Say Yes (19 page)

“Actually,
can you give me like five minutes? I wanted to talk to someone real quick.”

“Sure.
I’ll go get the car started.”

“Great,
I’ll be out in a sec,” I said, and I turned to find Sam. She was behind the
counter wiping it off with a cloth. I walked over to her and cleared my throat.
“Hi, it’s Sam, isn’t it?”

Her
eyes looked up and right into mine. They weren’t cold, but they weren’t
friendly either. “Yes, that’s right. Can I help you with something?” she asked,
trying her hardest to be friendly.

“I
actually wanted to talk to you…about Luke.” I said, suddenly wondering why it
was a good idea to talk to her when now she looked like she was doing to spit
fire.

She
rolled her eyes and sighed. “What’s there to talk about? He’s your boyfriend,
not mine. Not anymore,” she said, and looked back down at the counter. She was scrubbing
hard at an invisible stain, and more than likely pretending it was my face.

“Sam,
Luke told me what happened between you two, and I am so sorry it didn’t work
out for you guys. I really am.”

She
looked back up at me, irritated. “You’re sorry? Why should you be sorry? You
won him from me without you even being here. You should be thrilled that I’m
out of the picture.”

“Excuse
me, I
won
him? This isn’t a game, Sam. He’s not some toy. He’s a grown
man that can make his own choices, and he chose me. But you are right. I wasn’t
here when you two were together and I am sorry that I came between you both. I
didn’t mean to. However, you need to work that out with Luke and not focus your
anger and hurt onto me. That part isn’t my fault.”

Her
gaze went from angry to full blown fury. “Of course it’s not. Perfect Lilly
never does anything wrong. Hell, you turned your back on everyone in this town
and yet they still welcomed you back with open arms like nothing ever
happened,” she spat at me.

“Excuse
me? What the hell do you know about my life and this town? You don’t even know
me,” I blasted back. This chick had some balls to throw that at me, I’ll give
her that.

Her
eyes narrowed. “I know enough. I’ve heard all about how you used to prance
around town like you were so perfect and untouchable, that you acted like you
were everyone’s best friend but when the time came you fled from this town and
never looked back. It’s like no one else mattered but you,” she said.

Rage
started to burn in me. “Where the hell are you getting that? Some crazy drunk
in a bar? I have never treated anyone like that, and whoever told you different
is as crazy and fucked up as you are. I can’t believe I actually came over to
apologize to you because I felt bad.”

“Well
you wasted your time, because I don’t need your apology or your pity.”

“Trust
me, it won’t happen again. I will never apologize for being in love with Luke
and for him loving me, but I will tell you one more thing. If you don’t knock
off your crazy shit and leave us the hell alone and get a God damned life, I’ll
knock your ass out. I may seem all nice and innocent, but when you fuck with
people I love the claws come out. You got it?”

She
scowled at me. “Are you done, your highness? I have work to do,” she said.

“Believe
me, I’m done with you.” I turned on my heels and after giving Mr. Grady a quick
hug, I opened the diner door.

Before
I could walk through the door, I heard her yell, “You are a selfish bitch,
Lilly Harrington, and soon everyone in this town that’s fallen for your crap
will realize it!”

I
froze, and prepared to turn around, ready for round two. But, before I could
open my mouth, I heard a hard slap and an audible gasp. I turned quickly and
saw Mrs. Grady towering over Sam, shaking with anger, and Sam had a hand raised
to her cheek, her eyes wide.

Mr.
Grady’s loud voice boomed, startling me. “Sam, you get out of my diner right
now. I will not stand for you treating my family like that, no matter how you
feel about them. You’re fired,” he yelled.

Surprised,
Sam threw the towel on the counter and grabbed her coat from a hook on the
wall. As she was walking out, she glared at me. I rolled my eyes, and she ran
out of the diner.

Mr.
Grady put his arm around my shoulder. “You all right, darlin’?”

I
half laughed. “Oh, I’m fine. You should worry about Mrs. Grady. I can’t believe
you slapped her in the face!” Mr. Grady broke into a full belly laugh.

She
shook her hand and laughed. “Well, the little brat deserved it. I can’t believe
she called you that filthy name,” she said.

I
shook my head as Mr. Grady went to get her some ice for her hand. “Well, that
was the most awesome thing I think I’ve ever seen.” I walked over to her and
gave her a hug. “Thanks for sticking up for me, slugger,” I said, and she
laughed.

“Any
time, baby girl. Well, Vi’s waitin’ on you, so I better let you go. You want me
to have someone walk you out?”

“Oh
no, I’ll be fine. Thanks, you guys. I’ll see you at the wedding tomorrow,” I
said, blowing a kiss to Mr. Grady. I walked out the door. Violet’s car was
waiting by the front door, and I climbed in to the passenger seat.

As
I was buckling my seat belt, Violet asked, “What took you so long? And was that
Sam I saw running out of here a few minutes ago?”

“Yes,
and I’ll explain later. Let’s get home,” I said, and she put the car into
reverse and we began the drive back to the house.

“Are
you serious? She actually slapped her?  That is
awesome
,” Daisy laughed,
and popped a handful of cheese popcorn in her mouth.

“I
think what’s awesome is that you went off on Sam like you did,” Violet said.

Smiling,
I said, “What do you mean? I run a five star restaurant in San Francisco. I can
be a bitch when I need to be.” I took a few bites of popcorn, and took a long
drink of my soda. It had been too long since I had a carbonated beverage. We
were all piled in Violet’s old bedroom on the floor, and there was a ton of
junk food everywhere. We had given each other manicures and were just waiting
for our pedicures to dry.

“I
know, but I just always thought of you as the calm one of the three of us,”
Violet said, and we all laughed.

“Calm
one?” I asked.

“Yes,
you know what I mean. I’m the hyper one, Daisy’s the rebellious one, and you
were always the calm one. The voice of reason,” she replied.

“Well,
I don’t know about that, but thanks, I guess,” I laughed.

“Okay,
let’s change the subject. There is something I have been dying to know and I
have wanted to ask you all night,” Violet said, nudging Daisy.

“And
that would be?” I asked, shoving a Dorito into my mouth.

She
looked at Daisy, and they both grinned. “How was the sex with Luke? Was he big?”

We
all giggled, and I sighed. “It was…earth shattering,” I said, dreamily. “All
that pent up sexual tension between us…hot damn. And I’m not tell you how big
his penis is, Daisy,” I laughed, shooting a look at her that made her laugh.

They
both squealed. “I knew you two would finally get it right. You two looked so
great together tonight,” Violet said.

“Thanks,
Vi. I just…I just love him so much. I actually miss him so bad right now,” I
admitted, and Violet swooned. Daisy, on the other hand, snickered.

“You
mean you miss his massive junk in your pants,” she joked, and we all laughed.

“So,
what does it mean? You think this thing will work with you being so far away?”
Violet asked me.

I
sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know yet. I know I have to decide what to
do, but right now I am just trying to enjoy us, ya know?”

She
smiled at me. “Yeah. Well, I know that whatever you decide, it will be the
right thing.”

“I
hope so. So, let me ask you something,” I said.

Violet
smiled at me. “Shoot.”

“How
is the sex with Evan? Judging by those dance moves from last night he has to be
pretty damn spectacular,” I said, and she smiled.

“God,
he’s amazing. I mean, he’s the perfect guy. He’s gentle when he needs to be,
but he can definitely get rough too, which I have to admit I like a little
more.”

My
mouth fell open in surprise. “Wow…I thought you were gonna get all blushy on
me, but I wasn’t expecting you to say that,” I laughed.

She
rolled her eyes, and laughed. “What? I’m a grown woman that likes sex,
especially when it’s with an incredibly sexy man that I happen to love more
than anything in the world. That part just makes it so much better.”

I
smiled at her. Placing a hand on her leg, I said, “I’m so happy for you Violet.
Evan is so great, and he’s the luckiest guy in the world.”

“Thanks,
Lilly. I know this is going to sound cheesy, but with the wedding and
everything, I just feel like love is just everywhere, ya know? Me and Evan, you
and Luke, and Jack seemed to hit it off with my friend Amber. Maybe he’ll find
love too,” Violet said.

Daisy’s
head snapped up. “H-he did? What, did they go home together?”

Puzzled,
Violet looked at her. “Well, no, I don’t think so. Evan said that Jack was
going to give her a ride home though. Why? What’s wrong?”

Daisy
shook her head and looked down at her freshly painted nails. “Nothing’s wrong.”
She looked back up at me, and I nodded at her, giving her an encouraging look.

“Daisy,
come on. Tell me,” Violet pleaded.

She
rolled her eyes and sighed. “All right, fine. Jack and I have kind of been
sleeping together for almost five months. He’s been wanting us to be a real
couple, and I thought I was only interested in a friends with benefits thing.”

Violet’s
eyes went wide. “Oh my God, are you serious? Daisy…this is so great!”

Daisy
shook her head. “No, it’s not, Vi. He’d been stressing me out asking for a
relationship, and it had been physically making me sick. I was finally able to
get him to back off a bit, and then I started to feel better. But, the other
night, he showed up at the hospital when I got off, and he brought me flowers
and ribbon candy, and asked me again to be with him. He told me to take all the
time I needed, and I agreed to think about it. Well, last night I decided to
give him an answer,” she said, her voice starting to crack.

“What
did you tell him, Dais?” Violet asked.

“I
told him that I thought he was a great guy, but that I needed more time to try
and figure things out, but I guess he didn’t want to wait anymore, and he just
walked away from me.”

I
reached a hand out to her, and she took my hand in hers. Violet asked, “And I
take it you didn’t want that?”

Daisy
shook her head. “No. It took him walking away from me to see it, but I…I love
him,” she said, and suddenly the dam broke, and she started to cry hard. “I
just couldn’t admit it to myself because I was terrified.”

We
both crawled over to her and wrapped our arms around her. “Oh Daisy…” I said.
Violet handed her a tissue from her night stand.

“That’s
not even the worst part,” she said. Suddenly, she sat up right and looked
serious at us. “Okay, I am about to tell you two something huge, and if I do,
will you both promise you will never, ever tell anyone? Not even Luke or Evan?
That it will stay just between us for now?”

Violet
and I looked at each other, our eyes wide. “Of course,” I said.

“Promise,”
Violet said.

She
sniffed again, and looked at both of us. “I’m pregnant.”

Our
mouths dropped open. Although she was concerned, Violet’s face lit up. I,
however, was trying to work it out in my head.

“How
is that possible? You took a test a few weeks ago, and it said it was
negative,” I said. Violet looked at me, a little stunned. “Vi, I’m sorry, but I
figured out about her and Jack the night I came back. I was concerned about her
being so sick and throwing up, so I made her take a test. Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m
not mad at all. Don’t even worry about me. Oh my God, Daisy. Are you okay?”

“I
don’t know. After we talked last night, and he walked away, I just broke down.
I barely slept. Then, this morning, I woke up and I thought I was going to puke
everywhere. I barely made it into the bathroom before I threw up. While I was
sitting there, I was doing the math in my head, and it wasn’t adding up. I
realized right then that I couldn’t remember when my last period was because
I’d been so stressed out. I checked my calendar and it finally hit me that I am
three weeks late. The pregnancy test I took before obviously was either
defective or hadn’t detected it yet. I ran out and got another test, came home
and took it, and…baby makes three,” she said.

“So,
what are you going to do? Are you going to tell Jack?” I asked.

“Well,
I would if he would talk to me, but he was too busy flirting with that girl
tonight to even notice me.”

“Dais,
you have to tell him,” Violet said. “Make him listen.”

“How?”

“We
will ambush him at the reception tomorrow. Daisy, this is huge. You need to
tell him so you two can decide what to do together,” I said.

She
sniffed. “I know that I need to tell him, and I will, but I’m scared. What if
he doesn’t want anything to do with me or the baby?”

Violet
shook her head. “Believe me, Daisy, he will be happy. He loves kids, we all
know that.” Daisy sniffed and nodded.

“Well,
the most important thing is how you feel. Do you want to keep this baby?” I
asked.

Daisy
was quiet for a moment. We waited with bated breath, and after a whole minute,
her hand dropped to her stomach, and she looked up at us, fresh tears in her
eyes. “Yes. Yes, I want this baby. No matter what, he or she is a part of Jack
that I’ll always have.”

We
both hugged her tightly. At this point, we were all crying. “So, does this mean
we’re going to be aunts?”

She
grinned at us, and said, “Aunt Lilly and Aunt Violet. I like how that sounds.”

“We
do too. Daisy, this is the best wedding present I could ever imagine,” Violet
said, smiling.

My
eyes flicked from her face to her stomach. “Can I?” I asked, holding my hand
up.

She
smiled. “Of course.”

I
placed my hand on her stomach, and a few tears fell down my cheeks. My little
sister was going to be a mother. My little niece or nephew was growing in her
stomach. I was in love with this baby already. “Daisy, this is so great,” I
cried.

“It
really is,” said Violet, who had now moved her hand to Daisy’s stomach too.

“And,
no matter what happens with Jack, good or bad, we are going to be here for you,
supporting you through it all. We love you,” I said.

Daisy
looked at us and smiled a smile that radiated pure love. “I love you both so
much,” she cried, and we all nestled into a group hug.

After
a few moments, we broke apart, and we were wiping our eyes. “Okay, enough
crying. This is a happy night, and I want to have fun with my girls. Let’s
watch a movie,” Violet said, dabbing her eyes with her tissue.

“Sounds
good. What should we watch?” I asked.

“Let’s
watch ‘American Gigolo’. There’s nothing in the world that can pep a girl up
after crying than Richard Gere’s johnson,” Daisy said, and we all burst out
laughing.