She changed into a khaki skirt and white blouse and scrounged around in the kitchen for something to eat. Shemade a toasted cheese sandwich, some tomato soup, and a glass of iced tea. She took it to the breakfast nook,where the sun lit up the yellow table.

Having sex with Jack on the trunk of a car had been a mistake. No, having sex with him at all had been amistake. But at the time, she hadn't possessed the will power to do much more than put up a halfheartedobjection. She'd known she would regret it, but that hadn't stopped her.

She dunked her sandwich into her soup and took a bite. She'd had sex with Jack. It had been bad. No, it hadbeen wrong. The sex had been good. Fabulous. So fabulous she'd burst into tears and embarrassed herself. Herface got hot just thinking about that - about that and the desire in Jack's green eyes when he'd looked at her, hotand alive touching her all over. Just the thought of it warmed her up.

She blew into her soup. She hated to admit it, but if her mother hadn't called, it was likely that she would haveended up in his bed. She'd probably still be there.

She took a drink of her tea. But what now? She didn't know, and with everything else going on in her life, shedidn't have to think about it until everything settled a bit.

After Pippen got up from his nap, she took photographs of him out in her mother's garden. She shot him pickingforbidden flowers while standing amongst the pink flamingos. For that short time, while she gazed at the worldfrom behind her camera, her problems receded to the background.

Later when Louella came home, she noticed her mother looked about ten years older than she had that morning.

The creases around her eyes seemed deeper, her cheeks paler. Daisy made her and Pippen some soup andsandwiches then left to go visit with Lily.

Her sister was asleep when she walked into her hospital room. The cut on her forehead had been closed andbandaged. One side of her face was still swollen, her eyes were turning varying shades of black and blue, butthe blood had been cleaned away.

Daisy wanted to ask her sister what had happened that morning, but Lily was heavily drugged and drifted in andout of consciousness. And each time she woke up, she started to cry and asked where she was. Daisy didn't evenattempt to ask her about the accident.

She did the next day, though.

"Have the police talked to you yet?" she asked as she flipped through a People magazine she'd brought with her.

Lily licked her swollen lip. Her voice was a scratchy whisper when she said, "About what?"

Daisy stood and filled a plastic glass with cool water. She held the straw to Lily's mouth and answered, "Aboutthe car accident?"

Lily swallowed. "No. Mom said I wrecked my Taurus."

"You don't remember?"

She shook her head and winced. "I hated that car anyway."

"Did mom tell you how you wrecked it?"

"No. Did I run a stop sign?"

"Lily, you ran your Taurus through Ronnie's front room."

She stared at Daisy and blinked her black-and-blue eyes. But she didn't look as surprised as Daisy expected.

"Seriously?"

"The police asked Mom and me if you're suicidal."

"I would never kill myself over Ronnie Darlington," she said without hesitation.

"Did you try to kill Ronnie?"

"No."

"Then what were you thinking? Did something happen?"

This time she did hesitate and she looked away when she answered, "I don't know."

Daisy had a feeling that she did know and that her memory loss was convenient. Something had happened, butLily didn't want to talk about it today. Fine. There was always tomorrow.

When Daisy left the hospital, she drove into town and bought a car seat for Pippen. His other seat was still inthe Taurus at the wrecking yard.

As she stopped for a traffic light at the intersection of Third and Main, she heard a deep throaty rumble justbefore Jack's Mustang blew through the intersection. She was two cars back, and the doubted he saw her. Butjust the split-second sight of him caused a disturbing tumble in her stomach as if they were in high school allover again and she was waiting for him at his locker. Her feelings for him were definitely a confused jumble ofold emotions and new desires and all of it was better left alone.

At three-thirty that afternoon, Daisy strapped Pippen into her mother's Cadillac and they headed for Amarilloand Nathan.

Pippen wore little jean shorts, cowboy boots, and his DON'T MESS WITH TYRANNOSAURUS TEX T-shirt.

Daisy held him in her aims while they waited in the baggage claim area. The half hour they stood there seemedto take forever, but when she saw Nathan's familiar face, it was like the sun had suddenly decided to shine aftera week of gloomy weather.

His green Mohawk was gone and the lips of his short dark hair had been bleached white. He looked like a tallskinny porcupine carrying a big backpack with his skateboard attached to the back. She didn't care. She was sohappy to see him she forgot about the No Public Displays of Affection rule. She stood on her tip toes andwrapped her free arm around his neck. She kissed his cheek and held on light. He must have forgotten the ruletoo, because he dropped his backpack and hugged her - her and Pippen, right there in the Amarillo airport.

"Man, Mom. Don't ever leave me like that again."

She laughed and pulled back to look into his blue eyes. "I won't leave you. I promise," she said and turned herattention to Pippen. "This is your cousin. Isn't he cute?"

Nathan studied him for a moment. "Mom, the kid has a mullet."

She pretty much figured that a guy with porcupine hair shouldn't cast stones at a guy with a mullet. "It's not hisfault," she said and looked into Pippen's face. "His mother won't cut off his baby curls."

Pippen stared up at her through his big blue eyes so much like Lily's, then returned his gaze to his older cousin.

Daisy didn't know if Pippen's attention was drawn to him because he was another male or if he was attracted tothe lip ring and dog chains.

"Hey there, little dude. Nice hair."

"Don't make fun," Daisy warned.

"I'm not." Nathan slicked his palms over the side of his hair. "He's got business in the front, party in the back.

Heh-heh-heh," he laughed as he tipped his head back.

"Watch 'toons!" Pippen said, then started to laugh too as if he'd just cracked a joke like Nathan.

"He wants you to watch cartoons with him. His favorite is 'Blues Clues."

"Blue's Clues' suck." He picked up his backpack. "You gotta watch 'Sponge Bob Square Pants."

Nathan hadn't brought a suitcase, and as they headed for the car, it struck her that if everything had goneaccording to her original plan, she would have been back home now. In Seattle. Getting on with her life. Free ofthe past. Making a new start. Her and Nathan.

Since she'd arrived in Lovett, nothing had gone according to her plan, and she'd had to put her life on hold forjust a little while longer. Her mother and sister needed her, and perhaps she could do something to help. Maybejust being here and taking care of Pippen was enough for now.

Her life hadn't completely gone to hell, she reminded herself. She'd been in hell. Lived it for over two years, andthis wasn't even close. Not yet, anyway. Nathan was here and at some point, things had to get better.

Chapter Eleven

The whine of a bench grinder filled the garage and filtered into Jack's office as he glanced over the master-partslist for the fifty-four Corvette; he simultaneously thumbed through Polaroids snapped of each part taken off thecar so far. Everything from the chrome to the screws holding the taillight buckets had been cataloged andcarefully stored away. The Blue Flame Six engine had been plucked from the cavity and would be torn downand steam-cleaned later. All rubber parts would have to be completely replaced as well as the leather interior.

The fifty-four was supposedly a bitch to drive, but that was beside the point. The late and great Harley Earl haddesigned the sports car in his typical flamboyant style. The car had been designed for show rather than go.

Jack tossed the photographs aside and stood. That morning they'd removed the windshield and discovered morerust damage than he'd anticipated.

The damage would have to be cut away and the brace rebuilt. He grabbed the Dodge Viper coffee mug thatLacy Dawn had given him for his birthday and walked from his office into the reception area.

Penny Cribs didn't come in until ten-thirty on Monday mornings, and a stack of mail sat on her empty desk. Herefilled his coffee, and as he moved from the outer office into the garage, the noise from the bench grinderstopped. Jack blew into his mug and looked up at Billy who stood at the workbench. His safety glasses werepushed up his forehead, and he held a brake rotor in one hand. A skinny teenager stood talking to him, and theyboth turned as Billy pointed in Jack's direction.

Jack stopped in his tracks. The boy looked to be in his mid-teens and had a dog chain around his neck and onehanging down the side of his pants. He said something to Billy, then began walking toward Jack. Jack caught aglimpse of Billy's bemused smile before he turned his attention to the boy. He took a drink of his coffee andlowered the mug.

He'd always hired boys over the summer to sweep up or run for parts. But if this kid wanted a job, he was out ofluck. Not so much because of the way he looked, but because he didn't have the sense to dress better and leavethe chains on his dog when he went job hunting.

He had hair like a hedgehog, dark with white spikes on the ends. His bottom lip was pierced near one cornerand his black T-shirt said anarchy in bloody red letters. He held a skateboard beneath one arm, and his jeans fitso loose, if he stood up straight, they'd fall down around his ankles.