The two moved up the walk, their strides keeping perfect time with the other. Nathan's hands swung at his sides;his walk, an I'm-fifteen-and-trying-so-desperately-to-be-cool amble. Yet his blue eyes were guarded; he waswondering if he was in trouble or not.

Jack had one hand buried to his knuckles in the front pocket of his Levi's, the other hung loose at his side. Asalways, he moved as if he were in no hurry to get anywhere in particular.

"Where have you been, Nathan?" she asked when he stopped in front of her. She had to fight the urge to throwher arms around him and tell him everything would be okay. "I've been very worried about you. You know Ihate it when you leave and don't tell me when you'll be back."

"We went for a little drive," Jack told her.

A furrow appeared between Nathan's brows and she asked him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

But he didn't look okay. He looked tired and upset, and his cheeks were pink from the heat. "Are you hungry?"

"A little."

"Why don't you go inside and have your grandma fix you something to eat."

He turned to Jack. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Count on it," he said. "I'll call you after I talk to Billy."

"Cool." With his pants riding low on his hips, and his dog chains jingling, Nathan moved up the steps.

"Where did you find him?" Daisy wanted to know as she watched her son shut the door.

"At the high school. He was talking to some girl."

"Where did you take him after that?" She turned to face him. The blazing sun penetrated the thick weave of hishat and shot pinholes of light across his nose and mouth.

"Around."

"Around where?"

He smiled. "Just around."

She placed her hand across her brows and shielded her eyes from the sun. He was really enjoying this. "Whatdid you talk about?"

"Cars."

"And?"

"Him working for me this summer."

"Impossible," she said and waved the notion away with her hand. "We have plans."

"Change them. Nathan says he wants to work for me this summer."

She looked up into his green eyes, surrounded by those long dark lashes of his. "Are you going to tell me that hecame up with that all on his own?"

He shook his head and white pinholes of light slid along his top lip. "Doesn't matter who came up with it. It'swhat we both want."

"We can't stay here all summer." She felt a bead of perspiration slip between her breasts. "I've already been herelonger than I intended."

"There's no reason for you stay. In fact, it might be better if you left."

"I'm not leaving my son here with you. You've known him an hour and you've already manipulated him intostaying."

"I simply offered Nathan a job helping Billy tear down a Hemi 426. He jumped at it."

She lifted her hands upward. "Of course he did. The child has slept on NASCAR sheets most of his life and hadhis first car picked out at the age of three. A Porsche 911."

"Jesus!" he swore. "You let my son pick a European piece of shit?"

Under any other circumstance, she might have laughed. "What the heck does it matter?"

"He's a Parrish." He grabbed his hat from his head and rubbed his forehead against his short sleeve. "It mattersto us." He ran his fingers through one side of his hair then jammed the hat back on. "If he'd been raised right,he'd know better," he said in a low grumble.

How dare he criticize the way she'd raised Nathan. She may not have always been the best mother, but she'dalways tried her best. She'd kill anyone who tried to hurt him.

"If he'd been raised right," Jack continued, "he wouldn't have a ring through his lip and dog chains hanging offhim."

Her nerves snapped, and in an instant she forgot all about trying to get along with Jack for Nathan's sake. Sheno longer cared whether Jack had a right to his anger, he'd just crossed the line and insulted her son. "He's agreat kid," she said and poked her finger in Jack's chest. "What's on the outside isn't as important as what's onthe inside."

Jack glanced down at her finger then back up into her eyes. "He looks like a hedgehog."

"A lot of boys where we live look like that." She poked him twice more. "Goat-roper!"

His eyes widened then narrowed. He wrapped his hand around hers and removed her finger. "You've turned intoa Yankee woman with no manners and a bad accent."

Daisy gasped, and this time she went for the kill. She stood on the balls of her feet and said, "I'll take that as acompliment coming from a second-rate grease monkey."

"You conceited bitch." He grabbed hold of her shoulders like when they were ten years old and fighting overwho had the best bike. They cut into each other with words, going at it tooth and nail, and all the while neverraising their voices above a low rumble.

"You always did think the sun rose and set on your scrawny butt," he said.

"And you always thought you were God's gift to a pair of jeans." She put her hands on his chest and shoved, buthe didn't move at all. "But I'm here to tell you on behalf of all women, what you've got in your jeans isn't thatextraordinary."

"You thought so Saturday on the trunk of the custom Lancer. In fact, you burst into tears because you enjoyedwhat I've got in my jeans."

"Don't flatter yourself. It'd been a long time. It could have happened with anyone." She smiled, too angry to beembarrassed. "You could have been Tucker Gooch," she added, knowing full well that Jack had always dislikedTucker.

He laughed. "Tucker doesn't have what it takes to make you bawl like you just had a religious conversion."

The front door opened and Louella stuck her head out. "You're putting on quite a show for the neighbors."

Jack let go of Daisy's shoulders and had the grace to look embarrassed. "Good afternoon, Miz Brooks."

"Hello, Jackson. Hot enough for ya?"

"Hotter than a stolen tamale," he said, taking off his hat and exchanging pleasantries as if to show he'd beenraised right.

"I haven't seen you in a tong lime."

"No, ma'am."

"How's your brother?"

"He's fine. Thanks for askin'."

"Well, tell him I said hello."

"I'll do that. How've you been, Miz Brooks?"

Daisy sat on the second to the last concrete step. She rested her forehead in her hand and waited for her motherto break into a long-winded story about her near heart failure at having seen Bonnie Lingo's ugly baby. And foronce, Daisy was grateful because it would give her time to compose herself.

Instead Louella said, "Well aren't you kind to ask. I'm feeling just fine."

"Glad to hear it, ma'am."

Daisy could almost feel her mother staring a hole in the back of her head. Since she already felt like an idiot forfighting with Jack on the front lawn, she refused to turn around and receive her mother's meaningful glare. "DidNathan hear us?" she asked.

"No. We couldn't hear you inside, but we did see you two going at it."

"Great," Daisy whispered.

She heard the front door shut behind her mother, and she dropped her hand and looked up at Jack. "We have toget along."

He shook his head. Even with bad-hat hair, he managed to look good. "Not going to happen."

"Then we're going to have to fake it. For Nathan's sake."

"Wet I'll tell you something, buttercup," he said as he stuck his hat back on his head. "I just don't think I'm thatgood at lying."

His recent lie about a trip to Tallahassee came to mind. "Right. -A frown wrinkled his brows. "Not as good as you, anyway."

She stood on the bottom step and looked into his face. "Do you think Nathan will want to stay here with youknowing that you hate me?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "He likes to act all grown up. He likes to thinkthat I baby him, but the fact is, he still needs me."

The furrow in his forehead smoothed. "Are you saying you're going to let him stay for the summer?"

She didn't think she had a choice. She'd talk to Nathan, and if he really wanted to work in Jack's garage and getto know him, Daisy wouldn't stand in his way. "If that's what he wants - but I won't leave him here alone withyou. I left him with relatives in Seattle for less than two weeks, and he couldn't handle it."

She let out a deep breath and thought out loud. "He only brought a backpack full of clothes. I have the onesuitcase. Neither one of us would last the summer on what we brought." She was going to have to make a triphome to Seattle to get some of their things.

Jack folded his arms over his wide chest and smiled. He'd won this round and he knew it.

"You have to promise, no more fighting."

"Agreed."

"We have to get along."

"In front of Nathan."

But Daisy wasn't through with him. "You have to pretend to like me."

He tilted his head back and the shadow from his hat slid from his nose, over his lips, to his chin. "Don't pushyour luck."

Daisy added water to the vase of fresh-cut lilies and returned it to the spot on the stand next to her sister'shospital bed. Daisy disliked the cloying scent of lilies. They reminded her of death. "I'm not going to be herewhen you go home tomorrow," she said and reached for the vase filled with peach tulips and white roses.

"Are you and Nathan going home?" Lily asked as she reached for the lime Jell-O on her dinner tray.

"Just me, and just for a few days." Daisy moved to the sink and added water to the vase. "It seems we're goingto stay the summer" Lily didn't say anything and Daisy looked over her shoulder at her sister. She had a whitebandage covering the stitches on her forehead. One eye was black and blue, the other green and yellow. Her toplip was still a little swollen, her left forearm was bandaged and her right ankle and foot were in some sort oftraction cast.