Page 35 of Sweet
“So why the big secret? You’re twenty; they know you’ve dated before.”
“It’s Spider, and it wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell them, it’s thathethought Mom and Dad wouldn’t approve of him.”
Emmie slid off the chair where she’d been perched and did a ridiculous wiggle dance that made Daisy want to laugh. And maybe cry a little.
Kiko was quiet. “Spider, the guy who works at Bill and Ruby’s tattoo place?”
“Yeah.” For how much longer, she had no idea.
“He seems cool and he’s really quiet. That’s totally not who I was expecting.”
“He’s very private.” She frowned. “Wait, who were you expecting?”
“But Lazy Daze, that’s messed up. What? He’s, like, embarrassed by you or something?”
“I told you…” She sighed. “It’s complicated, and I should go. If anyone asks, I’m at Betsy’s. Tell Tia Imelda I’m here; I don’t want her to worry.”
“I’ll tell them.” Kiko laughed. “I just thought of something funny.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you later. It kind of takes some explaining.” Without another word, her brother hung up the phone and Daisy could turn her attention to Emmie, who was still awkwardly dancing around the room.
“Really?”
“I knew it!” Emmie whisper-shouted. “I knew he was in love with you! Ever since the time when you came into the bookstore.”
Spider? In love? Her heart flipped over; then it twisted in her chest and it felt like the worst case of heartburn ever. “That’s ridiculous. We’d just met. He’d barely said two words to me before that day.”
“So?” Emmie shrugged. “Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy only saw each other, like, four or five times before he fell in love with her. Spider sees you, like, every day.”
“To get coffee.”
“Yeah. You ever wonder why a guy who only has four T-shirts and three pairs of jeans spent the money to buy coffee every day?”
Daisy swallowed hard. “Emmie, I know it may seem romantic, but it takes more than—”
“I’m just saying that he loves you. It’s totally obvious, and I’ve known Spider longer than you, so I would know.” Emmie looked at her from the corner of her eye. “Do you not love him?”
Duh. “Loving Spider is not the problem.”
“Does he know that?”
“What?” Daisy rubbed her eyes and pulled her tangled hair into a messy bun. “That there’s a problem? Yeah. I mean, he’s pretty much the one—”
“No, that you love him.” Emmie leaned on the edge of her mother’s dressing table. “Because you should tell him that.” The girl’s eyes turned inward. “I don’t think many people have told him that in his life.”
Emmie’s words hit Daisy straight in the chest. “You really love him a lot, don’t you?”
Emmie smiled, then wrinkled her nose. “Not like that though. He’s like… I don’t know. If I had a brother, I kind of imagine he would be like Spider.”
“Yeah.”
Emmie kicked her foot out and pointed her toe. “I had this superweird dream once that I was getting married—not to Spider, that would be gross—but he was there.” Her cheeks turned a little red. “He was walking me down the aisle. Like, to give me away. Weird, right?”
“Not weird.” Daisy couldn’t even imagine being an only child. But Emmie was. So was Spider. “Hey, Em?”
“Yeah?”
