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“Daisy!” her mother greeted, wrapping her in a hug. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
Sunday meant dinner with the whole family at her parents’ house—a tradition they’d been doing without her for years.
“Honey, glad you made it.” Her dad took over the hugging once her mom let her go. “You know, for being stateside, we still don’t see you very often.”
“I’m sorry,” Daisy said. “I’ve only been back a couple of weeks. Settling into my new place and trying to keep up with the business has kept me busy.”
Her four sisters gathered around to greet her. When in town, Daisy was usually the center of attention, but that was only because she’d lived abroad and visits home were sporadic. Now that she’d moved back, her novelty would wear off soon enough.
“Hey, Ms. Thang,” Emma said. “You have your award-accepting outfit picked out?”
“Ha,” Daisy said. “You’re assuming I’ll win.”
“Of course you’ll win. You’re a Parker,” Lizzie said. “Parkers don’t take Ls.”
And wasn’t that the truth. At least for most of the Parkers. Her sisters were all successful business owners in town. Three of the four had married in the last year and wasted no time in baby-making. Kate, the oldest, had finally given her parents a long-awaited grandchild, and Lucy and Emma were cooking up numbers two and three—Lucy was due next month and Emma, two months after that.
Daisy was the youngest and had learned in early childhood it was impossible to measure up. Rather than compete with her uber-successful sisters, she’d fled the country to live like a hobo all over Europe.
After spending the last decade avoiding this particular rat race, she’d finally tired of it, decided she was too old to keep running from her problems, and returned to New Bern, North Carolina.
“What’s the award called again?” Emma asked. “Newcomer of the Year?”
“Is it based on who has the most followers?” Lizzie said. “Cuz last time I checked, you had over two million. That’s got to be some sort of record.”
“I thought it had something to do with the fastest growing,” Kate said, bouncing softly to soothe the baby in her arms.
“The award is Female Rookie of the Year,” Daisy said. “And it’s all that—lots of followers in a short amount of time. It’s a people’s choice kind of thing, so you have to get the most votes too.”
“I’ve watched a lot of your videos on the YouTube,” Nana said. “The camera loves you. I predict you’ll win.”
Nana had experimented with reading tarot cards and minds, but since she’d had no success with either, Daisy took her premonition with a grain of salt.
“We’ll see,” Daisy said. As much as she wanted this award, she wasn’t a shoo-in by any means. “Competition is tough.”
“Emma said two nominees already dropped out,” Lucy said. “Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know about the first one, but I’m ‘friends’ with Megan, the second gal to drop out,” Daisy said, putting quotes around the word friends. Friends,realfriends, in the online world were rare. Especially when they were competing for the same award. “She swore me to secrecy, so don’t tell anyone, but she says she was blackmailed.”
“Ooh. What’d she do?” Kate said, before turning to her husband, Adam. “Here, take Abby away. I don’t want her to hear me gossiping.”
Adam took the baby. “A, she’s one month old and doesn’t understand. And B, you could just not gossip.”
Kate tilted her head and gave him a cute-but-you-know-that’s-not-gonna-happen look.
“No, of course not.” Adam threw up his free hand. “Silly of me to suggest it.” He hoisted Abby to his shoulder. “Come on, little one. Your momma has important business to discuss.”
“Blackmail’s pretty serious,” their dad said. “Not to mention illegal.”
“Things are different in Cyberland. She has no idea who actually blackmailed her, just got the threats online over a chat app.”
“What kind of threats?” Lucy asked, rubbing an eight-month baby belly. Daisy still couldn’t get used to the fact that her sisters were procreating.
Daisy raised a shoulder. “Told her they had dirt on her and would release it if she continued to go for the award. I didn’t ask for details.”
“So I gave up the baby for nothing?” Kate said with a huff, and Daisy laughed.
“That’s not fair,” their mother said. “And what do you mean by ‘go for the award’?”
