A Curvy Girl for the Cadet: A Perfect Fit Novella (15 page)

“On the floor?”

“Yeah. Why not on the floor?” She sat up.

“I forgot to tell your mom that my friends were coming over for dinner.” He got to his feet and helped Daisy up. “I’m not sure what my sister is doing here. Hello, Senator and Mrs. Scott.”

“My boss’s rich mother-in-law rented out Canterbury Lake for the Fourth of July for the entire day. Lobster bake, barbecue, bonfire, fireworks. The whole festive shebang. I came to invite you.” She looked at the senator and his wife. “You look rich. You come too. Mrs. Lancaster would love it. Abraham, my second brother, you are always invited. I don’t know you,” she said to the guy Daisy had never met. “But if you’re friends with Abraham you’re welcome too.” She handed Daisy a large pink bakery box. “Alex wants you to try his brown sugar pound cake. He said he got the idea from a discussion you two had. What smells amazing? Can I stay for dinner? Alex had a meeting out of town.”

Daisy just smiled at Maggie who was looking more adorable by the day with her growing belly. She really liked her. She liked Clayton’s entire family even though he had issues with them, they were a family. They loved and supported each other.

It was going to be extremely hard when this was over. She would miss them.

*

Daisy walked into
Size Me Up
, the boutique that sold clothes just for plus sized and hard to fit women, that Maggie was the manager of. She wanted a new sundress to wear for the party Maggie had invited them to, and she was sure this place would have what she was looking for.

“Welcome to
Size Me Up
,” Maggie started before she saw it was Daisy. “Hey, sister!” Her smiled turned genuine as she hugged her. “What a nice surprise.”

“I came for clothes. More dresses and skirts.”

“You came for this.” Maggie took Daisy’s hand and brought her to a rack that had an adorable royal blue dress with cap sleeves and little white anchors printed on it. “When it came in I knew it had you written all over it. You have that pin up thing going on that I wish I could pull off.”

“Pin up girl, really?”

“I agree, honey,” a nearby customer said. “You can pull off a red lip like nobody’s business.”

Belinda, one of the store’s owners came out from the back. “Daisy! How are you? I haven’t seen you since the engagement. Congratulations. I know Maggie is so happy that Clayton is settling down with you.”

“Thank you.” She felt slightly uncomfortable knowing it all wasn’t true.

“I wasn’t sure Clayton would ever find someone good for him. But Daisy is it. You should see them together. You should see the way he looks at her, Belinda.” Maggie touched her chest. “I caught him singing to her. Can you believe that? My brother, the solider, singing to her. I’ve never heard him sing. I never thought I would. War changed him. Now with Daisy I can see he’s changing back.”

“I heard you got him to shave and cut his hair,” Belinda said.

“I didn’t,” she said truthfully. “I liked him just as he was.”

“Really, girl?” Belinda asked, hand on her hip. “We have all fixed up our husbands the way we want them. There’s no shame in that.”

“I really didn’t mind the beard. Sometimes I miss the way it feels on my skin.”

“And that’s why he got her the ring he did.” Maggie grabbed her hand. “Show them the ring.”

“A rose!” Belinda jumped up and down. “It’s perfect.”

“I designed this ring,” the customer said, taking Daisy’s hand and studying it. “One of my favorite pieces. A nearly flawless diamond. I was wondering about the woman whose fiancé would choose this for her. You’re a florist, right?”

“Yes.” The air left her lungs. “So this ring is real?”

“Of course it’s real. Did you think it wasn’t?”

“I honestly didn’t know.”

“Clay has saved every penny he has ever made and he makes good money as the manager of Sanna and Son,” Maggie said. “He would never give you anything fake.”

She knew she was kind of blowing their cover, but she couldn’t focus on that at the moment, because the ring was real. He had bought her a real diamond engagement ring. Why the hell did he do that? What did it mean?

Did it mean anything? Could it mean anything?

“I didn’t care if it was real or not. It’s thoughtful and perfect and I love it.”

“And that’s why he wants to marry you, Daisy. I’m so glad you found each other.” Maggie hugged her and Daisy wished she could enjoy the moment, but her mind was racing too much to do so.

*

“Knock knock.” Clayton heard as he sat at his desk looking over payroll reports.

He looked up to see his mother standing just inside his office with a container in her hand. “Hey, Mom. Come in.” He was surprised to see her there. It wasn’t often she made special trips to talk to him. He knew something was up. It probably had to do with the fact that he walked out on dinner last week.

“I brought you something home cooked to eat. I know you and your friends order lunch out a lot.”

“Actually I brought lunch from home today.” He nodded to the contained on the corner of his desk.

“You made your own lunch.” She sat in the chair in front of his desk. “I’m impressed.”

“Daisy made it. She calls it Cowboy Casserole.”

“Cowboy, huh? What’s in it?”

“Tater tots, beef, cheese, onions. It’s good.”

“She makes you comfort food.”

“She doesn’t make it for me. She makes it for her little girl. She lets Aubrey plan out the meals and they cook together. It’s nice.”

“Your sister told me about the s’mores mac and cheese. She must be a very good mother if she agreed to eat that.”

“She is a good mother. She’s an excellent mother.”

“Good enough to be the mother of your children?”

“Yes,” he said with no hesitation. If he was going to have children he would want Daisy to be their mother. Every person should be lucky enough to be loved by Daisy Lee Gracen.

“She’s beautiful. She’s smart, and funny as heck. I like her a whole lot. Why didn’t you tell me about her, Clay?”

“I’m sorry you had to find out about the engagement the way that you did. We were going to tell you.”

“I’m not sure I can believe that.” She smiled sadly at him and he felt like shit. “You were falling in love and you didn’t say a word. But of course you didn’t say a word. You barely say anything to me anymore. I thought it was the war that had changed you and it has some, but it’s not that. You smile at Daisy and laugh with her and talk to her. You hold hands with her little girl. You love them and you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.” He shook his head. “I can’t hate you. I just don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Yes, you do, Clayton. You have so much to say that you want to burst with it.”

“But I don’t, Mom. Because I understand. Dad was gone. He was always gone and you were lonely and scared and you turned to somebody else. Dad was an asshole because he felt hurt and betrayed. I understand you both.”

“Then why did you get so mad when he told you Tina was moving in?”

“Because you’re still in love with each other. And I don’t get it. I don’t get how it’s possible when you both have hurt each other so much. And I don’t get how you can be friends with him and go on vacation with him and his girlfriend and watch her move into the home you made with him. It’s not right. Either be married or be divorced. Love or hate each other. This in between crap isn’t working.”

“It’s how we are. What are we supposed to do?”

“You both could have tried harder when we were kids. You could have gone to counseling. You both could have done something. Anything. Why did I have to come home on leave and force it? Why did I almost have to kill Dad for mistreating you? Why couldn’t one of you have done something? If not for yourself than for us. For Maggie who took years to trust the man who has been in love with her forever. For me who…” He trailed off, angry at himself for starting down this road.

“For you… What honey? Tell me. You need to get this off your chest. You’ve never said anything to me about it before and I need to hear it.”

“I’m mad at you. Okay? I’m mad at both of you for loving each other more now than you did when you were married and I don’t know when that’s going to change, but I don’t hate you. I could never hate you, because despite everything, you are a good mother and I know you loved me.”

“Okay, Clayton. That’s good enough for me.” She stood and came around to his side of the desk and kissed both his cheeks. “I’m so glad you shaved. I do like Daisy. Would you mind if I spent some time alone with her? Maybe take her shopping. I would like to get to know my future daughter-in-law. She must be pretty special to inspire such a change in you.”

“She is Mom.” And he felt guilty again, because this was all fake. But what he felt for her wasn’t. He wasn’t sure if it was love. He didn’t know what to call it, but whatever it was it was growing stronger by the day and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

*

“I love you, Loretta.” Daisy rested her head on her mother-in-law’s shoulder as they sat on Daisy’s porch swing that afternoon.

“I love you too, honey.” She patted her knee. “What’s the matter? You’ve been in your head all day.”

“Have I?”

“Is it those Scotts? Are they still talking about taking Aubrey away? You say the word and I’ll have a hit put out on them. I have connections you know.”

“The only connections you have are with the shoe salesmen at the department store.”

“A six inch heel to the head ain’t no joke, babe. You say the word and I’ll throw both my shoes at them.”

“It’s not them. They’ve actually been very nice. They take Aubrey to camp every morning. They’ve started to pick her up in the afternoons. We’ve even had them over for dinner. They are just grieving parents who need a connection to their son.”

“So you don’t think they’ll try to take her?”

“No. Even if they did I don’t really think they would win. The court battle would bankrupt me, but I don’t think they would win. I think as long as I give them access to Aubrey they’ll be fine.”

“So if you’re not worried about them, then what is it?”

“The ring is real,” she said feeling choked.

“What?” Loretta looked down at Daisy’s hand. “It’s real? For a fake engagement? Are you sure he doesn’t really want to marry you?”

“How could he? It’s too soon. It’s too fast.”

“But you’re in love with him.”

“I shouldn’t be, right? Maybe my feelings are all mixed up. Maybe he’s my rebound guy. I still think about Danny. I think about him all the time.”

“It’s okay to love somebody else. You should love somebody else, and this guy makes you happy. I’ve known you for ten years and I’ve never seen you smile so much. There is nothing wrong with falling in love fast.”

“I can handle myself, I’m just worried about Aubrey.”

“Why?”

“She wants him to be her father. Her father didn’t want her. Danny didn’t want to be bothered by her and Clay is not permanent.”

“You keep saying he’s leaving, but do you know for sure? Has he said anything recently?”

“He hasn’t, but he hasn’t said he was staying either and I can’t risk Aubrey losing another man in her life. It’ll screw her up and she’ll end up a twenty-two-year-old married to a seventy-year-old man because she has daddy issues. Maybe I should break things off before they get too serious.”

“Maybe you should talk to him. See where his mind is.”

“I will. For once I just wish things could be easy.”

“I know, but I’ll always be here for you, kiddo. No matter what.”

“Stay for dinner. Tonight is wild night. Pomegranate, kale and wild rice salad with Feta. Wild turkey breast and wild strawberry smoothies.”

“That’s one too many wilds for me, honey. I’m going out for dinner tonight anyway.” She stood up.

“Oh, are you?”

“Yes. With a man I met at the party
Honor’s Haven Resort
gave. He’s their wine supplier and that means tonight I get tipsy with a classy man.”

Daisy laughed. “Wear your red shoes. You’ll have him eating out of your hand.”

“You better believe I will.” She leaned down to kiss Daisy’s cheek. “Don’t worry too much about Clayton. Everything will work itself out.”

Daisy sat on the porch for a few minutes after Loretta left. It was such a beautiful summer evening and she couldn’t bring herself to move inside and start dinner. She had sent her check to the sleep away camp in Maine that Aubrey wanted to go to just that morning. She had almost missed the deadline, secretly hoping that Aubrey would forget about it, or change her mind or that bears would take over the camp, preventing any more children from going there. But none of that happened yet, and Daisy couldn’t disappoint Aubrey so she sent the check off. Still hoping that she would change her mind. Daisy wouldn’t even be mad about the money it would cost her.

Clayton’s truck pulled into his side of the driveway. She felt the corner of her lips tug into a smile. He made her smile without trying, without even knowing he did. He made her smile when she didn’t feel like it. She started to stand up to meet him, but a SUV pulled up behind him just as he stepped out of his truck. It was one of those flashy ones that was built for military missions, but blinged out for show offs. A very good looking blond man got out. He wore sunglasses over his eyes and a watch so big it blinded Daisy even from where she sat.