Daisy's Back in Town Read Online Free PDF Page A

to see it. He would have loved it as much as she did.

    Daisy looked down at the rubber garden clogs on her feet. She wished for a lot of things. Like more time before she had to confront Jack again. She was in no hurry to see the anger in his face. She'd known that he would not welcome her back with open arms, but she was surprised that after all of these years, he clearly hated her as much as he had the last time she'd seen him.
    You call this ugly? he'd said. This is nothing, buttercup. Stick around and I'll show you how ugly I can get.
    She wondered if Jack had realized he'd called her buttercup. His old name for her. The name he'd first called her on her first day at Lovett Elementary.
    She remembered being nervous and scared on that day, so long ago. She'd been afraid no one would like her, and she'd suspected that the big red bow clipped to the top of her head looked stupid. Her mother had pulled it off the handle of a Welcome Wagon basket filled with coupons, a recipe hook, and Wick Fowler's chili kit.
    Daisy hadn't wanted to wear the bow; but her mother had insisted that it looked good and matched her dress.
    All that first morning, no one had spoken to her. By lunch, she'd become so upset, she was unable to eat her cheese yum-yum sandwich. Finally; during recess, Steven and Jack walked up to where she stood with her back against the chain link fence.
    "What's your name?" Jack had asked.
    She'd looked into those green eyes of his, surrounded by long black lashes, and she'd smiled. Finally someone was talking to her, and her little heart leapt with joy. "Daisy Lee Brooks."
    He'd rocked back on the heels of his boots as he looked her up and down. "Well, buttercup, that's the stupidest hair how I ever did see," he'd drawled, then he and Steven howled with laughter.
    Hearing that the bow was stupid confirmed her worst fears, and the backs of her eyes started to sting. "Yeah, well y'all are so stupid you have to take off your shoes to count," she'd responded, proud that she stood up for herself. Then she'd ruined everything by bursting into tears.
    The memory of that day brought a sad smile to her face. She'd vowed to hate those two boys as long as she lived. It lasted until Jack had asked her to play on their softball team, three weeks later. It was Steven who showed her how to play second base without getting hit in the face with the ball.
    At first, Jack had called her buttercup to tease her, but years later, he'd whispered it as he kissed the side of her throat. His voice would go all dark while he discovered whole new ways to tease her. There had been a time when just the memory of his kiss had sent a warm shudder through her chest, but she hadn't felt anything warm and tingly for him in years.
    She thought of how he'd looked last night, half naked and fully ticked off. His lids lowered over his sexy green eyes, and that sardonic curl of his lips. He'd grown even more handsome than the last time she'd seen him, but Daisy was older and wiser and no longer tempted by good looks and bad attitudes.
    Nathan didn't resemble Jack much. Except maybe the attitude part. He was staying with Steven's sister in Seattle while Daisy was in Lovett, but he knew the reason behind her trip. She'd learned her lesson about lies, no matter how well intentioned, and she never lied to Nathan. But she had purposely chosen his last week of ninth grade to make the trip so he couldn't come along. She didn't know what Jack's reaction would be once she told him about Nathan. She didn't think he would be cruel, not to Nathan anyway, hut she wasn't certain. She didn't want Nathan here if Jack got truly ugly. Nathan had had enough pain in his life.

    From inside the house, she heard her mother moving around. She stood and walked back inside.
    "Good morning," she said as she hung up her coat. The warm scent of her mother's kitchen filled her nose. The smell of baked bread and home-cooked comfort food surrounded her like a familiar blanket. "I watched