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ChapterFourteen
“Carrot, cat, Colombia, Cauliflower.”
“It’s not a flower. It’s a vegetable.” Jo laughed at the man walking beside her.
“Says who?” Daniel challenged.
Jo looked at him incredulously. “Umm… the whole world.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, that’s still my final answer, and since it has the word flower in it, then it is a flower,” he stated, as a matter of fact.
Jo stopped to shake her head at the man walking before her, a huge smile on her face as a result of his goofiness.
“What?” He turned to her innocently.
“You are such a cheat.” She meant to come off more serious but couldn’t dampen the broad smile on her lips.
Daniel grinned at her. “At least it got you to smile,” he concluded triumphantly.
“That it did,” she agreed, shaking her head and taking the few steps to catch up to him.
The two had stayed back after the dinner hour to clean up the dirty dishes as Pat left because of an emergency, and Daniel didn’t want to leave the task to Suzie alone. Afterward, he’d offered to walk Jo home. Even though she had planned to use the time it took to get to the house to mull over all that had happened in the past forty-eight hours, she’d surprised herself by agreeing. Now here they were playing a game he had suggested.
“We’re at D now,” Daniel said, reminding her it was her turn.
“Okay. Let’s see. Dragon fruit, dog, Denmark, daisies,” she replied confidently.
“Are you sure you’re not just making that one up?” Daniel asked, looking over at her.
She couldn’t see his eyes clearly as the walkway lights didn’t provide that amount of illumination, but she could almost tell that they were glinting from mischief.
“Oh, get out of here. I know you must have heard of dragon fruit,” she replied, lightly tapping his shoulder.
Daniel chuckled. “Of course. I was just interested to see how you would defend your answer.”
“Well, we’re at E now,” she spoke, reminding him that it was his turn.
Daniel chuckled once more, which caused her to look up at him questioningly.
“It seems we’ll have to pick this game up tomorrow,” he explained, jutting his chin toward the house.
She hadn’t realized that they had arrived by the back porch. Turning to him, she gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you for making sure I made it home in one piece, Chef Daniel.” She curtsied.
At this, Daniel let out a deep chuckle. “It was my pleasure, my fair maiden, Josephine.” He bowed deeply, eliciting a giggle from Jo. Straightening up, he continued, “See you tomorrow.”
“Good night.”
Daniel left, retracing his steps, and Jo watched until he was out of sight. She turned and made her way up the steps and made her way to the door. Raised voices coming from the family room left of the back door were the first thing that greeted her when she stepped inside. Confused as to what the commotion was about, she walked into the room in question.
“How could you be so irresponsible, Jules? You’re not even finished with school. How could you have let this happen?” she heard her sister’s raised voice berating her daughter.
Just as her niece began speaking, Jo walked in to see her and her mother at opposite ends of the room.
“Well, thank God you have Erin, the responsible one, right?” Jules exploded. “At least you can finally admit it. I’m the screwup, but don’t worry about it because I’m sure perfect Erin will make up for all that.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth, young lady!” Cora screeched. “The fact is you were irresponsible. You had your whole life ahead of you, and this is what you chose to do…mess up your future.”
Jules looked at her mother with incredulity before her eyes narrowed into tiny, angry slits. Jo decided to step in.
