He stood very still as his stomach twisted into a knot. Daisy's words affected him more than he would havethought. He hadn't watched either of his parents die, and for that he was grateful. He had dark enoughmemories.

"Did you know that coffins have springs in them?"

"Yeah." He and Billy had had to pick out two. At that time, he hadn't had enough money to afford much ofanything. His parents had been buried without springs and fancy satin pillows. "I knew that."

"Oh. That's right." She looked back out the window. "I remember your parents' funeral. You were so young tohave such a horrible thing happen to you. I didn't appreciate how horrible then. Not really. I do now."

Jack moved to stand behind her and he raised his hands to grasp her arms. But before he touched her, he thoughtbetter of it and dropped them to his sides.

She took an envelope from a pocket in her ugly dress and set it next to the sink. "This is the letter from Steven.

The one I told you about."

He really didn't want to read it, and knew that made him all kinds of a bastard. But he really didn't want to bereminded of the black hole of his past.

"Steven and I never meant to hurt you, Jack. We were all such good friends, and it never should have endedbetween us the way it did. We were so young and stupid. The night we came to you was one of the worst nightsof my life." She paused a moment and said just above a whisper, "You were wearing a white T-shirt that nighttoo."

Yes, they'd been standing in the moonlight. He'd been pleading with her not to leave him. He'd beaten the hellout of his best buddy, and now his best buddy was dead. Something in Jack had died that night too. For somereason, hearing about it this morning, made it more real then it had been in years. Brought it all back to life.

Made the places in his soul burn. "Stop it, Daisy." He grabbed her aims below the sleeves of her T-shirt. "Don'tsay any more."

"I have to, Jack." She looked up over her shoulder into his face. "When you told me that we needed time awayfrom each other, I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. You have to understand how scared and -" He liftedher chin as his mouth swooped down on hers, silencing her with a hard kiss. He pulled her back against his barechest and wrapped his arm around her stomach. He did not want to hear anything he just wanted to feel. Feelher pressed against the length of him. Naked. He wanted more mind-numbing sex again and again until hefinally got her out of his system. Out of his head.

At first she stood stiff in his arms, her lips pressed together but when he softened the kiss, her lips parted. Asilent invitation to take what he wanted.

The telephone rang and he let it. It rang as his tongue entered her mouth, and she tasted as she had before, onthe trunk of the Custom Lancer. Warm and sweet like Daisy. She tasted of things long forgotten. Of soft skinand need and lust and a love that had ripped his heart out.

He pushed the memories from his head as he slid one hand to her right breast. The phone continued to ring as hecupped between her legs through the heavy denim. "Daisy," he spoke to the side of her head and breathed deepthe scent of her hair. "Come to my bed and let me remind you about sex again."

The ringing stopped but instantly started again. Daisy slid out of his grasp and moved across the kitchen. "Thatmight be important," she said.

He had a pretty good idea who it was. Buddy Calhoun was supposed to come by and pick up a Corvair Monzasitting in the shop and take it to his garage in Lubbock. Buddy was the best body man in the state, and one ofthe few restorers Jack trusted to take a vehicle out of his shop. But his timing sucked. Instead of pursuing Daisy,he walked to the telephone, his boot heels an angry thud against the old linoleum floor. "This better be good,"

he said into the receiver.

"Hello," a female voice spoke, "this is Louella Brooks. Is Daisy there?"

He glanced back at Daisy. "Oh, hello Mrs. Brooks. Yeah, she's right here."

Daisy walked across the kitchen and took the phone from him. "Hello?" She looked up at him and frowned.

"What? What happened? Is she okay?" Her brows lifted almost to her hairline. "Good. Where's Pippen?" Daisycovered the side of her face with her hand. "Thank God." There was a pause and then she said, "Okay. I'm onmy way." She hung up the telephone and turned to Jack.

"What's the matter?"

"My sister has officially lost her mind. That's what's the matter," she said as she moved to the counter andpicked up her purse.

He ignored the ache between his legs as he reached for his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. "Is Lily okay?"

"No, she's a nut. What did she and mother do before I came to visit?" she asked, distracted as she shoved herhand inside her purse and pulled out a set of keys. "Run around acting weird and delusional? What are theygoing to do once I go back home?" She walked from the kitchen and through the living room. "Good gravy Ihave my act together more than either of those women. Now, how darn scary is that?"

He didn't answer because he pretty much figured it was a rhetorical question and he didn't want to upset hermore.

Through the screen door, he watched her jump in her mother's car and drive away. A glimpse of the Caddy'staillights and whine of the steering linkage as she pulled around to the street, was the last he expected to see orhear of Daisy Monroe.

Jack walked back through the empty house to the kitchen. He returned the milk to the refrigerator, and his gazefell on the white envelope she'd left behind. Steven's letter. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. Hisname was written in all capital letters in blue ink on the front.

He opened a cupboard door and stuck the envelope between two coffee mugs. He'd read it someday. But notnow. Not when the memory of Daisy, naked on the back of the Custom Lancer was still so fresh in his head.

Not when the taste of Steven's wife was still in his mouth.

Since she'd, been back, he'd wondered if being with Daisy would be as good as he remembered. The answerwas that it was better. Better in some way he didn't even try to define. He just knew that being with her wasdifferent. It was more than just sex. More than the pleasure he usually found being with a woman. More than aquickie on the trunk of a car.

It wasn't love. He knew for a fad that he wasn't in love with Daisy Lee. He might talk slow, but he wasn't stupid.

And loving Daisy was just plain stupid. He didn't know why being with her felt different, but he didn't want toknow either. He wasn't the kind of guy who dissected his life and looked for hidden meaning. No, he was thekind of guy who pushed it down deep until it went away. All he knew for certain was that sex with her wasbetter than any he'd had in a long time, and it was a good thing that she was leaving so he could return to hislife. His life before she'd blown into town and reminded him of things that were better left forgotten.

She was gone now, and there was no reason why he should think of her again.

No reason at all.

A black-and-white tow truck pulled up to Ronnie's house as Daisy and Louella drove past on their way to thehospital. It was only a few blocks out of their way on Locust Grove, and they had to see the destruction forthemselves.

Ronnie's little house was beige stucco and someone had nailed a longhorn skull over the front door. His yardconsisted of stubby brown weeds, and it would have been a drab scene if not for Lily's Red Ford Taurus stickinghalf out the front room.

"Was Ronnie home?" Daisy asked as she floored the Caddy and sped on. She figured all the cops standingaround were too busy gawking at Lily's Taurus to take notice of a speeder.

"I don't think so, but we won't know for sure until we get to the hospital."

Daisy hated hospitals. No matter the city or state, they all smelled and felt the same. Sterile and cold. She'dspent enough time in them with Steven to know that they dispensed a lot of medication and advice, but rarelygood news.

She and her mother walked through the small hospital's emergency room doors and, after a few moments, weretaken to Lily. Pippen was at home with Louella's next-door neighbor, and it was a good thing he wasn't withthem. The second the nurse pushed back the green-and-blue striped curtain separating the beds, Louella burstinto tears.

"It's okay, Mom," Daisy said, suddenly feeling like the only sane person in a family that had lost its collectivemind. She took her mother's hand and held tight. "Lily's going to be okay."

But Lily didn't look okay. The left side of her face was swelling and there was a gash on her forehead. Bloodcaked her blond hair and the corners of her closed eyes. Some sort of bandaging immobilized her left arm, thickand very white, except where bright red blood seeped through. There was an Win her right forearm, whichwasn't bandaged, and her clothes had been cut off. A young male doctor in green scrubs lifted the sheet to listento her heart and lungs. He looked up at them through wire-framed glasses.

Louella moved to the head of the bed and Daisy went with her. "Lily Belle. Momma's here. Daisy too."

Lily didn't respond and Daisy reached out to touch the side of her face that wasn't swollen. Her sister lookeddeadly pale, and if it weren't for the steady rise and fall of her chest, Daisy would have thought she really wasdead. It was too much in an already emotionally charged day, and like the flip of a switch, Daisy's autopilotkicked in, and she felt herself go numb inside.

"What's the matter with her?" Louella asked.

"All we know so far," the young doctor answered, "is she has lacerations to her left arm and forehead and herankle looks to be fractured. We won't know anything more until we get her CT scans."