by Zoe Lee
“Is that all that’s worrying you? Fighting?” Chase asked, gently.
“Dunk’s afraid that she’ll want to take care of him,” Aden offered, “because her ex-husband is Tyler Houston—Jamie’s youngest brother.”
“And you know how their mother is. Tyler leaned on Daisy for love and support,” Dunk added, exhaling heavily, feeling a little bad for sharing the information, even though he knew they wouldn’t gossip about her.
Chase pursed her mouth thoughtfully. “Does she feel like Tyler used her as a crutch, or was just with her to boost his confidence?”
“No,” Dunk said, even though his instinct was to refuse to defend his girlfriend’s ex-husband; he wouldn’t lie and make Tyler out to be the bad guy when he wasn’t. They’d needed each other, and they’d grown up and grown apart. It had hurt Daisy, of course it had, but she had been adamant that Tyler hadn’t been a taker, not like that.
“I don’t think Daisy is afraid of being there for you, Dunk. She’s a sweetheart, she’s generous, she cares about the people she loves so much. We haven’t been really close for all that long, but I can just tell, she’s the kind of person who’s there for you in a heartbeat if you need it.”
“Yeah, but…” He swallowed and confessed, “I’m afraid I’ll just keep being that guy, that jock, that happy-go-lucky coach who rolls with shit.”
“Dunk,” Chase sighed, clearly exasperated. “You are that guy.” Then she held up a hand, preventing him from saying anything yet. “She fell in love with that guy, and with all of the other facets of your personality. She knows how much you love your family, how loyal you are to your friends. She knows you’ve made an ass of yourself and risked your friends’ anger to help them. You told her all your bad things on that road trip. She didn’t say she couldn’t handle it, she didn’t ask you to change. She loves you.”
Dunk’s throat was tight with all these other vague fears that he didn’t know how to put into words. It was only in the last couple of years that his reputation as a fun, fairly clueless guy had started to bug him. He supposed it boiled down to wanting to be more than that guy, because he was over thirty and he was loyal, responsible, and his advice was awesome.
Now, that worry was bigger and fiercer, laced with doubt, because Daisy deserved an amazing man, someone who would never let her down. But he’d never been in a relationship and he didn’t know what that meant. He didn’t even know all the ways he might let her down—other than obvious, terrible things he’d never do like cheat or ignore her—so how could he stop himself from doing it accidentally?
“And, Dunk?” Chase said, interrupting his racing thoughts.
“Yeah?”
Chase uncurled herself and reached across the table. Dunk stretched his hand out and took hers, comforted by his friend’s warm, knowing eyes. “She’s worrying about stuff like this too, even after your long talk in the car about what you’re worried about and what you want to do with your lives.”
Dunk blinked.
When he’d gotten hit with all of these doubts after he’d dropped Daisy off, he’d completely forgotten that they had, in fact, talked about all of this in great detail on the drive from Memphis to Maybelle. He’d gotten so panicked because, despite their hard work putting together their relationship playbook, those plays were all so… big-picture, or theoretical. It was like telling someone about the football play called the Fumblerooski and promising it would work, but not actually telling a player what to do.
“Oh,” he muttered.
“This is why you talked so much and why you have to keep up that open communication,” Chase reminded him reasonably. “It’s perfectly natural to worry; you’ve gotten something you’ve always dreamed of: a woman who’s just as madly in love with you as you are with her.”
“Like if you got drafted,” Aden added.
Dunk breathed out a little shakily, and nodded.
“Feel better?” Chase asked.
“Yeah,” Dunk huffed out a laugh, then rubbed his hands on his thighs and stood up. “I should go home and unpack, take Tugger for a run.”
Chase hugged Dunk, then whispered, “You got this, Coach.”
“Thanks, sweetheart,” he whispered back.
Aden grumbled under his breath about the length of the hug and Dunk’s usual carefree joy came rolling back in. He couldn’t help but scoop Chase up and run back inside off the porch, roaring over his shoulder, “Ha ha, my evil, long-term nefarious plan to steal your girl has worked!”
“You asshole,” Aden yelled, “stop stealing other people’s shit!”
“Are you calling Chase shit?” Dunk gasped in mock outrage, setting his petite friend down carefully and laughing from deep in his belly.
With a fond smile, Chase whapped him on the back of the head.
“Thanks, y’all,” Dunk said, flashing a grateful look at them, and then slid out the door before Aden could kick his ass.
Chapter 30
Daisy
Daisy woke up too early and alone, groaning as she stretched her arms over her head and then collapsed back into the sheets.
It had been a month since she and Dunk got back home after their road trip, and it had been hectic for her.
She had tried to be mad at Stephanie and Karen for interfering in her life by conspiring with Chase about the road trip. But they’d been best friends for so long and it had turned out to be exactly what she needed, so her anger had burned out after less than five minutes of ranting at them. Then they’d spent awhile talking about all of the things that still scared her. Karen, who was usually the most sunshine and rainbows of the three of them, had pointed out, There are no guarantees on happiness, Daisy—and you wouldn’t want one. If it was guaranteed, then it wouldn’t mean poop.
She had taken Shane and Levi fishing to confess that she disliked working at the firm, where the work was boring and she felt indebted to their dad. She’d come to understand that, for now, she didn’t want to do her art full-time because the pressure to earn a steady income was too much. But she’d also come to see that, even if her job was just a job, that didn’t mean she had to hate it. So she told her brothers that she was looking for another job, and they’d helped her break the news to their dad.
While she’d been looking diligently for something that appealed to her in Maybelle and the next county over, she hadn’t found anything yet.
And, through it all, there had been Dunk.
Duncan McCoy.
Even though it had been nine months since Jamie and Leda’s wedding, the very thought of his name still sent a shiver of pleasure through her. Since their road trip, they had been deliriously happy and excited, texting and talking all the time. They made love as if they were teenagers, awed by their explorations, frenzied to do everything as often as possible. But they also spent most nights together, curled up, whispering in the dark like they were having a sleepover. It made Daisy feel secure, which was hard to explain because she hadn’t felt insecure before.
But last night, he’d apologized and said he should sleep at his place because he had a lot of things to do today. Tonight was the big going away party for Jesse and he’d helped Tristan plan it, so he had to help Tristan get ready for it. Daisy knew they were going to clean Tristan’s, nail down grills, food and kegs, gather up picnic tables and lawn chairs, and probably put up decorations. Daisy had put on a big smile, even though he was being shifty; she trusted him, and she knew that he was having a hard time trying to mentally prepare himself for Jesse being gone.
So she was up too early because she missed having Dunk’s giant, sprawling, overheated, sweaty body in the bed next to her.
It was ridiculous, but it made her giggle, knowing it was just another sign of how much she loved him and wanted to make their two lives into one good life.
Since she didn’t have anywhere to be until twelve-thirty, when she was meeting the girls for lunch at Lorenzo’s, she tugged her futon into a couch and watched some movies, surfed the internet, and took a
long shower.
While part of her wanted to pretend it was just another summer barbeque, she bit her lip against a sob and took forever getting ready, deciding on a moss green and peacock blue striped shirtwaist dress. She used about fifty bobby pins to make a milkmaid braid crown and put on lip gloss, eyeliner and mascara.
Before she could get too caught up thinking about this last hurrah, Chase called and said that she was downstairs. Shaking herself out, trying to get rid of the frissons of unease and sadness, Daisy got her purse.
“You look so nice,” Chase chirped when Daisy settled into the Shelby’s passenger seat, smoothing a hand fondly over the leather seat.
“Did Jesse really pick Lorenzo’s?” Daisy asked after a few minutes of chatting. It was, without argument, the trendiest place in Maybelle.
“Honestly, I think she’s trying to avoid places where too many people will be. Locals, I mean,” Chase explained as she idled at a stoplight.
Daisy hummed in agreement, understanding Jesse’s need to be somewhere where the least amount of people would approach her. Daisy had been in danger of becoming a hermit after Tyler and she had split, because whenever she went out, everyone had to say hello and ask how she was, sincerity and nosiness making for an uncomfortable mix.
“This is so weird,” Chase mumbled as they parked.
“Uh huh,” Daisy said as they started walking.
“Plenty of friends moved away after college and law school, or left the Bay Area for other jobs or to move back where they grew up,” Chase commented while they pushed inside the Orchid Hotel, where Lorenzo’s took up the top floor. “But somehow that was really different.”
Daisy pressed the up button for the elevator, her eyes roaming the Orchid’s lobby since she was rarely in here. “People go away to college, of course, like Dunk and my brothers Levi and Shane. But they only went for school and they always were going to come back. My brother Conor is the only person, until now, who’s moved away. Of people I’m close to, I mean.”
“What was that like?” Chase asked as they stepped into the elevator.
Daisy smoothed some flyaways off her temple and sighed. “I was younger, just in middle school, and he was my big brother. All my brothers were madly protective of me, but they didn’t, like, play with me or come to school art shows. So it hit my folks hard, and I remember his last dinner in town, we all dressed up, the boys in ties that they complained were choking them the whole night. I was really just excited for him, and a little jealous that he’d gotten his dream job in Kentucky.”
They walked into Lorenzo’s and made their way onto the balcony, which was shaded but still showed off a great view of Maybelle Square, a sliver of the public lake glittering like a stiletto behind the treeline.
Jesse and Leda were already seated, a pitcher of sangria and a plate of brownies on the table.
“Hey, y’all,” Leda said as they sat down, pouring them glasses.
Immediately Daisy picked up her glass and took two long, deep gulps, then picked up a brownie and ate half of it.
“You okay there, Daisy?” Leda asked, arching one brow high.
Caught, Daisy looked up and winced around her mouthful of gooey chocolate. “Um,” she said, then swallowed. “So… are we just pretending that this is a normal, everyday girls’ lunch? Or…?”
All of them blew out sighs and leaned hard against the backs of their chairs. Chase looked up and away, blinking rapidly and suspiciously, while Leda cleared her throat roughly and swigged some sangria. Jesse tried to smile, a heart-wrenching thing stuck somewhere between a grimace and an encouraging look.
No one spoke for another minute, and then Jesse’s elbows plunked onto the table. “Fuck, y’all,” she sighed. “This is harder than I thought it was going to be.”
“Feelings are going to get all over the place, Jess,” Chase stated firmly.
“And it’s okay,” Daisy put in, her smile wobbly.
Leda swallowed so hard that they could all hear her throat click. “Are you,” she began, and then she cleared her throat again and asked determinedly, “Are you sure that you want to go?”
Jesse’s head fell back so that she was looking straight up into the sky. Daisy wanted to take her hand for support, but Jesse didn’t always feel comfortable with casual touches, especially comforting ones, so she held back. Finally Jesse righted her head and looked at each of them, slow and careful. “I’m ready to go,” she said quietly, her voice rougher than Daisy had ever heard it, even at the end of Leda’s wedding after a day of speeches, yelling and singing, way too much smoking and drinking. “You know I… you know I love you all, okay? But it’s just…”
They all sighed. They knew what it just was. Jesse had a great life here in Maybelle, except that there were zero romantic prospects. Daisy knew that life could be good, really good, for a long time when you were single. But at some point, when you got used to how really good life was, you looked around and noticed that you were missing something vital.
“You’ll find someone in Chicago,” Daisy blurted out, certain of it.
“Shit,” Leda hissed as fat tears spilled past her heavy mascara, tracking subtle gray watercolor over her tan cheeks.
“Now I’m going to—” Chase choked out, sniffling.
“I know I’m the newest member,” Daisy barreled on, knowing that sometimes it took a new person, who had maybe been on the outside and had some more perspective and less sheer history, to say this. “But I just know you’ll find someone in Chicago. Or many someones,” she added with a smile that had a little more cheer and a flash of wickedness.
“No more breaking your arm tumbling out of someone’s bedroom window,” Leda put in with a wet laugh.
“And we’ll come visit you,” Chase promised fiercely. “So much you’ll wish you’d moved to… to Madrid just to avoid how much we visit.”
Jesse muttered, “Madrid?”
“It’s one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world,” Chase said with a shrug. “My West Coast best friend says if she ever sleeps with every viable lesbian and bisexual girl in San Francisco, that’s where she’s going next.”
That broke the serious moment, everyone falling over their drinks, crying with laughter now instead of tears, Leda practically howling.
Once they’d wiped their eyes and calmed down, Jesse offered a crooked, soft smile and suggested, “First group international vacation?”
“Yes!” Leda yelled.
The other patrons on the balcony sent them looks.
“Sorry,” Chase called cheerfully.
“Not sorry,” Leda whispered, winking.
“Okay, so, does anyone know anything about Callie Rodriguez’s nose job?” Chase exclaimed, leaning in close.
Daisy gasped and Leda launched into all of the gossip about it.
Jesse smiled, hooking her elbow over the back of her chair, and Daisy felt the way Jesse looked. This was a wonderful moment, a closeness with friends that Daisy was privileged to be a part of. Stephanie and Karen were her best friends, but this was sisterhood, and distance, significant others, maybe babies someday, would never change this.
At four, after more brownies and gossip, they left Lorenzo’s and piled into the Shelby. Chase zipped down the streets, music pumped up high, the four of them singing like an off-key flock of birds.
When they got to Tristan’s, where the barbeque was set to start around five, the guys were sprawled out on lawn chairs set down on the level part of the yard just before the grass turned into rocky mud at the lakeshore.
The grills weren’t on yet, but the music was, and Daisy listened with her heart so very full to the rise and fall of the men’s conversation as she and the other women meandered from the driveway down to them.
“Girls!” Dunk cried loudly. “Guest of honor, Jesse Riley!”
He hooked an arm around Daisy’s hips and brought her tumbling onto his broad thighs, which he widened so she fell between them, giggling.
“Hey, darlin’,
” he murmured into her neck, kissing her pulse softly.
Everyone found seats and for a while, it was just like any other barbeque, old friends gossiping and telling tall tales about each other. Jamie sent her a lazy smile and she beamed back at him, realizing that she’d hardly seen him at all this summer. She knew some of that was her, but some of it was him, too; his son Hunter was staying with him and Leda for almost the entire summer, which was new and amazing, but busy too.
About an hour later, other people started showing up, Jesse’s coworkers at the inn, a few more cousins of her and Munn’s, and all of Jesse’s satellite friends like Stephanie and Karen. People brought food and drinks and grills, and they enjoyed a feast while the music blasted and everyone laughed.
At ten-thirty, Dunk and Munn coerced Seth into playing, so Daisy snuggled under a light blanket and listened to Seth serenade them with his beautiful, rough voice. She didn’t recognize all of the songs, but from the way Jesse’s lips were pressed so thin they trembled when she wasn’t shaping all of the lyrics, Daisy knew these had to be her favorite songs.
The mood shifted after that, as people started to leave, not knowing how to say goodbye after the everyday rhythm of the barbeque.
Daisy could tell that Dunk was keeping a hawk eye on Jesse, orbiting to her and being his typical loud, boisterous self to help Jesse get a breather between goodbyes or pulling her away if someone was staying too long and she looked awkward. Now and then, Daisy would whisper I love you and you’re so sweet, and Dunk would flush just a little under his ruddy tan, ducking to kiss her quick and hard.
By the time it was almost one, only the original group was left.
“I should leave y’all be,” Daisy whispered.
Dunk reared back in shock. “What? No! Why? Daisy Rhys, you’re just as important to Jesse as the rest of us. New, but mighty.”
“Please stay,” Jesse said quietly.
Daisy’s throat closed and she nodded once fiercely.
“I feel like we should give toasts, full of advice or something,” Munn mumbled, making some of them snort and nod too.