Wicked Flower (19 page)

But she wasn’t a huge Sin Pointe fan and
as far as Dani knew, either hadn’t cared or was just too young to remember that
Stefan was actually a family friend of theirs, removed and remote as the
connection had become over the years. The young could be flippant that way,
especially her twenty year old sister who fled the house at eighteen when she
graduated, the same year their mom had died.
“Who?”
Dani asked, curious.

Instead of answering, Daisy ran and
picked up a catalogue from the hammock strung between two walls that was her
sister’s bed.
“This guy.”
She pointed at a male model
wearing skinny jeans and a grey t-shirt. His hair was the same shade of light
brown as Will’s. “Isn’t he gorgeous? I love his tattoos. But he looks so
depressed.”

“The model or Will?”

“Hmm, the model.
I have to get a
better look at Will now. I think I scared him.”

“I think you did too.” Dani started to
finish what she’d been ready to share earlier. That
Will
was a friend of Stefan’s who was Gina’s son and currently staying with her. But
she decided against that, suddenly protective of Will’s privacy and remembering
the heartbreaking reaction he’d had in the car ride here. Even though she could
see Daisy getting lots of laughs out of
Will
. “Let’s
go a little easy on him. I think he’s shy.”

Daisy’s face lit up and Dani knew she’d
said exactly the wrong thing. “Oh my God, that’s so sweet. Is he single? Please
tell me he’s single.”

Oh geez. She couldn’t ignore Daisy
because Daisy would just go out and ask Will flat out herself. “Yes, I believe
he is currently single. But hey, before you go out there and ask him to marry
you, I need to tell you something. It’s serious.”

“Oh-kay.
I’m listening.”
Daisy adjusted the piles of black curls atop her head and then put her hands on
her hips.
The serious pose, as serious as she could be
barefooted.
But Dani couldn’t help but smile at the white and black
manicure of Daisy’s fingers and toes. “Come on, tell me already.”

“
What,
or
you’re afraid Will
will
get away?” She had to tease
her baby sister.

“Maybe.
No. Come on,
you said it was serious. Is Gina okay? Wait, is Thom okay? Tell me he didn’t
get hurt over there,” Daisy asked, reminding Dani that Daisy was young but not
completely wrapped up in
herself
. Her kid sister had a
huge heart which was why she’d moved out when Mom died. It would have hurt
Daisy too much to stick around. Dani was just happy Daisy didn’t remember
losing their dad. Since Daisy was three years old, it had always been just the
girls and it hurt that Dani couldn’t share the pregnancy news with her. Not
until she told Mrs. C first. Daisy’s heart was big but so was her mouth.

“Mrs. C is fine. And, so is Thom. Look,
this is really embarrassing and I’m only telling you because I’d rather get
this over with now and I know you’d get it out of me eventually.”

“If Gina and Thom are okay, what’s
wrong?”

Yeah, that was pretty pathetic. Even
buoyant Daisy had deduced the smallness of Dani’s world and reach. She blew out
an over-the-top breath and sat down on of all things, a bean bag. It was pink
so it must belong to one of her sister’s roommates. “Thom broke up with me and
he did it in an email. Which hurt, but I’m over it and I wanted you to know so
that when he comes home, you don’t assume we’re still together.” Daisy was one
of those with a knack for running into people in the craziest places and
striking up the craziest conversations. Dani would be mortified should that
happen with Thom and his acquaintances.

“He dumped you?” she screeched.
“In an email?”
She somehow managed to screech that part even
louder.

“
Shh
.”

Too late.
To Dani’s
surprise, Will popped his head in the room. Daisy started for him but Dani shot
her a look that said to stand down. So Daisy didn’t grab his hand and tug him
in further, but tempered it down to going and standing beside him in the
doorway, close enough to hold hands if they were to accidentally collide. Will
blinked.

“I heard screaming. I got worried. Also,
some dude is at the door asking for you, Daisy.” He said her sister’s name so
quietly. “And I got a phone call, Dani.
For you.
Um, so, yeah.”

Daisy’s eyebrows lifted and the doe-like
brown depths of her eyes took Will in for the whole room to see. Surely if Dani
had seen that, Will couldn’t have missed it. “Hold on, I’ll go say hi.” Daisy
left the room quickly. Will actually
smiled,
a little
less stiff this time.

“I’m sorry,” Dani mouthed to him. “She’s
a handful. I might have forgotten to mention that.”

“Nah, she’s fine.
Just
young.”
He winked with great tact, and Dani loved him all the more. “So,
Stefan called. He’s
gonna
swing by here later and
pick you up.”

“For that dinner?”
She sucked in
too much air. “Are you
gonna
come too?” She asked, a
little too fast.

Will’s hand was on her shoulder in that
very second. “He said not to rush your visit with your sister.
And no pizza dinner for me.
When he gets here, if you don’t
mind, I’ll drive your car back to the house for my date with Mrs. C. You don’t
mind riding with Stefan, right?” He didn’t get to finish, if there was more,
because Daisy tugged him by the elbow out of her room and the two disappeared.
Dani didn’t follow. She needed a minute. All she could hear was Daisy’s
excitement bouncing off the apartment walls. To answer Will’s question, the
thought of riding alone with Stefan in his Mercedes did what all thoughts of
Stefan did to her. First came the thrill,
then
came
the fear. Then the wish that he was just a guy and she was just a girl and all
this other crap didn’t exist between them.

“These are perfect! Thank you so much!
This one’s
gonna
go here and this one’s
gonna
go over here.” Daisy’s voice boomed happily and
reached down the hall.

Then it got real quiet and the next
thing she heard was Will’s voice, deeper than she’d ever heard it. “Um, you’re
welcome. You’re, um, very welcome.”

Something had happened and whatever it
was warmed Dani’s heart, even from Daisy’s bedroom. She knew Will wouldn’t
stand a chance. No one ever did.
To have that kind of effect
on someone.
Distantly, the thought snuck up on her that Daisy’s carefree
lifestyle would allow her to pick up and leave if someone like Will asked.

What Dani would give for a cup of
that.
She’d use every last ounce on Stefan Calderon which is
why she knew better than to wish for it. The night he’d said done, he’d meant
it and turned off his feelings for her. Feelings she knew he had. She’d been so
stupid to insist they couldn’t be close which is why his dinner invitation had
her twisted, all inside and out.

Had she been so dumb as to have missed
what this dinner could very well be about? Was Stefan just being nice and
telling her goodbye like every other guy she’d ever fallen for? Maybe now that
he’d had a reprieve with her being out of the house, he’d found it was easier.
Telling her over pizza in a public place was almost as safe as cutting ties
over an email. Would he turn on that cocky playfulness and let her down easy so
she barely even felt his rejection?

Dani stood in Daisy’s bedroom doorway
and looked carefully toward the small kitchen, holding in her nerves the best
she could. There they stood. Daisy tried out several different locations and
plugs for her new appliances. She flitted from one side of Will to the other,
picking up random pieces of fruit, tossing them into the blender, and gathering
dirty cups then washing them quickly in the sink and filling them with her
concoction.

Will just stood there mesmerized.

What did mesmerized look like on a guy?
The same way Stefan had looked at her when she’d boldly told him to prove it in
the stall. Their eyes got bright. And they tried so damn hard not to smile that
a heart-stealing grin slipped out in its place. That’s what she saw on Will
right now and what she missed on Stefan.

Dani fell back into Daisy’s room. She
rubbed her belly, not feeling well at all. She tried not to freak out over the
fact that Stefan was coming here to pick her up but couldn’t keep the hold over
her emotions.

For a few minutes, Dani thought about
the whirlwind of the past week. How things felt so surreal, so wrong and so
right at times, often within minutes of each other.

Timing was a tricky little thing.

Stefan rolling into town on the day Thom
dumped her was the hardest to understand.

Will, who Stefan swore would have
nothing to do with another woman for as long as he lived, was out there being
charmed by her baby sister. The awkward silences and his stuttering short
answers said as much. It had taken all of five minutes.

Dani had technically known Stefan her
whole life yet in reality, they were strangers. Their reunion had been a short
one but after the past week, she now felt like she really had known him her
whole life. And he wasn’t a selfish jerk. Not in the least.

Yes, time was tricky.

Suddenly a tremor of fear caused her to
suck in a deep breath. What if time ran out before she put on her big girl panties
and did the right thing concerning her baby’s father?

The unpredictability of time seized her
thoughts. She pulled out her phone to compose an email and wiped the screen
with her shirt, clearing fingerprints and cheek oil from the phone’s face. Dani
took another deep breath and began typing. If she was going to face Stefan, the
real Stefan because they’d be alone, she needed to face Thom first.

Hi
Thom,

Sorry
it’s taken me a few days to get back to you. I hope you’re doing okay, staying
safe. Wanted you to know that I was surprised by your email but I understand. Won’t
lie, I was hurt, but I’m glad you were a man about it and told me. The reason I
know how hard it must have been for you to do that is because this is one of
the hardest things I’ve ever had to write. I guess it’s my turn to be a woman
and let you know that, I’m pregnant.
Didn’t want to tell you
while you’re deployed because I worried about distracting you.
But the
truth is
,
you deserve to know, now. I’m looking
forward to meeting your sweetheart one of these days. From the bottom of my
heart, if you love her then she must be a wonderful person. We’ll talk more
when you get back.

Take
care and be safe. Oh and Thom, thank you.

~Dani

She thought about it for a minute and
then hit send. The pink bean bag on the floor caught her weight as she sank
down into it. The thought of a broad chest covered in white with a guitar
strapped across it comforted her head as it thudded heavily against the bedroom
wall.

Maybe men could be super heroes after
all. More importantly, maybe women could be too.

“Stefan, please go easy on me tonight,”
she whispered to the empty room and rubbed her belly. She closed her eyes and
rested,
welcoming the soft bits of laughter she heard
filling her sister’s small kitchen. Stefan had been a good friend to her. If
tonight was an early goodbye, Dani was at least thankful he’d respected her
wishes.
Respected her.
If he was capable of nothing
else for whatever reason, his respect did more for her than he could ever know.

She spent a few minutes stalking her
phone’s inbox for a response from Thom.

Chapter Fifteen

“Mom?”
Stefan poked
his head outside and found her sitting in her rocking chair. “Hey Mom, how are
you feeling?” Stefan sat in the chair next to hers and it rocked back with his
weight.

“Oh, better now. The yard looks
wonderful. Thank you.”

“Sure, no
problem.”

Stefan looked at his watch. He’d told
Will he’d drive out and meet them around this time but it had been a rough day.
Mom’s dizzy spells had scared him but not as much as trying to take her blood
pressure. He’d squeezed the damn cuff on too tight and she’d let out a yelp.
“You’re sure you’re feeling better now? Are you dizzy at all?” he asked.

“I’m fine. It happens from time to time.
It’s the blood pressure. It’ll even out. I’ll be fine. Why don’t you and
Will
go do something in town? Have some fun.”

Downtown Moonlight wasn’t exactly the
kind of place he and Will would find fun. Besides he wouldn’t want to scare any
of the folks gathering at the fire department for bingo. It was too warm to
cover up his tattoos and Will’s shaved sides of his head. “That’s okay.”

This next part was what he’d been putting
off, not wanting to add any more stress to his mom’s already stressed day. But
he needed her to know why Will would be coming back to the house alone and part
of accepting there was something going on with Dani meant manning up with Mom.
He reminded himself he was almost forty years old and a full grown man many
years over.