"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 lookedout the passenger-side window at an old lady in a pink housecoat walking her beagle down the sidewalk. "AndI'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 crashinghis niece's birthday party might not have been one of her brightest ideas, but she was running out of time. Sheonly had a few more days, and if Jack hadn't lied to her about being out of town, she wouldn't have wasted fourof 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 twogirls clinging to him, she'd felt a surprising little pinch in her heart. "He was really good with them, and youcould 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 aboutNathan, he's probably going to be a lot angrier with me than I'd figured. Not that! thought he wouldn't be, butthere's always been a part of me that hoped he'd understand." She took the claw out of her hair and leaned herhead back against the seat. "Jack wasn't ready for a family. He'd just lost his mother and father, he wouldn'thave 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 centerconsole. "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-hairedwoman. Daisy had only met Ronnie twice, when he and Lily visited Seattle, but Daisy recognized him. He wasgood-looking with strategically disarrayed blond hair and a gee-shucks smile that fooled some women. UnlikeLily, 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 onthe shoulders of his red cowboy shirt. He wore a belt buckle the size of a dessert plate and his wranglers were sotight 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 coveredin black spandex shorts.
The engine shut off and Daisy reached over and took the keys from the ignition. She grabbed Lily's arm to keepher 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 "Kellythe skank" up into the truck, then he fired up the Ford and the two of them took off. Anger for her sister burnedin Daisy's stomach as she watched them drive out of the parking lot. Lily covered her mouth but a high-pitchkeening leaked through her fingers. Daisy reached across the center console and pulled her sister into her armsthe 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 heartbreaking too. What kind of worthless man abandoned his wife and child? What kind of A-moral A-hole ranaround 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 hersister.
"Honey, have you thought of maybe getting some counseling?" she asked her sister.
"I don't want to ta-talk about it with a stranger. It's too-too humiliating." After that her sentences becameincoherent, 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, Lilycrawled to the passenger seat. "Do you want a Dr. Pepper?" Daisy asked as they drove out of the parking lot. "Itmight 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 gotideas, grabbed a five from her purse, and put her sunglasses on the dashboard. "I'll be right back," she told Lilyand opened the door. Once inside the store, she filled up a twenty-four-ounce cup with Dr. Pepper, sealed thetop with a lid and grabbed a straw. When Lily calmed down, she'd talk to her about her lawyer and see what hewas doing to help her.
"Good morning," the clerk said, his green uniform hung on his bony shoulders. His name tag said he was Chuckand 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 pulledinto a parking slot a few cars away from Lily's Taurus. She watched with a sense of impending doom as Ronnieand 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 tworight there on the sidewalk in front of the Minute Mart. Daisy could hear Lily's hysterical screaming through theglass, 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 thestore's door, Lily called Kelly a whore and a fat-ass, and Kelly swung and slapped Lily across the face. Lily'ssunglasses 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 flowedthrough 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 shehadn'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 himin 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 squarebetween the legs like she'd been aiming, but enough that the air left his lungs in a big whoosh. His fingersloosened and she stepped back. Ronnie doubled over and several long strands of Daisy's hair got tangled in hisfist.
"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 stupidbitch. 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 ahand 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 herthroat as she looked over her shoulder. "Jack?"