“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Probably. He seems like he’d know that sort of thing.”
I couldn’t quite tell if that was a simply a statement of fact or a compliment.
“Where is Jonathan, anyway?” she asked. “I saw that he wasn’t in his office.”
“It’s Monday, so he’s out on call right now. He’ll be back at some point.” My cell phone started to ring. I looked down at the screen, then picked up the phone and carried it over to Daisy.
“Answer this,” I said. “Except don’t say Hard Tail Security or anything. Just say hello.”
She had a skeptical look on her face but took the phone from me and answered. “Hello?” she said again. She waited a second and then pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. “They hung up. Or the call got disconnected.” She handed the phone back to me. “Who was that?”
“Someone I didn’t really feel like talking to,” I said, taking the phone from her. She looked like she was about to ask me who it was that I didn’t feel like talking to, but then the office phone rang, and she reached over and answered it.
A few hours later and Jonathan still wasn’t back yet. Daisy appeared in the doorway, knocking lightly on the frame.
“Chris Robertson is on the phone,” she said. “He says that he has to reschedule the meeting with you tomorrow, and he was hoping to do it Wednesday. Later, though; he has something during the day.”
I shook my head. “Can’t do it Wednesday. I visit my stepfather then. Tell him Thursday, early afternoon; he can choose the exact time.”
I waited until she’d gotten off the phone with him to go out there. I leaned against her desk. “So he’s all set?”
“Yeah,” she said. “For Thursday at one.” She dropped the pen she was holding back into the cup holder and looked at me. “You visit your stepfather every week? I think Jonathan had mentioned something about it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “My mom died, but I still go say what’s up to Pete. Don’t want him to just languish away there.”
“That’s really great of you. My parents got divorced, and I had a stepfather for a little while. He was a pretty nice guy. But that marriage didn’t last long, either.”
Of course I’d let her think that I was going to visit Pete out of the kindness of my heart, because I felt I owed him something for being such an upstanding stepfather. I was a little surprised that Jonathan hadn’t mentioned what a dick Pete really was, but, then again, Jonathan was all about forgiveness, regardless of how badly the person had wronged you.
“I really don’t see my father much,” Daisy continued. “He moved to Maine and got remarried, and they’ve got a couple kids now. Who I only met once, back when I was a teenager. They were little, like toddlers, but it was nice, considering they’re my brother and sister. I don’t think my dad’s new wife liked me much, though.”
Yeah, I’ll bet. “That’s too bad,” I said.
“I have no hard feelings toward her or anything like that. I wasn’t trying to steal all of my father’s attention or anything. She just didn’t seem to like me.”
Daisy frowned, a crease forming in the space between her eyebrows. She had exceptionally smooth skin that I could practically feel underneath my fingertips.
“Of course she didn’t like you,” I said.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“I can just imagine you as a teenager. Most stepmothers aren’t going to be wild about their new husband’s teenage daughter.”
“Why not?”
Was she really this naïve or just playing dumb? “Because women are jealous and territorial, that’s why. Because she’d feel competitive with you, even if you two are vying for two completely different types of your father’s affection.”
“Well, I never wanted to take anything from her. I thought it would be weird if I had these siblings out there that I’d never met, but I guess that’s really how it’s going to be, because she wants it to be, and he doesn’t seem like he’s willing to stand up to her. But I understand. I wouldn’t want the conflict, either.”
“He’s pussy whipped.”
She blushed.
“Really,” I said. “And maybe that’ll make it so your feelings aren’t as hurt. It’s not you—it’s the fact that his new wife is insecure, and your dad is pussy whipped.”
“Could we please not talk about my dad and pussy in the same sentence?”
Mmm, just hearing the word out of her mouth made me hard. But she was obviously uncomfortable. If she was such a freak in bed, as Jonathan claimed, then there’s no way something like that would have made her so uncomfortable. Perhaps I should try to suss that out, too, and maybe while I was at it, figure out which positions were her favorite. Though that probably wouldn’t be the sort of report that Jonathan w