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  “Ah ha, I knew it! How did that happen?” I asked, excitement going through me.

  “Well, some of the nurses I work with and I went out for drinks after work, and Jack happened to be there. He had had a blind date that didn’t go well, and was just stopping there to unwind. We saw each other, and we started chatting. We had a fun night, playing darts and taking shots. Then, we ended up back at his apartment. You can figure out the rest.”

  I couldn’t help but smile widely. “See? I knew something had happened between you two. So, what’s up now? Are you two together again on the DL?” I asked.

  “The DL? Seriously, Lil, what are you, thirteen?”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Um, that would be a huge no.”

  “Aw, why not? I think you guys are cute together.”

  “That right there is why not. I like having my freedom. I don’t want to be in a relationship with anyone right now, especially not with Jack. Been there, done that.”

  “Literally,” I laughed, and she nudged me.

  “Shut up. Ugh, I don’t know, Lil, he’s just driving me nuts. He wants us to be together again. Bad,” she said, and then the whistle on the teapot sang out. She stood up, grabbed two mugs out of the cabinet, and dropped tea bags into each of them. She poured the hot water into the mugs, walked back to the table, and took a seat next to me.

  “What’s he said?” I asked, taking the cup from Daisy once she sat down.

  “Oh you know, the usual. He’s been saying that he misses me, and that he doesn’t ever want to be with anyone else, that he loves me, blah blah blah,” she said, pouring honey into her glass. “He’s really stressing me out, Lil. My stomach has been upset for days. I even threw up after we had lunch yesterday.”

  “You two had lunch? That’s a day date, you know,” I chimed, accusatorily.

  She rolled her eyes. “I was having lunch alone and he sat down with me. Uninvited.”

  “So, he told you he loves you? Daisy, wow. That’s huge. How can you act like that doesn’t mean anything?” I asked, taking a sip of my tea.

  “Because it doesn’t. To me, this relationship or whatever you want to call it is just about two old friends meeting up a couple of times a week for meaningless, albeit hot, sex. If he sees it as something different, then that’s on him.” Wow, my little sister sure had changed. “Anyway, let’s talk about something else. You are making me nauseous again.”

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Well, we can talk about Luke. Let’s open that can of worms,” Daisy said, grinning. And now, the spotlight was back on me.

  “Daisy, there is nothing to talk about.”

  “Didn’t seem that way when you two were on the porch holding hands,” she said. Damn it. Mama should really think about replacing those old lace curtains.

  “Oh God, I held his hand out of instinct. He had just told me what had happened to his parents, which I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about!”

  Guiltily, Daisy looked at me. “He asked us not to. He said he didn’t want to interrupt your life, so Mama and Daddy just let it go because that’s what he said he wanted. Sorry, Lil.”

  “It’s okay. I guess I’m just sad that I wasn’t there for him when he needed someone that cared.”

  “So, you still care about him, then?” she asked me, her eyes surveying me.

  I sighed. “I’m always going to care about him, Daisy. He was the first guy I was ever with, and he was one of my best friends before that.” She kept looking at me, taking long sips of her tea. We sat in silence for a moment. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Because there is more to it than that. There is something you aren’t telling me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, to quote you, ‘you are my sister. I still know you better than you think I do’,” she said. Touché, Daisy.

  I rolled my eyes and sighed. “It’s nothing, really. He was getting ready to leave, and I just blurted out that we should hang out together tomorrow, and then he invited me to lunch.”

  Daisy smiled at me. “Lunch, huh? That’s a day date, you know,” she mocked, throwing my words back at me. “Where?”

  “I don’t know yet, he’s supposed to call me in the morning to pick a place.”

  She took another long drink from her tea, eyes on me. “Can I ask you something?”

  Like permission to ask a question has stopped her before. “Sure.”

  “If it was no big deal, why did you not want to tell me? I mean, after all, it’s just lunch.”

  “True, but I didn’t want anyone making something out of it. You know how people in this town can be, and how fast something like this would get around. It would get back to Mama and Daddy, and I don’t want them having false hope that I might move back home. I am just meeting an old friend to eat and to catch up,” I said. Just an old friend. An old, intoxicating, and incredibly sexy friend. “Can we please just drop it?”

  “Alright. I just hope he doesn’t call you while we are having breakfast with Violet. She will explode with joy,” Daisy laughed. “She might even try to convince you two to have a double wedding with her and Evan.”

  I rolled my eyes and laughed along with her. As we sat there chatting more about our lives, a comforting feeling swept over me. It was so nice to sit here in Mama’s kitchen, sharing a late night cup of tea with my sister. I never really let myself think about anything else but my career, and sitting here now I know that if I had, I would have gotten homesick. I really had missed this place.

  Chapter 6

  Butterflies

  The next morning, I woke up to the smell of coffee and warm scones. I felt so groggy. I blinked my eyes a few times, adjusting to the light streaming in through the window. It took me a minute to realize I was on one of the couches in the living room, covered up by a soft tan fleece blanket. Why was I on the couch? When my eyes scanned the room, I saw a pillow and crumpled blanket on the other couch, and I remembered, Daisy and I decided to sleep down here. We had stayed up most of the night talking and never went back upstairs. Slowly, I sat up, and winced when I did. My arms and legs were stiff from lying in the same position all night. I must be getting old. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mama peek her head out of the kitchen. “Good mornin’, honey. I just made a fresh pot of coffee, you want some?”

  I smiled at her, and yawned. “Sure, Mama, that sounds great,” I said, standing up and walking toward the kitchen. “Where’s Dais?”

  “When I came down, she had just gone to the bathroom.”

  “Oh, okay. So, how did you sleep last night?”

  “Just wonderful, honey. I was surprised to find you and Daisy down here this mornin’,” Mama said. “You two must have been up late.” She handed me a mug of coffee that she had already poured for me.

  “Yeah, we both couldn’t sleep, so we ended up having some tea and just chatting all night. It was nice,” I said. And it really was. Daisy sure was a lot different than she was when I left, but it was fun getting to know her as an adult. She was pretty awesome.

  “That’s so nice. So far you seem to be having a good time being back home,” Mama said, a hopeful tone in her voice.

  “Yeah, I am,” I admitted reluctantly. “It is strange though, waking up here for the first time in over a decade.”

  “I know what you mean. It took me a minute to remember that I had you here again when I saw you sleeping on the couch. I thought I was having a really good dream,” she said, sitting down across the table from me. I reached out and placed my hand on hers. At that moment, Daddy and Daisy walked into the kitchen.

  “Mmm, what smells amazing in here?” Daisy asked.

  “That must be your mother’s scones,” Daddy said, putting his arm around Daisy.

  “Well, you help yourself, darlin’, there’s plenty,” Mama said.

  Daisy sniffed the air. “Did you add something different to them?”

  Mama s
hook her head. “No, they are the same as they always are.”

  “That’s weird, they smell different to me. It’s probably because I haven’t woken up here to that smell in a long time,” Daisy said. She put a hand on her stomach. “Which, by the way, y’all got any antacids? I didn’t see any in the downstairs bathroom.”

  Daddy squeezed her shoulder. “You okay, darlin’?”

  “Oh yeah, fine. My stomach was just a little flippy when I got up. Must have been all the tea I drank last night.”

  “There should be some in the drawer next to the sink,” Mama answered.

  Daddy let go of Daisy’s shoulder and she walked to the drawer and started searching. At that moment, Daddy walked over to me, hugged me around my shoulders, and kissed the top of my head. “Good mornin’, sweetheart.”

  I hugged him back around the waist. “Good morning, Daddy.”

  “You sleep okay?” he asked, as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

  “Yeah, it was good. I’m a little stiff though. It’s been a while since I slept on a couch.”

  He smiled at me, and sat down next to me at the table. “Well, you know what will solve that problem? Sleeping in a bed,” he laughed, and I playfully stuck my tongue out at him.

  “So, do you girls have any plans today after you meet up with Violet?” Mama asked.

  I really didn’t want to tell Mama that I was meeting Luke after we had breakfast with Violet; she might make a big thing out of it. Before I could think of something to tell her, thankfully, Daisy interrupted. “Actually, Lilly, I was wondering if you might be up for a little shopping. We both still have to get Evan and Vi a wedding gift, and I haven’t even started on Christmas shopping yet, so I thought we’d make one big day out of it,” she said, smiling. If I had to give Daisy one thing, she could make up a good lie on the spot.

  “Yeah, sure, that sounds great, Dais.”

  Mama smiled. “Well, that sounds nice. That’s good you both will be out of the house today anyway, because your Daddy and I were thinking of seeing a movie. You know, going on a date,” she said. I looked at Daisy, and she had a wide smile on her face.

  “Aw, that’s so cute that you two still do things like that,” I said. I hope it’s like this for me when (and if) I ever get married.

  “Well, no matter how busy you are, you have to make time for the ones you love,” Daddy said, kissing Mama’s hand. I felt a little pang of guilt.

  “Speaking of making time, you girls had better get dressed. You’re supposed to be at Grady’s in thirty minutes,” Mama reminded us. With that, Daisy and I both quickly got up and went upstairs, each of us kissing Mama and Daddy on the way out of the kitchen. Once I was in my old room, I unzipped my suitcase to try and find an outfit that I could wear. I was meeting Luke that afternoon, and I didn’t know if I would be back home in enough time to change, so I had to wear something cute that wouldn’t raise any suspicion from Violet. After looking at everything I packed ten times, I decided on my favorite pair of jeans (they made my butt look good), my brown leather pointed toe boots, and a cream cashmere sweater that hung off one shoulder with a burgundy lace camisole underneath. I quickly tucked my hair behind one ear and pulled it into a side ponytail. I looked in the mirror. I was getting pretty good at throwing a cute outfit together in a few minutes. I grabbed my bag and was heading out my bedroom door, when I remembered suddenly that Luke was supposed to call me this morning. I searched through my bag and found my cell phone, where I unread text messages. I scrolled through them quickly, and saw several from Tara, and two from Alejandro. None from Luke yet. As I read through Tara’s messages, I rolled my eyes and sighed. They started off innocent enough, with her asking how my flight went and if I made it home safely. The more recent ones were angrier, with my favorite reading, “If you don’t text me back soon, I will fly there and murder you in your sleep.” Alejandro’s messages were definitely nicer, but they sounded like Tara had harassed him into texting me as well. I decided to send one text message to both of them, letting them know that I was okay and at the moment, on my way out to meet my sister. I quickly typed,

  “I made it home okay, calm down. I’m having breakfast with my sisters this morning-on my way out the door right now. I’ll text when I can, but I’m gonna be busy with the wedding, so don’t panic if I don’t get back to you asap (Tara). Love you all, and I’ll talk to you soon!”

  I hit send, and then decided to check my phone to see if Luke had maybe called and I missed it. He hadn’t yet. I felt a bit disappointed, but shook it off and tossed my phone back into my bag as I walked downstairs.

  Daisy was already downstairs wearing her coat, and handed me mine. “You ready to go?” she asked me.

  “Yeah, let’s do this,” I replied. We called our goodbyes to Mama and Daddy. Just then, I heard my phone ping. I had a new text message. I sighed, reaching back into my bag, expecting to have yet another crappy message from Tara. I looked at my phone, and smiled brightly. It was from Luke. It read, “Too early to call yet?”

  “Who’s that from?” Daisy asked playfully, as we walked out the door. Yeah, like she didn’t know.

  “It’s from Luke, obviously,” I answered.

  “Well, it must be good if you are smiling like that,” she said.

  “Oh, Daisy, it’s nothing. I told you he was supposed to call me this morning. He was just wondering if I was up yet.”

  “Hmm, eager, isn’t he?” she said, her mouth curling into a smile on one side. I ignored that comment. I am sure that he wasn’t eager, just keeping his word. “So, are you going to text back?”

  I put my finger up as if to quiet her, and dialed his number. I didn’t want to text him. As silly as it sounded, I already wanted to hear his voice. I saw Daisy smile widely as we both got into her car. After two rings, he answered the phone. “I guess not.”

  If it were possible, my smile got even wider. “Yeah, I was already up. Daisy and I are on our way to Grady’s to meet Violet. You know, wedding stuff.”

  “Well, sure. I’ll bet she has a lot to catch you up on,” he said.

  “Yay,” I laughed. “I just hope the bridesmaid dresses aren’t horrid.”

  “Lilly, you could wear a paper bag and you would still look sexy,” he said, and then nervously laughed. He seemed like he said that without thinking first.

  Before I could respond, he said, “So, we still on for lunch this afternoon?”

  “Yes, absolutely!” I said, with a little more enthusiasm than I meant to. “I mean, you know, if something hasn’t come up and you aren’t busy or anything.” I heard Daisy snicker from the driver’s seat, and she started the engine. I leaned over and swatted her on the arm, which seemed to push her over the edge into a full blown laugh. I could have sworn I heard her softly singing to herself, ‘Lilly and Luke sitting in a tree…’

  “Well, I was just heading to the hospital to check on Shawn, and then I’m free as a bird after that.”

  “Shawn? Oh…yeah, your patient. You never mentioned his name before.”

  “Oh, I thought I did, sorry about that,” he replied.

  “No worries.” We both sat in silence for a moment. On the other end of the phone line, I swear I could actually hear him smiling. “So, you’re still free this afternoon then?”

  “Uh, yeah. Was there any place you wanted to meet?”

  “To tell you the truth, Luke, I actually hadn’t thought it through that far,” I admitted, and we both laughed.

  “Well, would you be up for a drive? There is this amazing little Italian place a few miles outside of Kingsland I tried one time, and I think you will love it.”

  A drive to Kingsland would have Luke and me alone in his car for almost an hour. I felt my heart skip a beat. “Italian sounds great.”

  “Okay, awesome. Is eleven okay? That way we should make it there around noon,” he said.

  “Eleven works for me.”

  “Great, so should I pick you up at your parent’s house then?”

 
; Oh no. Mama thought that I was going to be shopping with Daisy all afternoon. I really didn’t want anyone to know I was going to lunch with Luke, especially Mama. She was sure to get too excited about it. Or maybe, I was already nervous enough about being around him, that I just didn’t need the added stress of my mother beaming at us. “Uh…”

  “Or, I could just meet you at Grady’s once you are done there,” he suggested, obviously sensing my hesitation.

  “Sure, that would be great,” I replied. We would obviously have to distract Violet somehow, but I’m sure Daisy could help me with that. I shook my head just then, thinking this was quickly becoming some sort of covert operation.

  “So, you ready to talk about centerpieces and dresses and wedding cake all morning?” Luke asked me.

  “Oh, yeah, bring it on,” I joked.

  “Don’t worry. She’s not been a bridezilla or anything. At least, not around us guys anyway.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t know, I haven’t been here for any of the planning so far,” I said. At that moment, we pulled up outside Grady’s Diner. Daisy parked in a spot close to the front door, and shut off the engine. “We’re here already. Wow that was fast.”

  “Well, I’ll let you go then. Have fun with your sisters,” he said.

  “Thanks, I’m sure I will. See you at eleven,” I replied.

  “See you then. Bye Lilly,” he said.

  “Goodbye Luke,” I answered, and then reluctantly hung up the phone. With a huge smile still on my face, I took off my seatbelt, and got out of Daisy’s car.

  “Eleven o’clock, huh? Kind of early for lunch, don’t you think?” she asked me, eyeing me speculatively. “The way you were blushing just now, I will be surprised if you make it to the restaurant with your clothes still on,” she joked. Even though I knew she was just teasing, for some completely unknown reason that irritated me.

  “You know what, Daisy? Ugh, never mind. It’s not what you think, I’m sure. He’s not eager to see me, he just promised to call me this morning. I’m sure from his end he is just trying to be nice to an old friend he wanted to catch up with, that’s all. Just let this go already,” I snapped. As soon as I said those words out loud, I knew that they were true. I felt my face flush red from embarrassment. Why the hell did I just do that?