Page 43 of A Christmas Duet

Daisy was right. Her father had advanced quickly in his career. Each promotion had required a move. They’d bounced all over the country until finally settling in Tacoma when Hailey started junior high. Four moves in six years. It hadn’t been difficult for Hailey, as she’d always found a path because of her musical talent and love of school generally. Daisy, not so much. With every move it seemed her sister grew even more quirky.

“Dyslexic,” Hailey repeated. It explained so much about her sister that she’d never considered. “What prompted you to take the test?”

Daisy hesitated, as if she’d rather skip this part. “A friend suggested it may be the reason I was so bad with numbers, transposing them and making dumb mistakes.”

“That sounds like a good friend.”

Her sister grew uncharacteristically somber. “The best.”

Hailey closely watched Daisy and felt there was much more to her sibling than she had realized. Intuitively, Hailey realized that feeling she had earlier about something deeply troubling her sister had to do with thisfriend. “What’s your friend’s name?” she asked. She’d noticed the way Daisy closed up at the question.

After several uncomfortable moments, Daisy sniffled and set her fork aside. “Charles.”

Although eager to hear more, Hailey patiently waitedfor Daisy to continue. “He says he loves me.” Tears glistened in her eyes, and she angrily swiped the moisture away from her cheek.

“Is Charles loving you so hard to believe?”

“Yes,” she cried. “He’s not like anyone else I’ve ever met. He’s…everything I’m not—employed, responsible—and he thinks we would be good for each other, only I know I’d mess up his life the way I’ve done my own.”

“Daisy, oh Daisy.” Now Hailey was the one who felt like weeping. She pushed her plate aside and got up from the table, came around and hugged her sister, who was so clearly hurting. “Come sit and talk to me.”

Daisy nodded, stood, and joined Hailey on the sofa. When she seemed reticent to continue, Hailey plied her sister with gentle questions.

“How’d you meet Charles?” she asked.

Daisy drew in a deep breath as though bracing herself for the conversation. “It happened this summer. He bought one of my macramé plant hangers at the farmers’ market and we had a brief conversation. About a week later, he saw me at a coffee shop and asked if he could join me. He’s really sweet, a little awkward, and funny without meaning to be.” A smile tempted her mouth and it quivered slightly. “He’s a rocket scientist and so smart I don’t know what he sees in me.” She sniffled. “I asked him, if he was deserted on an island and there was onlyone book he could take, what would it be?, and he said”—she paused to smile. “He said it was obvious. He’d wantThe Practical Guide to Boat Building.Doesn’t that tell you everything about him? Can’t you see we’re impossible together?”

“But you continued to see him, right?”

Daisy shrugged. “I didn’t intend to, but he returned to the market the next Saturday and bought something else, and the next week after that, too. It took him three weeks of buying my plant hangers to ask me if I ever ate lunch.” She laughed softly. “I mean, who doesn’t eat lunch? He was so cute; I couldn’t turn him down. He had his hands in his pockets and kept shuffling his feet. When I explained that I had to wait until the market closed or I sold out, you’ll never guess what he did.”

“Tell me.”

“He bought everything left on my table.”

She hadn’t even met this guy and Hailey liked him already. “You went to lunch with him, then?”

“I did, and we talked for three hours straight. He told me the minute he saw me he knew I was someone special. He didn’t think a woman as beautiful as me would ever consider going out with him. Can you imagine?”

“Oh, Daisy, it hurts me to see you discount yourself like this.”

Her sister smiled through her tears. “He’s so smart,and stable, and I’m the last person he needs in his life. I told him that and he kept saying I was wrong. He seems to think I’m exactly what he needs. He even took me to meet his mother.” Daisy bit her lower lip before she continued. “He tricked me into it because I’d refused earlier, certain any mother worth her salt would disapprove of me.”

“Daisy, how can you say that?” Hailey wanted to shake some sense into her little sister. “Don’t keep me in suspense, tell me what happened.”

“It was worse than you could have imagined.”

Goose bumps rose on Hailey’s skin. If this woman hurt Daisy, Hailey didn’t know what she woulddo.

“Charles’s mother…”

“Yes?”

“She loved me. She told me she’d been waiting a long time for her son to find the right woman.” Daisy cried between sobs. “She doesn’t know anything about me…and neither does Charles, not really. I explained that I live off my parents mostly, because I can’t seem to hold a job. He listened and then suggested that I might have dyslexia and found a test for me to take…That’s how I found out why I have such a hard time reading and concentrating on words.”

He recognized what others had passed over all these years. “Charles sounds wonderful to me.”

“That’s the problem,” Daisy insisted, fighting back tears. “I’ll ruin him, and I care too much about him to screw up his life right along with my own.”

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