A Week Till the Wedding by Linda Winstead Jones Page B

penis.”
    “Mari!”
    “Well, one with a man attached to it. Believe it or not, you really can get them unattached. That’s not what I had in mind. Just so you know.”
    Her sisters weren’t blind to the sacrifices Daisy had made for them. They’d tried numerous times to fix her up with a friend, or a friend of a friend. A time or two Daisy had agreed, but it never worked out. Thanks to the current charade she finally realized that it never worked out with anyone else because she’d subconsciously compared every man she met to Jacob. Dammit, any man who gave her the time of day should come out well in that comparison.
    Daisy’s mouth went dry. She scooted her chair back a foot or so, tapped her foot against the plain concrete floor and finally worked up the nerve to say, “Jacob is back.”
    Mari dropped her wrench. The clatter of metal on concrete made Daisy jump. “What do you mean, back? ”
    “I mean, he’s at the Tasker place for a couple of weeks. He’s in for the big family reunion.”
    Mari’s eyes hardened; she squinted. “That snake.”
    Yeah. Snake. Why couldn’t she just agree with that statement and move on? Mari didn’t need to know everything. She really didn’t need to know anything. At the same time, Daisy was dying to talk to someone. “We’ve...kind of dated a couple of times since he’s been back.”
    Mari clapped her hands on her cheeks in an expression of extreme frustration. “What’s the difference between dated and kind of dated? Oh, Daisy, any man but him. He really is a snake. Mom would call him a scalawag. Dad would call him a lot worse. Jacob Tasker left you when you needed him most!”
    “We left each other,” Daisy said defensively, recognizing the words as painful but true. “Besides, it’s not serious.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s just, kind of, sorta...”
    “Spit it out,” Mari said sharply.
    Daisy did, telling everything. Well, almost everything. She wasn’t about to tell her little sister that she still had the hots for her first love, that she was seriously considering sleeping with him just because she could, that when he’d put his hand on her leg she’d almost come apart.
    She couldn’t possibly admit to her sister that no matter how she tried to fight the feelings, she enjoyed seeing Jacob. She liked touching him, looking at him, hearing the timbre of his voice wash over her. Painful as it was, she liked pretending that they were still together. Was she a glutton for punishment or what?
    The changing expressions on Mari’s face, as Daisy filled her in on most of the details, told it all. Sadness, horror, frustration, indignation. All the emotions Daisy herself had suffered since Jacob had walked through her door.
    But eventually the pretty face of the youngest of the Bells settled into a smug expression. Daisy knew that look, and she couldn’t remember a time that anything good had come of it. Mari leaned back in her chair, forgetting her work for the moment. Her blue eyes sparkled and her lips quirked in a half smile. “Sunday lunch tomorrow afternoon, yes?”
    “Unless I beg off.” Daisy was considering doing just that. The thought of seeing Jacob again was both terrifying and exciting. She dreaded and anticipated the next date. “Since you’re in town I really should just call and cancel....”
    “Don’t you dare.” Mari smiled. “I’m going with you.”
    * * *
    Jacob showered, washing off the sweat and dirt of an oddly satisfying stint of yard work. After that he spent most of Saturday afternoon in his room, working via computer and cell phone. The desk where he’d once done his homework now served as a place for his laptop. The chair was uncomfortable, but it would do, for now. Both were antique, as most of the furnishings in the house were. So were the bed, the bedside table and the lamp on that table. Everything in the room was older than he was, and a stark contrast to his modern apartment in San