Falling for Fitz (15 page)

She’d pulled her hand away slowly,
then stood, slipping her feet into her waiting shoes.

“
Have dinner with me
tomorrow night.”

“
I can’t,” she said. “I’m
spending time with my Dad.”

“
Wednesday?”

“
Fitz, this is moving
really fast.”

“
I was thinking just the
opposite. Thursday.”

“
Girls’ night.”

“
Damn it, Daisy!” he
exclaimed, jumping up and raking his hands through his
hair.

“
Friday,” she said, walking
to the door.

“
That’s”—he counted on his
hand—“Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday… three days!”

“
See you then,” she said,
smiling at him before slipping out the door.

Although Fitz respected her wishes not
to get together until Friday, the flower deliveries had started on
Tuesday morning with the largest bouquet of daisies that Daisy had
ever seen, followed at lunchtime by hot pink Gerbera daisies, and a
late-afternoon nosegay of light blue forget-me-nots. Daisy placed
the blooms on the same makeshift table that held her paint cans and
brushes, smiling at them every time she walked by.

On Wednesday morning, he sent
wisteria, and their scent immediately sent her back in time to
their summer together, as she remembered holding hands as the
fragrant, hanging blooms blessed their heads while they kissed
under Eleanora’s wisteria arbor. When the door of her little shop
opened again on Wednesday afternoon, her neck snapped up in
anticipation to find he’d sent a dozen potted ivy plants, which fit
perfectly in the empty window boxes in front of her shop. And on
Wednesday evening a simple clipping of lilac arrived, though they
were so far out of season she could only imagine he’d had the
single branch shipped specially from California.

A moment after the delivery
van pulled away, her phone pinged with the arrival of a new text
message from an unknown number that read:
Do you know what Lilacs mean?

Daisy’s eyes widened, she opened an
internet window and quickly typed: “Lilacs meaning” into the Google
search bar. She sighed when the answer came up: First
Love.

Yes
, she replied.
Though I have no clue
what that has to do with us.

I think you do.

Daisy’s fingers trembled as she
brushed them over the words on the screen. She stared at her phone,
biting her bottom lip, wondering if she should reply, if she should
push him to say it: I loved you, Daisy. Except, what good would it
do, when every passing day she didn’t want those words in the past
tense? She wanted them in the present tense. Before she could
answer, her phone pinged again.

I miss you, Daisy. I’ll
pick you up at six on Friday.

Where are we going?
she typed.

You’ll see.

She huffed, staring at the words for
an extra moment, then put her phone back in her pocket, adding the
lilacs to the vase of wisteria.

Compounded by the fact that he
wouldn’t let her forget him for a moment, she missed him too. She
missed him so much, she considered showing up at his office by
Wednesday evening and telling him that she wasn’t engaged to Dr. M.
and all she wanted was to be with Fitz. But, despite his solicitous
care of her since her return, she still didn’t trust him entirely.
She needed more time to be sure.

By Thursday afternoon, she’d changed
the wall paint from aqua to light pink and painted the ceiling and
all the trim in bright white. Her father had come by on Wednesday
and sanded the front door and window boxes for her, and she’d
already applied two fresh coats of paint to both as her displaced
ivy plants sat dejectedly on the café floor, which wouldn’t be
refinished until after the construction had been
completed.

The architect Fitz had recommended had
submitted the simple plans for the kitchen to the contractor Fitz
had also recommended and she’d meet with all of them late on
Thursday, surprised when they said they’d already obtained town
permits and would be able to begin the project on Monday. She
suspected Fitz’s hand in their amenability to prioritize her job
and marveled again at how he was able to let her feel in charge of
everything while keeping tabs on everything running smoothly. She
was grateful for his not-so-silent partnership.

By the time she headed home on
Thursday afternoon, she’d totally forgotten about her plan to meet
Emily and Valeria for drinks. Emily called around five to confirm,
and Daisy waffled, considering canceling. On one hand, all she
really wanted to do was draw a steamy bath and rest her weary
muscles for an hour. But on the other, she relished the idea of
going out with girlfriends because what she really needed was some
good advice. She told Emily she’d meet them at seven and eschewed a
bath for a quick shower. She quickly dried the wet from her hair,
French braided it still damp, and threw on some jeans and a black
sweater.

She was just walking into Mulligan’s,
a popular bar close to the U Penn campus, when she heard someone
call her name.

“
Daisy!”

She turned to see her cousin’s
roommate, Valeria Campanile, walking toward her and smiled.
“Valeria!”

“
It’s been ages, woman!”
Valeria opened her arms, giving Daisy a big bear hug.

“
Since you and Emmy visited
me out in Portland two years ago, I think.”

“
And you were with that
guy… um…”

“
Glenn.”

“
Glenn! Yeah!” Valeria held
the door and they walked in, looking from the crowded bar to the
back where they saw Emily’s hand waving from a table in the corner.
“Whatever happened to him?”

“
Ugh,” said Daisy. “Do you
really want to know?”

Valeria shoved her way through the
crowd, totally oblivious to the snotty comments and annoyed looks
Daisy caught as she followed behind.

“
Of course I want details!”
Valeria yelled over her shoulder. “I’ve literally been studying for
six straight years, and I’ve got the hips to prove it. Aside from
the occasional mercy screw from a study group partner in the dark,
I don’t see much action.”

Daisy chuckled in surprise,
remembering Valeria’s frank, genuine personality, and reminding her
why she liked Val so much.

They finally reached Emily and Valeria
slid into the booth seat beside her roommate, leaving Daisy to sit
across from them on the other side. Emily had an almost-full
pitcher of beer beside her that she started pouring into the two
empty cups on the table.

“
Phew! I thought I might
have to get into a fight to keep this table. I was getting some
pretty menacing looks!”

“
Am I late?” asked
Daisy.

“
No,” said Emily. “I was a
little early. And I have to tell you guys… Barrett might be
stopping by a little later.”

Valeria shot a look at Emily’s finger.
“I almost forgot! You didn’t…?”

Emily shook her head, looking up at
Daisy, whose interest was piqued.

“
What didn’t you do, cousin
of mine?” asked Daisy.

“
She went to his office
dressed in a trench coat today…” said Valeria, “…and nothing
else.”

“
Except for the ring in my
pocket,” lamented Emily.

“
What happened?”

Emily sighed. “Just as I was about to
open the trench coat and put the ring on my finger, Fitz burst into
Barrett’s office.”

“
No!” said
Daisy.

“
Something about a
contractor who couldn’t get a permit fast enough and he needed
Barrett to make a few calls for it to happen. So, Barrett asked me
if we could get together tonight instead, and picked up the phone
to help Fitz.” Emily took a deep breath, pursing her lips. “I
stomped out of his office mad.”

“
And frustrated,” added
Valeria, grinning. She looked at Daisy over the rim of her beer
glass. “A little tip: Barrett’s office couch gets quite the
workout. I’d avoid it if you ever have business there.”

“
Ew,” said Daisy, cringing
into her beer.

Emily rolled her eyes at Val before
continuing. “Anyway, he texted me and said he was sorry he got
caught up in business and could we spend some time together
tonight. I said I was going out with you two. He said he’d just
stop by later so he could take me home.”

“
For a long night of wall
banging sex,” supplied Valeria helpfully.

“
Val!” exclaimed Emily.
“Barrett and I aren’t all about sex.”

“
Um, I live with you and
he’s over at least twice a week and you’re over there a least twice
a week. Either sex is playing into things in a big way or you’re
rearranging a lot of furniture.”

Emily shook her head at her roommate,
cheeks coloring.

“
Come on,” continued
Valeria, “the walls are thin. Just sayin’.”

“
VAL!” exclaimed Emily,
swatting her friend on the arm. “Help me out, Daze. I suspect the
contractor Fitz was so nuts about has something to do with
Daisy’s Delights
?”

Daisy nodded, giving her cousin an
apologetic look.

“
I figured as much. And for
your punishment, it’s your turn on the hot seat.”

“
Yeah,” said Valeria.
“Barrett and Em are old news. We want to hear all about you and
Fitz, and whatever wild monkey sex you’re having. God, he is so
hot. What is it with that family? Every brother looks like
Adonis.”

“
Have you met them all?”
asked Daisy.

Valeria shook her head. “Not Stratton.
But, I’ve seen pics. He’s hot, too.”

“
But super shy,” added
Emily. “The Elusive Stratton English. You’ll be lucky if you ever
meet him in person.”

“
A girl can hope.” Val
sighed.

“
Wait a second! We’re
getting off course here. Daisy’s supposed to be on the hot seat.
Spill the beans, cuz.”

“
Refill us first,” said
Daisy, biting her lower lip.

Half an hour later, she’d told her
cousin and Valeria everything. It was easy to speed though the
story since they’d sat across from her with their jaws essentially
resting on the table, frozen, except for the occasional “What?!”
“No!” or “Oh, my God!” Daisy would just nod and kept plowing
through without stopping, worried she’d lose her nerve if she
did.

Finally, she sighed, looking Emily in
the eyes. “So, Dr. M. wasn’t actually my fiancé. His name is really
Josh. He’s just a friend from my acting class who agreed to pose as
my fiancé so I wouldn’t have to meet Fitz again without moral
support, looking like some pathetic middle-aged
spinster.”

“
One, you’re twenty-six.
That’s hardly middle-aged. And two, thank God!” sighed Emily.
“Daze, I couldn’t figure it out! He wasn’t the right guy for you at
all!”

Daisy grinned, relieved that Emily
wasn’t angry with her and told them all about dinner on Sunday
night and the bakery and Fitz throwing his hat in the ring and the
meeting in his office on Monday, the endless flowers this week and
fixing the contractor for her earlier in the day. By the end, they
were sighing and lose limbed, their faces soft and totally
charmed.

“
Daisy, I didn’t know he
had it in him,” said Emily, reaching across the table to hold her
cousin’s hand. “He’s always seemed so intense and…
uptight.”

“
He is a little uptight, I
guess,” said Daisy, grinning the girls across from her. “And
definitely intense. But I sort of feel like I’m benefitting from
all of that focus right now. Anyway, it always made me feel safe
that Fitz was so level-headed.”

“
Did he really cry? About
the baby?” asked Valeria in a much softer and more contemplative
voice than she usually used.

Daisy nodded. “He got a little
upset.”

“
Why didn’t you ever tell
me?” asked Emily, tears glistening in her eyes.

“
You were fifteen, Emmy
Faith,” said Daisy, using the nickname her Uncle Felix used for his
daughter. “That would have been totally inappropriate. And then…
well, I lost her and I moved to California. I guess I didn’t see
the point in bringing it up later.”

“
I was so sad when you
moved.”

“
Me too,” said Daisy,
squeezing Emily’s hand as tears brightened her eyes too.

“
I didn’t know.”

“
Of course you didn’t. No
one did, but me and Fitz. Even my Dad never knew. I begged the
doctor not to tell my Dad I had miscarried. I don’t know if he ever
did, and I’d been released by the time my Mom flew in the following
weekend to help take me home. At any rate, my father never
mentioned it.”

“
You were so
alone.”

Daisy shook her head. “No. No, I
really wasn’t. Fitz dropped everything and got on the first plane
to New Jersey from London. He literally grabbed his passport and
wallet, raced down the stairs of his dorm without packing a bag,
hailed a cab and went straight to Heathrow. He was by my side nine
hours later. I woke up to his face on Saturday
afternoon.”