“Absolutely.” Zara plopped down beside her with a groan, reaching over to pat her dog.
“We haven’t all gotten together in forever. Those two will probably have three guys in mind to fix you up with before we’ve finished the first cocktail.”
“And you have to tell them all about your move and new job.” Daisy looked around. “I hope you find an apartment as fabulous as this one.”
Several hours later, Daisy was only too happy to spill the details over jalapeño margaritas with her squad. Kat shook her cropped platinum curls in dismay as Daisy recounted Shawn’s scathing parting words.
“What a jerk!” Kat took an indignant sip of her drink. “You deserve way better than that self-involved rich bore.”
Meg nodded, rainbow bangs bobbing. “Seriously. You didn’t even really like Shawn, you just liked the idea of a successful finance whiz with stability and a secure future.”
Daisy opened her mouth to protest that she had really liked Shawn, but the words stuck in her throat as the truth in Meg’s statement washed over her.
Her parents had been many things, but stable was never one of them. Their lives were a whirlwind of wanderlust and passion, always chasing the next grand adventure without a thought of Daisy, other than to dump her on friends or leave her to fend for herself whenever they left.
A cute guy walked by, and Kat waggled her brows.
“What you need is a happy medium. Stability and passion all in one delicious package.”
A snort escaped from Zara. “She’d have better luck winning the lottery.”
The girls dissolved into laughter, clinking glasses as the DJ spun a throwback 90s track, as Daisy’s mood shifted, and she vowed to try harder not to hold on so tightly.
CHAPTER 4
Saints, it was warm this morn. Callan stretched, feeling every day of his score and two years. Used to sleeping rough, he brushed off his plaid, pulled several twigs from his hair, then tied it back with a bit of fabric he kept in his sporran.
If ’twas not possible to return to his own time, then somehow he must determine how to make his way in this odd land.
With no idea of how to travel through time, Callan decided he would break his fast. Then he would find someone who might know how to send him back to his own time. Surely in this land there would be powerful witches who might aid him?
All he wanted was to go back, get to know William, to stay at Blackford, and make a life there. In time, he hoped to take a wife and have babes of his own that would play with his brother’s children. The day the clan had forsaken him and his mother was clear in his mind even though ’twas years ago. So Callan would make a new family with his brother at Blackford Castle, even if William was a bloody Englishman.
Once he was sure the caretaker had passed by, Callan slipped outside the gates of the park, as the sign said the place was called, and walked the streets of this metal city. From listening to the man behind the glass, he now knew he was in a land called Massachusetts in a country he had never heard of, called America.
’Twas even more intimidating in the daylight. The gleaming glass and steel towers stretched up to the heavens, people rushing past him, paying him no mind. He was a ghost in this place, unseen and unheard.
As he wandered, Callan followed his nose to a shop. The aroma was unlike anything he had ever smelled before as he inhaled deeply.
There were people sitting at tables, tapping on the small bricks they carried everywhere, while a serving wench called out to people, handing them cups and plates of food, making his stomach rumble.
He approached the counter, but when it came time to order, he didn’t know what to do. Instead, he stood back, one booted foot against the wall and observed, trying to make sense of the surrounding scene. Without one of the small rectangular objects people handed to the serving wench to pay, Callan knew he would find no sustenance here.
As he left the delicious smelling shop, a woman stopped him, patting his arm. She was older, with a warm smile and kind eyes.
“You look like you had a bit too much fun last night. Good for you, living it up on a weeknight.”
A tinkling laugh escaped. “I remember the days I’d lose my keys or wallet because I was having so much fun. Those were the days.” She handed him a warm roll of some sort, the smell making his stomach rumble.
“Get some sleep. You’ll feel better.”
She pursed her lips. “You shouldn’t hang around here. Those busybodies don’t like it and they’ll see that you’re tossed out of here.”
The woman nodded to a group of younger women with large heads and emaciated bodies who were watching them, a look of disgust on their collective faces. Mouth full, Callan nodded. He swallowed and called out after the woman as she left, “I thank ye, mistress.”
Despite his confusion, everything he saw fascinated him. This world was so different from his own. Did Lucy miss this time? Regret giving it up to stay at Blackford?
Callan squared his shoulders. He might be lost, but the fates would not defeat him.
