“So?” her father prompted now.
“Yes. I’ve decided on school… and a lot of other things,” she said.
Both of her parents stopped and gaped at her. “And?”
“Umm… I’m going to New York.”
Her mother clapped and pulled her into a hug. Her father’s mouth tightened. “I’m so excited for you,” her mom gushed. “I can’t believe we have such a short time before you’re off to college.”
Daisy’s insides shivered. She laughed, thin and nervous. “Yeah… and it’s going to be a little shorter than we thought.”
“What do you mean, honey?” her mom asked, hands on Daisy’s shoulders.
Breathe.
“I won’t be here this summer.”
Her parents traded a quizzical look before focusing back on her. Dena sat down beside her husband and posed, “Are you considering a summer program?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Daisy looked intently at their curious faces and whispered, “The guys are going on tour with NYX 5… and I’m going with them.”
Her father’s palm slammed the table. “Absolutely not!”
“Philip—”
“Don’t, Dena! Do not defend this. I’ve conceded enough with her.” He then turned his attention to his daughter and rose from his seat. “Look, I’m fine with you settling for Parsons, despite getting into much better schools, but we have given you free rein for long enough, young lady. First, we let you go to Santa Barbara to see your friends perform and then again to New York, alone I might add, but this… Daisy, I will not allow you to shack up with those boys and whatever surrounds them. You must think I’m a fool.”
Daisy stood too, shaking but steadying her gaze. “I don’t think you’re a fool, Dad. I just wanted to inform you and Mom of my plans.”
“Did you not hear me? I said no. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go on tour withthat boy.”
That boy.
He said it like Jameson was a disease. That boy held her heart. She wouldn’t let anyone speak of him like that. Not even her father.
She swallowed the retort, backing toward the doorway. “I love you, Dad.” She looked at her mom. “Both of you. But I wasn’t asking.”
Tension settled over the Daniels home in the weeks after. Her father hardly spoke to her, only simple greetings and meaningless dinner table talk. He could barely look Jameson in the eye, let alone speak to him. Daisy avoided home when she could; the disappointment was too heavy to handle.
Graduation came and went and before she knew it, the day arrived. Her bags were packed and her heart was wild. The guys had flown to Atlanta two days ahead to meet their crew. Her father refused to come to the airport. Daisy rolled her eyes at her mother’s apologetic shrug; apparently, fifty-year-old men could sulk like teenagers.
But as she shouldered her bag, preparing to leave the only home she’d ever known, he stepped forward and wrapped her tight. “Please be safe. If you need anything—anything—”
“I know, Dad. Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“It smells.”
“I told you.”
“You didn’t say it would be this bad.”
“Daisy, what do you expect living with five guys?”
“Not this. We are all going to have to come to some sort of understanding because this”—she pointed to the filthy kitchen in the tour bus—“isn’t going to cut it.”
