Page 157 of Rock Chick Rescue

Daisy turned cornflower-blue eyes to me. “All right, sugar, tell Auntie Daisy all about it.”

I didn’t hesitate. She knew some of it anyway after my Smithie’s meltdown. So I told her the story of my life, reciting it for the millionth time that week. Any hopes I held of quietly going it alone were long since gone.

Halfway through my story, she took my hand and didn’t let go.

When I was done, she squeezed my hand.

For some reason, she asked, “Jet, darlin’, you seenSteel Magnolias?”

I nodded.

“That’s my favorite movie of all time,” she told me.

This wasn’t a surprise.

She leaned into me. “You and me, sugar, we’re Steel Magnolias.” Then she let go of my hand, and without further ado, she launched into her story.

It was a whole hell of a lot more sad and scary than mine.

Halfway through her story I grabbed her hand and didn’t let go. When I did, tears filled the bottoms of her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall.

This wasn’t a surprise either. If her story was anything to go by, Daisy hadn’t been touched by kindness a whole lot in her life, either physically or emotionally. In fact, Marcus and Smithie were the only two men she’d known that treated her right.

When she was done, I squeezed her hand.

“Now I’m with Marcus, and don’t get me wrong, I’m mostly happy,” she told me. “But a girl has to have girlfriends,comprende?” Indy and I both nodded, we comprende’ed. “And I’m here to tell you, the snooty society bitches of Denver justdo notget me. I don’t have a single friend in the whole world who isn’t laughing behind my back or scared to death of Marcus.”

I looked at Indy.

“I think it’s time for another martini,” Indy said and gestured to a waiter.

Daisy went on after we’d received our second round.

“I ain’t ashamed to say, I haven’t had as much fun as I had with you and your friends at Smithie’s inages. That is, of course, before you got shot at,” she said to me.

“Of course,” I replied.

We all let this sink in while we took a sip of the second round.

“Do you think I have to worry about Vince?” I asked.

She winced. “Vince is a mean, dirty motherfucker, if you’ll excuse my French. I wouldn’t have thought he’d go against Marcus, but the jackass is entirely unable to take a blow to his manhood, in this case, literally.”

Then she gave a little tinkly-bell giggle.

I wasn’t certain I thought it was funny.

She caught the look on my face and the laughter went out of hers. “I’ll ask Marcus to keep an eye out for him.”

Um, I didn’t think that was a good idea. I wasn’t sure Eddie wanted Marcus to be a member of my Protection Posse.

“Daisy—”

She shook her purple-tinged head, wagged a finger at me and I was quiet. I wasn’t quiet because I didn’t have an argument. I was mesmerized by her fingernail, which was super-long, filed in a lethal curve and had little fake diamonds imbedded into it in the shape a four-leaf clover.

She dropped her finger and we all took another sip of the second round.

Then Daisy said, “What’re you gonna do about your daddy?”