“They can be a little overwhelming.” Understatement of the century.
“No shit. The mean one with the thick glasses—”
“Ivy.”
“Yeah. She accused me of making off with the silver. And I swear to God, the one with the toothache-inducing voice—”
“Gert?” There was no disguising the blatant amusement in her voice by now.
“She was trying to set me up with you or Lia. Possibly both of you.”
“Oh hell no!”
“My sentiments exactly. But I should probably consider settling down, because apparently my sperm are losing their will—and ability—to procreate by the second.”
She laughed. The sound was so unexpected and completely charming that Spencer’s hand jerked on the wheel and the car swerved for a microsecond before he righted it. She didn’t notice but continued to chuckle quietly to herself.
“Welcome to our world. Daisy, Lia, and I have been hearing about our various shortcomings all our lives.” The words, while light, were laced with an undercurrent of bitterness. “I love my aunties to death, but they can be a bit . . . trying sometimes.” The turnoff to the main road into town came moments later, and Spencer focused on negotiating it before glancing at her again. The streetlights allowed more illumination into the car, and he was struck by the absolute sadness on her face. It intrigued and disturbed him. He’d always considered Daffodil McGregor a pretty, pampered princess. What did she have to be sad about?
He drove through their quiet, tiny town. The only places that were still open at this time of night were the local pub, Ralphie’s, and the more family-friendly eatery, MJ’s. Everything else was dark and closed, and there were no other cars on the road. It didn’t take long to reach Daisy McGregor’s tiny house, which was situated just on the edge of Riversend. It was a quaint little place and resembled something out of the book of fairy tales he’d secretly hoarded when he was a boy. A sweet little gingerbread house, with a picture-perfect lawn.
“Why did you move here?” he asked after drawing the car to a stop outside the gate, and she shrugged. For a moment he thought that was the only answer he would get until she unexpectedly elaborated.
“I’m thirty-two, and still living with my parents was just sad.”
“The farmhouse is huge—it’s not like you guys are all up in one another’s space.”
“It was starting to get claustrophobic. I felt smothered.” Another startlingly candid revelation.
“I see.” He didn’t. Not really. For as long as he remembered, it had always been just him and Mason, with their parents coming and going whenever the hell they pleased. He didn’t know what it was like to feel smothered by family. To him it sounded like paradise to be surrounded by people who cared about you.
“Anyway, thanks for the ride. Sorry I gave you grief about it.” She hopped out of the cab without waiting for a response from him, and he watched as she rounded the front of the car and kept watching until she made her way to the front door and then into the house. It was only after the interior lights switched on that he drove off.
CHAPTER TWO
“I’ve never been so grateful for a half day.” Daff sighed while she was locking up the shop. Saturday was Daff’s favorite day of the week—she closed the shop at one, with an entire day and a half of rest stretching seemingly endlessly ahead of her—and Lia had popped around for the last half hour to gossip about the previous night’s festivities.
She’d had a grand total of two customers that day and had been bored out of her mind for the most part. Lia showing up had been a godsend and had kept her from ruminating over her ride home with Spencer Carlisle. The dark interior of the car had created a disturbingly intimate setting, and she’d found herself revealing way too much about herself to Spencer—literally the last person to whom she wanted to expose her vulnerabilities.
“Grab some lunch?” Lia asked as Daff tugged down the security shutters, and Daff nodded.
“Yeah, I’m starving.” MJ’s was a minute down the road and they both picked up the pace, knowing that the place would be packed at lunchtime on a Saturday.
“Ugh, looks like the whole town came out today,” Lia observed as they stepped into the noisy interior of the restaurant. At first glimpse it seemed filled to capacity, and Daff knew they’d probably have to wait for a table to free up.
“It’s the weather,” Daff said. It was a rare sunny late-winter day. The whole town would start blooming over the next couple of weeks with the advent of spring, and before too long the tourists would start flocking back, turning their sleepy town into a tourism mecca. Business would pick up and Daff would hopefully get over her debilitating bout of boredom. She couldn’t remember it ever being this bad before.