‘Looks like a nice day there,’ Caleb said, sidestepping the whole conversation. It was embarrassing how relieved Elliot was. He knew his brother had managed to keep the business going without him, doing simpler remodels and less restoration work, but Elliot still felt guilty about the whole mess. Something he didn’t really feel like working out during this beach phone call.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Daisy said. ‘We were just having a picnic and Elliot said he’d been meaning to call you, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to meet.’
Caleb flashed his obnoxiously charming smile. ‘I’m certainly happy to meet you, Daisy. I’m glad you’re getting my brother out of the house.’
Elliot clenched his back teeth together so hard he could hear it.
‘Oh, that wasn’t me,’ Daisy said. ‘Elliot’s always out around town. It’s how we met, actually. He came into my flower shop.’
‘Oh, really?’
‘Yeah, Elliot is really social. Goes out all the time. Tons of friends…’
He nudged her leg with his and gave her a don’t-push-it stare. Daisy just grinned. ‘He’s a lot of fun to be around.’
Caleb’s smile was so damn genuine when he said, ‘Iknow that much is true.’ It was like a punch to the gut. Even after everything, leaving Caleb in a lurch and ignoring him all the time, his brother was still nice to him.
It was sweet. And annoying.
‘Right, well.’ Elliot’s face was turning red again, an affliction his brother never suffered from. ‘We should probably go.’
‘Okay, enjoy your date. And answer your damn texts so I don’t think you’re dead.’
‘You know I’m not dead. Mom is here visiting, and I’m sure she would alert you if she found me buried under my bedsheets.’
‘Jesus, El. Don’t say shit like that.’
‘Sorry.’
‘And text me back.’
‘Okay.’
‘Bye, Daisy!’ Caleb said with a wave before ending the call.
‘He’s sweet,’ Daisy said. And Elliot waited for the inevitable. Every woman preferred Caleb over him. It just made sense. He was charming and handsome and outgoing…
‘But you’re cuter,’ she said with a grin.
‘And you’re the best fake girlfriend ever.’
ChapterSeventeen
Afew days later, they finally took Logan’s grandparents up on their offer to come to the farm and talk Dream Harbor history.
‘You sure I can’t get you two something to eat?’ Estelle asked, bustling around the kitchen. Elliot sat at the kitchen table with Henry poring over the older man’s photos, but Daisy had stood up a while ago to stretch her legs.
She was about to accept Estelle’s offer of food, when she caught Logan’s eye from across the kitchen. He gave a subtle shake of his head as if to warn Daisy away from his grandmother’s cooking.
‘Oh, that’s all right,’ Daisy said, smiling at Estelle. ‘I had a big lunch.’
Estelle glared at her grandson. ‘What did you tell the poor girl? My cooking is just fine,’ she said, turning back to Daisy as Logan chuckled on his way out of the kitchen.
‘Whatever you say, Nana,’ he said as he left to go pick Jeanie up from her shift at the café. Daisy thought it was sweet that he picked up his wife after work. And she was secretly relieved to see her curse hadn’t affected them yet.
‘I’m sure it’s delicious,’ Daisy said, eyeing the slop Nana Estelle was stirring in the crock pot. ‘But I really am full.’
She was actually starving. They’d been here for hours now, and while the first two hours listening to Henry tell the history of the town had been interesting, here in hour three, as Henry pulled out a literal chest of old pictures his parents had left him, Daisy was getting tired. And hungry. But not hungry enough to eat whatever was in that pot. Was food supposed to liquify like that? Daisy couldn’t even guess what it had started out as.
