Kiss an Angel(96)

“Okay.”

“Maybe we’ll see you.”

“Yeah. That’d be cool.”

Silence.

“Okay, see you.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

As he stumbled off, a dreamy expression came over Heather’s face, followed, almost immediately, by uncertainty. “Do you think he likes me?”

“Definitely.”

“What am I going to do if he asks me out tonight, like between shows or something? You know Dad won’t let me go.”

“You’ll have to tell Kevin the truth. Your father’s very strict, and you’re not allowed to date until you’re thirty.” Once again, Heather rolled her eyes, but Daisy didn’t let it put her off.

She considered Heather’s dilemma. It would be good for her to have a romance, even a twelve-hour one. She needed to behave like a normal teenager for a while instead of someone doing penance. Still, she knew Heather was right and Brady would object.

“How about if you show Kevin around? He’ll like that. Then if you go sit over by the trucks, your father will be able to keep his eye on you, but you’ll have some privacy.”

“I guess that’ll work.” Heather’s forehead wrinkled with entreaty. “Will you talk to Dad and make sure he doesn’t embarrass me?”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“Don’t let him say something stupid in front of Kevin. Please, Daisy.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She dipped her head and poked her index finger at her empty french fry container. Once again her shoulders slumped, and Daisy could see the guilt cloud descending.

“When I think about what I did to you, I feel like such a shit—creep! I meant creep.” She looked up. “You know I’m sorry, don’t you?”

“Yes.” She didn’t know how to help her. Heather had tried to atone for what she’d done in all the ways she knew how. The only thing she hadn’t done was go to her father with the truth, and Daisy didn’t want her to do that. Heather’s relationship with Brady was already difficult enough and that would only make it harder.

“Daisy, I’d never . . . I mean that thing with Alex was just because I was immature. He was so nice to me, but I’d never come on to him now or anything, if you were worrying about that.”

“Thank you for telling me.” Daisy busied herself collecting their trash so Heather wouldn’t see her smile.

The teenager wrinkled her nose. “No offense, Daisy. He’s sexy and everything, but he’s really old.”

Daisy nearly choked.

Heather gazed over at the registers where Kevin was finally placing his order. “He is so cute.”

“Alex?”

Heather looked horrified. “No! Kevin!”

“Ahh. Well, Alex is no Kevin, that’s for sure.”

Heather nodded solemnly. “That’s for sure.”

This time Daisy couldn’t help it. She began to giggle, and to her delight, Heather joined in.

When they arrived back at the lot, Heather went off to work with Sheba. Daisy unpacked the groceries she’d picked up and collected the produce treats she’d bought for the animals, grateful that Alex had never once protested these expensive additions to their grocery bill. Now that she knew he was only a poor college professor, she’d tried to be even more careful about their expenses, but she would cut back on their own food before she’d short the animals.

As had become her practice, she stopped first by the elephants to collect Tater, and he trailed her to the menagerie. Sinjun generally ignored the baby elephant, but this time he picked up his proud head and regarded his rival with haughty condescension.

She loves me best, you annoying infant, and don’t ever forget it.

Lollipop and Chester were tethered outside the tent, and Tater took his customary spot nearby, where a pile of clean hay awaited him. Daisy walked over to Sinjun and reached through the bars to scratch behind his ears. He found animal baby talk demeaning, so she didn’t coo to him as she did to the others.

She treasured her time with the animals. Sinjun had thrived under her care, and his burnt orange coat now shone with health. Sometimes, very early in the morning when everything was quiet and they were in a deserted area, Daisy crept from her cozy place curled up next to Alex’s side and let Sinjun out of his cage so the great cat could roam in freedom, if only for a little while.

They romped together in the dew-streaked grass, Sinjun keeping his claws carefully sheathed, Daisy maintaining a watchful eye for other early risers. Now, as she caressed him, a feeling of lethargy crept through her.

Sinjun stared deeply into her eyes. Tell him.

I will.

Tell him.

Soon. I’ll tell him soon.

How long would it be before the new life growing inside her stirred? She couldn’t be more than six weeks pregnant, so it would be a while yet. Since she hadn’t missed a single dose of her birth control pills, she had attributed her symptoms to stress, but last week after she’d thrown up in a truck stop rest room, she’d finally bought a testing kit and discovered the truth.

She toyed with one of Sinjun’s ears. She knew she had to tell Alex soon, but she wasn’t quite ready. He’d be upset at first—she wouldn’t delude herself about that—but as soon as he adjusted, she was sure he’d be happy about it. He had to be happy, she told herself firmly. He loved her. He just hadn’t admitted it yet. And he was going to love their baby.