Daisy's Back in Town by Rachel Gibson Read Free Book Online

changing the subject.
    "Next month." She rubbed her big belly. "And I am more than ready. Do you have children?"
    "Yes." She was very aware of Jack, of the sleeve of his jacket so close to her arm that if she moved just a fraction, she would feel the texture of it against her bare skin. "My son, Nathan," she said and purposely didn't reveal his age. "He's in Seattle with Steven's sister Junie and her husband Oliver." She glanced up at Jack and gone was his carefully blank expression. Surprise filled his green eyes and lifted a brow. "You remember Junie don't you?"
    "Of course," he said and looked away.

    "I remember her," Sylvia elaborated. "She was a lot older than its. I remember Steven's parents were pretty old too."
    Steven had been a real surprise when his parents were in their mid forties. They were both sixty-three when he graduated high school. His mother was gone now, and his father lived in a retirement community in Arizona.
    "Shay and I are gonna get to work on making a baby tonight." Jimmy laughed. "Don't want to wait too late in life to have a baby."
    Jack reached inside his jacket and pulled a cigar from the breast pocket of his dress shirt. "Congratulations," he said and handed it to Jimmy.
    Jimmy pulled the cigar through his fingers. "My favorite. Thanks."
    "Don't I get one?" Shay protested with a smile.
    "I didn't know you smoked cigars," Jack said as he reached for her hand. He took it from the folds of her dress and brought it to his mouth. "Congratulations, Shay. Jimmy is a very lucky man." He kissed her knuckles and drawled just above a whisper, "If he doesn't treat you right, you let me know."
    Shay smiled and touched her curls with her free hand. "Are you going to open a can of whoop ass on my behalf?"
    "For you, I'll open two." He dropped her hand, then he excused himself.
    Daisy's gaze fell to his broad shoulders as he made his way to the bar set up in one corner.
    "He could always charm the pants off anyone," Sylvia sighed. "Even in the fifth grade."
    She turned her attention to Sylvia as the others around them talked about football. While they debated whether the Cowboys needed stronger defense or offense, Daisy leaned her head closer to Sylvia.
    "What happened with you and Jack in the filth grade?" she asked her friend.
    A wistful smile curved Sylvia's lips, and the two of them turned to watch Jack order a beer at the bar.
    "Come on," Daisy wheedled.
    "He talked me into showing him my bottom."
    In the fifth grade? She and Jack and Steven had been playing NASCAR in the fifth grade. Not doctor. "How?"
    "He told me he'd show me his if I showed him mine."
    "That's all it took?"
    "I don't have brothers, and he doesn't have sisters. We were curious and checked out each other's bottoms.
    Nothing bad happened. He was real sweet about it."

    She'd never known that while he was boring her with Richard Petty stats, he was running around checking out other girl's bottoms. She wondered what else she didn't know.
    "Don't tell me you were friends with Jack Parrish all those years and never showed him yours."
    "Not in the fifth grade."
    "Honey, sooner or later, everyone showed Jack their bottom." She ran her hand over her big belly. "It was just a matter of time."
    Daisy was seventeen and practically had to beg him to look at her bottom. If she remembered correctly, his words had been, "Stop, Daisy. I don't mess around with virgins." But he had, and they'd begun a wild sexual relationship that they'd kept secret from everyone. Even Steven. Especially Steven. It had been crazy and thrilling and intense. A roller coaster ride of love and jealousy and sex. And it had ended very badly.
    Long forgotten memories rushed at Daisy, as if suddenly set free. One here, another there. A tangled mess of memory and chaotic emotion, as if they'd been smashed together, thrown in a box, and hurriedly taped shut.
    Waiting all these years for someone to rip the tape off and throw open the tabs.
    She recalled her own wedding. She and