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“Did you see something?” she said, slouching to match his posture.
“Oh, no. Just, uh, need to tie my shoe.” They both looked down at his already neatly tied shoes. “Er, I thought it was untied.”
The driver of the suburban slammed on the brakes and made a sharp U-turn, heading back to the station.
“Should we worry about that?” Daisy asked.
“Not in the way you think,” he muttered as the SUV came screeching to a halt on the opposite side of the pump.
Crap. He’d hoped they could get in and out of town without this happening. Of course, the way his luck was running, this was exactly what he should have expected.
“Sweet fancy Moses on buttered toast,” his oldest sister, Marcy, said. “The prodigal son returns. It’s about damn time.”
“Hey, sis,” Noah said with a sheepish grin. “Long time.”
“Well, get over here, ya ginormous galoot,” she said, getting on her tiptoes to hug him. She was tall, almost as tall as Daisy, but still several inches shorter than Noah. “Does Mom know you’re here? I’m surprised she didn’t say anything.”
“Uh, no. I’m not really ‘here.’ Just passing through.”
Hurt crossed her face. “Oh.”
“It’s not like that, Marcy,” Noah said, feeling like a real jackass. “I’m working.”
“So busy you can’t stop in and see your momma?” She raised an eyebrow and shifted her eyes to Daisy, clearly indicating she didn’t believe for one second he was telling the truth.
As he opened his mouth to respond, Daisy jumped in front of him. “Hi. I’m Daisy. Noah is…for lack of a better term, keeping an eye on me,” she said. “Heisworking, but we’re not so busy we can’t stop by and see his family.” She looked back at Noah and rolled her eyes.
“Hi, Daisy. I’m Marcy, Noah’s big sister. If you’re sure, I’ll call Mom right now and set up dinner.”
“Wait—” Noah started but shut up at his sister’s hand in his face. She was used to getting her way and was not one to be trifled with. He tried Daisy instead. “I thought you wanted to shoot some videos today.”
Daisy turned to Marcy. “Would a couple of hours from now be okay?”
“Even better,” Marcy said. “I can rally the whole family by then.” She flashed Noah an innocent smile, but the glint in her eye told him she meant trouble. “Simon and Teddy have a baseball game at Parkworks. Starts at two-thirty. Stop by if you can.”
The women said goodbye, and Marcy returned to her car, already on the phone.
Noah replaced the gas nozzle and took the receipt. “Daisy, what was that about?”
“You told me your hometown was Lewisburg.” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, giving him a look very similar to the one he’d just gotten from his sister.
“White Sulphur Springs is too big a mouthful. Plus, no one’s ever heard of it. I tell people I’m from Lewisburg because it’s close and better known.”
She harrumphed her disbelief. “Why are you avoiding your family?”
“I’m not. I do want to see them, but this is business. We’ve got a schedule to keep.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to call bull crap on that. You know I wouldn’t care, and you know we can spare the time. You gonna tell me or not?”
“Not.”
“Fine,” she said, getting in the truck. “Then I’m not sharing my animal crackers with you.”
Daisy was the last person he would come clean to about why he dreaded coming home. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his family. He did. But ever since the incident with Tucker and subsequent breakup with Sarah, they treated him differently—like he was fragile and weak. Visiting also brought feelings of guilt and betrayal.
Add to that, Sarah still lived here, and he’d rather take another bullet than run into her. He supposed he should thank his lucky stars it was Marcy and not Sarah that had seen him at the gas station.
What was done was done. And he actually did look forward to seeing his family. They were a rowdy bunch of hicks, but they were also fun as hell. He hid a grin.
