you.” She sniffled. “Trav just doesn’t get it. I’m ruined. All he does is joke about it. You can’t joke about this!”

  “Okay, first of all, you’re not ruined. This will pass, eventually. And as for the joking…well, everyone copes in a different way. I clean.”

  Daisy studied her sister. “Are you upset about something?”

  “No, sometimes I just like to clean to get things back in order. Sometimes I have to. See the difference?”

  Cleaning was cleaning as far as Daisy was concerned, but she nodded anyway.

  She finished the mirror and threw out the paper towels. “I’m gonna fetch Bryce and some of our stuff; then we’ll be back. I’ll grab his Pack-N-Play too.”

  “Okay, sweetie. See you soon.” Liz went back to scrubbing what already looked like a clean floor to Daisy.

  She stopped by the living room to tell Trav she was leaving.

  He jumped off the sofa. “Wait up. I’ll walk back with you.”

  They got their coats, said their goodbyes, and headed out the door.

  “Feeling better?” Trav asked.

  “A little. Liz always seems to know the right thing to say.”

  “Yeah, Ry’s like that for me.”

  She smiled, glad for him. “I’m moving in with Liz for a while. Now that Jessica and the crew are gone, we don’t have to pretend anymore. Besides, I know it’s just a matter of days before the press is all over me. I’d feel better staying with a cop.”

  “I can protect you. Stay with me.”

  “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

  He stopped short. “What idea is that?”

  “That we’re a couple.” She kept walking. “We’re not.”

  He caught up with her. “We’re not a…” He sliced a hand in the air. “Fine! Do what you want. I’m tired of begging.”

  “Trav, come on. I’m just staying with them for a little while. Maybe later—”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Forget it.”

  He marched ahead of her back to Maggie’s house.

  Within a half hour, he had packed them up and dropped them off at Liz’s house. He drove off without a word.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Daisy couldn’t shake the deep funk of misery that hounded her. It had been three days since she moved in with Liz and Ryan, and she could barely bring herself to leave the guest room. There were no reporters yet; Jessica must be waiting for the perfect moment. Jessica’s words played on repeat in her head, All those mothers who turn to you for inspiration, who aspire to be a fraction of the wife and mother you are, who feel less than because of your lies. And she couldn’t even do anything about it. The power was still out, going on five days now. She wanted desperately to update her blog. To apologize before the show aired where Jessica dug up whatever dirt she could and broadcast it to millions.

  She knew from Max that the show hadn’t aired yet, though the city had power and Jessica was hard at work putting something together. At first, when Max had called her Monday morning from the studio, she’d thought he might actually be able to help her.

  “I’ll pull the plug on your interview,” Max had said. “We’ll do damage control. If you take down your blog—”

  “First of all, we still don’t have power. Second, even if we did, I’m not taking down my blog! It’s the only thing I’ve ever done that I’m proud of.” Besides Bryce, of course. The blog might not have been an exact reflection of her life, but the heart of it was.

  “Daze, she’ll ruin you. She’ll do anything for ratings. That’s what the network loves about her.”

  “Then I guess I’m screwed.”

  “I’ll do my best to can it. But if she goes to the higher-ups, it’s out of my hands.”

  Jessica went to the higher-ups later that day. Max let Daisy know as soon as he found out.

  “I was in on the meeting,” Max said. “I told them they weren’t being fair to you, but Jessica made a good point. The ratings could reel in big-time sponsors. That’s exactly what the network needs to stay competitive. We’ve already had some interest from Gerber.”

  “So you just let them do it?” Daisy asked.

  “I really didn’t have a choice. It would’ve been career suicide to let my personal feelings get in the way of good business.”

  Daisy couldn’t believe Max would turn on her like this after begging her to give him a second chance. The show would go on; it was just a matter of when and how long it took Jessica to put all the pieces together.

  Then Max had the nerve to try for her again. “Daze, now that I know you’re single—”

  “Don’t even go there!”

  “This shouldn’t affect us. It’s Jessica’s fault—”

  “There is no us!” She hung up.

  She couldn’t believe she’d been falling for his sweet talk, for nostalgic memories of their college days.

  Now Liz was poking her head in the bedroom door. “Daisy?”

  Daisy didn’t answer, caught up in her memories. Liz must have come in because the next thing Daisy knew, the blinds were open. She blinked against the glare of the winter sun reflecting off the snow. “Honey, it’s nearly noon. Get up.”

  Daisy pushed her messy hair out of her eyes. Trav had taken Bryce early this morning, and she’d gone right back to bed.

  Liz sat on the end of the bed. “I’m worried about you.”

  “Everything’s fine.”

  Liz’s mouth formed a straight line. “The power company says we should get power back today.”

  “Good,” Daisy said. She could move back to her place. She hated to impose on Liz and Ryan, who were still very much in the honeymoon stage. She felt like a third wheel around here. Though it was better than her parents’ place, where she felt like a
total disappointment. And better than staying with Trav, who was still mad at her for saying they weren’t a couple, even though it was the truth.

  Liz scooted close and took Daisy’s hand. “You don’t have to pretend with me. I know you’re hurting. But you know what? I don’t think it’s so bad that you described a beautiful house on your blog. You made a lot of people happy imagining such a wonderful place.”

  Daisy said nothing.

  “And you’re practically married to Trav anyway. He is so devoted to you and Bryce. It’s just a matter of time, right?”

  Daisy looked away. “I don’t know.”

  “Do you love him?” Liz asked. “Because everything he does for you and Bryce speaks volumes about his love for you. Sometimes men just can’t say the words.”

  Daisy snorted, thinking of Trav’s belief in Love, Incorporated. “I wish I could say it was that easy.” She rubbed the satin edge of the blanket between her fingers. “You know I like things easy, but it’s complicated. I love Trav for being so good to Bryce. And I think he loves me because of Bryce too. It’s not the same as if we met each other, just us, and fell in love. We did everything ass backwards, and you can’t change that.” She stared at nothing, deep in thought. “You just can’t.”

  A beat passed in silence.

  “Since when have you ever done anything in the right order?” Liz asked. “The Daisy I know wouldn’t let that stop her. She’d go for it and the hell with everybody else.”

  “This is different.”

  Liz pulled back the covers. “Get dressed.”

  Daisy yanked the covers back over her. “I know you mean well, but I just want to stay here.”

  Liz grabbed Daisy’s arms and pulled hard so Daisy was half hanging out of bed and about to tip out.

  “Okay!” Daisy slid to the floor and pulled the blanket over her head.

  “I think we need to plot a little revenge,” Liz said.

  Daisy grunted.

  “That bitch Jessica Larsen won’t get away with this,” Liz said.

  Daisy tugged the blanket down and stared. “Liz, I’ve never heard you talk like that before.”

  “I’ve never had Jessica Larsen making my sister miserable before,” Liz replied. “I say we egg her limo and then stand outside the studio holding signs that say, ‘Jessica Larsen is a rat.’ Or we start an online petition against defamation journalism!”

  “Is that a thing?” Daisy asked.

  “Sure,” Liz replied.

  “I dunno.”

  “We should sue her,” Liz said, rubbing her hands together. Daisy’s eyes widened at this new vengeful side of Liz. “For emotional distress and defamation of character.”

  “I don’t want her to know I’m distressed,” Daisy said.

  Liz’s face lit up. “I know! Blog about how awful she is in real life. You expose her.”

  “I don’t want to stoop to her level,” Daisy said. “Though I wouldn’t mind slipping something into her wheatgrass smoothie.”

  Liz nodded knowingly. “Ex-Lax.”

  “No, even better, a high-cal milkshake,” Daisy said. “Have you seen how skinny she is?”

  Liz giggled.

  Daisy gave her a small smile. “I appreciate your mad scheming skills, but it’s hopeless. I lied. She found out the truth. I deserve whatever she dishes out on her show.”

  “No, you don’t,” Liz insisted. “You don’t have to take this lying down.”

  “I’m sitting,” Daisy said, attempting a joking tone. Her cell rang, and she grabbed it off the nightstand. Max.

  She put up a finger to her sister and took the phone out into the hallway. “Hi, Max. What’s up?”

  “I’m afraid it’s bad news. The piece on you runs tomorrow morning. I’m so sorry, Daze. I feel like this is my fault for reaching out to you in the first place. If it wasn’t for me, Jessica never would’ve heard of you.”

  “It’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s but mine.”

  “She talked to a clerk in your town and pulled your marriage license that shows Trav was husband number three and that you didn’t apply for the license until after you got the talk show gig.”

  “Anything else?”

  “She found out where you live and got a picture of your apartment building.”

  “That’s an invasion of privacy!”

  “She can’t give out the address, but she can show the building.”

  “I hate her.”

  “She has footage of Bryce screaming.”

  “He’s a baby. That doesn’t prove anything.”

  “It all goes into her story of how you’re nothing like you say you are on your blog.”

  Her lips formed a tight line. “Can we stop her from running the baby footage?”

  “I’m sorry. You signed a release.”

  She blew air through her cheeks. “Okay. Thanks for the heads-up. I gotta go.”

  “Wait! Are you okay?”

  “I’m just great.”

  “We can do some P.R.,” Max said. “Spin things in a positive light. I can get the word out through some of my contacts.”

  “No, I’m done. Just let it go.”

  “I’ll call you again to check in. Bye.”

  Before she could say don’t bother, he hung up.

  She returned to Liz.

  “What?” Liz asked.

  “Mornings with Jessica runs the piece on the great fraud, Daisy Garner, tomorrow.”

  “I’m sorry, honey,” Liz said gently.

  “Thanks,” Daisy said weakly.

  Liz brightened. “Hey, at least no one in Clover Park will see it with the power still…” She trailed off as the lights flashed on and a few beeps rang out as appliances turned back on.

  “We’ll boycott it,” Liz said solemnly.

  Daisy bit her lip. Time to face the music.

  ~ ~ ~

  Daisy stopped by Trav’s place that afternoon to pick up Bryce and head home to her apartment for the first time since the storm.

  “Hey,” Trav said. “You’re early.”

  Bryce was in his exersaucer, smacking the springy butterfly and bouncing his little legs.

  “I know. I just wanted to get him settled back at home now that the power’s back. Get back to our routine. Would you stop by with his crib and gear from Maggie’s place?”

  “No problem.” He studied her. “You okay, Daze?”

  “No, I’m not, but I have no one to blame but myself.” She pulled Bryce from his exersaucer, and he threw both fists forward in a little baby hug. She smiled. He wasn’t an easy baby, but she did miss him when he was with his dad.

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Trav said. “What’d you do? Write a blog? Since when is that a crime?” He slid the diaper bag onto her shoulder.

  He was back to being pleasant and nice. She was surprised after the way they’d left things.

  “I lied,” she said. “And Mornings with Jessica is exposing me on air tomorrow.”

  He shook his head. “What’s she gonna say? Daisy only visits the house she described? Daisy isn’t married? We could get married easily.” He snapped his fingers. “Like that.”

  Daisy shook her head, knowing it was too late to fix things. She just had to get through this. “I’ll see you back at the apartment.”

  “Sure, I’ll see ya.” He kissed Bryce’s little fist and put his hand up for a baby high-five. “Till later, little man.”

  Daisy buckled Bryce into his car seat and drove back to her apartment on the other side of town. She pulled into the parking lot and immediately slowed down. News vans sat in the parking lot, along with a group of reporters with cameras and microphones lining the sidewalk that led to her apartment. Shit.

  She turned around and headed straight back to Liz’s place.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Daisy Does It All

  Single Mom

  An Apology to My Readers

  Dear readers, thank you for all your support and enthusiasm for this blo
g. This will be my last post. I wanted to reach out before the news hits tomorrow. I lied about my perfect life. The truth is, I’m a single mother living in a messy one-bedroom apartment. I work as a waitress at my parents’ restaurant. It’s not glamorous or fun. In fact, my baby is both a delight (to me) and an exhausting screamer.

  It was my own shortcomings as a mom and in the life I provided for my son that led me to dream of something better. I channeled those hopes and dreams into my blog, sharing my fantasy with all of you, pretending it was real.

  I am so, so sorry.

  If I have made anyone feel less than, like they couldn’t measure up to my perfect life, I don’t want you to feel that way. We’re all doing the best we can with what we’ve got. Some of us pull that off better than others.

  Tomorrow on Mornings with Jessica, you might see the apartment building I live in. You might hear me admit that I lied on a recording that Jessica made on a recorder that she had hidden in her hand. You might even see some footage of my baby, Bryce, screaming (as he does every night). These were not things I agreed to when I signed up to appear on Mornings with Jessica. For this reason, I will not be tuning into the show.

  That is not to say that I blame Jessica or her show for exposing my lies. I take full responsibility for those lies here and will not comment further in the press.

  Sincerely,

  Daisy Garner

  ~ ~ ~

  Trav tuned in to Mornings with Jessica and watched grimly as Jessica morphed from perky host to aggressive investigative journalist. Daisy had already told him she wouldn’t be watching.

  Jessica looked directly into the camera, an expression of sadness on her face. “I had hoped to bring you a piece today on the woman behind Daisy Does It All. I had hoped to show you her beautiful family. Darling Husband. Baby Delight. Their beautiful home. Sadly, I cannot. Why, you ask? Because it is all a lie. Take a look.”

  She turned to a screen behind her. Daisy’s blog post apologizing for the lies came up.

  Trav cursed. They used Daisy’s own blog against her.

  Jessica read the post aloud emphasizing all the wrong parts—lied, exhausting screamer, pretending.