Daisy Lane (5 page)

As the dark-haired lady and Grace helped untangle Tommy from his bike and backpack, Grace got a closer look at the woman. She had deep blue eyes and shiny long dark hair, and was dressed and made up expertly, like someone in the fashion magazines Grace looked through at the library. She wore high-heeled boots with her skinny black jeans and a short black trench coat over a black turtleneck. Grace had studied enough fashion magazines to know her clothes were probably as expensive as they looked. She smiled at Grace and caught her staring. Grace looked away, embarrassed.

“Introduce me to your friend,” the woman said to Tommy, who was now on his feet and brushing off his coat.

His face was flushed in embarrassment but he smiled at her in a friendly way.

“This is Grace,” Tommy said to the woman, who stuck out her hand to shake Grace’s.

“I’m Claire Fitzpatrick,” she said. “My family owns the Rose and Thorn.”

Grace had never been in the bar but you couldn’t miss it; it was right on the corner of Peony Street and the west side of Rose Hill Avenue. They played loud fiddle music in there that Grace kind of liked. Late at night, if it was just about to rain, she could hear it as she lay in bed. Grace also knew Tommy’s mother had worked there before she went away.

“Are you related to them?” Grace asked, subtly gesturing up the hill at Maggie and Hannah, not wanting to be rude enough to point.

The sharp wind was blowing Maggie’s wild red mane all around her face, and she was struggling to control it. She finally twisted it around and shoved it down in the back of her coat. Maggie’s hair reminded Grace of Lyra’s daemon in the
His Dark Materials
trilogy, acting like an unruly daemon she was fond of yet aggravated by.

“Maggie, Hannah, and I are all cousins,” Claire said. “Our fathers are brothers.”

“She just moved back here,” Tommy said about Claire to Grace, and then to Claire, “Grace and I’ve known each other since kindergarten.”

“Where do you live, Miss Grace?” Claire asked.

Grace said, “Down by the river,” and looked away, not wanting to see the reaction she usually got.

“So we’re neighbors,” Claire said. “It was nice to meet you.”

When Grace looked back at Claire, she was smiling in a sincerely friendly way. Grace smiled in response, mumbled, “Thanks,” and then was embarrassed. The woman would probably think she didn’t have any manners.

“Where are you headed?” Claire asked Tommy.

“Up to the library to do homework,” Tommy said.

“Tell Ed I want to run in the morning after breakfast,” Claire said. “Tell him I said to stretch beforehand or I’m going to leave him in the dust.”

Tommy said he would. He and Grace continued on up the hill to where Maggie and Hannah sat on the wall. Hannah jumped off the wall and then up onto Tommy’s back, pretending to attack him. Tommy grinned as he dropped his bicycle and backpack, grabbed Hannah’s legs, and took off with her, running around the lawn outside the community center. Hannah was screaming, Tommy was laughing, and Grace smiled in spite of her determination not to. It looked like fun.

“Hey,” Maggie said to Grace. “Doesn’t your grandfather have the greenhouses down by the river?”

Grace’s smile folded back up inside of her as she nodded, not meeting Maggie’s eyes.

“He’s had some really beautiful flowers this year,” Maggie said.

“You did not spend money on flowers,” Claire said. “As cheap as you are?”

“I didn’t say I bought them,” Maggie said. “Looking is free.”

“Well, I bought a pot of tulips for my mother and they’re gorgeous,” Claire said.

“Thanks,” Grace said, but her eyes were on Tommy and Hannah.

“Don’t mind Hannah,” Claire said. “Tommy’s like one of the family.”

“I know,” Grace said. “I don’t mind.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in my store,” Maggie said.

“I don’t buy books,” Grace said, feeling uncomfortable.

“I never did, either, when I was growing up,” Maggie said. “I was a library girl.”

“Me too,” Grace said.

Maggie asked Grace about what she was reading and seemed sincerely interested. As they talked Grace covertly studied her. Grace had never been this close to Maggie before, having only seen her from a distance. Grace’s peers referred to the bookstore owner as a bad-tempered person who didn’t put up with any foolishness in her store, so Grace was a little intimidated by her reputation as well as her great height. Up close, though, she didn’t seem hateful, and her eyes weren’t mean at all.

She had the same bright blue eyes as her cousin Claire, but with pale gold eyelashes and eyebrows. Also unlike Claire, every inch of Maggie’s pale skin was covered with little auburn freckles. Maggie was not what her grandpa would call “dolled up” like Claire, but she was pretty nonetheless, in a more fresh-air and soap-clean way. As they talked about books Grace revised her first impression of Maggie; she was nicer than she seemed.

“I loved
His Dark Materials
,” Maggie said. “He’s allegedly working on a fourth, you know.”

“I didn’t know that,” Grace said.

“What else have you read?”

“I really liked
Mapp and Lucia
,” Grace said. “We read it for English class last semester and then I read all the other ones on my own.”

“Lucia and Georgie are hilarious,” Maggie said. “Have you seen the PBS series of the books?”

Grace just shook her head rather than say she didn’t have a TV.

“They probably have the videos at the library,” Grace said. “Look for them; they’re great.”

Tommy put Hannah down and she promptly head-butted him in the stomach. After he recovered from that they hugged, and then Hannah followed him back over to where the rest of them were standing.

“I know you!” Hannah said cheerfully to Grace. “You saved my son from a pack of wild dogs. He’s been talking nonstop about you ever since.”

“Jax and Wally really did it,” Grace said quietly. “I was just there.”

“Sam said you were swinging a branch and screaming like a banshee,” Hannah said.

“How is he?” Grace said.

Hannah winked at Grace, saying, “Grouchy and sore, but that’s nothing new.”

“You need to tag Sammy’s ear,” Maggie said. “Then you could track him on a GPS.”

“He’s doing great in day care during the week,” Hannah said. “It’s depending upon my mother on the weekend that’s the problem. I’m on call and Sam’s got a group at the community center. She just can’t keep track of him.”

“I’d watch him any time,” Claire said. “Just call me.”

“Except Saturday is your busiest day,” Maggie said. “Just like me.”

“Hey, do you babysit?” Hannah asked Grace.

“I haven’t done it before,” Grace said.

“Piece of cake,” Hannah said.

Maggie and Claire both laughed.

“Yeah, right,” Maggie said.

“Just never take your eyes off him, not even for a second,” Claire said.

“Sure,” Grace said. “I’d love to.”

“I’ll help,” Tommy said. “Sammy’s a blast.”

“Hey, let’s go toilet paper someone’s house!” Hannah said. “I wanna be a teenager with you guys.”

“Nobody does that anymore,” Tommy said.

“No?” Hannah said, looking disappointed. “Bummer.”

“You guys go on,” Claire said, “before we contaminate you with our oldness.”

Grace curiously found that she kind of wanted to hang out with them longer. For older ladies they seemed like a lot of fun.

Once they were out of earshot, Grace said, “They seem nice.”

“They’re great,” Tommy said. “When my mom and I first came here, we lived with Claire’s parents, Ian and Delia. They’re kind of like my grandparents, except Ian sometimes thinks I’m his son who died a long time ago. He had a stroke and now his memory’s not too good.”

“That’s sad,” Grace said. “There sure are a lot of Fitzpatricks in this town.”

“Maggie’s mom runs the bakery. Maggie’s dad got hurt a long time ago so he doesn’t do anything. Claire’s dad was the chief of police before Scott, and Hannah’s dad owns the gas station.”

“I know who they all are from hanging out at Charlotte’s,” Grace said. “It must be nice being part of a big family like that.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Tommy said. “They treat Ed like that, too.”

“So he’s an orphan like us,” Grace said.

“Yep,” Tommy said. “We’re all just a bunch of strays they picked up.”

“What’s the story with Grace?” Claire asked as soon as the two of them were out of earshot.

“It’s a sad story,” Hannah said. “Her mother killed herself, then her grandmother died of breast cancer, and now she lives in that big old house with just that old sourpuss to look after her.”

“I was raised by a sourpuss,” Maggie said. “I survived it.”

“What about her dad?” Claire asked.

“Some kid her mother dated in high school,” Hannah said. “The family moved him away and they were never involved at all, apparently.”

“That’s sad,” Maggie said. “And she’s so tiny.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being small,” Hannah said. “I’m fun-sized, myself.”

“She’s really cute,” Claire said. “I’d love to braid her hair.”

“She was friends with Charlotte until they went to high school,” Hannah said. “Then Charlotte ditched her for the rich kids; ditched her and Tommy, who has the biggest crush on Charlotte. That’s probably how those two became friends.”

“Where did you get all this information?” Maggie asked.

“Oh, I ask around, you know,” Hannah said. “When someone rescues your child from certain death, you kind of want to know more about her.”

Hannah told them the story about what had happened.

“Is Sam really okay?” Claire asked with concern.

“He wouldn’t show me what he did to his knees,” Hannah said. “So I called Doc Machalvie and told on him. Doc’s making him use his wheelchair for a few days until they heal.”

“He must hate that,” Maggie said.

“Oh, he’s unbearable, alright,” Hannah said. “He might have to sleep in the barn until he’s back on his feet, so to speak.”

“It’s a good thing Grace showed up,” Maggie said. “Who knows what might’ve happened.”

“Okay, I get it,” Hannah said. “I’m a horrible mother. But you guys know Sammy; he is not a normal child. I’m doing the best I can here.”

“Sweetie, I couldn’t do it,” Claire said. “I don’t know how you do.”

Hannah stuck out her tongue at Maggie, who stuck hers out in return.

“I’d like to improve that kid Grace’s life somehow,” Hannah said. “Maybe feed her some oatmeal for starters.”

“Maybe Tommy and Grace will fall in love,” Claire said.

“No,” Hannah said. “I don’t get that vibe at all, and everyone knows I am the town’s preeminent matchmaker.”

“That rotten Charlotte,” Maggie said. “Who does she think she is?”

“Sounds like she’s stuck on herself,” Claire said. “And to think she was such a nice little girl.”

“Kind of reminds you of her mother, doesn’t it?” Hannah said.

All three took a moment to make a rude face about Ava Fitzpatrick.

“Grace’s better off without Charlotte as a friend,” Maggie said. “It’s probably better for her to figure out how people can be now rather than later. She’s never going to have an easy life.”

“You’re so cheerful,” Hannah said. “The sun shines right out of your butt, doesn’t it?”

Maggie pushed Hannah, who fell backwards off the wall into the hedges behind it.

“It just rips your heart out, though, doesn’t it?” Claire said as she offered Hannah a hand to pull her back out. “You just want to pick her up and give her a hug.”

“She’d probably bite you,” Maggie said. “That kind you have to tame first.”

“Kind of like you,” Hannah said, and Claire laughed.

Maggie reached out to push her again but Hannah evaded her hand.

“Shut up,” Maggie said. “Grace and I don’t need your affection; we’re self-contained units.”

“Everyone needs affection,” Claire said, watching the two teenagers as they entered the library. “That poor little girl.”

Maggie found Scott in his office, staring at his computer screen, his eyebrows drawn together in a fierce scowl.

“Hey, good-lookin’,” she said from the doorway.

As Scott looked up his brows relaxed and his face softened. Maggie felt that familiar queasy-pleasant feeling she always got whenever she saw him. It felt either very good or very bad, depending upon her current interior emotional weather. Today it felt good.

Scott motioned her over and she leaned over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. One of her long curls fell over his arm and he twined it around his finger as he leaned back into her.

“Whatcha doin’?” she said, while she inhaled that warm, clean scent that was unique to Scott Gordon; it was intoxicating or infuriating, dependent upon the aforementioned mood barometer.