When I finally broke my gaze from her, it was to find half the town smiling at me with dopey looks on their faces. But as I waved them off and told them the show was over, I had on a dopey smile of my own. There was just no helping it these days.
I headed for the bar, and beer in hand, I stood at the edge of the dance floor and watched her up on stage. Every minute was a wonder, and I soaked them up like sand greedy for water.
“So. Daisy Blum,” Mitchell said from my elbow.
And just like that, the cheer drained out of me as if it had never been.
Disappointment hung thick in the air between us. His face was hard and weathered beneath a spotless dove-white Stetson, his steely eyes on the stage, hooded by heavy brows. Once upon a time, I’d watched that man walk down an aisle toward me with my future wife on his arm.
“Yessir,” I said with deference, my stomach twisting.
“Of all the women in this town, you picked her.” The slight shake of his head was of disgust. “Do you have any idea what trouble they’ve caused me? Our family?”
I didn’t miss his inflection on the word our.
“Sir, with all respect, I didn’t have much of a choice, not when it comes to her.”
“Don’t lie to me, boy. I might be old, but I’m no fool—you made a choice. I just cannot comprehend why you’d want her.”
The way he said it, like she was tainted and unclean, had my hand squeezed to a fist.
“I didn’t expect you to mourn forever, Keaton,” he continued. “Mandy’s been gone a long time. You should move on. But not like this. Not with her. Mandy wouldn’t have approved.”
My heart thumped in my ears, pulsed in my neck. “I don’t presume to know what Mandy would have thought, but I’d like to believe she loved me enough to give her blessing in what made me happy.”
He harrumphed, still glaring in the direction of the Blums. “I’d like to believe she’d choose the welfare of her family over whatever tail you’re like to chase.”
I shifted to look him full-on. “I’d be careful what you say about her, sir.”
He turned his hawkish gaze on me. “And I’d be careful what you say to me. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, son. Her aside,” he jerked his head in Daisy’s direction, “you’re playin’ a dangerous game, taking on this homeless shelter when half the town wants it shut down. I’d be hard pressed to find somebody on that side of things who’d be willing to hire you next time they need work done.”
“If there are people in this town who would boycott me for helping the homeless, I don’t know if I want their money.”
“Careful what you wish for. By my math, you seem to be givin’ a whole lot more than you’re gettin’. Gotta say I’m surprised to hear you can afford to turn down the work.”
My throat squeezed shut, every muscle in my body coiled. I found myself dangerously close to hitting the mayor in the middle of a town hall dance. So I gathered up the reins to my fury and held tight.
“’Preciate the advice. Next time, keep it to yourself.”
I brushed past him, heart banging like a string of Black Cats, my eyes searching for my brothers where I’d be safe from myself.
They frowned nearly in unison as I approached taking a hard swig of my beer to buy me another second to get ahold of myself.
“What happened?” Carson said.
“Mitchell. He’s lucky I’ve got self-control.”
“Or maybe you are,” Cade noted. “Hate for you to end up in jail.”
“Woulda been worth it,” I said, taking another long pull of my drink, nearly emptying the bottle. “I need another beer. Y’all want one?”
They watched me with curiosity as they answered, and I felt their eyes on me as I walked away, thankful they didn’t press me for details. Because in the span of a few minutes, Mitchell managed to prove my happiness paper thin, shredding it with memories and accusations, with veiled threats and straightforward ones too.
Resolve to get out from under Mandy’s money steeled me. It was the last true power he held over me, one I’d leaned on for too long.
And now was the time to end it, once and for all.
DAISY
I paused on the stairs in the dark, unwilling to break the kiss as I slowly ascended the steps of his house backward.
Breaking my neck would have spoiled an otherwise perfect evening.
I was a couple steps above him, putting me at an advantageous angle to enjoy the depth of that kiss for a moment, only long enough for him to lose his patience and pick me up to carry me the rest of the way. Laughing against his lips, my hands on his face, he kicked the door shut behind us and laid me down slowly, climbing on top of me as he did. His brothers had taken Sophie for ice cream with meaningful looks shared with Keaton. Enjoy the quiet, was what I read, though I was sure their interpretation was far less polite.
If my sisters hadn’t done the same, I might have been offended.
His lips left mine in favor of my neck, his hands gathering my wrists to pin them over my head. One hand was big enough to hold both in place, and so he did, allowing his free hand to roam as I lay supine beneath him. My lids fluttered closed as I sighed up to the ceiling, the weight of him pressing me into the bed a comfort I craved.
I’d spent every night in this bed since the first, a scandalous habit that I expected my family to judge fiercely. But they were strangely elated, even Mama, at the thought of me with someone, especially Keaton. Such a strange thing, to be with someone for so short a time and no one questioning it. No one had anything to say but yes. Something about us made sense, and so inherently that we had the enthusiastic and immediate backing of everyone we loved.
I didn’t want to think too much on it, but it was hard not to imagine a future with Keaton. It was too easy, the way our lives fit together. The way we fit together. Like we’d been waiting for each other all this time, for the right time. When that time finally came, it was on an easy sigh. We’d been so alone, so lonely. So hurt and so afraid. Trusting each other came easy, perhaps too easy. But it was the truth. I knew Keaton was worthy of that trust in my marrow. And I thought he might feel the same.
In moments like this, I was certain of it. When he climbed up my body, held my jaw in the dark, the planes of his face touched with the deep blue of night, his eyes catching that small light as he looked down at me with devotion. Never had I been unraveled by a gaze, the gaze of a man who knew exactly what he had to lose. A man who was willing to risk his heart on the chance at happiness.
That look was a mirror to my own, the honesty staggering, stealing my breath every time he bestowed it on me.
He wanted to speak, but instead he kissed me again, tilting my face to his, telling me everything with the soft flex of his lips, with the sweep of his tongue against mine, with his fingertips against my skin.
Slowly, deeply we kissed, undressing each other without hurry, breaking only to rid ourselves of a shirt or a dress or to kick off our shoes with twin thunks on the floor until we were bare chest to chest, his jeans half off and his hand stroking me through the silk of my panties. He lay at my side, my leg pinned beneath his thigh and his lips against mine. To remember that at one point not too long ago, I thought I’d forgotten how to do this was absurd. But if nothing else, Keaton had not forgotten, and having had so much more experience than me, I never left this room anything but sated.