'Sure.' He pulled back his cuff and looked at his watch.
'Were you there that night, Daisy?'
'No.' She once again glanced up at the man by her side. 'I never liked it when Steven and Jack raced cars. Iwas always afraid someone would get hurt.'
'I was always in control.' Jack dropped his hand to his side and his fingers brushed her dress. He lowered hisgaze to her, and his eyes were without expression when he said, 'I was always safe.'
No, being with him had rarely been safe.
'I was real sorry to hear about Steven,' Jimmy said and she returned her gaze to him. 'He was a good guy.'
Daisy never knew what to say to that, so she raised her glass to her lips.
'Shay told me he died of brain cancer.'
'Yes.' It had a name, glioblastoma. And it was horrible and always fatal.
'I've been fixin' to get a hold of your momma to ask how you're doing,' Sylvia told her.
'I'm okay.' Which was the truth. She was okay. 'Goodness, when's this baby due?' she asked Sylvia, purposelychanging the subject.
'Next month.' She rubbed her big belly. 'And I am more than ready. Do you have children?'
'Yes.' She was very aware of Jack, of the sleeve of his jacket so close to her arm that if she moved just afraction, she would feel the texture of it against her bare skin. 'My son, Nathan,' she said and purposely didn'treveal his age. 'He's in Seattle with Steven's sister Junie and her husband Oliver.' She glanced up at Jack andgone was his carefully blank expression. Surprise filled his green eyes and lifted a brow. 'You remember Juniedon't you?'
'Of course,' he said and looked away.
'I remember her,' Sylvia elaborated. 'She was a lot older than its. I remember Steven's parents were pretty oldtoo.'
Steven had been a real surprise when his parents were in their mid forties. They were both sixty-three when hegraduated high school. His mother was gone now, and his father lived in a retirement community in Arizona.
'Shay and I are gonna get to work on making a baby tonight.' Jimmy laughed. 'Don't want to wait too late inlife to have a baby.'
Jack reached inside his jacket and pulled a cigar from the breast pocket of his dress shirt. 'Congratulations,' hesaid and handed it to Jimmy.
Jimmy pulled the cigar through his fingers. 'My favorite. Thanks.'
'Don't I get one?' Shay protested with a smile.
'I didn't know you smoked cigars,' Jack said as he reached for her hand. He took it from the folds of her dressand brought it to his mouth. 'Congratulations, Shay. Jimmy is a very lucky man.' He kissed her knuckles anddrawled just above a whisper, 'If he doesn't treat you right, you let me know.'
Shay smiled and touched her curls with her free hand. 'Are you going to open a can of whoop ass on mybehalf?'
'For you, I'll open two.' He dropped her hand, then he excused himself.
Daisy's gaze fell to his broad shoulders as he made his way to the bar set up in one corner.
'He could always charm the pants off anyone,' Sylvia sighed. 'Even in the fifth grade.'
She turned her attention to Sylvia as the others around them talked about football. While they debated whetherthe Cowboys needed stronger defense or offense, Daisy leaned her head closer to Sylvia.
'What happened with you and Jack in the filth grade?' she asked her friend.
A wistful smile curved Sylvia's lips, and the two of them turned to watch Jack order a beer at the bar.
'Come on,' Daisy wheedled.
'He talked me into showing him my bottom.'
In the fifth grade? She and Jack and Steven had been playing NASCAR in the fifth grade. Not doctor. 'How?'
'He told me he'd show me his if I showed him mine.'
'That's all it took?'
'I don't have brothers, and he doesn't have sisters. We were curious and checked out each other's bottoms.
Nothing bad happened. He was real sweet about it.'
She'd never known that while he was boring her with Richard Petty stats, he was running around checking outother girl's bottoms. She wondered what else she didn't know.
'Don't tell me you were friends with Jack Parrish all those years and never showed him yours.'
'Not in the fifth grade.'
'Honey, sooner or later, everyone showed Jack their bottom.' She ran her hand over her big belly. 'It was just amatter of time.'
Daisy was seventeen and practically had to beg him to look at her bottom. If she remembered correctly, hiswords had been, 'Stop, Daisy. I don't mess around with virgins.' But he had, and they'd begun a wild sexualrelationship that they'd kept secret from everyone. Even Steven. Especially Steven. It had been crazy andthrilling and intense. A roller coaster ride of love and jealousy and sex. And it had ended very badly.
Long forgotten memories rushed at Daisy, as if suddenly set free. One here, another there. A tangled mess ofmemory and chaotic emotion, as if they'd been smashed together, thrown in a box, and hurriedly taped shut.
Waiting all these years for someone to rip the tape off and throw open the tabs.
She recalled her own wedding. She and Steven at the courthouse. Her mother and his parents standing withthem. Steven squeezing her hand to keep it from shaking. She'd loved Steven Monroe for years before shemarried him. Maybe not a hot burning kind of love. Maybe she didn't crave him like a drug, but that kind oflove didn't last. It burned out. The love she'd felt for Steven had always been warm and comfortable, likecoming home cold and tired, curling up in front of a fire. That kind of love lasted, and it would last long afterSteven's passing.
She remembered riding with Steven in his car, on their way to tell Jack about their marriage. Her pregnancy hadmade her sick to her stomach. What they were about to do made her chest tight. She'd started to cry even beforethey pulled onto Jack's street. Again, Steven had held her hand.
She and Steven had been through a lot together, and everything they'd faced had brought them closer. Their firstfew years of marriage while he was attending school had been rough financially. Then when Nathan turnedfour, Steven got a good job and they decided to add another child to their family only to find out that Steven hada low sperm count. They'd tried everything to conceive, but nothing worked. After five years, they decided togive up and were happy with their lives.
The room suddenly went dark and Daisy was jarred from the past. A spotlight shined on the center of the dancefloor, and she tried to push all thoughts of the past from her head. led and the Rippers picked up theirinstruments and Jimmy and Shay danced their first dance as husband and wife.
When Daisy had decided to come home and tell Jack about Nathan, she hadn't counted on the memories. Shehadn't even known they were there, locked away, waiting for her.
Daisy moved away from the dance floor and placed her empty glass on a table. She headed to the bathroom inthe bar down the hail, and while she washed her hands, she looked at her reflection. She was no longer a scared,heartbroken girl. She was a lot tougher than she'd been growing up. While she wasn't here to relive memories,she wouldn't hide from them either. She was here to tell Jack about Nathan. She would tell him that she wassorry and hope he'd understand. Although she was fairly certain he wouldn't understand and would make thingsdifficult, she still had to do the right thing. No more putting it off. No more hiding.
She reapplied her red lipstick and dropped it into her purse. Let Jack do his worst. She might even deserve someof it, but she'd survive. She'd lived with just about the worst that life could deal her, and nothing Jack could dowould be as bad as that.
Daisy stopped in the bar and bought a glass of wine, then made her way back toward the banquet room.
Jack stood in the long hail with one shoulder shoved against the wall. He held a cell phone in one hand, theother was in the front pocket of his pants. He glanced up and watched her as she moved toward him.
'That'd be fine,' he said into the phone. 'I'll see y'all first thing Monday.'
Her first impulse was to hurry past, but she stopped in front of him instead. 'Hey, Jack.'
