Elliot cleared his throat. ‘Uh… do anything more… real.’
‘Right. Good. Thanks.’ Daisy nodded, trying to keep everything sounding businesslike when her heart was thumping against her rib cage at the thought of doing morerealthings with Elliot. She thought he was going to kiss her during their beach date, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that until they were thwarted by that Frisbee, and her disappointment had beenbig. Girl-with-Frisbee had robbed her of something she was now positive would have been great. She hadn’t stopped thinking about it since.
‘Your Great-Aunt Daisy looks so much happier in this picture than the other,’ he commented, looking down at the smiling faces in the photo again.
‘I know,’ Daisy said. ‘It’s like night and day.’
‘And you think it’s because of this man?’
‘Look at how she’s gazing at him. In the other photo, it’s like someone took away her favorite toy.’
Elliot chuckled. ‘Her favorite toy?’
‘Or something like that,’ she said with a cheeky grin. ‘I just think they had some kind of doomed love affair.’
‘It’s a lot to assume from two pictures.’
‘I have a hunch.’ A hunch that her great-aunt and this man who looked exactly like Elliot had some sort of relationship. Until they didn’t. And clearly her great-aunt hadn’t gotten over it. It seemed clear to Daisy, anyway.
‘A hunch is usually a good place to start.’
‘I guess we’ll just have to pore over more dusty old books and find more evidence.’
‘You’re really speaking my language now,’ he said and Daisy laughed.
‘Getting a little too close to those sexual fantasies?’ she teased.
Elliot’s ears burned pink, but he laughed, too. ‘A little bit.’
‘How about we go to the library and dig into thearchives,’ she purred, putting on a fake sexy voice, having a little too much fun with this flirting game.
‘You think you’re joking, but that’s really doing it for me.’ He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Daisy burst into more giggles. She hadn’t felt this silly in a long time, like her insides were fizzing and her cheeks hurt from smiling.
It feltgood.
‘Okay, then go talk to your mom and find out who this guy is so we can finally make out!’
Elliot’s grin grew. ‘Okay.’
Daisy held his gaze. ‘Okay.’ It was too warm in the car. Unseasonably warm. ‘I’m really glad you’re not a ghost.’
Elliot let out a laugh. ‘That would definitely complicate things even more.’
‘Like if I couldn’t touch you.’
He cleared his throat.
‘Right.’
‘Right.’
Elliot leaned closer, his warm breath tickling her cheek. ‘That would be a shame.’
She nearly leaned in. Elliot was right there. And it had been solongsince she’d wanted someone. But then she remembered what they’d literally just been talking about, and she pushed him away. ‘Go talk to your mom!’
‘Right. Sorry. Right. Go talk to your grandmother. Maybe search for family birth certificates or something.’
Daisy nodded, opening the door and launching herself out of the car before she did something crazy and possibly incestuous.
