Page 66 of Guys Can't Write Romance
The room went completely silent for Chad as the words sank in. “Wow. I had no idea. He’s the guy in the Army uniform in her picture on the wall?”
“Yeah. Captain Michael Fields.”
“What happened?”
“Pancreatic cancer. They didn’t discover it until it was already too late.”
“That sucks. She’s still taking it pretty hard?”
“She was always daddy’s little girl, so it really killed her inside.”
Chad swallowed. “Tell her I’m sorry.”
“You should tell her yourself. It would probably mean a lot, considering this enemies to lovers romance you guys keep side-stepping.”
Chad rolled his eyes. “She won’t mind that you told me?”
“She knows I can’t keep my mouth shut. And notice how you avoided the romance topic.”
“I wasn’t dignifying it with a response,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket and opening its calendar app. “You said it’s a week from today?”
“Yeah. And bonus points if you can make her smile and laugh. Because Ethan’s a lost cause in the emotions department.”
“I noticed that. He seems pretty full of himself, too.”
“I can think of a few less family-friendly adjectives to describe him.”
“Why does she stay with him?”
“Well, I can give you her auto-response answers about him being mature, and stable, and secure, blah, blah, blah, but you ask me, I think it’s because he feels familiar by now. Daze isn’t big on new experiences.”
Chad grinned. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“I’m still shocked that you got her to go to a bar, watch baseball, eat pub food, and actually have fun. You don’t realize what a huge accomplishment that was.”
“Don’t forget the beer-nose snort thing.”
Chloe grinned. “That one’s burned into my memory. I’ll be an old lady in a houseful of cats and still laugh when I think about it.”
“So, how’d they meet?”
“You remember Ava?”
“The uptight attorney who majored in bitch?”
“None other. She set them up. And there’s a room waiting for her in hell for doing it. It was the week her dad died, which also happened to be the week she broke up with her cheating loser boyfriend. Ethan worked at one of her law firm’s investment banking clients, and in a colossal brain malfunction, psycho attorney arranged for them to meet over drinks. Cut to two days later, and Daisy has some condolence flowers and cards, ‘supposedly’ from Ethan, show up at her school.” Chloe made the air-quotes with her fingers. “Notice how I put the ‘supposedly’ in air quotes.”
“You don’t think Ethan sent them?”
Chloe shook her head. “That was all Ava. Also, around that time, Daisy found out her mom was about to lose the family home because of her dad’s medical bills. The VA finally paid them, but the scare really pushed security high up Daisy’s list of priorities.”
“That explains the male leads in her books.”
“Yup. Spreadsheets and 401(k)s, with the personality of soap dishes. I.E, Ethan. But I think that might be changing. You’re getting her to laugh and have fun, and I think she’s starting to see that it’s not an either-or proposition. She can go out and laugh till beer comes out her nose and still pay her bills.”
“This may be the first time anyone’s accused me of being a good influence.”
“Don’t let it go to your head. But, yeah. You’re good for her, Chad. Daze will never admit it, but I see it. And so does Ava. Which makes it a double win for me, since I get to watch her fume.”
