24. Chapter Twenty-four

I was stupid.

I made reckless decisions.

I regularly blew up my life.

All of that had been established.

What I came to face today? I was one lucky motherfucker. I'd been offered forgiveness more than I was certain I'd deserved.

I had not foreseen Daisy being as angry with me as she was. Nor as hurt. She'd been right, though. I had baggage, and I let that affect my relationships—including with her.

Stupid.

I had her forgiveness, and it went without saying it was a one-time thing. If we parted again, it would be for good. The idea of not seeing her ever again made my gut sink like a stone.

I just had to get my shit together and stop making out with her whenever I felt the whim. She wasn't exactly making it easy in her pretty, black, Lydia-coded dress. Smelling like flowers and sugar, working the room like a boss.

We were at a fundraiser luncheon for the local Boys and Girls Club. Peak Strategies donated to them, which meant when their fundraising chair—who didn't know the meaning of personal space or mouthwash—set his sights on me, he waylaid me into a prolonged conversation. Daisy, wisely, had gotten out of dodge as fast as she could, murmuring something about seeing someone she recognized. We both damn well knew she'd been lying. Finally extricating myself from Garlic Breath, I went in search of her. In another setting, I might have given her bratty ass a smack for leaving me on my own like that.

She wasn't easy to spot. Even in her heels, she was shorter than most of the mingling crowd. A few more people tried to stop me, but every minute that passed I couldn't see her made my stomach knot.

My searching gaze landed on the well-preserved woman she was speaking to before I found her, and my guts dropped in horror.

Hell no. This isn't happening.

I crossed the room as quickly as I could, hoping against hope not too much damage had been done. Those hopes were dashed as soon as I picked up on their conversation.

"It's grazing-by-Daisy-dot-com? Is that where all your pictures are?"

"Some pictures are on my site," Daisy kindly explained. "The majority are on Instagram, though. I add more with each job."

"Oh, how clever. I'm not the greatest with social media, but I'd love to see more of your work. By chance, are you doing any weddings soon?"

I placed a none-too-gentle hand on my mother's shoulder. "Hello, Mom."

She stiffened for a split second before shifting into acting mode. She turned to me with wide, innocent eyes. "Oh, Miles! I had no idea you were here, my love. What a coincidence. I was just talking to this sweet woman about—"

"I heard. You were trying to pry information about Weston's wedding out of Daisy."

The color drained from Daisy's face as she looked back and forth between us. Probably searching for the resemblance. I had inherited her hazel eyes, but I was the spitting image of my father. A nice face was the one thing he'd given me, as much good as it'd done me.

"Oh my, do you two know each other?" My mother chirped like this was some grand coincidence. "What a small world."

"I didn't know," Daisy whispered.

I shook my head and mouthed, "You're fine." Then I gave my attention to my mother. "You want me to believe you just happened to come across my girlfriend—?"

"Girlfriend?" She sniffed. "You didn't tell me you were seeing anyone."

I held up a finger. "I don't remember the last time you asked about my personal life. That isn't the point, though. You were trying to manipulate Daisy, and I won't have it."

"I wasn't," she protested. "We were talking about her very interesting new business. I thought if she did weddings, I might tell Weston about her services."

I stared down my nose at her. "He doesn't take your calls, Mom. How would you have told him?"

She waved this minor detail off. "Oh, that isn't true. He's just busy, which is understandable. Your brother is a very important man. Sometimes he forgets things, but he always makes it right."

She meant he'd forgotten to invite her to his wedding. As if he could have accidentally overlooked inviting his own mother. This was what she did. She carefully constructed a narrative that had little to do with reality. It had taken me almost thirty years to see her as clearly as Weston always had.

"You know that isn't going to happen," I stated.

She gasped softly. "Why are you speaking to me so harshly? In front of your new girlfriend, no less?" She swiveled to Daisy. "What did you say your last name was?"

Daisy shook her head. "I didn't."

My mother lifted the business card in her hand and read it as if it were the first time. "Dunham. Hmmm. You don't happen to be related to the funeral home Dunhams? What a ghastly way to make a living."

"I am related to them." Daisy straightened her spine, one brow arching. "In fact, I finished embalming a corpse before coming here."

While my mother sputtered, Daisy tapped her temple. "Did I remember to wash my hands…?"

My mother stumbled back, clutching at her chest. Her panicked eyes landed on me. Like I was supposed to save her. There was nothing to save her from except my naughty little Cupcake. I hooked my arm around Daisy's shoulders, guiding her to my side.

"Miles, you can't possibly think it's a good idea to be seen in public with someone like…this. Have you no shame?"

"Plenty of it, thanks. I'm not interested in any more. I'm full up," I quipped. "Excuse us, we have other people we need to talk to."

She slid in our path, bringing us to a halt. "But, darling, I haven't seen you in months. It would be lovely to sit together and catch up."

"We speak every week," I reminded her.

"You should come over for dinner. Bring Daisy, of course. Your father would love to meet her. Best not to bring up her last name, though. We've been for too many—" she dropped her voice to a mock-whisper, "—Aldrich funeral services at Dunhams' for him to be comfortable with someone from that family in our home. But you know your father. Names don't matter as long as she has a pretty face."

"All right. That's enough." I gently pushed Daisy behind me, and she went without a fight. "Consider this our twenty minutes for the week. I'll call you next week. You ever say anything remotely like you did now, twenty minutes will drop to zero in a flash. My girlfriend will never be a topic of conversation for you to bring up."

Without a goodbye, I took Daisy's hand in mine, and we walked away from my mother. Daisy was stiff, staring straight ahead. I was just sorry I hadn't gotten her out of there sooner.

It wasn't until we were in the car that she spoke again.

"I don't like your mother."

I groaned in frustration. It took a lot of effort to stop myself from slamming my head into the steering wheel. I'd just gotten back on Daisy's good side. Of course we had to run into my mother, and naturally, she'd be on her worst fucking behavior.

"I'm so sorry, Daisy."

She shrugged. "It isn't like I haven't heard similar all my life. No one likes to be reminded of their mortality. Being in the presence of someone whose family business is death can be uncomfortable for a lot of people."

"To small-minded peons." Reaching across the space between us, I slid my fingers into the back of her short hair. "There's no one who reminds me more of all the sweet things about living than you do."

A small puff of air escaped from between her lips, warming my arm. "That was really nice," she whispered.

"It's true." I stroked her nape with my fingertips then cupped her neck. "I can guarantee you my mother came up to you knowing who you were. She'd probably heard about you through the gossip channels and came prepared to be a bitch if things didn't go her way."

She tilted her face toward me. "Will she take it out on you?"

"I don't care."

And for the first time, I meant it. Thinking about my mother crying pissed me off instead of sending me into a panic.

"She tried to hurt you to get her way. This is why Weston cut her off for good. He knew she'd try to go through Elise to affect him, and he wasn't going to give her a chance. Now, she sees you're important to me—"

"You're pretending I'm important to you," she corrected. She was wrong.

"No, Daisy. Even though the girlfriend-boyfriend thing is fake, you're important to me. I'm not going to allow you to be caught in the crossfires of my toxic family."

She raised her stubborn chin and met my gaze. "I'm sorry that's the person who's supposed to love you the most. You got the short end of the stick."

I chuckled at her bluntness. "Appreciate it."

She smacked my knee. "It's amazing you came out as well as you did."

"Only half fucked up?"

"Nah." The corners of her eyes crinkled. "Just a quarter."

"Shut up, Cupcake." I loosened my grip on her neck and trailed my fingers down before letting my hand fall away. "I promised you lunch, and I'm going to make good on it. Sorry it's not going to be the overcooked chicken and watery carrots you might've been expecting to be served in there."

She snorted a laugh. "I think I'll be able to get over it."

I was still laughing when we pulled up to Daisy's place. We'd stopped for Chinese on the way home. When the server had brought the food to my car, he'd been wearing gloves, reminding me what Daisy had said to my mother about coming to the event from an embalming.

"I can't believe you said that." I shook my head. "You have the most wondrous, creepy mind, and I fucking love it."

She wiggled her fingers at me. "Do you love these creepy, dead people hands too?"

I spluttered, letting my head fall against the steering wheel. "I think I do."

Her giggle was light and airy. "You know, I made that remark nearly an hour ago."

I turned my head to look at her. "It didn't get the proper attention then. I'm righting my mistake."

"It wasn't even that funny," she muttered as she climbed out of the car, leaving me there, laughing by myself.

As she sauntered toward her stairs, I sobered, watching her soft curves sway with each step in her high, high heels. Her skirt swished around her legs, and when she got to the steps, she shot me a coquettish look over her shoulder that I felt all the way to my core.

I wasn't going to be stupid and reckless when I walked into her place. No kissing the living hell out of her or falling to my knees to unbuckle her sexy shoes.

Actually…

Taking out my phone, I sent a text to Reed.

Me: Daisy and I got way too much Chinese takeout. Come next door and help us out with it.

A couple minutes later, Reed stalked out of his house. I jumped out of the car, the plastic bag loaded with food in hand, and met him at the steps.

There was something off about his appearance, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Hey, man."

"Hey," he grunted. "Did you get eggrolls?"

"Yep. Four of them. You can have two, if you want."

He grunted again. I'd take that as a "yes."

He went ahead of me up the stairs, and Daisy's surprise at his appearance was tinged with happiness. I wasn't sure if Reed got how much his sister loved him, but dear god, it affected me almost as much as watching her walk away had. Viscerally. A deep-down knowledge I'd never be the same.

"Did you smell the food?" Daisy asked her brother.

"Nah." He walked into the kitchen where she was taking down a third plate for him. "Miles texted me. He said you have extra. Is it okay I'm here?" He glanced back at me. "You're all dressed up."

"Yep. You're always welcome." She spun, her dress moving with her. "Don't I look nice?"

"You always do," he mumbled, tucking his hands in his pockets. "I'm just gonna take my food and go, if that's all right. I was in the middle of something."

Daisy's mouth opened, probably to deny him, and I shook my head. Not because I didn't want him here, but because I thought it was better not to force our company on him. I also got the vibe he was trying to give us alone time. It was the opposite of what I needed right now, but I'd let him do what he felt was right.

I placed the heavy bag on the counter. "Have at it. Just leave a few scraps behind for us."

As he loaded up one of Daisy's Tupperware containers, she told him about the luncheon and how many cards she'd passed out. She even told him about meeting my mom. The descriptor "bitch" was not used, but it was heavily implied.

I watched them both, so at ease with one another, and envied the hell out of them. This was what I'd always wanted with Weston, but we'd been set up to fail by having toxic, emotionally unstable parents.

I clicked my fingers, realizing what was different about Reed. "Where's your vest, Reed? I thought it was part of your uniform."

In the middle of packing his eggrolls, he stilled. Instead of answering, he continued, quickly stuffing what he could in the container and cramming the lid on top.

Daisy went on alert, her attention jerking from me to her brother. "Reed? Is your ve—"

He backed away from the counter, his head down. "I just didn't feel like wearing it, all right? Don't call the fashion police or whatever."

Little fucker.

He ditched us like his feet were on fire, leaving Daisy staring after him, and me looking at her.

"He didn't have it on the other day either," she murmured. "I didn't think anything of it until now."

I stood in front of her, cupping her tense shoulders. "Maybe he spilled something on it or lost it and doesn't want to tell you. He's a teenage boy. My former people are gross and messy."

Her exhale was slow and shaky. "I hope that's all it is. At least school's out. He'll get a break from the shit he gets there but doesn't tell us about."

Alarm bells rang in my head. "He's being bullied?"

"I suspect, but he won't talk to me about it." She humphed. "Even though I know exactly what it's like."

I pointed at her, anger weakening my knees. "You were bullied, Cupcake?" She nodded, and my chest hurt.

"Beau and Landry made it through school without being picked on too badly. Beau because he never gave a shit, and kids could tell. And Landry…well, you met her. She was the quintessential, all-American cheerleader. Then came me, Quinn, and Reed. Our feelings were too big, and we couldn't fit in to save our lives—" She broke off, swallowing hard.

"Quinn?"

"My sister." She studied the remnants of our Chinese food. "She had it really rough and got mixed up with a crowd who didn't care about her."

"What happened to Quinn?"

"She died four years ago."

Aw, hell. As hard as Weston and I fought, if I lost him, I didn't think I would be whole again. Yet, here was Daisy, carrying on and following dreams. Whitney Mae was still kind and welcoming. Landry had her cute kids and nice husband. The Dunhams were resilient. I didn't know how they did it, but Jesus, I ached for them.

"How old was she?" I asked, wanting to know more about this sister I'd never meet.

"Sixteen. She was being reckless and had an accident." Her jaw tightened, and I wondered if there was more to it than what she was saying. "It was an indescribably dark time for our family. We didn't have her funeral here. My mama insisted she wouldn't have been able to stand living here anymore if we had. My dad stayed with her…body while his colleague prepared her. He didn't leave her until she was in the ground. None of us were the same after. If we lost Reed—" She brought her fist to her mouth, shiny eyes finally meeting mine.

"You're not going to lose Reed, Daisy." I took her hand in mine. "Give me the names of the kids who are bullying him. I'll end them."

She gave me a long look I couldn't decipher. "You can't just end kids."

"I know, but—"

"If anyone's going to do it, it'll be me."

I closed my eyes, laughing. "You little vicious devil. Why do I believe that?"

"Because it's true." She sucked in a breath. "Enough of this. I'm too hungry to be this sad."

"Then let's get you fed."

I'd drop it for now, but if she thought I was going to forget people had hurt her and her family, she was wrong. Hyperfocused Miles was a thing to be reckoned with, and since I'd met her, she'd had all my attention. I didn't see that changing any time soon.