Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Daisy was sitting with her grandmother at the pancake house, a plate of strawberry pancakes and two cups of coffee between them.
She was showing Grandma June the old picture that Elliot had discovered.
It had been a few days since she’d embarrassed herself by sobbing into his chest and she hadn’t talked to him since.
She was sure that when he signed on to be her fake boyfriend, he hadn’t thought it would include emotional outbursts and so many tears.
But she also hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her doppelg?nger. And what might have happened to her. She’d even been dreaming about her, but at the risk of sounding like the mayor she was keeping that to herself.
‘So do you know who they are?’ Daisy asked as her grandmother squinted at the picture on her phone.
The pancake house was buzzing around them.
It was early on a Friday morning, and the usual breakfast crowd was in for their pancakes and coffee.
Her grandmother had had to stop at three other tables on their way in, to say hello and catch up on the town news.
In the last hour, Daisy had learned that Mac and Annie had been caught making out in the back of the pub like ‘a couple of teenagers,’ that the alpaca, Harry Styles, had gotten loose again and was found on the side of the road munching on wild flowers, and that the substitute water aerobics instructor couldn’t hold a candle to Iris.
It had been a very informative morning.
‘Can you make it bigger?’ Grandma June asked, passing the phone over their sticky plate. ‘I can barely see it.’
Daisy zoomed in and handed it back. Grandma squinted at the picture and then her face lit up.
‘Oh, my! Well, that’s my daddy there. Look how young he looks! My goodness!’
Daisy smiled at her grandmother’s delight.
She was fully made up today like she always was whenever she left the house.
Her favorite string of pearls adorned her neck, and she’d recently gotten her hair done in her signature, platinum blonde.
She looked lovely. Daisy, in contrast, looked (and felt) like an emo teenager, in her black hoodie and black jeans.
All she needed was some dark eyeliner, and she’d be all set.
It was possible she needed a new look.
‘What year was this?’ her grandma asked, still studying the picture.
‘The caption says nineteen-twenty-seven.’
‘Incredible,’ Grandma breathed. ‘And there’s my mother next to him.’
‘Was she a Daisy, too?’
‘Oh, no. The name comes from my father’s side. My mother’s name was Lydia, and my goodness, was she a stern woman.’
‘Really?’ Daisy couldn’t imagine any woman in her family being stern.
Her mother and grandmother had always been fun and silly.
Growing up, Daisy’s life had been filled with plenty of after-hours dance parties, giggling with her grandma until chocolate milk came out of her nose, and giving her mom more atrocious ‘makeovers’ than that woman deserved.
She’d somehow forgotten about all of that lately. She’d let herself get bogged down by her failed relationships with men and had forgotten the beautiful relationships she had with her family.
‘Yes, very. She had high standards and she was hard to please, but she loved me in her own way.’ Grandma June looked up with a smile. ‘She was young in this photo. Must have been barely nineteen.’
‘And they were already married?’
‘Oh, yes. It was a different time, of course.’ Grandma sipped her coffee placidly while Daisy thought of her failed first marriage.
Maybe teenagers were more mature back then.
As much as she’d cried over her marriage to her first love the other night, she knew it never would have worked out.
She’d gotten over Matthew a long time ago.
It was only the second failure with David that had brought all those memories back up again.
‘And who’s this?’ Daisy asked, pointing to the one person in the photo she was most interested in.
‘That’s my Aunt Daisy! Daddy’s sister. She never had any children, so the name passed on to me.’
‘And what happened to her?’
Grandma shrugged. ‘She lived and died like the rest of them.’
‘Yeah, but why does she look so sad? Did something particularly tragic happen to her?’
Grandma was looking at the phone again. ‘I guess she does look sad.’ She shrugged again.
‘She was in her thirties by the time I was born, and I was just a child, so I don’t really know.
I guess she was always rather somber. Wore a lot of black.
I remember that.’ She pointed at Daisy with a laugh. ‘Just like you!’
Daisy frowned and snatched the phone back. ‘That’s it? That’s all you remember about her? She didn’t get accused of witchcraft by the townsfolk or anything?’
‘Daisy, it was the nineteen-twenties. No, she didn’t get accused of witchcraft.’ Grandma shook her head. ‘You really should have paid more attention in history class, dear.’
‘Well, something must have happened to her.’ Maybe Daisy was losing her mind or having too many bad dreams, but her Great-Aunt Daisy had become an oversized tragic figure in her imagination.
And the fact that they looked alike wasn’t helping.
It was like if she could figure out what was wrong with her aunt, then maybe she could figure out a fix for her own problems, too.
‘She ran the shop with my dad. I know that. And I know she never married or had children, which I suppose would have been hard on her as a woman in that time. But that’s all I know.’ Grandma patted Daisy’s hand. ‘Sorry, love. Wish I could tell you more but it’s all so long ago.’
Daisy sighed. ‘That’s okay, Grandma. Thanks anyway.’
‘Now, where’s that cute waiter? I could use some more coffee.’ Grandma June looked around the diner, ready to flag someone down to refill her cup.
‘You mean Archer? He’s the chef not a waiter.’
Her grandmother scoffed. ‘This is a diner, sweetie. He’s not a chef anymore.’
Daisy laughed. ‘Don’t let him hear you say that.’
‘There he is!’ Grandma waved to Archer, who had just emerged from the kitchen with baby Owen strapped to his chest in a baby carrier.
‘What can I do for you today, June?’ he asked as he approached their table.
‘Just a refill please, darling.’ Grandma smiled sweetly at Archer.
‘Oh, now he’s darling … a minute ago he wasn’t even a real—’
‘Oh hush,’ Grandma admonished, shooting Daisy a warning glare. ‘Just the coffee is fine, dear.’ She batted her eyelashes at Archer, and Daisy stifled a laugh.
‘Coming right up,’ he said with a smile.
‘Lord, he is so handsome,’ Grandma whispered, loud enough that Daisy heard Archer chuckle as he walked away. ‘The coffee isn’t even that good. I just come in to get a peek at that man walking away.’
‘Grandma, you’re married!’
‘For sixty long years, like I could forget it. But there’s no harm in looking.
’ She winked at Daisy and Daisy just shook her head, feeling more like her great-aunt than her grandmother.
As long as she’d known her, Daisy June had always been wild, and she’d married a sweet, quiet man just like Daisy May had.
A man kinda like Elliot…
Nope, Daisy was not going down that road. It was bad enough she was physically attracted to Elliot, she wasn’t going to let his personality win her over, too. Daisy was not going to get attached to her fake boyfriend.
Archer returned to their table with a pot of coffee and refilled their cups while lightly bouncing to keep Owen fast asleep.
‘Is it bring your baby to work day?’ Grandma asked.
‘Iris started taking Olive to school on Fridays, so Owen has been coming with me. It gives the girls some alone time.’
‘That’s sweet,’ Daisy said, happy that they’d figured out a way for Iris to spend more time with Olive. She knew it had been worrying her, balancing the new baby and a little girl that still needed plenty of attention.
‘How are you two handling everything?’ Her grandmother really did have that Dream Harbor nosiness down pat.
‘It’s been … a learning curve,’ Archer said with a rueful smile. ‘But we’re figuring it out.’
‘I’m sure you are.’ Grandma beamed at him. ‘There’s just nothing like a man holding a baby.’
‘Down, Grandma,’ Daisy whispered, but Grandma June ignored her.
‘You tell Iris I said she’s a lucky woman.’
Archer’s smile grew. ‘Will do. Anything else I can get you ladies?’
‘I think we’re all set. Thanks, Archer.’ Daisy took out her wallet to pay, but Grandma June slapped it away.
‘None of that,’ she said. ‘I know you don’t have a dime to spare.’
Daisy sighed as Grandma passed her card to Archer, and he left to ring them up. ‘It’s not that bad.’
Grandma scoffed. ‘How many weddings do you have booked for next spring?’
‘So far … none. But there’s still plenty of time!’
‘We usually book a year out…’
‘I know but what can I do? If people aren’t hiring me…’
‘Break this curse, that’s what.’
‘Grandma, you don’t actually believe I’m cursed?
’ But of course, her grandmother believed in curses.
This was the woman who wouldn’t let Daisy kill a spider in the house because it was bad luck and insisted on blowing cinnamon through the front door on the first day of the month for prosperity and wealth.
Huh, maybe Daisy needed to get some cinnamon.
‘I believe in good publicity, and this is not working in our favor.’ The way her grandma waved a hand in Daisy’s general direction, as though the thing not working in their favor was all of Daisy, was hurtful to say the least.
‘I’m trying.’
‘How?’
‘I’m pitching an idea to the inn. I was thinking we could do monthly flower arrangements for the lobby. At least until construction starts…’
‘That’s something. And what else?’
Daisy sighed.
‘I … uh … I have a new boyfriend.’
‘Oh?’ Her grandma’s eyebrows rose, as though she hadn’t already heard this little piece of gossip. Grandma June had always liked to hear things straight from the source.
‘And it’s going really well.’
‘It doesn’t matter how it’s going, love, as long as everyone thinks it’s going well.’
‘What are you suggesting?’ Did her grandmother somehow know it was all fake? If anyone could sniff out a fake relationship, it would be Grandma June.
‘Just sell it, is all I’m saying. Make sure this town thinks you are so in love that hearts are flying out of your bottom! Make them believe that The Daisy Chain Flower Shop is the most romantic spot in town! Sell them the dream, Daisy. It doesn’t matter if it’s real.’
Well, damn. That was a lot to unpack. She had no idea her sweet little grandma was so … ruthless. Apparently, you don’t run a successful business for all those years without a bit of an aggressive streak.
‘Okay. I will sell it.’
Her grandmother smiled, once again the doting grandma. ‘That’s a good girl. I know you can turn this around.’
Daisy wished she had half as much faith in herself as her grandmother did.