Daisy's Back in Town Read Online Free Page A

Security lights shined down on him and shadowed the angry set of his jaw. His eyes stared into hers - no longer cold, they were filled with a burning rage.
    "I don't know what you came here looking for, absolution or forgiveness," he said, his drawl more pronounced than before. "But you won't find it." He dropped her arm as if he couldn't stand the touch of her.
    "Yes, I know."
    "Good. You stay away from me, Daisy Lee," he said, drawing out the vowels in her name. "You stay away or I'll make your life a misery."

    She looked up into his dark face, at the passion and anger that had not abated in fifteen years.
    "Just stay away," he said one last time before he turned on his bare heels and disappeared into the shadows.
    She knew she would be wise to heed his warning. Too bad she didn't have that option.
    Although he didn't know it yet, neither did he.

Chapter Two

    Daisy blew into the mug of hot coffee as she raised it to her lips. The sun had yet to rise, and her mother was still asleep in her bedroom down the hail. Besides updated appliances, little had changed in her mother's kitchen. The counter tops and floor tiles were the same matching blue, and the same Texas bluebells were painted on the white cabinets.

    As quiet as possible Daisy slipped into her raincoat, hung by the back door the night before. She threaded one arm then the other through the slicker until it covered her short pajamas. She crammed her feet into her mother's garden clogs, then she slipped outside into the deep shadows of early morning. Cool air touched her face and bare legs, and a slight breeze pulled several strands of hair from the claw at the back of her head. The Texas air filled her lungs and brought a smile to her lips. She didn't know why, or how to explain it, but the air was different here. It just seemed to settle in her chest and radiate outward. It whispered across her skin and answered a hidden longing she hadn't even known rested deep in her soul.
    She was home. If only for a short time.
    For fifteen years she'd lived in the Seattle, Washington, area. She'd grown to love it there. She loved the rich green landscape, the mountains, the bay. Snow skiing. Water skiing. The Mariners. So many things.
    But Daisy Lee was a Texan. In her heart and in her blood. In her DNA, likelier blond hair. Likelier birthmark in the shape of a little love bite on the top of her left breast. And like her love bite, Lovett hadn't changed in the past fifteen years. The population had grown by several hundred; there were a few new businesses and one new grade school. The town had recently added an eighteen-hole golf course and a country club to its landscape, but unlike the rest of the country, and more urban Texas, Lovett still moved at its own laid-back pace.
    Daisy gazed into the shadows of her mother's backyard. The outline of the five-foot windmill, an Annie Oakley statue, and a dozen or so flamingos were etched in black. Growing up, her mother's taste in exterior decor had been a constant source of embarrassment for her and her younger sister, Lily. Now the parade of flamingos brought a smile to her lips.
    She took a drink of coffee, then she sat on the top concrete step next to a stone armadillo with several babies stacked on its back. Daisy hadn't slept well the night before. Her eyes felt puffy and her mind sluggish. She shivered and set the mug on her knee. Before she'd seen Jack last night, her plan had been so clear. She'd come to Lovett, intending to visit with her mother and sister for a few days, then talk to Jack and tell him about Nathan. All within twelve days. Which, until last night, she'd figured would be plenty of time.
    She'd known it would be difficult, but clear-cut. She and Steven had talked about it before he'd passed. In her pocket, she still had the letter Steven had written before he'd lost the ability to read and write. When he'd accepted that he would die, that there would be no cure for him, no more experimental drugs to take, no