Chapter 21 #2
‘Daisy?’ A familiar voice broke through the moment. ‘Hey, is that you?’
Daisy’s eyes widened. ‘You have got to be kidding me,’ she mumbled.
‘David?’ Elliot asked, not pulling away, not looking away. Maybe if they stayed very still David would just disappear.
‘Yes. What is he doing here?’ she asked, and her eyes were so full of pain at this reminder of her past that Elliot couldn’t help it when he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.
It was instinct. To protect her. To make that pain go away.
To tell David that Daisy didn’t need him anymore. Didn’t want him.
Was it a bit territorial? Maybe. But he liked Daisy too much to care.
She stilled and then softened, pressing her mouth to his in a sweet kiss that stole his breath.
And David did disappear. Everything did.
It was only them. It was only Daisy’s lips, soft and warm, and her hands gripping at the front of his shirt, and her hair slipping through his fingers.
Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed.
Until of course, it did.
She pulled away after only a moment, her gaze flicking to his, a small smile on her lips before she turned to face David and Hailey.
‘Oh, you’re back in town,’ she said, her smile transforming into a fake one. However she had felt about the kiss that was still vibrating through Elliot’s body, she reached out now and grabbed his hand like she needed the support.
‘Yeah, Hailey saw the signs for Beltane last time we were here and was just dying to come back,’ David said, his gaze shifting from Daisy to Elliot.
Something about the way he looked at them, like he couldn’t quite fathom how Daisy had managed to move on from him, made Elliot want to punch him in the face.
‘How nice,’ Daisy said through clenched teeth.
‘I’d love to buy a crown,’ Hailey said, ignoring the tension.
‘Of course.’ Daisy snapped into business mode, dropping his hand and moving around the table to help Hailey with her purchase.
Other people were starting to notice the stand and were milling around discussing which color combination they liked best. Elliot realized he should probably make himself useful and came around the table to help.
A man and a woman stepped up to browse, and Elliot was about to ask if he could get them something, but the man ignored him completely.
‘Crazy Daisy!’ he said with a laugh. ‘I was wondering if you’d be here.’
Daisy looked up in horror from where she was helping Hailey try on crowns. ‘I cannot believe this,’ she muttered before saying, ‘Matty, hey.’
Matty? This man who smelled like patchouli and was sporting a messy man bun could not possibly be who Elliot thought he was…
‘Hey, babe,’ Matty said, nudging the woman beside him. ‘This is my ex-wife!’
Oh, dear God.
‘The one you married in high school? How sweet!’ the woman cooed, picking up a crown and trying it on. Her long hair hung nearly to her waist and her flowy skirts reached to her ankles. A perfect match for Matty, if you asked Elliot. Now if they could just…
Matty laughed. ‘We weren’t in high school.’
‘Yeah, it was a full week after graduation,’ Daisy added dryly while Hailey looked on in amusement.
‘So, how’ve you been, Daze?’ Matthew asked, all smiles and good cheer. Elliot wondered how often they ran into each other. Daisy seemed surprised to see him but not like it was out of the realm of possibilities. ‘You still engaged to that banker guy?’
David cleared his throat. ‘I’m the banker guy, actually, and Daisy and I aren’t together anymore.’
‘Oh, shit! Sorry to hear that, man.’
Daisy, for her part, looked like she wanted to crawl under the table, so of course that was when Elliot’s mother appeared on the scene.
‘Elliot, there you are!’ his mom called, hustling over to the table. ‘It’s so crowded,’ she went on, completely disregarding the conversation that was already in progress. ‘Is this Daisy? It’s so nice to finally meet you!’ She reached out and grabbed Daisy’s hand as Daisy stood in shocked silence.
‘Wait,’ Matthew said, far too invested in everything going on at the booth. Couldn’t he just get his damn flower crown and leave? ‘Who’s this?’
‘That’s Elliot, Daisy’s new boyfriend,’ Hailey contributed helpfully as she switched crowns, taking selfies of herself with each one, apparently to help her make a final decision.
‘And who are you?’ Elliot’s mom asked.
‘I’m Matthew, Daisy’s ex-husband. And this is David, Daisy’s ex-fiancé.’
Sweet lord. What had Elliot done in his life to deserve this? Certainly, Daisy didn’t deserve it.
‘Really?’ His mother’s eyes had gone wide.
Daisy groaned quietly beside him.
And Elliot couldn’t stand for that.
‘Right. Hi, Mom. This is Daisy, she’s lovely and perfect. These two men are her past and have come to buy flowers, which I think they were just finishing up.’
He looked pointedly between Matthew and David. He’d had enough of this bizarre episode of This is Your Life. These two had to go.
‘Yeah, we were just leaving,’ Matthew said, giving Elliot a big smile. ‘I like him,’ he whispered to Daisy before taking his crown and his girl and leaving.
David didn’t bother addressing Elliot, but told Daisy he would see her around, which Elliot found somewhat ominous, before taking Hailey and her multiple crowns (she apparently planned on changing ‘vibes’ throughout the day) and leaving. Thank the pagan gods of exes for that.
‘Ugh, thank you,’ Daisy whispered hastily before turning back to his mom. ‘Hi, Mrs. Parker, it’s so nice to meet you.’
His mom smiled, some of her earlier hesitation slowly leaving, although Elliot could still see the worry around her eyes.
He hadn’t exactly mentioned Daisy’s past relationships.
It hadn’t seemed relevant at the time, but he knew how his mother’s mind worked.
If Daisy had so many failed attempts, what were the odds this one wouldn’t end badly, too?
As though Elliot didn’t have an entire failed marriage of his own.
As though he wasn’t perfectly capable of ruining this relationship on his own.
Probably not something he’d be pointing out anytime soon, though.
‘It’s nice to meet you, too, Daisy.’ His mother glanced down at the flower crowns spread across the table. ‘These are just beautiful.’
Daisy beamed. ‘Thank you.’ The gratitude at the change in topics from her exes was clear in her voice.
‘Hey, Mom, why don’t you get us a table by the food trucks, and we can grab something to eat. I’ll be over in a second and then Daisy can join us when she’s done here.’
His mother’s knowing gaze flicked between the two of them; he was obviously trying to get rid of her. But she agreed and strode over to the cluster of picnic tables, her mission to secure one now clear.
Daisy turned to face him as soon as she was out of earshot. ‘I’m so sorry. That was horrible timing!’
‘It’s fine.’
‘It’s not fine!’ she groaned. ‘Fake-dating me was supposed to help get your mom off your back; now she’s just going to worry about what kind of woman you’re dating.’
‘Daisy, you’re the perfect woman.’ That was probably too much to confess, but Daisy was too busy spiraling to notice.
‘Nothing like seeing all your past mistakes lined up in front of you to really solidify what a hot mess your love life is.’
‘Hey.’ The word was sharp and maybe a little too scolding, but Daisy’s gaze snapped to his, a pink flush working its way up her cheeks.
‘You are not a hot mess. There is nothing wrong with having a past, Daisy. So you made a few bad choices. So what? So does everybody. This town has you believing that there is something wrong with you but there isn’t.
You are fucking amazing. And anyone that doesn’t see that can fuck right the hell off. ’
Her eyes widened in shock.
Maybe he’d gone too far, but he couldn’t stand it, couldn’t stand the way she carried these mistakes with her, like it didn’t take two people to end a relationship. Like she needed to be punished for having her heart broken.
‘You just said fuck,’ she whispered. ‘Twice.’
He huffed a laugh. ‘It felt necessary.’
Daisy’s lips twitched. ‘Is that why you kissed me before? Because David was watching?’
‘I don’t care if David was watching. Look, I know what I said the other night, but I kissed you because I wanted to.’
‘Oh.’ The smile that broke across her face was enough to convince him that kissing her was the right decision. Even if he still didn’t know if he could trust his feelings for her, even if he still wondered if she was right about him replacing Leigh with the first woman who paid him any attention.
But that kiss didn’t feel like Daisy was just a placeholder.
It had been a very long time since Elliot had had a first kiss but nothing in his memories could compare to the feeling of Daisy’s lips on his.
‘Now, I’d like to buy two flower crowns, please,’ he said and Daisy raised a brow. ‘One of those purple and yellow ones, and that one with the daisies.’ He pointed to the ones he wanted, and Daisy handed them over, an amused expression on her face.
He placed the purple one on her head. ‘Goes with your dress,’ he said, letting his fingers brush her cheek after he put the crown in place.
He put the other on his own head. ‘Daisies are my favorite flower,’ he said, defiantly, ready to fight anyone who dared argue with him about the superiority of the bloom.
Daisy reached up and adjusted the crown, her body grazing his. Elliot bit back a groan.
‘Since when?’
‘Since now.’
She held his gaze a breath longer and maybe if she hadn’t told him she only wanted him for sex, and if he hadn’t told her he couldn’t do this without feelings, and if there wasn’t a line of people waiting for their own crowns, maybe then he would have kissed her again.
But the moment passed.
And Daisy got back to work.