The Cinderella Deal Read online

  Even though he was aware of what was going on, Linc didn’t realize the extent to which his house and his wife had become part of the fabric of Prescott, until a phone call sent him home unexpectedly one Tuesday in late November.

  He met Chickie coming out the door.

  “Hello, darling.” She hugged him and then stepped aside so he could get through the front door. “Daisy’s with Lacey upstairs painting the bathroom.”

  Linc knew there was something different about Chickie, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He watched her walk out to the sidewalk and realized she wasn’t swaying. She wasn’t drunk. It was the first time he’d seen her completely sober.

  He shook his head and went inside.

  Two of his students, Olivia and Larry, were working over their notes on World War II at the dining room table while Liz sprawled across Olivia’s lap and Annie batted at Larry’s pen. He started to tell Annie to get off the table, but Andrew, another student, came out of the kitchen with a bowl.

  “Decide now. Nuts in the chocolate chips or not?”

  “Nuts,” said a voice from the living room, and he turned to see Tracy, yet another student, lying on the couch with Jupiter on his back on top of her. She was scratching his stomach slowly, and Jupiter looked as if he were in ecstasy.

  “You’ll probably break a tooth.” Evan came out of the kitchen behind Andrew, holding an apple. “Shell pieces. There’s always a risk.”

  There were too many people in his house. Linc looked around a little frantically. “Is Daisy here?”

  “Upstairs with Lacey in the bathroom.” Olivia waved her hand toward the stairs. “They’re finishing the ivy today. It looks super.”

  “She’s going to do the kitchen in trompe l’oeil.” Tracy sat up. “She said she’d teach me.”

  “Have you seen her last painting?” Evan asked him. “It’s Sanger. Daisy’s really got something. Of course, it will never be recognized. I tried to get her a gallery show, but Bill’s booked through next year.” He bit into the apple. “Probably covered with chemicals.” He wandered out the front door.

  Linc watched him go before he turned back to Tracy. “There are a lot of people here. Is it always like this?”

  “Pretty much.” Tracy lay back down, much to Jupiter’s delight. “That’s why we call it the Hive.”

  “The Hive?”

  “Little yellow house, always busy. The Hive.”

  “Nothing about Killer Bees?” Linc asked suspiciously.

  “No.” Larry looked up from his notes. “Are there any?”

  “No.” Linc went upstairs to find Daisy.

  “You’re much better at this than I am,” Daisy was saying to Lacey when he reached the bathroom.

  “I like this.” Lacey gazed at the wall with satisfaction. “Teach me to paint something else.”

  “Like what?” Daisy put her brush to soak. “We’re almost finished in here.”

  “Roses, daffodils, tulips, irises …”

  “Not in here,” Linc said from the doorway. “Have a heart. I brush my teeth in here. I have hangovers in here.”

  “Well, hi.” Daisy smiled up at him, and for some reason he forgot to breathe. It wasn’t stress this time; he never felt stressed when he looked at Daisy now.

  She stood up and walked toward him and he held out his hand to her. She took it and stood close and said, “What brings you home?”

  Then he remembered and his stress levels rose again. “My mother called.”

  “Oh, dear,” Daisy said.

  “Don’t mind me,” Lacey said. “You go talk. I’ll stay here and finish the painting.”

  EIGHT

  THEY WENT INTO Daisy’s bedroom and sat on the bed, and Linc thought for a moment about how great it would be if they were alone and he could just have his arms around her. It would be such a comfort, such a distraction from all his problems.

  “There are a lot of people here,” Linc said. “How can you stand this?”

  Daisy blinked at him, surprised. “Stand what? They let me alone. If I go in the studio, nobody bothers me. They answer the phone and take messages and since they’ve been here, Crawford doesn’t stop by in the afternoons.”

  Linc’s grip on her hand tightened. “What?”

  “He used to come by and ring the doorbell, and I’d just stay inside and wait until he went away. When the kids started coming over, he gave up.”

  He scowled down at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Daisy shrugged. “What could you have done?”

  “What I should have done the first day: told him I’d break his fingers if he ever touched you.”

  Daisy laughed, a soft little chuckle. “Did you ever actually break anyone’s fingers?”

  Linc’s annoyance faded with her chuckle. “No, but as your brother from New Jersey, I figure Crawford’s the place to start.”

  “You’re not my brother.”

  His eyes met hers and he felt a flash of heat that rocked his complacency.

  Daisy swallowed and said, “What did your mother want?”

  “Oh, Lord.” He put his head in his hand. “I forgot. She’s coming to stay. She’ll be at Wil’s for Christmas, so she’s coming to stay with us for the first week in December. That’s next week.”

  “Oh.” Daisy smiled brightly. “That will be nice. Get a room at the inn.”

  Linc patted her hand, knowing she was going to hate the next part. “There are none. I tried. It’s Winterfest on campus. And I think she wants to stay here anyway. She knows we have a spare bedroom.”

  “No, we don’t,” Daisy said, puzzled.

  “My mother, like everyone else we know, thinks we sleep together.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s just for a week,” Linc said lamely, knowing that a week with his mother would be hell.

  Daisy nodded, her head a little wobbly on her neck. “We’ll be fine. Really. We will. She can have this bed, and I’ll sleep in your room. No big deal. And she’ll get along great with Evan; he never smiles either. By the way, Evan is coming here for Christmas Eve.”

  Linc’s visions of Christmas as just another great dinner with Daisy disappeared. “Why?”

  “Because he’s not going home, and because Julia will be here.” Daisy grinned. “Which is why he’s not going home. And I asked Art too, and Evan introduced me to Bill from the gallery and he’s nice and alone, and things were getting so big that I asked the Crawfords and the Bookers too. It will be cozy. Pansy will be in the Bahamas, but maybe your mother will stay.”

  Oh, yes, his mother introduced into that group was all they’d need to make the holidays perfect. “Maybe she won’t.”

  He sounded so gloomy that Daisy peered up at him, trying to read the expression on his face. “Are you unhappy about this?”

  “No.” Linc straightened up. “It’s just not what I had planned.”

  “I know.” Daisy recognized that he wasn’t talking about his mother. “I was supposed to lay low and stay away from people. But that’s hard for me.”

  “I know.” He put his arm around her and pulled her close in a semi-hug, and it felt so good, she closed her eyes. “It was a dumb plan,” he went on. “We’ve been married for almost three months. Is there anyone in town who doesn’t know you by your first name?”

  Daisy nodded again, eager to reassure him. “Lots. I spend most of my time here, painting. I’ve gotten so much done, Linc. Really good work, because I haven’t worried about money or anything. This is all because of you.” She kissed him on the cheek. “This is great.”

  He froze for a moment and then tightened his arm around her. “My book’s done.”

  “What? You’re kidding!”

  “Nope.” He grinned like a little kid. “I have to edit it and smooth things out a little, but essentially, it’s done. And that’s not all. I’ve got a publisher.”

  Daisy shrieked and hugged him, and he laughed.

  “A publisher.” Daisy glowed at him. “Imagine. Just