Wild in the Moment

eagle taking flight. The call was surely Teague. Okay, she was anxious and wary and thorny because he’d been so unreachable for the last two days. But as long as he was calling now…well, she wasn’t totally appeased yet. But she was sure willing to be.

As she charged into the office, she realized her palms were wet. Realized her thought train: that she was willing to forgive him about anything. Realized that she’d only been separated from him for two days and yet she was wallowing in a palms-wet, can’t-sleep, can’t-think, constantly anxious state of mind.

She’d never suffered the symptoms before. She’d been wild before, but that seemed her nature. There wasn’t much risk in doing something that came naturally to a body. Skydiving and taking off with an artist to another country and that sort of thing had never felt like a risk.

This felt like a risk.

This-God protect her-felt like love.

She grabbed the phone in Harry’s office with her heart suddenly galloping at breakneck speed. “Teague?” she said breathlessly.

“It’s Dad, Daisy. Not Teague. Who’s Teague?”

“Dad.” She closed her eyes, took a breath, pinched back the fierce disappointment-and realized all over again that she was in love.

Love was ghastly and terrifying. Who knew? How come her sisters were so happy being in love and loving? This wasn’t fun. This was so damn scary she couldn’t breathe.

“Daisy, are you there?”

“Yes, Dad. And it’s so wonderful to hear your voice. I’ve really missed you!” That wasn’t strictly true at the moment, but Daisy still meant it. She adored her dad. Her two sisters had cleaved more with their mom, but somehow she and Colin always had a special compatibility. When she got in trouble, he’d ream her out-but behind closed doors, he’d laugh with her, as well. He affirmed her spirit, her independence, even when he did the proper- dad-thing and yelled at her when she broke the rules. “Are you and Mom doing okay?”

“Your mom is fine. I’m fine. But I need to get something off my chest.”

“Shoot.” Daisy saw Harry motioning her to get off the phone, but she sank on the corner of the desk. A woman had priorities. If her dad needed her, that was that.

“Daisy, you told your mother about the divorce. You told your sisters. But you never said one direct word to me.”

Guilt bit with sharp teeth. “I never meant to hurt your feelings-”

“If you were having trouble with Jean-Luc, why didn’t you say? I know you can handle yourself. I know you wouldn’t have gotten a divorce unless the situation had become hell for you. But I thought we could always talk. I never met anyone who got so old they couldn’t use support from family. Why haven’t you called?”

“I’m sorry.” She took a breath, knowing she’d been avoiding her dad. “I know we’re overdue a heart-to-heart.” She thought she’d conquered a lot of her pride, partly because of finding Teague. Talking with him. Somehow telling him things she’d never have told anyone else. But there was a level of pride she still had trouble dipping beneath. That asking-for-help thing. That admitting when she was wrong. That admitting when she was scared.

“You’re doing all right now?”

“Fine,” she told him, and then grappled for more honesty. “Well…not fine. Because a man entered the picture who I really care about. I wasn’t looking. And I hadn’t planned on looking until I had money, a job, my whole life back together. But now is when I found him.”

“You love this guy?” her dad asked gruffly.

So easily, so strongly she said, “Yes.” But she closed her eyes and added, “Dad, there was a reason I didn’t tell you anything before. Everyone in the family’s done so well with their lives-in spite of some terrible things happening, like with Camille losing her first husband, and Violet believing for so long she couldn’t have a baby. I seemed to be the only one who really bungled things.”

“You didn’t bung-”

“Yeah, I did. And I didn’t want to be a disappointment to you.”

“You couldn’t disappoint me, you goose.” Her dad talked a few more minutes about family business. How her mom had managed to plant a garden in spite of the heat. How Camille was loving being a stepmom to her hellion teenage twins and talking about starting up an animal shelter. How Violet couldn’t talk about anything else but how wonderful the pregnancy was.

When Daisy hung up, she was smiling. Smoke was billowing out of the oven; Harry was exasperated with her, and no one was waiting on the impatient customers at the counter. But as she dashed out to help, she felt so, so, so much better for having talked with her dad.

She did need to put her life back together, not go into any relationship as a dependent. But even with the fear she’d built up about repeating her bad judgment with men-she knew Teague was different. Knew his heart was honest, his ethics straight and true, his capacity for love generous and huge.

Yet as she charged into the restaurant to help put out fires-the table of seven near the far window looked downright furious at how long they’d been waiting-she suddenly stopped dead. That particular far window looked out on Main Street. The east side of Main Street. The side that led to the shops and main business district.

Maybe she’d glanced out the window earlier, maybe not-there wasn’t much to see in those pitch-black hours before sunrise. But the watery sun had poked over the horizon now. She immediately saw the banners-all three of them.

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

DAISY!

Loopy daisies and black-eyed Susans hung from both sides of the banners, climbing up the lampposts. And when she saw the banners, suddenly all sound seemed to stop in the cafe. Even the impatient family of seven was grinning. Staring at her.

Now she got it-all the customers this morning.

All the presents.

Only it wasn’t her birthday or even close.

For an instant she couldn’t move or breathe. It was another charming, impulsive gesture. Romantic. Grandiose. Exactly what had given her an uneasy stroke when he’d given her the four-foot heart. And since this was bigger and even more public, she probably should be having a stroke times two.

Instead she sucked in a breath, took care of the impatient customers, and the instant she got a free second, she ran into Harry’s office to use his private phone.

No surprise, Teague didn’t answer-either his home phone or his cell. But this time she left a firm message. “This is Daisy. Either call me or I’m going to strangle you with my bare hands. And that’s a promise.”

Eleven

Teague pulled over to the side of the road, braked and rolled down the window. The blast of cold air wasn’t enough to wake him up, so he slapped his cheeks.

He had to get some sleep. He’d been burning the candle at both ends all week-and all for a good cause. He just had one more project to pull off before he could crash. It wouldn’t wait because tomorrow was Valentine’s Day.

As whipped as he was, his mood was still elated. This would get her, he thought. It was the Valentine’s present of all Valentine’s presents. All right. So it wasn’t exactly romantic in the classic sense, but romantic was what showed love, right?

It’s not like it was an appliance.

This was big. No one could call it ordinary. It was nothing like that lazy son of a gun would have given her- something she had to give back, something she really had no use for. Daisy already had zillions of jewels and crap