Wicked Flower (20 page)

“I actually made some dinner plans but I
don’t want to leave you alone for very long. And uh, I want to check on the
house.” In a moment of craziness, he’d packed an overnight bag for Dani.
Depending on how dinner went, she might need it. He had no idea how she’d react
to being told about relocating with him to Nashville. Of course in his mind it
went that she was thrilled and they spent the night together at his empty
house.

“Oh, okay. That’s probably a good idea.
Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Come to think of it, why don’t you meet up
with Daniela and Will? I know you probably don’t like bingo but there’s some
midnight bowling thing the younger kids in town are doing nowadays.”

“Mom, I’m too old for that.”

“Maybe so.
Well, if I
could still hold a bowling ball, I’d try it.”

One day he’d love to take her bowling.
From the truest place in his heart, he finally let the words out. “Hey Mom, my
dinner plans tonight include Dani. Daniela,” he corrected. His mom’s face
remained calm.

“And Will?” she asked.

Stefan cleared his throat and sat
forward, toward the edge of his rocker. “Will is
gonna
come back here and stay with you. He’s not much of a night owl. Dinner will be
just me and Daniela. I’m taking her out for pizza. She said she’s craving
Mario’s.”

Why did he feel so goddamned nervous?
Something he said struck a note with his
mom,
he just
had no idea what. He was just glad it wasn’t scorn that crossed her face.

“Okay. Well, I think she will appreciate
a meal out that she doesn’t have to cook. It’s a nice gesture to thank her for
all her hard work. She could use some friends closer to her age than me.”

Mom didn’t have to say much more to him.
He heard that loud and clear. “Yes, I agree,” was all he could say.

But then out of nowhere, she said, “Be
careful, son. She has a lot going on right now, more than you might be aware
of, and I love her like my own daughter.”

Stefan just
nodded,
pretty damn sure his mom knew a lot more than Dani realized. Gina Calderon had
always been a perceptive woman, excluding the shit with Amanda. Which meant his
dumbass had probably been pretty easy to read all week too where Dani was
concerned.

He was about to get up and leave when
she put her hand on his elbow. “Will you be taking Daniela to your house?”

His neck tensed and he had the immediate
need to laugh nervously or swallow deeply. “I’m not sure.
Maybe.”
He went ahead and tried to swallow naturally.

Mom just nodded now. He couldn’t read
what if anything that meant and kissed her on the cheek. She didn’t pull away
but remained stiff. “Mom, let me walk you inside before I go, please.”

She stood and let him take her arm. “Be
careful,” she repeated and followed him inside.

Stefan checked his
watch,
it was way past five which was when Dani normally ate dinner. But he’d decided
the beard had to go so he stood at the bathroom mirror and stroke by stroke,
watched the black hairs rinse down the drain. Feeling more like himself, he
grabbed the bag he’d packed for Dani and climbed into his car. The entire drive
to her sister’s apartments, the words “Be careful” beat at him over and over. How
the hell did he do that? He’d better figure it out, fast. He popped a piece of
cinnamon gum in his mouth and drove, feeling the power of his car surge through
his body. He ran his hand through his hair and then over his smooth jaw,
deciding whether to ask Dani to give this girlfriend-boyfriend thing a shot
before or after he asked her to move to Nashville.

****

Last minute and with Will waiting out
front with her sister, Dani sorted through a few items of clothing Daisy had
laying around on the hammock bed, desperate to look better than she currently
did for her dinner with Stefan. For whatever he had to tell her.

None of this stuff would fit.

All too small in the boobs, hips,
thighs, butt and now belly departments. No way did she need Sugar splayed
across her butt, with rhinestones. She tossed the thin sweats aside. Her maxi
dress would have to suffice. Dani tiptoed across the carpet to the bathroom,
where Daisy and Cass’s stray dark hairs and a few of Jen’s blonde ones twirled
around every size of curling iron known to man. Dani picked up a hot pink push-up
bra and hung it on the doorknob, at least getting it off the floor. She left
the towels there because she was afraid to step on what might lay underneath
but her nerves and need to clean forced her to scoop them up. She straightened
the small bathroom as best she could,
wiping
at flecks
of bronzer that dotted the sink counter and then made her way out to the living
room.

Dani honestly had no idea what the girls
did with their days. Did they work? Someone had to, to afford this place, small
as it was. Daisy hadn’t said much about classes she might be taking or hours
she might be working.
Which reminded Dani she needed to keep
better tabs on her baby sis.

But that being
said, she knew she was stalling.

Hers and Will’s visit with Daisy had
come to an end. Stefan had called Will to say he was on his way nearly twenty
minutes ago.

When she walked to the kitchen to say
goodbye, she found that Daisy had already maneuvered Will to the outside
stairwell and was still chatting him up. Dani decided to leave Daisy a note on
the refrigerator note board, which she found was missing it’s magnets on the
back and laid on the counter instead. She smiled when she saw Will’s number
written on it with a smiley face and spikes for hair. Daisy had drawn a daisy
next to it and a heart. Oh boy.

She didn’t know what, if anything, might
be brewing between them. Knowing what she did of Will, it was probably
one-sided.
Daisy’s side.
But whatever it was, she
prayed for mercy for the man and secretly hoped something would come of it.

As she gathered up her bag to go, her
phone rang.
The clinic.
She’d been meaning to call
them and confirm her upcoming appointment since
that
day.

When
I get home
,
she thought.

Dani gathered her bag and the thing of
calcium chews she’d bought at
Taggert’s
with Will and
finished the note to Daisy.

Sis,
I love you. Call if you need anything.
She wrote the last word in all caps.
And then followed by an X and an O, she finished with,
For
a rainy day
. She left an envelope of cash, not much but enough for
a tank of gas and a fast food run for her and the girls, on the counter next to
the note board.

Dani stepped outside and found that
Daisy had now walked Will downstairs. She was practically standing on the man’s
toes.
Daisy, Daisy,
Daisy.

Dani enjoyed the nearly perfect
nothingness that greeted her as she made her way down as well. No humidity, no
strangling heat, just warmth. No rain. A gentle breeze accompanied her the
whole way. She was in the middle of praying dinner wouldn’t be a disaster or
end with her being humiliated just as his gleaming white convertible pulled up.

And gone was her teddy bear Superman
because in his place sat the man she’d seen on the cover of that magazine,
minus the spikey hair and eyeliner. No doubt about it, this was the real Stefan
Calderon. She’d been wondering when he was
gonna
show
up. Holy shit, her knees nearly locked up on her.

Chapter Sixteen

“Thanks for spending the day with
us, Will. And thanks for putting up with Daisy.”

 
He hugged Dani and went to shake Daisy’s hand
but yeah, her sister wasn’t letting him get away with that. Daisy lifted up
onto her tiptoes and pulled him down for a hug. He just nodded bashfully and
stepped back as soon as Daisy let go but he did toss her sister a kind wave
goodbye. Then he left them to join Stefan who stood by his Mercedes.

“Dani, why didn’t you tell me you
had a hot date with—” her sister started to say.

“Zip it. Not going there right
now,” Dani said out of self-preservation.

“Fine but I want to hear all
about him.
If not tomorrow morning, the next day at the
latest.
I can’t believe you didn’t tell me who—”

She flashed her sister another
warning to zip her lips while she watched Will and Stefan and tried to guess
when she should make her way over there. When the guys slapped each other on
the back, Will came back to her and she handed her car keys over to him. He
nodded and eventually ducked into the driver seat and pulled out of the
driveway.

“Okay
hon
,
we’ll talk soon. I love you and I had a good time with you today, even if you
did spend the entire time assaulting that poor man.”

Daisy just smiled. “I really like
him.”

Dani shook her head and hugged
her sister goodbye.

Stefan stood by the passenger
side door, waiting for her. Geez, you’d think she was either walking down the
aisle for her wedding or death row by the choppy steps she took.

Completely unexpected, he leaned
in and kissed her on the cheek before he opened the door and waited for her to
sit down. “So that’s your baby sister. She’s cute,” he said.

“Oh, you have no idea. Will
probably
hates
me right now.”

“Now that I see her, I’d have
thought so too but he seemed okay,” Stefan said as he sat down in his own seat
and started up the Mercedes engine. “Were you playing cupid? He hates that
shit.
Speaking from personal experience.”

The nerves rolling around her
tummy were still there but nowhere near where they’d been five minutes ago. As
long as she remembered not to stare too long at her first glimpse of his drop
dead beautiful face without the beard, she might be okay after all. “Scouts
honor I was not playing cupid. I even told Daisy to back off.”

“Yeah sure you did.”

“No really. She’s probably got
four or five boyfriends right now and I’m pretty sure one of them showed up
today. Daisy’s just Daisy. She loves guys, especially cute, sweet ones like
Will.”

Stefan checked his phone’s GPS
and turned onto the state highway. The wind did its best to blow her hair right
off her head but she’d been prepared and pulled it back with her thickest band,
knowing who was picking her up and his propensity to ride topless. She grinned
at that and he saw her and responded. She held the ends of her ponytail and
enjoyed the air hitting her face.

“So, other than torturing Will, how
was your day?” he asked her as they drove the familiar streets that would take
them back to Moonlight.

“It was nice.” She had to
acclimate to being in this type of situation with him. It felt strange after
their week of pleasantries. “Obviously, Will was a great sport. And even with
Daisy being Daisy, I forgot how infectious her energy is. Mine was running low
and feeding off her for a while was good.”

“Great. That’s great.” But she
noticed his face turn down. There was no beard to hide his chin and jaw which
looked tense.

“How was your day?” she asked,
still stiff and awkward and wondering if it was her fault that they seemed
stuck on pleasantries. She’d grown to expect and appreciate his humor but her
grand idea had stripped him of it. But there was no way she could have that
kind of power over a man.
Especially one like him.
The
thought simmered through her spastic mind until his hands tightened over his
steering wheel.

“It was okay.”

That was way too short of an
answer. “How’s your mom?”

His sideways glance, very
uncharacteristic of him, had her worried.

“Stefan? Was everything okay with
your mom?” she asked as they drove. He took a familiar Moonlight exit and drove
them through the quiet streets that would lead to the older section of town.

“It was fine.”

She’d thought he’d be an
excellent liar. Turned out he sucked at it. They drove on in silence and she
kept her mouth shut until twenty minutes later when they pulled into Mario’s
parking lot. A couple other cars were parked there too but Sunday night wasn’t
a big eating out night for most in these parts. Folks traditionally stayed home
and prepped for the work and school week. That was probably good considering
Stefan’s unpredictable mood and his lack of a beard. Clean shaven, he stood
out. Literally, stood out about as much as if the real Superman had come
strutting down Moonlight’s streets in full on red and blue costume and cape. Something
about his smooth, chiseled face was just as dazzling as his fancy car and the
million dollar grin she wished he’d flash now. There was nowhere to hide his
emotions without the beard. She frowned trying to figure out what was going on.

“We’re here. Let’s go inside.”

He didn’t feel real.
Didn’t sound real.
Something was messing with his dark,
thick beautiful head. She hadn’t needed to know him longer than the one week to
pick up on that. But she followed him inside, trying not to gawk and be dazzled
too much when even through his obvious
funk,
he opened
her door and led her inside the restaurant first.