Willow Smoke (19 page)

“We’ll
do
Canterbury,”
Nick
said.
“Shakopee
is
just a short drive from Saint Paul
where
my
folks
live.
It’ll
be
good
for
them
to
see
the
Blaze.
What
do
you
think,
kid?”

Daisy
smiled
in
agreement.
“Why
not?
It’ll
give
me
an
excuse
to
see
some
new
country.
It
won’t
be
a
long
haul.
Rainbow
trailers
well
and
should
handle
the
trip
fine.”

“When
do
we
leave?”

“I’ll
call
ahead
and
take
care
of
entry
fees
and
stall
arrangements,”
Gallagher
said,
making
a
note
on
a
large
desk
calendar.
“It
would
be
good
to
give
the
horse
a
day
or two to acclimate. The race is next
Sunday.
That
gives
you
a
couple
days
to
prepare
before
you
have
to
pull
out.”

“Ouch!”
Daisy
glared
at
herself
in
the
full
length
closet
door
mirror.
Why
didn’t
anyone
write
clear
instructions
any
more?

She
read
the
folded
instructions
for
the
fourth
time.
The
wax
was
certainly
hot
enough.
Burning
skin
attested
to
that.

“Okay,
again,”
she
said,
looking
in
the
mirror.
“Bend
your
knee
and
pull
it
towards
your
chest,”
she
read
aloud.
She
sat
on
a
towel
in
the
chair
she’d
placed
before
the
mirrors.
Maybe
looking
at
her
reflection
was
confusing
things.
But
how
else
could
she
see
what
she
was
doing?

In that now-familiar
cramped position,
she
applied
the
wax.
The
roller
seemed
to
turn more smoothly this time. She
relaxed,
a
trifle.
Maybe
this
would
work,
after
all.

“Now
comes
the
difficult
part,”
she
mumbled,
glancing
over
at
the
mirror.
She’d
never be a very good contortionist. “Okay,
remember
pull
vertical,
not
parallel.
Parallel
hurts
like
hell.”

With
a
quick
jerk
of
the
wrist,
Daisy
pulled
on
the
wax
remover
strip.

“Shit,
shit,
shit!”
she
shouted,
hopping
about
on one foot. “Whoever wrote that this
might
tingle
a
little
bit
never
tried
it.”
She
glanced
down
at
the
removal
strip
and
counted
six
hairs.
“Damn!
Nicholas
Underwood,
you’d
better
damn
well
appreciate
what I’m doing.”

Daisy
sat
back
down
and
examined
herself.
She
looked
like
she
had
a
rash
of
pimples
in
a
most
unusual
place.
She
slumped
back
and
closed
her
eyes.
Was
this
really
worth
it?

A
bikini
line
was
supposed
to
be
a
simple
thing
to
accomplish.
She
didn’t
even
own
a
bikini,
but
she
loved
the
trim
look
of
the
women
in
the
instructional
videos.
They
looked
sexy,
and
she
wanted
to
look
sexy.
Hell,
thousands
if
not
millions
of
women
had
a
bikini
wax
line.
So
what
if
it
was
painful?
it
was
a
small
sacrifice
to
make.

She
grabbed
the
box
and
went
over
the
instructions
again.

Half
an
hour
later,
perspiration
poured
off
Daisy’s
brow.
She
raised
her
head
and
looked
in
the
mirror.
She
stood.

“Done.
That’ll
have
to
do.
I
can’t
take
any
more.”
The
hairline
looked
quite
fine,
really.
But
where
there
had
been
hair
before,
now there were so many red
bumps
and
ridges
she
looked
like
a
war
zone.
She
felt
like
a
war
zone.
And
women
went
through
this
every
month
or
so?
Whoever
said
women
were
the
weaker
sex?

Daisy
groaned.
She
couldn’t
go
to
him
looking
like
this;
he’d
puke.
Would
he
put
his
tongue
down
there?
She
sure
hoped
so.
She
watched
as
her
fingers
tested
the
red
dots.
They
didn’t
hurt
as
bad
now.
She
admired the trim hair. It seemed to
frame the target nicely, not that Nick
wouldn’t
know
where
to
find
what
he
was
looking
for.

But
how
long
would
she
have
to
wait
for
her
skin
to
clear
up?
A
couple
days?
Two
weeks?
Certainly
it
would
clear
before
she
had
to
go
through
this
procedure
again.

They’d
be
staying
at
a
hotel
in
Shakopee.
Those
red
pimples
had
better
be
history
by
the
time
they
got
to
Canterbury,
or
she
was
going
to
be
one
unhappy
girl.
She’d
put
too much planning into her coming out party not to come out.

Daisy
sat
on
the
edge
of
the
bed
in
her
hotel
suite
fighting
back
tears;
her
skin
remained
red
and
prickly
to
the
touch.
No
way
could
she
implement
her
plan
to
become
a
woman
tonight.
She
shrugged
and
scowled at herself in the mirror.
She’d
waited
nearly
twenty-one
years;
another
day or two shouldn’t matter so
much.

Glancing
around
the
suite,
she
marveled
at
how
some
people
lived.
Nick
had
called
it
a
small
suite
adjoining
his
identical
suite. It was half the size of
her
apartment,
and
there
was even
a
phone
in
the
bathroom.

She
was
so
inexperienced.
She’d
only
been
in
motels
when
she
was
a
child,
and
then
only
when
her
mother
neglected
to
pay
the
rent.
Those
drab
holes-in-the-wall
weren’t
even
in
the
same
universe
as
this.

In
her
wildest
fantasies,
she
could
not
have dreamed of a better setting for her
sexual
initiation.
The
suites
were
luxurious,
and
by
putting
her
imagination
in
overdrive
she
could
even
conjure
up
a
bit
of
romance—though
she
knew
romance
was
not
at
the
center
of
what
she
and
Nick
were
about.

Shrugging,
she
rose
from
the
bed
and
continued
getting
ready.
Good
thing
she’d
brought
along
one
nice
dress;
it
was
actually
the
only
nice
dress
she
owned.

Nick
would
be
rapping
on
her
door
soon.
They
were
going
to
the
Orpheum
to
see
A
Funny
Thing
Happened
On
the
Way
to
the
Forum.
Nick’s
youngest
sister,
Angie,
had
a
supporting
role.
His
parents
would
also
be
there.
Daisy
shivered.
She’d
focused
so
much
on
her
seduction
of
Nick,
she’d
forgotten
that
by
coming
to
Canterbury
she’d
be
involved
with
his
family.

“Oh
well,”
she
muttered.
“They’re
just
people.
And
it’s
not
like
we’re
staying
with
them. Thank God.”

Two
hours
later
Daisy
sat
on
the
first
floor
of the Orpheum trying to concentrate on
the
antics
taking
place
on
the
stage.
The
play
was
great,
but
sitting
with
Nick’s
family
had
turned
out
to
be
more
unnerving
than
she’d
anticipated.
Angie
Underwood
was
good.
She
was
funny
and
had
a
body
men
must
beg
for.
Nick
had
informed
her
that
Angie
was
the
nearly
forgotten
caboose
of
the
family.
She’d
just
celebrated
her
thirtieth
birthday,
and
was
the family’s somewhat eccentric artist.

His
parents
were
reserved
and
welcoming,
although
clearly
puzzled
by
her
presence.
Nick
had
introduced
her
as
part owner
of
RainbowBlaze
and
the
person
responsible for the horse’s
training. That seemed to suffice.

Nick’s
father
had
given
her
a
shy
smile,
but
otherwise
ignored
her.
Nick’s
mother,
Agnes,
was
more
curious.
Not
too
obvious,
but
obvious.
Thankfully,
there
was
little
time
for
small
talk
before
the
play.
She
and
Nick
would
have
to
leave
right
after
the
show in order to be at the track by sunup.

The
Underwoods
planned
to
attend
Saturday’s
race,
and
they
had
invited
Nick
and
his
friend
to
their
home
for
Sunday
dinner.
Daisy
drummed
her
fingers
on
the
chair
arm.
She
wasn’t
looking
forward
to Sunday
dinner,
but
that
was
a
ways
off.
A
lot
could
happen
before
then.

Nick
covered
her
hand
with
his,
stilling
her
fingers.
He
leaned
over
and
whispered,
“You’re
doing
great.
Don’t
worry
about
it.
Everything
will
be
fine.”

She
pulled
her
hand
out
from
under
his,
trying
hard
not
to
notice
Agnes
Underwood’s tiny smile. Daisy frowned. Why was
the woman smiling? What had she made of that little byplay?

Daisy
flinched at the tap on her shoulder.

“Thought
you were going to join us in the box seats for the post parade,” Nick
said.

“I
can’t.
I’m
too
nervous
about
Rainbow.”
Daisy
watched
RainbowBlaze
come
on
to the track for the seventh race post
parade.

“She
looks
good
out
there,
up
on
her
toes
and
alert.”

Daisy
glanced
at
Nick.
“I
don’t
want
to
be
rude,
but
I
need
to
be
alone
right
now.
Make sure your family comes to the
winner’s
circle.
I
should
be
ready
to
rejoin
you
by
the
tenth.
Depends
on
how
long
it
takes
Rainbow
in
the
test
barn.”

Nick
grinned.
By
now
he
knew
that
winning
horses
were
taken directly to the test
barn
to
check
them
for
illegal
drugs.
“You
really
think
she’ll
win.”

Glancing
at
the
tote
board
in
the
infield,
she
said,
“The
bettors
have
her
as
the
eight
to five favorite. They respect her
record
and
the
fact
that
she
shipped
in
from
Arlington.
She’ll
win,
barring
bad
luck.”
Daisy
grabbed
her
bare
arms
and
bent
over. “I can
hardly wait.”