Chapter Seventeen #2
“I don’t take it lightly that I ran into you last week,” he said. “I’ve wanted to reach out for a while, but with everything going on with Mum, I haven’t had the time.”
“What happened to your mother?”
He exhaled, frowning. “She had a bad fall a few months ago.”
Daisy gasped. “Is she all right?”
“She is now. She was taking down her Christmas lights and fell off a ladder. Cracked her head pretty bad.”
“Was anyone with her?”
“Her neighbor saw it happen and called an ambulance. Suffice it to say, I’m officially done with LA. I’m moving home. That’s why I’m here, looking for places.”
“You’re moving back?” Daisy asked, too sharply.
“Yeah. Sorry if that inconveniences you.”
“No. It’s just… surprising, that’s all. Don’t you need to be in LA for your career?”
“We’ve paid our dues long enough to live anywhere. Lenny and Ky are moving back, too. LA can be crazy, and the pace up here is better for all of us.”
Daisy didn’t respond. The thought of him being close unsettled her. She needed to ensure she’d never see him again.
Be bitchy, Daisy. Men hate bitchy.
She grabbed her purse and put on her best snotty face. “Sorry about your mom, Jameson, but you only have five minutes, and you’re really starting to stretch the clock here.”
He balked at the aggression, then, to her surprise, grinned. “Right. Well, I don’t know how much you know about my life…”
“Nothing really. Just whatever I see at the grocery checkout. I’m not sure how accurate OK! Magazine is.”
“Unfortunately, they’ve been all too accurate in past years.”
That stilled Daisy. She met his eyes.
“I went to rehab a little over a year ago. If you read those rags, you’d find exactly what my publicist fed them, that I went away due to ‘exhaustion.’” He actually air-quoted the word.
“But that wasn’t true?”
He shook his head and paused, reflective and ashamed.
“We both know I’ve had my problems. Honestly, you were the only one for a while who confronted me.
It was the lifestyle, what we thought we were supposed to do.
I’m much better now, and my therapist suggested I make amends with the people I wronged, which, let me tell you, is a long list.”
“And where am I on this list?”
“At the very top.”
“Lucky me,” she murmured.
“I want to… no, I need to apologize for everything. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on how much I screwed up.
I take accountability for my actions. I really do.
I should’ve never treated you the way I did.
I should’ve listened to you and cared for you in your time of need instead of letting my selfish agenda get in the way.
I regret that decision. Every. Single. Day. I am truly sorry, Daisy.”
That struck a chord. The apology she swore she didn’t need turned her to mush.
While she had forgiven the actions of a nineteen-year-old boy, she needed this.
But while all was forgiven, none of it was forgotten and she couldn’t let his apology pry open her heart.
It had to stay in the steel cage she’d built around it nine years ago.
So with that, her bitchiness continued. “Are you done?” she asked.
His eyes widened; his mouth dropped. He wasn’t expecting that.
“Yes, but I was hoping we’d… I don’t know—”
“We would what? Reconnect?”
“Well… yes.”
Daisy huffed a laugh. “Thanks, but no, thanks.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. I have no interest in seeing you again. Look, I forgive you, Jameson. I have for a while, but I can’t forget what you and that woman did to me. I wish you well, I genuinely do, but I want no part of your life.” She stood so fast her purse tipped, contents scattering across the tile.
“Crap.”
Punishment for being horrible. She crouched and swept everything back into the bag. Jameson bent to help, but she halted him with a hand and stood.
“I believe your time is up and I need to go.”
Jameson lightly tugged her wrist, sending a shock up her arm. “Daisy, please don’t leave.”
His eyes begged. Her heart said go. This was for the best.
She pulled away and met his gaze. “Take care, Jameson.”
Then she walked out of the coffee shop, not turning once to get a final look at the man who, without knowing it, had just put a crack in the cage around her heart.
The booming voice drifting from her apartment was the first indicator. Her mother and Amelia were never that loud. The second was the smell that followed the stairwell all the way to her front door.
Chanel No. 5.
It was all Anna wore now that her soon-to-be ex-husband loathed the scent.
If he was going to drag her through a nasty divorce for half of everything she owned, she would flood his nostrils with the perfume he’d begged her not to wear.
If Daisy could smell it from the hallway, she assumed it had been a rather intense day in court.
“Mommy! Auntie Anna is here!”
Daisy’s longtime friend sat at the kitchen island, perfectly put together in a cream turtleneck and dark jeans.
“You look like hell, Double D.”
Daisy could never shake the nickname; it was part of her now. “Thanks, Anna. I really appreciate that.”
“What? Your hair’s frizzed and your face is pale. Just stating facts, doll. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Daisy swallowed hard because that’s exactly what she’d seen. “It was a long day, and if you haven’t noticed, it’s drizzling outside.”
“Long day? It’s not even four.”
“Anna…”
Anna shrugged and turned to Dena, who was tossing a salad at the sink. “Hey, Mrs. D, can I ask you an honest question?”
Daisy rolled her eyes and hung her purse on the hook by the door. “Amelia, go to your room.”
Amelia looked up from her coloring book. “But why?”
“Just for a bit. I can tell Auntie Anna is about to ask Nani an adult question.”
“But I’m a big girl.”
“Amelia, please.”
Her daughter grumbled, slid off the chair, and closed her bedroom door with a thud.
“It wasn’t going to be inappropriate, Daisy.”
“Our definitions of inappropriate have always differed, Anna.”
Anna swung back to Dena. “So, if you and Mr. Daniels ever divorced, would you still, you know… throw him one for old times’ sake?”
Daisy dropped onto the couch. “Yeah, not inappropriate at all for an eight-year-old to hear.”
“Haven’t you had the S-E-X talk with her yet?”
“Anna, you don’t have to spell it. She isn’t here, and, for future reference, she can spell.”
“So, you haven’t yet?”
“Of course not. She’s still too young.”
“My mom gave me the talk at seven. It was extremely… informative.”
“Yeah, and you lost your virginity freshman year because you were so well informed—”
Daisy’s mother gasped and stared at a cowering Anna. “Anna Carmichael! Freshman year? That’s so young.”
“It was, Mrs. D, but I knew what was safe and how to…” She paused and smirked at Daisy. “Protect myself from any ‘oops’ babies.”
Daisy deflated. Anna had a point. Her lack of awareness had ultimately led to an unplanned pregnancy.
“Whatever,” Daisy said, waving it off. “Didn’t you have a question for my mom?”
Anna turned again. “So, would you?”
Dena dried her hands with a dish towel and looked uncomfortable. “Well, given your little spat with my daughter, I’m assuming ‘throw him one’ means sex?”
Anna nodded, delighted.
“I can’t say I’ve given much thought to sleeping with my hypothetical soon-to-be ex-husband.”
Daisy gagged theatrically from the couch while her mother continued.
“I think it depends. If Philip ever cheated on me, then no, it wouldn’t even cross my mind.
But in your case, a wretched man putting you through hell to take half a business he doesn’t deserve, if it lightened his mood and secured your rightful stake, then… why not?”
“Mom!”
“What? She wanted an honest answer. Now, can we let my sweet Amelia out of her room? Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong with you?” Anna called from the kitchen.
Daisy stuck her head out of her bedroom and whispered, “Shhh. My child is sleeping.”
“Oh please. That girl can sleep through anything.”
“Still. Keep it down.”
Anna rolled her eyes, grabbed her wine, and came into Daisy’s room. In a mocking coo, she said, “So are you going to tell me?”
“You’re so annoying.”
“But you love me. So, give it to me, Double D.”
“That sounds particularly naughty.”
“Daisy…”
“Tell you what?”
“Don’t play coy. There’s clearly something on your mind. You barely spoke at dinner, and you’ve been on edge all night.”
“Maybe I didn’t speak because I couldn’t get a word in, and maybe I’m on edge because my fanatical best friend eats all my food and asks my mother graphic sex questions right in front of me.”
“Oh, they weren’t graphic.”
“Anything involving sex and parents is graphic to a child.”
“Okay, sorry. But seriously, cut the shit and tell me. My brain isn’t in the right frame to play games. My almost-ex has taken the cake on that.”
Daisy slipped into her nightshirt and fell onto the bed beside her.
She wanted to tell Anna, in fact, she needed to, but she didn’t want to give it breath.
If no one knew, it could remain lifeless, like it never happened.
But Daisy knew she could never hide it from Anna.
She was a sister, part of Daisy’s very being. What Daisy felt, Anna felt.
Staring at the ceiling, she blurted, “I saw him.”
Anna sat up, glaring. One expression: anger.
While Daisy had forgiven the past, her best friend had not. She hated him for what he had done, for the way a boy who claimed to love Daisy more than life itself could be so cruel.
“Like, in passing?”
“He came into the gallery on Friday.”
“Holy hell.”
“Yeah. Very unexpected.”
“Did you speak?”
“Briefly. I was in shock. He was there with some woman, probably his girlfriend.”
“The nerve. Then what?”
“We spoke. I ran. He came back a few days later, begged to talk. I said no. He begged again. I caved. We met today for a bit, and then I told him to have a nice life. End of.”
“Okay, okay. My mind is blown. I need more detail.”
So Daisy divulged. She told her everything, from the initial conversation in the gallery to the semi-heated talk at Betty’s. By the end, Anna was speechless, an abnormality.
“So you made no mention of—”
“No! Of course not, which is why I’m not telling anyone other than you. My mother would see this as some divine opportunity to tell him about her. So please don’t say a word.”
“You know I would never.”
“I know.”
“What was he like? All Hollywood now, I presume.”
“Actually, he seemed pretty low-key. I guess rehab and therapy will do that to a person.”
“Huh. Maybe that’s what I should do when this divorce is finally over. God knows I could use a little help.”
“Hey, you can always talk to me.”
“Eh. You have baby-daddy issues to worry about now. I need professional help anyway. Because I swear, if this man wins half my company, I’m going to need more than a shrink.”