Lily looked across the seat at Daisy. Her brows lowered, and frown lines creased her forehead. “You’re counting? That’s warped.”
“Me! I’m not the one wearing out ‘Earl Had to Die’ while parked outside my soon to be ex-husband’s apartment.”
“It’s not his apartment. He’s renting a house over on Locust Grove near the hospital. It’s her apartment. Kelly the skank,” 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 was blessedly silent. After leaving Showtime last night, Lily had taken a detour, passing Kelly’s apartment. She’d driven 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 look at her sister’s flat hair and wrinkled running sweats, and she knew something was up. She told Lily she was coming along. She pulled on a pair of jean shorts, a black T-shirt, and shoved her feet into flip-flops as she twisted 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 thinking about 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 red jogging 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 be happy? Why does he just get to move on with his girlfriend and be happy while I feel like I have acid eating a hole 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 your heart.”
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? That’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 with another 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 at her sister. “I’m going to let that go because you’re having a bad day.” But she guessed she wasn’t quite ready to let it go because she couldn’t keep from adding, “I know you don’t mean to be an insensitive brat. That’s just the way 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 she was selfish. “Yeah right, and I want to sit here watching Ronnie’s apartment because I have nothing better to do.”
“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 looked out the passenger-side window at an old lady in a pink housecoat walking her beagle down the sidewalk. “And I’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 crashing his niece’s birthday party might not have been one of her brightest ideas, but she was running out of time. She only had a few more days, and if Jack hadn’t lied to her about being out of town, she wouldn’t have wasted four of 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 two girls clinging to him, she’d felt a surprising little pinch in her heart. “He was really good with them, and you could 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?”
Daisy sank down in her seat and looked out the front. “No, but it made me realize that when I tell him about Nathan, he’s probably going to be a lot angrier with me than I’d figured. Not that I thought he wouldn’t be, but there’s always been a part of me that hoped he’d understand.” She took the claw out of her hair and leaned her head back against the seat. “Jack wasn’t ready for a family. He’d just lost his mother and father, he wouldn’t have been able to handle the news that I was pregnant. I did the right thing.”
“But . . . ?” Lily prompted.
“But I’ve never let myself wonder what kind of father he would have made.” She tossed the claw onto the center console. “I’ve never let myself think about that.”
“And now you’re thinking about it?”
“Yeah.” Although it was probably best not to, she couldn’t help but think about it.
The door to an upstairs apartment opened and Ronnie stepped out with one of his arms around a dark-haired woman. Daisy had only met Ronnie twice, when he and Lily visited Seattle, but Daisy recognized him. He was good-looking with strategically disarrayed blond hair and a gee-shucks smile that fooled some women. Unlike Lily, Daisy had never been impressed, much less fooled.
“Turn off the car,” Daisy told her sister. This morning, Ronnie’s Stetson shaded his face and cast a shadow on the shoulders of his red cowboy shirt. He wore a belt buckle the size of a dessert plate and his wranglers were so tight they looked painted on.
“I’m not going to run him down.”
“Turn it off Lily.” They were too far away for Daisy to get a good look at Kelly’s face, but even at this distance, she could see that her hair was pulled up on top of her head in a ponytail and that she had a big behind covered in black spandex shorts.
The engine shut off and Daisy reached over and took the keys from the ignition. She grabbed Lily’s arm to keep her from opening the door.
“He’s not worth it, Lily.”
The two moved to a white monster truck with metallic red flames blazing down the sides. Ronnie helped “Kelly the skank” up into the truck, then he fired up the Ford and the two of them took off. Anger for her sister burned in Daisy’s stomach as she watched them drive out of the parking lot. Lily covered her mouth but a high-pitch keening leaked through her fingers. Daisy reached across the center console and pulled her sister into her arms the best that she could.
“Lily, he’s not worth your tears,” she said as she smoothed her hair.
“I still love him so-ho much. Why can-can’t he love me-me?” Lily cried. Daisy held her and felt her heart breaking too. What kind of worthless man abandoned his wife and child? What kind of A-moral A-hole ran around with another woman and emptied the family’s bank account so he wouldn’t have to pay for his child? The more Daisy thought about it, the angrier she got. Somehow, Ronnie would have to pay for hurting her sister.
“I don’t want to ta-talk about it with a stranger. It’s too-too humiliating.” After that her sentences became incoherent, and she mostly sounded like a distressed dolphin.
“Let me drive us home,” Daisy said. Lily nodded and while Daisy ran around to the other side of the car, Lily crawled to the passenger seat. “Do you want a Dr. Pepper?” Daisy asked as they drove out of the parking lot. “It might help your raw throat.”
Lily wiped her nose on her sleeve and nodded. “Eee-hee,” she managed.
She drove to the Minute Mart and pulled into a slot in front of the store. She pocketed the keys in case Lily got ideas, grabbed a five from her purse, and put her sunglasses on the dashboard. “I’ll be right back,” she told Lily and opened the door. Once inside the store, she filled up a twenty-four-ounce cup with Dr. Pepper, sealed the top with a lid and grabbed a straw. When Lily calmed down, she’d talk to her about her lawyer and see what he was doing to help her.
“Good morning,” the clerk said, his green uniform hung on his bony shoulders. His name tag said he was Chuck and that she should have a nice day. She doubted that was possible now.
“Morning.” As Daisy handed over the five-dollar bill, a white Ford truck with red flames down the sides pulled into a parking slot a few cars away from Lily’s Taurus. She watched with a sense of impending doom as Ronnie and Kelly stepped out of the truck. “Oh no.”
The passenger door of the Taurus flew open and Lily shot out of the car like a bullet. She confronted the two right there on the sidewalk in front of the Minute Mart. Daisy could hear Lily’s hysterical screaming through the glass, and she was sure the people at the gas pumps were getting a good show.
She set the straw on the counter and held up one hand, palm out. “I’ll be right back.” As Daisy yanked open the store’s door, Lily called Kelly a whore and a fat-ass, and Kelly swung and slapped Lily across the face. Lily’s sunglasses sailed off, and she raised her hand to retaliate. Ronnie grabbed her arm and shoved.
Lily fell and everything within Daisy narrowed, like looking in the wrong end of a telescope. Rage flowed through her like a toxic chemical, and she ran full steam, launching herself at her soon to be ex-brother-in-law. Years ago, Steven and Jack had taught her how to defend herself. She’d never used those lessons before, but she hadn’t forgotten. Like riding a bike. She got a shoulder into his sternum. He grunted and grabbed her hair. He shook her but she hardly felt it as she tucked her thumb and punched him in the eye.
“Ow, you crazy bitch!”
Without thinking about it, she kneed him just below his belt buckle. She didn’t think she’d hit him square between the legs like she’d been aiming, but enough that the air left his lungs in a big whoosh. His fingers loosened and she stepped back. Ronnie doubled over and several long strands of Daisy’s hair got tangled in his fist.
“You ever touch my sister again,” she told him between breaths, “and I’ll kill you, Ronnie Darlington.”
He groaned and stared at her through squinty eyes. “You can try, you stupid bitch.”
Daisy didn’t mind being called a crazy bitch, because sometimes it was true. But she hated being called a stupid bitch. She launched herself forward again, but someone grabbed her around the middle and pulled her back. “You’ve won, buttercup.”
She pushed at the arm around her stomach, but he pulled her onto her toes. “Let go. I’m going to kick his butt!”
“I think it’s more likely that he’d kick yours. Then I’d have to step in and knock the shit out of him for laying a hand on you. And I really don’t want to do that. Buddy and I came here for a fill-up and a cup of coffee, is all. We weren’t planning on a brawl.”
Daisy blinked and her peripheral vision came into focus again. She was aware of her heart pounding in her throat as she looked over her shoulder. “Jack?”
The shadow from his beige cowboy hat cut across his face, and she watched his mouth form the words, “Good mornin’,” but he didn’t sound like there was anything good about it.
She turned her attention to Lily standing with her back against the front of the store. She had a cut on the bridge of her nose and a red palm print on her cheek. A man in a blue T-shirt stood next to her, talking to her as she shook her head. Kelly sat on her butt on the ground, and her ponytail was pulled to one side of her head. Ronnie straightened with a grunt and felt his crotch as if to make sure everything was still there.
“I hope you can’t use it for a month.” Daisy spat at him, and Jack pulled her tighter against the solid wall of his chest.
Then Jack spoke to Ronnie from beside Daisy’s temple. “Take your girlfriend and get out of here while the two of you can still walk.”
Ronnie opened his mouth, shut it again, then grabbed Kelly, who’d started screaming at the top of her lungs. He shoved her inside his truck, fired the engine, and the two of them took off, monster truck tires squealing out of the parking lot.
“Are you okay, Lily?” she called out to her sister.
Lily nodded and took her sunglasses from the man talking to her.
“What was that about?” Jack asked. “The two of you out here spreadin’ sunshine for the hell of it?” He didn’t let go, and she looked up at him again. The breeze picked up several strands of her blond hair and carried them across the front of his dress shirt. She raised her gaze past his mouth and looked deeper into the shadow created by the brim of his hat. His light green eyes stared back at her. Waiting.
“That’s Lily’s husband and his girlfriend.”
He tilted his head back and the shadow slid from the middle of his nose to the deep bow of his top lip. “Ah.”
The adrenaline in her veins made her feel suddenly shaky, and she was glad Jack held her so tight. “He’s a rat bastard.”
“So, I’ve heard.”
Daisy wasn’t surprised that Ronnie’s reputation proceeded him. Lovett was a small town. “He emptied their bank account and won’t give her any money for Pippen.”
Jack slid his palm across her stomach as he dropped his arm. He took a step back, and the solid wall of his chest was replaced with cool morning air. Her hand throbbed, her head hurt, her shoulder ached, and her knees felt wobbly. It had been a long time since she’d felt a man’s strength surrounding her, supporting her, and she would have liked nothing better than to melt right back into his chest and arms again. Of course, that was impossible. “I hurt my hand.”
“Let me see.” He turned her to face him and cradled her hand in his warm palm. The sleeves of his blue broadcloth shirt were rolled up his forearms, and over his breast pocket, was embroidered PARRISH AMERICAN CLASSICS, in black. “Wiggle your fingers for me,” he said.
With his head bent over her hand, the brim of his hat almost touched her mouth. He smelled of soap and clean skin and his starched shirt. His thumb brushed the heel of her hand and little tingles radiated outward from her palm over her wrist and traveled up the inside of her arm. Her adrenaline was doing funny things to her. Either that or she’d pinched a nerve.
He lifted his gaze and his eyes stared into hers. For several long seconds he just looked at her. She’d forgotten that when you looked real close into Jack’s eyes, you could see darker green flecks. She remembered now.
“I don’t think it’s broke, but you probably should get an X-ray.” He dropped her hand.
She made a slow fist and winched. “How do you know it’s not broken?”
“When I broke my hand, it swelled up almost immediately.”
“How did you break your hand?”
“Fighting.”
“With Steven?”
“No. At a roadhouse bar in Macon.”
Macon? What had he been doing in Macon? In the last fifteen years, he’d had a whole life she knew nothing about. She was curious about it, but she doubted he’d tell her much if she were to ask.
The clerk from inside the store moved towa
rd Daisy and she turned to him as he handed her her sunglasses. “Thanks, Chuck,” she said and slid them on her face. He gave her the change and she took the Dr. Pepper with her good hand.
“Should I call the police?” he wanted to know. “I saw them hit the other blond woman first.”
A police report might help in Lily’s divorce, but Lily wasn’t completely innocent. There was the little matter of Lily’s stalking. She didn’t know if Ronnie knew about that, but he might. “No. That’s okay.”
“If you change your mind, let me know,” Chuck offered and headed back inside.
Daisy turned her attention to Lily and the man talking to her. “Is he with you?” she asked Jack.
“Yeah. That’s Buddy Calhoun.”
“Older or younger than Jimmy?”
“A year younger.”
Daisy didn’t remember much about Buddy beyond having the bad teeth and flaming red hair of all the Calhouns. She glanced around at the people in the parking lot and at the gas pumps at the far end. The ramifications of what she’d done that morning began to sink in. “I can’t believe I fought in public.” She raised the cool Dr. Pepper to her cheek. “I never even swear in public.”
“If it’s any consolation, I don’t think you swore.” No, it wasn’t much comfort, especially when he added, “But your sister has a mouth like a trucker. We heard her clear over at the gas pumps.”
Daisy didn’t live in Lovett anymore, but her mother did. Her mother would be mortified. Daisy and Lily would probably be the latest topic at her single’s dance. “Do you think very many people noticed us?”
“Daisy, you’re standing at the intersection of Canyon and Vine. In case you’ve forgotten, it’s about the busiest intersection in the city.”
“So people are going to know that I socked Ronnie Darlington in the eye.” She removed the cool cup from her cheek. Good lord, could things be any worse?
Evidently. “Yep, and that you kneed his balls.”
“You saw that?”
“Yeah. Remind me not to piss you off.” He glanced over her head. “Ready, Buddy?”
Buddy Calhoun turned and flashed Jack a straight white smile. So much for Buddy having the Calhoun bad teeth. His hair was a dark red too, not carrot like the others. He was better-looking too. “Be right there, J. P.,” he drawled.
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