Butternut Summer (44 page)

They sat in silence for a while then, Daisy crying quietly and Will trying to comfort her. Her blue eyes were red-rimmed, and her fair skin was blotchy and tearstained, but it struck him, nonetheless, that she'd never looked as beautiful as she did right now. And it left him feeling the same rush of emotions he'd felt at her hospital bedside that day, the day he'd told her he loved her.

“Look, I know this is a lot to take in,” he said, pulling her into his arms again. “And maybe, right now, it feels like a mistake to you. But you have to trust me here, okay? Because if there's one thing I've learned this summer, Daisy, it's that when it comes to you, I have to trust myself. I mean, that morning when I walked into the recruitment office, I already knew, somehow, how important you were going to be to me. And that afternoon, in high school, when I walked into the gym during one of your volleyball games, I—”

“Will, you didn't even know I played volleyball in high school. You thought I was a cheerleader.”

“I knew you weren't a cheerleader,” he said, kissing her wet cheeks. “And you know what? You would have made a lousy cheerleader, Daisy. And I mean that as a compliment.”

“But—”

“I'll tell you all about it sometime,” he said, as he stopped kissing her cheeks and nuzzled her neck instead. “About all the volleyball games I watched. But right now, I just want to know that you're okay.”

She took a deep, shaky breath and wiped another tear away with a crumpled napkin. “I think so, Will. It's just . . . it's a lot to take in.”

“Do you trust me, though, when I say we're going to make this work?”

She nodded, but her brow was creased with worry. “But, Will, what if there's another war? And you're sent somewhere halfway around the world?”

“I don't think that's going to happen,” he said. “I mean, I could be wrong, but I think it's going to be a while before our country decides to fight in any more wars.”

She nodded, but she didn't look especially reassured. So he pulled her back into his arms. “Six months will go faster than you think.”

But she pulled away from him then. “That's another thing, Will,” she said worriedly. “I don't know, honestly, if I can go for six months without . . . you know, us being together. I don't even know if I can go for six
minutes
without it.”

Will laughed, but then he leaned down and kissed her. “That bad, huh?” he said, pleased, in a way, that she felt the same way he did.

She nodded seriously. “It's bad. I thought I would think about it less after we went to Mr. Phipps's cabin. But I've been thinking about it
more
. And it's worse, Will. It's so much worse.”

He smiled and kissed her again, a long, lingering kiss this time.

She pulled away, her breathing uneven. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“No,” he admitted. “But I can't help it. You're not the only one who spends all their time thinking about it, Daisy.”

“But what are we going to do about tomorrow night, Will? It's going to be our last night for six months. We
have
to spend it together.” She hiccuped then and wiped at her eyes again.

He sighed. He'd thought about this, too. “I'd ask Bill Phipps if we could borrow his cabin again,” he said. “But he's away on business now.”

“What about . . . what about your place?” she asked.

“No, I'm not taking you back there,” he said adamantly. “And I'm not taking you to a motel, either, even though, honestly, I've thought about it. But it would feel wrong somehow, sleazy. And you're anything but sleazy.”

“Well, I may not be sleazy, but I
am
human, Will,” she said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Look, we'll figure something out, okay? But right now . . . I need to go. I'm sorry; I'll come back as soon as I can. But I need to tell Jason about this, too.”

“Jason doesn't know yet?”

Will shook his head. He was dreading telling Jason only a little less than he'd dreaded telling Daisy.

“Does anyone else know?” she asked, sniffling.

“Ray knows.”

“Ray?”

“Jason's dad. I figured I owed it to him to give him time to hire another mechanic.”

“He won't find anyone as good as you,” Daisy said loyally.

“He's not even going to try. He's selling the place and making Jason get a real job,” he said, and he almost smiled then, because the thought of Jason actually having to work for a living was about the only thing he could find humor in right now.

“Okay, but don't go yet,” Daisy said, holding on to him even tighter.

He kissed the top of her head. “I won't.”

H
ow's she doing?” Caroline asked when Jack walked back into her kitchen later that afternoon.

“She's stopped crying, I think,” Jack said, sitting down across from her at the kitchen table, where she was already on her third cup of coffee. He started to ask her then if it was always that hard, seeing Daisy cry. He'd seen her cry before, of course, when she was a very young child, and she'd bumped her knee or broken a toy. But this? This was different. This was worse. Something stopped him, though, from asking Caroline about it. Maybe it was the expression on her face. It was one of anxious regret.

“This is what I've been afraid of all summer,” she said, topping off her already full cup of coffee. “Daisy getting hurt.”

“Not
hurt
, exactly,” Jack qualified. “Daisy told me that they're very much in love with each other. And that, army or no army, they want to stay together. They want to try to make this work, Caroline. Long term.”

“Well, that was the
other
thing I was afraid of,” Caroline said, but she smiled a little, and after a few moments of sitting in silence, she asked Jack, in a softer tone, “Did you . . . did you tell her about us, Jack?”

Jack shook his head. After spending the night at the cabin, Caroline had insisted that she get back home early, before Daisy got back from Jessica's. She'd told Jack that she wanted Daisy to find out about them the right way.

“So she doesn't know anything about our plans?” Caroline asked.

Jack shook his head again. He and Caroline had talked last night, in between lovemaking, and they'd decided that Jack would move back into the apartment, for now, but that after Daisy left for college later in the week, he would help Caroline pack up all her things and she would move out to his cabin, soon to be
their
cabin. The second, smaller bedroom there would be Daisy's whenever she came home to Butternut. And Caroline would offer Frankie, who was already looking for another place to live, the apartment above Pearl's. She was also going to offer him a partnership in the business, in exchange for his investment, and with the understanding, too, that if he was living upstairs, he'd be responsible for opening Pearl's every morning. Caroline was thrilled with the possibility of being able to sleep in occasionally—“sleep in” here meaning sleeping until six thirty
A.M.
—and she was thrilled with the prospect of letting someone else shoulder some of the responsibility for the business with her. There was another thing she was excited about too. She and Jack had agreed, sometime around sunrise, that after the summer season ended, they were going to do something together they'd never done before: take a vacation. Caroline wanted to go to Bermuda, and Jack had to admit, he was almost as curious about the pink beaches there as she was.

But now Jack felt blindsided by Daisy's tears. “Caroline, I'm sorry. I know I said I'd talk to her about us, but I couldn't, not when I saw how miserable she was. It just felt wrong, somehow.”

Caroline nodded. “I know what you mean, Jack. It's strange to be so happy when she's so
un
happy.”

“Are you happy, Caroline?” he asked quietly, reaching for her hand. It was incredibly soft, he realized with surprise, though how anyone who worked as hard as she did could have such soft hands, he didn't know.

“I'm very happy, Jack,” she said, squeezing his hand and smiling a soft, wondering smile at him.

“So am I,” he said, feeling it again, that pure, clear happiness he'd felt when he'd woken up after a very short nap in the middle of the night and discovered that he hadn't been dreaming. That Caroline was still there, still in his arms.

“Look,” he said now, feeling suddenly energized. “It'll be all right. We just have to help Daisy get through this any way we can. That's what parents do, right?” he added, slightly out of his depth here.

“Right.” Caroline nodded. “But where do we start? And where is Will, right now?”

“Daisy said he went back to . . .” He paused here. He knew Caroline didn't like the fact that Will lived at the service station. “He went back to his place to pack up his belongings,” he said. “And then, I guess, he needs to tie up a few loose ends.”

Caroline sighed. “His whole life is a loose end, Jack.”

But Jack shook his head. “Caroline, you're going to have to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Not liking Will without really knowing him,” he said gently. “I mean, if it turns out they really are able to make this work, you're going to have to make your peace with him. From everything I can tell, he's not a bad person. He wants to do the right thing and give himself some kind of future. And I think he genuinely cares about Daisy. In fact, I
know
he does.”

“How do you know?”

Jack shrugged. “I saw the expression on his face when he answered the door to his apartment the day I drove out there. He knew, right away, that something was wrong with Daisy, and Caroline, he looked so scared that my heart went out to him. You can't fake that kind of emotion. Not unless you're a very good actor. And I think his talents run more toward car engines.”

Caroline looked conflicted. “But Jack, he has a past—”

“Caroline,
everyone
has a past. Even Daisy has a past now,” he added gently.

She went silent then and sipped her coffee. “I think you're right, Jack,” she said finally. “I think he does care about her. And do you know what else? I think until today, he's made her happy this summer. I've just been too stubborn to see it.”

“Well, maybe,” Jack said affectionately. “But your stubbornness was always one of your most attractive qualities. To me, anyway.”

“Well, maybe to you. But it hasn't served Daisy very well lately, has it?”

He shrugged. “Oh, I don't know. You were just doing your job as a mother, a job, I might add, you do spectacularly well.”

“I don't know,” she said doubtfully. “Right now, I feel so helpless. I wish there was something we could do for her.”

“Well, since you asked . . .”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Daisy told me that she and Will would like to spend tomorrow night together, but they don't have anywhere to spend it.”

“And?” she prompted, with a little frown.

“And . . .” he said. “I told her they could stay here.”

“
With me?
”

“No, not with you. You wouldn't be here.”

“And where would I be?”

“At the cabin, with me,” he said, caressing her hand. “Unless you can't think of anything for us to do there for another night.”

“Oh, I'm sure we can think of something,” she said, laughing, and she looked so young, and so pretty, that it was all he could do not to scoop her up and take her to her bedroom right then and there. But she suddenly became serious. “Jack? If I do spend the night, I can't stay awake all night again. I mean, I don't
feel
tired right now. I feel wonderful. But I'm not a teenager anymore. I've
got
to get some sleep.”

He smiled. “Well, maybe a little,” he said, leaning over and kissing her behind her right ear.

I
s this okay? Being here?” Daisy asked Will the next evening. They were lying, entwined together, on the double bed in her room. They were still fully clothed, though probably not for long, because a few moments ago Daisy had decided she needed to feel Will's bare skin against hers, and she'd tugged his T-shirt up. He'd obliged her then by pulling it off over his head and dropping it on the floor.

“It's nice being here,” he said, glancing around the room, an amused expression on his face. “It's just . . . it's just so pink.” He nuzzled her neck with his lips. “I think all the pinkness might be lowering my testosterone levels.”

Daisy smiled. “Somehow I don't think that will be a problem for you, Will,” she murmured, her hand skimming down over his now bare chest, and stomach, and down over the waistband of his jeans, where it settled,
there
, on his satisfying hardness. She squeezed it, firmly, and Will groaned and started unbuttoning her blouse. But he was still in a teasing mood.

“Okay, but what about all those volleyball trophies,” he asked, looking over at her nearby bookshelf. There were more than a dozen trophies there, each one with a miniature volleyball player on it, poised and ready to spike a tiny volleyball.

“What about them?” she asked, leaving her hand right where it was, but wriggling around a little to make it easier for him to unbutton her blouse.

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “It's just that they all look like they're watching us. It's a little unnerving.”

Daisy laughed. “Don't worry about them,” she said, leaning over to kiss him on the lips. “Because they are in for a real thrill tonight.” He smiled, finished unbuttoning her blouse, and slipped it gently off her shoulders, kissing each one of them in turn once they were bare. Daisy sighed then, a little shakily, as he trailed kisses from her shoulders, across her collarbone, to the nape of her neck. He was edging down with his mouth to her milky white cleavage, his hand sliding inside her delicate, lacy bra, when he stopped suddenly and looked up at her, his face clouded with concern.