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Tension radiates off her and she doesn’t meet my eyes when I try to catch hers.
“I’ve got a new job,” Daisy says, after everyone has pushed their plates away.
Conversation stops and everyone stares at Daisy. Including me. She didn’t even tell me she was looking, and she tells me everything.
At least I thought she told me everything. Clearly, I was wrong.
“I’m sorry.” Daisy stares straight ahead, her voice calm, but she’s gripping her fork like it’s a lifeline. “I probably should have told you this sooner, but I don’t want you to hear it from towngossip. You should hear it from me.” She clears her throat and spreads her food around on her plate.
“I’m here.” Goldy walks into the kitchen, her face pink like she’s spent too much time in the sun. She sits at the table, brows pinched as she takes in the obvious tension. “What’s going on?”
Daisy pulls in a deep breath. “I haven’t been entirely honest about why I’m here. I’m not on sabbatical from my job—”
“You said you were working remotely.” Honey picks a piece of lettuce from the salad bowl and pops it in her mouth.
“You told me you're using some vacation time before you lose it.” Dani leans against Grant, frowning. Grant’s arm comes up around her, his thumb stroking her shoulder.
“The truth is, I quit my job at Tenth Avenue.” Daisy’s lower lip trembles, but she bites it hard and gets it under control. “I was passed over for a promotion I’d earned and I might have lost my temper.”
“You never get mad about anything.” Clover looks around the table at her sisters, as though seeking confirmation, and they all nod in agreement.
Daisy pulls in another breath. “I get mad all the time. There’s just no point in making a big show of it. When I get mad or sad or whatever, I deal with it. I don’t spread my emotions around like they’re everyone else’s problem.”
“It’s called sharing,” Goldy says gently. “I understand the impulse to want to keep to yourself, believe me, but it can help to talk things out.”
“It doesn’t help me.” Daisy shoves a loose strand of hair behind her ear as though she’d like to rip it from her head. “Look, the point of me telling you any of this is that I’ve gotten a new job here in town, at Lovemore Publishing.”
I sit back, feeling like the air has been knocked out of me. Why didn’t she tell me any of this?
The hope and joy bubbling up at the thought of her staying mingle with my feeling of being left out of one of the big events of Daisy’s life.
Would she have told me at all if I was on the other side of the world? What else hasn’t she told me?
“But you love New York,” Clover says, eyes wide. “Do you really think you’ll be happy here?”
I stare hard at Daisy, wondering the same thing. If I’d had to bet my life on it, I’d have said Daisy would never leave New York.
Daisy looks down at the napkin she’s twisting on the table. “It’ll be a change, but there’s nothing for me to go back to in New York. I’m not exactly in a position to be choosy.”
Which means she’d go back to New York in a heartbeat if she got the opportunity. I can’t help the excitement that thrums through me, though, the hope that maybe she can learn to love it here.
“I’ve heard good things about Lovemore Publishing.” Goldy says, smiling warmly at her sister. “They seem to treat their authors well.”
“That’s good to hear.” Daisy doesn’t look happy, even though she’s smiling, and my heart breaks for her. This goes beyond admitting defeat. This is giving up everything she’s ever dreamed of. “The point is, I’ll be staying for a while and I’m hoping you all won’t mind if I stay here with you.”
“Of course you should stay with us.” Honey’s smile is cheek-splittingly wide. Honey is generally calm and even-keeled, but excitement is practically bubbling off her at the moment.
“I agree,” Goldy says. “Stay.”
Daisy blows out a breath and looks at Dani and Clover.
Dani just nods.
Clover holds up her hands. “Don’t look at me like a wounded puppy, Daisy. We’re all good. Of course I want you to stay here.”
Clover and Daisy had a lot to work through when Daisy moved in. Clover felt her older sister had abandoned her when Clover told Daisy about a plot their con-artist father had involved her in when they were kids.
Clearly, Clover’s over it, even if Daisy doesn’t quite seem to have forgiven herself.
