Page 20 of Daniel
“I’m sorry?” I asked. “Hired where?”
Mary handed my phone to Nicolas. “We need decorative painters for the Easter and spring toys. Don’t you think that Prairie’s style would be perfect?”
Nicolas flipped through a few photos. “These are great. Especially this one.” He held up a painting that I’d done in a classic folk art style. “This is exactly what we need.”
Daniel took the phone from him. “Wow. Baby, these are incredible.”
“I know we shouldn’t talk business on Christmas Eve,” Mary said brightly, “So we’ll have you over to the toy factory sometime next week, and talk about it then.”
“That’s amazing. Thank you so much!”
I couldn’t believe my luck, then felt Daniel’s hand squeeze my waist. I loved the way he touched me, but I was torn whenever he grabbed me anywhere I should be smaller.
Sierra and Robin were both quite slim. The townspeople were definitely going to refer to us as “those new King girlfriends” for quite some time. Which meant that Sierra would be “the girl from the hardware store” and Robin would be “the writer with the camper van who wrote the article that saved the toy factory.”
There was absolutely no way that I would be known as “the one with the strawberry hair” or even “the painter”.
I was going to be “the big one”.
I had been pretty much fine with my size for the past several years, swooping up and down a few pounds, but never worrying about it. Once in a while I ate a bit lighter for a time, went for long walks, and did some yoga videos. I liked to feel healthy.
But that wasn’t going to be good enough anymore. If I wanted to be seen with Daniel, and not have people judge him for having...okay, I’ll say it, a chubby girl on his arm, I was going to have to fight my metabolism and slim down fast.
The chocolate tray was coming in my direction again, so I said to Daniel, “I’m just going to grab a glass of water.”
Darting to the kitchen before he could stop me, I drank my water while looking around the room which was strewn with dirty dishes and pans. Hoping that I wouldn’t be heard over the uproarious laughter from the next room, I quietly began rinsingand scrubbing. I had managed to almost fill the drying rack before I heard a voice in the doorway.
“Good idea.” I turned around to see Sierra, who came in and grabbed a dish towel to start drying. Robin came in a few moments later, and we soon had the counters cleared down, and stacked with clean dishes.
“Well now.”
We looked up to see Mary standing with her hands on her hips. “The old glass of water trick. Very sneaky, ladies.”
There was something deeply satisfying about making Daniel’s mother laugh so much. She was such an easy-going, charming woman. I was genuinely excited to get to know her better.
She grabbed a bottle of white wine from the fridge and three glasses. “Ladies, please join me on the couches. The men will take care of the rest.” She called out to the living room, “Won’t they, boys?”
“I love the way she orders everyone around in the sweetest way,” Sierra giggled to Robin and I.
As the evening wore on, filled with wine and coffee and stories of the boys’ many adventures growing up, my head drifted back to Daniel’s shoulder as soon as he sat beside me.
“Are you having a good time, baby?” he murmured softly.
I nodded. “A wonderful time. Thank you.”
He stared at me strangely, until I asked, “What is it?”
“I still can’t believe just how beautiful you are,” he said with that adorable handsome smile. “And the more I get to know you, the more I see that you are just as beautiful on the inside.”
With his right arm securely around my shoulders, he laced together the fingers of both of our left hands. “Maybe it’s the holidays, or the fact that we played a happily married couple this afternoon, but I feel like I’ve known you for much longer than two days,” he said quietly. “I don’t think it’s quite natural tohave this many feelings for someone right away, but I do. You’re amazing, Prairie. I’m so lucky to have you.”
My heart felt like it was about to explode. “I feel the same way. But it’s a lot to take in all at once.”
“I know,” he said. “We’ll take our time. That’s fine.”
As I snuggled into his shoulder, I wanted to believe Daniel. I wanted everything to turn out all right.
All I had to do was make myself good enough for him, and keep speaking out and being bolder than I naturally was.
