Page 11 of Nashville Lights

But there should be some lightness, right? She should forget, sometimes, when she’s picking wildflowers, or when she’s digging into one of Ma’s apple pies, or when she’s being served her favorite strawberry sundae at the diner in town.

Most days, I’m going out of my mind, stewing about whether I’m giving her the best life I can and wondering whether I’m good enough for her. I know I can never replace her parents, but I want to be the best possible second option.

Deep down, I’m not sure I’m hitting that mark. Particularly when the nightmares seem to be getting worse. Every time she cries out for her parents, I wipe her tears, read her stories, and do my best to ease her fears. When she sobs like her little heart is breaking, a piece of my own heart breaks right along with it.

I’ve barely made it out into the bumper-to-bumper traffic when my cell phone rings through the Bluetooth. I bought this brand new truck the week after I became Daisy’s legal guardian. To be honest, I prefer my old blue Chevy pick-up truck, which was built before safety standards were a thing and is now parked up in the shed.

Amandaflashes up on the center console.

Fuck.

Just what I don’t need right now.

I’m tempted to let it go to voicemail. But that’s not how you handle family—because that’s what she is now—even when they’re aiming to take a piece of yours.

Amanda Sullivan-Smith is Laney’s older sister. The same older sister who was shocked beyond belief at the reading of the will, when sole custodianship of her six-year-old niece wasn’t given to her.

It was given to me.

Possibly because she’s a card-carrying bitch: Laney’s exact words. The two of them never saw eye to eye. Laney was five years younger than Amanda and was the free spirit of her family. Their father was a preacher, their mother a devout stay-at-home mom and homemaker, because any other option was considered ungodly to them. Jed, a boy from what they considered the wrong side of the tracks, with mischievous blue eyes and a lust for living life to the fullest, did not fall into the category of what they saw as an “acceptable” choice. Laney chose Jed when she was seventeen years old. Her relationship with the rest of her family deteriorated after that and the two of them spent more and more time with us.

Amanda never approved of Jed—who turned out to be far more successful and wealthier than any of the Sullivans.

Jed and Laney knew how to pack the most joy into each day they possibly could. Laney always said Amanda was allergic to joy, or any kind of happiness at all.

I knew well before Amanda did that she was the last person Laney and Jed would have chosen to raise their little girl.

Amanda, however, didn’t get that particular memo. She’s been bitter and twisted about it ever since.

I tap the speaker button with a sigh. “Hey, Amanda.” I make a point of injecting a note of cautious civility into my tone. “I’ve just come out of a meeting, so if you want to speak to Daisy, you’ll have to?—”

“It’s after six,” she interrupts. “Working late again, I see.” Another crime I’ve committed, obviously.

“On my way home now. Daisy was helping my mother and my aunt bake an apple pie when I talked to her an hour ago.”

“Nathan,” she says, and there’s a pause, a deliberate softness there that catches me off guard. Amanda is never soft, or gentle. She’s fierce, cold and very determined. “That’s the whole point here.Yourmother. Andyouraunt. Not Daisy’sown. I know we both want what’s best for her.”

I can hear the restrained urgency in her voice, the unspoken plea of someone who isn’t ready to back down but knows they’ve hit a wall. So she’s trying a different tack.

She’s hired a team of lawyers, which I’m sure is costing her an arm and a leg. More than she can afford. We both know she doesn’t stand much of a chance. Laney and Jed’s will couldn’t have been clearer in its wording. They stated in no uncertain terms that they wanted me to become Daisy’s legal permanent guardian if anything happened to them.

As much as I disagree with Amanda, I understand her concerns. Shedoeswant what’s best for Daisy, like we both do, and Amanda is convinced I’m neglecting Daisy because I work so much.

I can’t entirely blame her for that.

“Amanda, I get it. Laney was your sister. I’m sure I’d have some of the same concerns if the tables were turned. But we have to remember that this arrangement is what Laney and Jed wanted for Daisy. The court isn’t going to side with you on this one. Not when the lawyers confirmed that their wishes were so clearly stated.”

I hear her bristle through the phone. “You might be winning for now, Nathan, but Daisy is a Sullivan, whether you like it or not. She belongs with herfamily. The judge will see that soon enough.”

Laney once told me that Amanda was always jealous that Laney had a daughter. Amanda had sons. According to Laney, they don’t get along with their mother at all and have always preferred their father.

Maybe Amanda saw the death of her sister as her last chance to have a daughter of her own. I hope Amanda doesn’t see it that way, but I can’t help but wonder. Either way, it’s not happening.

I rub a hand over my jaw. I’m still two years off thirty, but I feel a decade older tonight. “Laney and Jed obviously thought of the Boones as family too, Amanda. Daisy has spent half her life on the farm. She loves it there. It’s a big part of her family legacy, we both know that. She knows it. She remembers her parents being there. We talk about her memories of them all the time.”

“Be that as it may, blood is thicker than water. Youarelike an uncle to her, Nathan, no one’s saying otherwise. But Daisy has a whole family eager to welcome her home.”

There’s a flicker of something like guilt that flares up inside me. It’s true, after all. Daisy does have a family beyond the boundaries of Sugar Mountain.

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