Leaving Liberty (26 page)

           
“She’s right. You two go over there and make that little girl’s day. We’ll handle
everything here,” Nita said. She smiled and stood next to Ana at the desk.
Daisy narrowed her eyes at the two of them. They were so obvious it was
painful. She was sure Lane knew he was being set up and she hated it. She
opened her mouth to tell him to go on alone, but he spoke first.

           
“Sounds like a plan.” Lane gazed at the little brown teddy. “This is going to
be fun. It’s not every day you get to do something so important for a kid.”

           
That was the truth of it, really. Daisy pulled in a breath and pondered the
situation. She could stay here, in the library, where it was safe. Or she could
take a short drive downtown with Lane and be part of a really special moment.
She wasn’t an overly emotional person, but the thought of seeing Jasmine’s face
when Officer Bennett returned her lost friend… well, it was enough to make a
grown woman get a little teary-eyed.

           
“Okay, I’m in.” She flashed him a smile and came around the desk.

           
Lane handed her the bear. “Hold on to the warrior princess. I hear she’s an
escape artist.”

           
Daisy tucked him under one arm, noting the familiar floppy limbed feel of a
well-loved toy.

           
“Hey, does this diner have pie?” Ana asked. “I haven’t had some good pie in a
long time. Fresno isn’t really known for its all-American desserts. Tres leches
cake or churros, sure, but no pie.”

           
“I’ll check it out.” Daisy gave a wave and followed Lane down the foyer stairs.
She may be making a huge mistake by wandering around town with Lane. She’d just
been saying how she was going to stay out of his way and out of his reach. On
the other hand, she could also be living a full life and that included letting
herself experience the joy and sorrows of the people around her.

           
He held the door for her and she stepped into the bright sunshine.
Will you
take all the love you have for me and spread it around?
Marie had wanted
her to live fully, no matter how much she wanted to keep her heart tucked
safely away.

           
She glanced at Lane, noting the fine lines around his eyes and the set of his
jaw. Life was complicated. This friendship was complicated. But loving a little
girl like Jasmine wasn’t hard at all. She wanted to be part of this moment and
she would just have faith that opening her arms wasn’t going to be the end of
the world.

                                                               
***

           
Lane opened the passenger door of his truck and smiled. Without blinking an
eye, Daisy had settled her rear on the seat and swung her legs in, the move
that had given her so much trouble their first trip together. It seemed like
years ago. That day burned in his memory, bright and sharp.

           
“You got in this truck like a pro,” he said, sliding into the driver’s seat.

           
“It’s not true what they say about old dogs.”

           
He snorted. “You’re pretty far from both of those things.”

           
She snapped her seat belt on and flipped her pony tail back over her shoulder.
“Maybe on the outside, but inside I’m just a stubborn old…”

           
He waited, eyebrows raised. Even inside, he couldn’t imagine Daisy as a dog.

           
“Okay, I plead the fifth. I don’t want you to think of Russell every time you
look at me from now on.”  

           
“Never.” He flashed a grin and decided he better concentrate on his driving. It
was so hard to stay focused when she was around.

           
Main street was quiet as they drove. Little white clouds scudded across the sky
and the sun shone bright. He couldn’t believe it had been pouring rain just
days ago. Maybe the weather forecast was wrong about the new storms headed
their way.

           
“You’re okay biking to the library in the rain?”

           
“I like it. Once I figured out I needed a really long raincoat and a hood,
otherwise the tire spatter makes a trail from my rear to my head.”

           
He choked back a laugh. “Like a skunk stripe.”

           
“Exactly. Not attractive.” She shrugged one shoulder. He had the strangest urge
to blurt that she’d be beautiful in anything, covered in mud or not. But he
resisted. Barely.

           
“I wanted to warn you about the creek behind the cabin. It’s pretty high. In
case you wander back there, I thought you should know it’s a lot faster than it
seems.”

           
Daisy glanced at him. He wondered if she was going to be offended by his
warning. She wasn’t a true city girl, but she hadn’t been in Liberty for a long
time. He’d rather hurt her feelings than find out she’d been swept downstream.

           
“Thank you,” she said. “Nita told me the Corps of Engineers has been up at
South Platte all week, marking the rise and checking the levee a few miles
down.”

           
“It doesn’t look good. There’s a reason the city was declared a flood zone.
FEMA said that levee just isn’t up to standards.”

           
 “I always figured flooding to be a plains problem, like in Kansas
somewhere.”

           
Lane slowed the truck, looking for a spot to park. The diner was at the end of
Main and there were quite a few cars in the parking lot. Early dinner crowd.
The seniors liked to get in there before anybody else so they could spend a few
hours over their chicken fried steak and hot coffee.

           
“About a hundred years ago the South Platte went through Denver and tore out
the bridges all the way to Colfax Avenue. The snowmelt and summer rains are a
disastrous mix sometimes,” he said.

           
“What about now? The grants might come in and we can repair the library. We
might also raise enough funds to cover the flood insurance for a long ways in
the future. But we can’t fight a flood.” Her voice was tight with worry.

           
Lane turned at the end of the block before answering.
We.
When she’d
first arrived, they’d been on opposite sides. Now they were a team and he
couldn’t help but notice how right it felt. “That’s a worst case scenario. They
have sandbags at the armory.”

           
They pulled up behind of Sal’s Diner and he set the brake. The old truck let out
a groan as it settled.  He saw Daisy’s lips lift a bit. She’d probably be
really glad to get back to Fresno and civilization, away from old trucks and
greasy diners. Lane yanked on the brim of his hat and went to open the
passenger door.

           
Daisy was already sliding out and she glanced up at him. “Are you okay? You
look mad.”

           
“Do I?” He smoothed out his expression as best he could. There was no reason to
be irritated at the thought of her hating his truck. Why did he care? Wasn’t a
man always supposed to love his truck more than his girl?

           
Lane offered his hand and she took it. As her feet hit the ground, his own
thoughts caught up to him.
His girl.
The realization made him suck in a
breath. Daisy wasn’t his girl, no matter how much Nita hinted or how long the
summer seemed or how much he wished it would be true.

           
“There.” Daisy leaned forward. “You can’t tell me you’re not mad about
something. Your eyes are all squinchy and your mouth is…” She pressed her lips
together and squinted in a pretty fair imitation of what he looked like when he
was ticked.

           
“I’m not mad.” He made an effort to smile, feeling the tension in his jaw.

           
“Ugh. That’s even worse. Now you look like you’re in pain.” Daisy tossed her
ponytail over one shoulder and headed toward the diner. “For a guy who loves
this place, you sure get irritated a lot.”

           
He followed behind her, wanting to argue but not really able to explain that he
loved this town and had lived perfectly happily in this town until just a few
months ago. He wasn’t bothered by anything in Liberty… except for Daisy
McConnell.

Chapter
Twenty-One           

Daisy
let Lane follow in her wake as she made her way up the sidewalk of Sal’s Diner.
She knew that resigned and angry look. He didn’t want to be with her in such a
public place because it would get the rumor mill churning at top speed. Didn’t
he think she felt the same way?

           
Her high heeled sandals clicked on the cement walk and the sound of his
thick-soled hiking boots sounded behind her. She should probably slow down and
wait for him but she needed a few seconds to soothe her injured pride.

           
Reaching the glass door, she paused, watching his reflection in the glass. His
head was down, brim of his cap shading his face. The line of his mouth was even
tighter. Hands pushed deep into pockets and shoulders hunched, he looked like a
man being led to the gallows. Daisy felt a sharp pain near her heart and tried
to force the thought away.

           
He looked up and caught her gaze in the reflection. His expression didn’t
change as he came nearer, until finally he stood directly behind her, their
gaze locked. A beat passed where all she knew was the sound of his breathing,
slow and deep, and his steady presence behind her. The thud of her own heart
echoed in her ears.

           
His eyes were dark. “It’ll be okay.”

           
She said nothing. Of course he was talking about the gossips inside, but she
wasn’t afraid of them. She’d faced down bitter old people before. It was the
rest of her life, stretching out in years and decades before her that made ice
cold fear slide through the pit of her stomach. She’d thought she was dying to
go home to Fresno, but in the few seconds it took him to reach her, she’d
realized something that shook her to the core. She didn’t want to go back.

           
It was all she could do not to turn around and wrap her arms around Lane,
begging him to whisper those words into her ear and make them true. She wanted
everything to be okay, wanted it desperately.

           
Pushing the emotions deep down, she pushed the glass door and stepped inside. A
dozen heads popped up from the plates on the table, a dozen pairs of eyes
latched on to her. She felt their curiosity like a cold shower. Forks paused in
mid-air and she could have sworn she heard chewing slow as they passed the
tables to the front counter.

           
 “Come on. Let’s find Breezy.” Lane reached for her hand and pulled her
toward the counter.

           
She should have slipped her hand from his, but the warmth of his fingers and
the pressure of his palm were like a shot of pure comfort. Her shoulders
relaxed and she felt a smile pass over her face. Lane was asking for a wildfire
of rumors, but at the moment, she didn’t care. A crazy sense of well-being and
safety was short-circuiting her brain.

           
Breezy came out from behind the long counter, frown in place. “What’s going on?
Is Jasmine okay?”

           
“She’s fine. We wanted to show you what Lane found in one of the ranges.” Daisy
held out the little bear and watched Breezy’s expression flicker from shock to
happiness.

           
“I can’t believe it! I was sure she’d left it in the park or maybe in a cart at
the Pack-n-Produce.”

           
“Nope. I guess it was at the library all along,” Lane said. “We could take it
over to Brenda’s but Daisy thought we should ask whether you wanted to do that
yourself.”

           
Breezy’s gaze flitted from Daisy to the bear and back again. “You go head. You
were the one who told her she was like that Corduroy and exploring the
library.” Her eyes softened. “I’m so glad you found her. She’s all Jasmine has
now.”

           
 “That’s not true. I know what it’s like to have no one and Jasmine isn’t
alone. She has you,” Daisy said.

           
She glanced up, tears glinting in her eyes. “I don’t feel like I’m enough for
her.”

           
The dinner crowd had picked up their forks again and the low murmur of
conversation covered her next words. Daisy leaned forward, putting her hand
over Breezy’s.

           
“One person can never be enough for another, not completely. Even a mother
can’t be everything for her child. You do the best you can, like we all do, and
pray that good people step forward and fill in the gaps.” People like Marie.
She who stood in the gap when Daisy’s world was falling apart. “We’re not meant
to completely fill another person’s needs. That’s God’s job.”

           
Breezy’s eyes widened and she nodded. “I never thought of it like that.”

           
“Are you sure you don’t want to deliver Kayla the Warrior Princess?”

           
She shook her head, a small smile crossing her face. “I can’t wait to hear what
she thinks she’s been doing all that time in the library.”