'And you always thought you were God's gift to a pair of jeans.' She put her hands on his chest and shoved, buthe didn't move at all. 'But I'm here to tell you on behalf of all women, what you've got in your jeans isn't thatextraordinary.'
'You thought so Saturday on the trunk of the custom Lancer. In fact, you burst into tears because you enjoyedwhat I've got in my jeans.'
'Don't flatter yourself. It'd been a long time. It could have happened with anyone.' She smiled, too angry to beembarrassed. 'You could have been Tucker Gooch,' she added, knowing full well that Jack had always dislikedTucker.
He laughed. 'Tucker doesn't have what it takes to make you bawl like you just had a religious conversion.'
The front door opened and Louella stuck her head out. 'You're putting on quite a show for the neighbors.'
Jack let go of Daisy's shoulders and had the grace to look embarrassed. 'Good afternoon, Miz Brooks.'
'Hello, Jackson. Hot enough for ya?'
'Hotter than a stolen tamale,' he said, taking off his hat and exchanging pleasantries as if to show he'd beenraised right.
'I haven't seen you in a tong lime.'
'No, ma'am.'
'How's your brother?'
'He's fine. Thanks for askin'.'
'Well, tell him I said hello.'
'I'll do that. How've you been, Miz Brooks?'
Daisy sat on the second to the last concrete step. She rested her forehead in her hand and waited for her motherto break into a long-winded story about her near heart failure at having seen Bonnie Lingo's ugly baby. And foronce, Daisy was grateful because it would give her time to compose herself.
Instead Louella said, 'Well aren't you kind to ask. I'm feeling just fine.'
'Glad to hear it, ma'am.'
Daisy could almost feel her mother staring a hole in the back of her head. Since she already felt like an idiot forfighting with Jack on the front lawn, she refused to turn around and receive her mother's meaningful glare. 'DidNathan hear us?' she asked.
'No. We couldn't hear you inside, but we did see you two going at it.'
'Great,' Daisy whispered.
She heard the front door shut behind her mother, and she dropped her hand and looked up at Jack. 'We have toget along.'
He shook his head. Even with bad-hat hair, he managed to look good. 'Not going to happen.'
'Then we're going to have to fake it. For Nathan's sake.'
'Wet I'll tell you something, buttercup,' he said as he stuck his hat back on his head. 'I just don't think I'm thatgood at lying.'
His recent lie about a trip to Tallahassee came to mind. 'Right. -A frown wrinkled his brows. 'Not as good as you, anyway.'
She stood on the bottom step and looked into his face. 'Do you think Nathan will want to stay here with youknowing that you hate me?' She didn't wait for him to answer. 'He likes to act all grown up. He likes to thinkthat I baby him, but the fact is, he still needs me.'
The furrow in his forehead smoothed. 'Are you saying you're going to let him stay for the summer?'
She didn't think she had a choice. She'd talk to Nathan, and if he really wanted to work in Jack's garage and getto know him, Daisy wouldn't stand in his way. 'If that's what he wants - but I won't leave him here alone withyou. I left him with relatives in Seattle for less than two weeks, and he couldn't handle it.'
She let out a deep breath and thought out loud. 'He only brought a backpack full of clothes. I have the onesuitcase. Neither one of us would last the summer on what we brought.' She was going to have to make a triphome to Seattle to get some of their things.
Jack folded his arms over his wide chest and smiled. He'd won this round and he knew it.
'You have to promise, no more fighting.'
'Agreed.'
'We have to get along.'
'In front of Nathan.'
But Daisy wasn't through with him. 'You have to pretend to like me.'
He tilted his head back and the shadow from his hat slid from his nose, over his lips, to his chin. 'Don't pushyour luck.'
Daisy added water to the vase of fresh-cut lilies and returned it to the spot on the stand next to her sister'shospital bed. Daisy disliked the cloying scent of lilies. They reminded her of death. 'I'm not going to be herewhen you go home tomorrow,' she said and reached for the vase filled with peach tulips and white roses.
'Are you and Nathan going home?' Lily asked as she reached for the lime Jell-O on her dinner tray.
'Just me, and just for a few days.' Daisy moved to the sink and added water to the vase. 'It seems we're goingto stay the summer' Lily didn't say anything and Daisy looked over her shoulder at her sister. She had a whitebandage covering the stitches on her forehead. One eye was black and blue, the other green and yellow. Her toplip was still a little swollen, her left forearm was bandaged and her right ankle and foot were in some sort oftraction cast.
'What happened?' Lily finally asked. 'Did you tell Jack about Nathan?'
'Not exactly.' She set the vase next to the other and sat in a chair beside Lily's bed. 'Nathan kind of told him,'
she answered, then filled her sister in on the rest. 'I tried to tell Jack how sorry I am, but he isn't ready to hearit.'
Lily turned her head on the pillow and her blue eyes gazed out from all the color on her face. 'I'm sorry is justtwo words, Daisy. They don't mean anything unless you really mean them. Ronnie used to tell me he was sorryevery time he cheated, but what he really meant was that he was sorry he got caught again. Sometimes sorryisn't enough.'
From outside the room, Dr. Williams was paged to star-line four; inside, Daisy got a real good glimpse intosuffering on the other side, from the person feeling the most pain.
'Yes, I know.' She wrapped her hands around the wooden arms of the chair. 'That's mostly why I've agreed tostay for the summer. I owe Jack. I may have done things for what I thought were the right reasons, but Ishouldn't have waited fifteen years to tell Jack about Nathan. I have a lot of guilt about that.'
'Don't let guilt make you crazy.' Lily set her Jell-O back on the fray. 'Remember the night we went to SlimClem's?'
'Of course.'
'I slept with Buddy Calhoun that night.'
Daisy was too stunned to speak.
'He came over after I got home and we hooked up. He was real sweet and the sex was great. But after he left, Istarted to feel guilty, like I was cheating on my marriage. Ronnie had cheated on me for years, left Pippen andme for another woman, and I was feeling guilty' She scratched her forehead next to the bandage. 'It was crazy,and I got so mad I drove over to his house. He wasn't home, but I drove up and down his street waiting for him,getting madder and madder. I don't remember much after that, but I guess I got so mad, I drove my car into hisfront room.'
'Lily.' She stood and walked to the bed. 'What are you saying? Not to let guilt make me that insane, or I shouldprobably expect Jack's Mustang to plow through mother's front room?'
'Neither. I don't know. I just know that I want to feel normal again.' She pushed the tray away. 'Can youscratch my big toe?'
Daisy moved to the end of the bed scratched her sister's toe. Lily's ankle was huge.
'What did you tell the police about the accident?'
'That I was going to see Ronnie about child support and I must have gotten one of my bad migraines andaccidently hit the gas instead of the brake.'
