Daisy
thirty-eight
I’m sprawled out on the sofa, staring up at the yellow-white ceiling of my family’s living room, when a balled-up dishcloth flies through the air and lands on my face.
“Hey!” I scramble up, looking around for the pain in the ass who threw it, but all three of my brothers are in the kitchen, their broad backs to me, which makes them all equally guilty.
I drag myself to my feet and lob the cloth at Dylan, who happens to be closest.
“When did you get back?” I ask, slipping past him.
“Just now.”
“Does that mean we can get this family meeting started? I need to see Beau and tell him I’ve spoken to you about my plans.”
I help myself to a chair while the rest of my family arrange themselves around the table, which is loaded up with tonight’s dinner.
Dylan’s pulled no punches with a Middle Eastern-inspired feast. Hummus and garlic yogurt and marinated feta.
Shawarma and kofta and char-grilled vegetables.
Warm spices and salads and kibbeh, and little cheese-filled pastries he knows I adore.
I pluck one off a platter and take a bite.
“Are you sure about this, Daze?” Chord asks as he pulls out a chair for Violet next to Rosie.
“I’m positive,” I tell my oldest brother.
He watches me for a moment, maybe waiting for my confidence to shake, but it won’t.
My leaving Silver Leaf is all we’ve talked about today.
Hours and hours of back and forth, me explaining why I have to go and them coming up with reasons I should stay.
I was glad to escape for my trail rides this afternoon, but I’ve got no doubt the debate continued even when I wasn’t around to hear it.
Do I wish things were different? Of course.
I was ready to stay at Silver Leaf forever, and now that I’m leaving again, the grief I’ve kept checked all my adult life keeps bubbling up.
I push it aside with thoughts of Beau and Ollie and tell myself that Mom would understand.
If she were here, she’d be on my side, encouraging me to go.
I’m as sure of that as I am of anything.
Charlie takes a seat two down from me, leaving the chair between us empty.
She pours herself a glass of water from a jug, then fills a glass for me.
She’s been the quietest of everyone today, letting our brothers take the lead to cajole—sometimes bully—me into staying.
I’m starting to wonder if she’s actually okay with me going.
It’d solve the problem of having to manage her flaky, flighty little sister, and she doesn’t even have to be the bad guy.
I lean toward her with the plate of pastries. “If you want one, better take it now. Once I start, I can’t stop.”
She smiles a little and helps herself. “Thanks.”
The kitchen bustles around us, music playing, drinks flowing, Izzy twirling to make her neon-purple tutu spin higher. I scoot into the empty chair next to Charlie, then dip my head and keep my voice low.
“I know this thing with Beau and Emberfield happened fast, and I know I’m letting you down. I started the summer determined to be more like you—to be a boss and smash this whole running operations thing, but you were right. I don’t have it.”
A crease pops up between her brows. “You wanted to be more like me?”
“I did. I still do.” I click my tongue, then laugh quietly.
“But it wasn’t meant to be. I should’ve listened to you in the first place.
” Guilt sours my stomach, and I drop my pastry onto a plate.
“I really am sorry. I know going to Kismet Creek with Beau is the right thing for me, but I hate disappointing everyone. You most of all.”
Charlie frowns at her napkin, then straightens her cutlery unnecessarily and finally looks at me with compassion.
“You could never disappoint me, Daze. If anything, I’m proud of you for going after what you want.
That takes courage and determination, and you’ve got both in spades.
” She rolls her eyes and her mouth tips up.
“You don’t want to be like me anyway. Chained to your desk.
Married to your work. Why would you be me when you can be you? ”
Charlie stuffs the pastry in her mouth, then forgoes her water for a gulp of wine. I watch her with concern. “Charlie, are you okay?”
She takes her time swallowing, then gives me a grin I don’t believe. “I’m great.”
I’m about to pry a little harder when the back door creaks open and Beau pokes his head inside.
“Hello?” he says.
“Beau!” I jump up and scurry around the crowded table to get to him. Reaching the door, I open it wide, and Ollie darts in under my arm, making his way to Izzy and slipping into the vacant chair beside her.
“Hi,” Beau says, awkwardly coming inside. “Dylan invited me.”
“He did?”
Beau glances at my family, and I throw a look over my shoulder.
Nobody looks surprised. Any other night, any other dinner, however unlikely it might be, I’d have been more open to the possibility that Dylan would extend an olive branch.
But tonight’s dinner is supposed to be a family meeting, and I’m immediately suspicious.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I say, stretching up onto my toes to kiss him.
Beau reciprocates with a soft brush of his lips and a self-conscious glance at my brothers. It’s cute, and I roll my lips to stop a smile as I pull him around to my side of the table and push him into the empty chair.
“Glad you could make it,” Dylan says with a small nod.
“Thanks for the invitation,” Beau replies.
And then it’s like someone presses play on a movie I didn’t know I was in. Around the table, everyone starts arranging napkins and helping themselves to food. They compliment the chef and ask for more wine and behave as though Beau and Ollie being here is entirely expected.
I give it a minute, watching with increasing confusion, until I can’t stand it anymore.
“Stop!” I shout.
Everyone freezes.
“What?” Dylan asks.
“What do you mean, what?” I reply. “That’s my question. What’s going on here?”
Poppy drops her head to the side, a bowl of yogurt held aloft in one hand, her face the perfect picture of innocence. “Uh, we’re having dinner?”
“Oh, no. You said this was a family meeting, and now we’re just having dinner? I don’t buy it. You’re up to something, and I want to know what so I can enjoy my baba ghanoush.”
Violet’s the first to give anything away, a vibrant blush rising on her cheeks.
She leans on Chord, trying to hide her face, but my eldest brother is watching Charlie like he’s waiting for the start of play.
Rosie’s trying not to smile, Finn’s eyes are unreadable over cheeks stuffed with falafel, and Dylan shakes his head with an air of surrender.
“This is a family meeting,” Dylan says. “It’s also dinner.”
“Should I go?” Beau asks.
“No.” Chord lifts a hand to keep Beau in his seat. “You should definitely stay.”
I take Beau’s hand as Ollie slips off his chair and rounds the table, letting Beau haul him onto his lap.
“Can someone please tell me what this is all about?” I demand.
“Well, we’ve been talking,” Dylan begins.
“I know we’ve been talking,” I say impatiently. “We’ve done nothing but talk all day! I love you guys, and Silver Leaf will always be my home, but my mind’s made up. You know that. I wish you would just accept it and let it go.”
“There’s more,” Finn says before he inclines his head at Charlie. “Isn’t there, Charles?”
“There is,” she says, then turns to look at me, all businesslike and serious. “I spent all afternoon reviewing your proposal for the glamping tours and extensions to the trail rides. Every plan and projection and spreadsheet. It’s thorough and it’s good. Really good.”
“Uh, thank you?” Her praise lights a fire in my soul, and Beau squeezes my hand under the table, but none of it makes sense. “I don’t see how it changes things.”
“Well, it gets my stamp of approval, but an expansion like this should go to a family vote,” she says. “That’s why we’re all here.”
Butterflies take off in my middle, the lure of getting what I want here at Silver Leaf fighting the need to be with Beau no matter what.
“I don’t—”
“Part of your business plan was an outline of operations management,” Chord says. “How and what needs to happen—and by whom.”
“You read my proposal?” I ask in surprise.
Charlie’s the one who answers. “Chord and I are working out how to divide management responsibilities now that he’s living here full time.” Her tone, like her smile, is oddly flat. “He’s reading everything so we can figure out how to define our roles moving forward.”
Chord nods shortly. “So yes, I read your paperwork. You’ve really thought about this, Daze.”
“I have,” I agree. “Thank you for acknowledging it.”
Next to me, Beau’s exhale feels too slow and measured, and I scoot closer to him.
“You outlined a handover plan for the stable—the day-to-day running as well as the senior-level operations management,” says Charlie. “Role description, capabilities, and expectations. Even the perfect candidate.”
I glance at Beau and grin. “That part was easy.”
“Easy for us, too,” Chord says.
“So can we quit all the chitchat and get to the good stuff?” Finn demands.
Chord shakes his head with a sigh, and this time, Charlie’s smile is very real.
“Absolutely,” she says. “It’s time for a family vote. I move to support Daisy’s plan to establish glamping tours and expand trail rides at Silver Leaf.”
“Seconded,” Chord says.
My heart races. “But—”
“I vote yes,” Dylan talks over me with a proud grin.
“Me too,” Finn agrees.
“It’s a yes from me,” Poppy says, her eyes dancing as she smiles across the table at me.
“And me!” Izzy pipes up, setting off a round of affectionate chuckles.
“I vote yes,” Violet says, and Rosie adds, “So do I.”
“But you guys. This is—”
“Not done,” Chord cuts me off. “Next order of business. I move to make Beau our Silver Leaf stable manager.”
“Seconded,” Charlie says quickly before anyone can show support before she does.
“Another yes from me,” Finn says.
“And me,” Rosie adds with a giddy kind of smile.
Tears well up in my eyes, and I link my arm through Beau’s. “Are you all for real?”
“Shush. We’re not done yet,” Poppy scolds with a pleased laugh.
“I vote yes,” Dylan says, his deep blue eyes steady on Beau, like he’s trying to tell him something.
“Yes from me too,” Poppy says.
“And me!” Izzy shouts, and over the top of another round of laughs, Violet adds her vote. “Me too.”
“Beau?” I say with hope and stomach-twisting nerves. “What do you say?”
“Before you say anything,” Chord interrupts, and the room falls into a hush, “I hope you know this isn’t only about Daisy. It’s about what’s best for this family and our business. They say you can’t choose your family, but in this house, we can, and we do. All the time. And we’re doing it now.”
“We want you to stay,” Charlie agrees. “And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Aside from the fact that you make my little sister happier than I’ve ever seen her, you’re a damn good horseman, and if you go, I’ll never find anyone half as good as you to take your place.”
“I appreciate that. Thank you,” Beau says with a dip of his chin. His voice is quiet, and I’m not sure why. Because he wants to say yes, or because he’s about to say no?
“We believe you belong here,” Dylan pushes. “Now it’s time to prove us right, and the only way to do that is to say yes, and keep saying yes, every day for the rest of your life.”
“Because once you’re in this family,” Poppy whispers with a perfectly straight face, “you’re never getting out.”
Dylan loops an arm around her, pretending to scowl, and she giggles before he kisses her deeply. Izzy sets an elbow on the table, her chin on her hand, and watches like her parents are a fairy tale come true.
“Can I vote?” Ollie asks suddenly.
I don’t wait for anyone’s approval before I reply, “Absolutely, cowboy. You’re family.”
“Then I vote yes,” he says. “Yes to the horse stuff and the camping stuff, and yes to the stable stuff, if it means we can stay?”
Ollie stares up at Beau with brown eyes full of hope, and I run my fingers through the boy’s soft, dark hair.
“What do you say, Beau?” I ask. “Will you take the job and give this a shot?”
Beau looks overwhelmed, and I hope his heart’s thumping as hard as mine for all the right reasons. I hope that light in his eyes means what I think it means.
He clears his throat and looks around the table. “Thank you, all of you, for the opportunity. I—” He stops to swallow deeply and take a good look at his nephew, still perched on his knee, then at me. That light in his dark eyes twinkles, and his mouth twitches.
“Yes, I’ll accept the job,” he says, looking at me, then at Charlie on his other side. He takes a beat to meet everyone’s eyes before he nods his thanks. “It’d be an honor.”
My heart leaps clear into my throat, and the sting behind my eyes turns to tears. Ollie squeezes Beau so tight around the neck that he grunts at the pressure of those tiny arms.
“Really?” I whisper, too afraid to believe just yet. “We can stay? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure of you,” he murmurs, reaching up to brush the hair from my forehead. “And I’m sure of us. That’s all I need to know to take the chance.”
Ollie cheers, slipping off Beau’s lap and scampering around to Izzy’s side of the table. It leaves Beau room to lean in, and I meet him halfway with a kiss. Someone starts to clap—Izzy, by the sound of those little hands—and soon everyone joins in.
Beau grins against my mouth. “Is this okay?” he asks before he pulls away.
I laugh and grab a napkin to dry my face. “It’s better than okay. It’s perfect.”
At the other end of the table, Finn raises his glass, and everyone hurries to do the same.
“To Beau and Ollie,” he says with a smile for me, then my brothers and sisters around the table. His gesture is the bittersweet kind we share at moments like these. When everything is perfect but for the reality that Mom and Dad aren’t here to share it. “Welcome to the family.”
“Welcome to the family!” everyone shouts in a chorusing echo.
As my family lifts their glasses to take a celebratory sip, I slide my arms around Beau’s shoulders and kiss him again.
“Thank you,” I say.
He smiles, wiping another tear from my cheek, but asks, “What for?”
“For saying yes.”