Coming Up Daffy Read Online Free Page B

maybe this Mark person will be the magic guy that blooms in your personal garden. You won’t find out if you don’t try. See ya!” She threw herself behind the wheel, started the car, and then backed down the driveway.
    Alice sprinkled the worms in the second container through the flowerbed. Their red bodies wriggled all over their new home and provided a striking contrast between the brilliant yellow daffodils. She frowned at them. “I don’t care what Mel thinks. I’m not asking a guy out. My dad will have a cow.” According to her father, it was the man’s responsibility to make the first move — and pay for dinner and hold doors for ladies. “I’ll just wait, or maybe drop a hint.” What made her friend believe Mark would be any different than other guys she’d dated? I don’t have staying power when it comes to men.
    ****
    After a night of restless sleep Alice dragged herself out of bed the next morning with a new resolve. She’d go back over to the bait shop and ask some questions about the tall cutie pie she’d seen yesterday. It wouldn’t hurt to do what Mel said and ask him out, and if he agreed, her dad would just have to deal with it. On the other hand, the worst Mark could say was no, but then that rejection wouldn’t hurt as much as being dumped. It’d be like nipping a flawed relationship before it could bud.
    Armed with that sunny outlook, she showered, dressed, hopped in her wagon before her dad got back from his morning walk, and then headed for the bait shop. Rain hit the windshield, not heavy enough to warrant turning the wipers on full speed but not light enough not to have them on intermittently. She peered at the gray skies. Not a break in the clouds anywhere. Typical spring day in Indiana.
    Alice arrived at the bait shop within fifteen minutes. She struggled out of the car, dashed up to the door, and then promptly stomped her foot when it wouldn’t open. “What the heck?” She tried it again but obviously, no one had come to unlock the door. When her knock went unanswered, she ran back to the car and tumbled inside with a few dark thoughts circling through her head. Her sneakers were wet through from the puddles in the gravel drive. “How hard is it to keep operating hours?”
    Knowing she had a stack of orders waiting for her at the flower shop, and not willing to wait around for someone to come open the store, Alice drove up the winding drive. A farmhouse and barn came into view with the same truck Mark had driven the day before parked nearby. She slid her vehicle next to his then exited the car. “What now?” A glance at the house didn’t net her any clues, so she jogged toward the barn and had barely entered before she heard Mark’s voice.
    â€œSarge, I’m not fooling around. Move over.”
    Alice crept further into the barn. The warmth from the animals hit her first, quickly followed by the smell of said animals. That mingled with straw and the scent of the dry food put her in mind of her childhood visits to her grandparents’ farm, where she’d been terrorized by a donkey who’d been over-eager to make friends.
    â€œAw, man. Pippa, get your foot out of the water pan.” Mark bent over in a pen, while he tugged at a leg of a white llama with black spots. “You two are not earning brownie points with me today, and you’re making me late for work.”
    She didn’t mean to giggle, but seeing him struggle with the two llamas was so funny she had to. “Mark?”
    He whirled around on his knees. A pleased expression lit his face. “Alice. Hi.”
    â€œHey.” What now? Alice approached the pen. “I like your llamas.” Great. Lame much?
    â€œThey’re my brother’s.” He stood, dusting bits of straw and dust from his jeans as he went. “If I had my choice, these two would be sold to a collector because they’re