Page 12 of Sugar and Spice
“Daddy, what are you doing here?”
David pointed a finger, charging towards me. “Get away from her Austin Finnigan, or I swear I’ll lay you out, boy.”
I held up my hands and gave him as innocent a smile as I could. “Evening, Mr. Ortiz. Nice to see you.”
“Daddy, stop!” Daisy jumped up from her chair and held out her hands. “Everything is okay.”
“Mrs. O’Leary told me he was pawing at you in the bakery and I didn’t believe it, but this? A dinner? What is this? Are you on a date with him?”
“I want to be here, Daddy. Let me explain.”
“You hate-”
Daisy darted forward, clamping a hand over her father’s mouth. “Daddy, listen to me. I know this looks...strange, but it’s what I want.” Her father’s eyes narrowed at her, but when she made a cross of her heart, he blew out a heavy sigh and nodded at her. They’d always been tight and I respected the hell out of their relationship. Besides, it was saving our ass right now. David Ortiz might know his daughter hated my guts, but he knew well enough to also trust her when she told him she wanted this.
I just hoped that carried forward if I was successful in winning Daisy over. It’d be a hell of a lot easier if it did.
“Fine,” he said, once she removed her hand. He looked around at the film crew and then back to me. “Ah, what is all of this?”
“Just a little dinner with my loving husband after a long day. A long day that I know you had too, isn’t that right, Daddy? And all of these fine folks are here to help us show the world what a wonderful place Clarity is. This is Bunny, isn’t she so nice?” Daisy was speaking slowly, as if she were explaining it all to a child. I might have gotten pissed if she was talking to me like that, but it seemed to be working on her father.
David’s face relaxed and he swallowed hard before giving the film crew a quick nod. “Hello. Nice to meet ya.”
Bunny smiled at him. “Hello, Mr. Ortiz. That was quite a spirited entrance you made. Would you say that you and your son-in-law are not on the best of terms?”
Shiiiiiit.Bunny knew how to play this, all right. This woman wanted drama.
David’s brown eyes, eyes that looked so much like his daughter’s slid to me and I almost laughed at seeing him give me the same annoyed look that Daisy had sent my way for so many years. Like father, like daughter.
“He’s...he’s a pain in my ass.”
This was not going well.
“Daddy!”
“But he’s family,” he went on, and I nodded. Good man. He would lie, but only so much. I could work with that.
“Feelings mutual, pops,” I returned and David sighed. He ignored me, ignored all of us, and looked at Daisy again.
“We need to talk. Come by the house after dinner.”
“Sure thing, Daddy.” She leaned close and kissed his cheek. “Love you. Talk soon.”
“Talk soon, honey.” He kissed her forehead and then cleared his throat, taking a hesitant step back. “Sorry to ruin your filming,” he offered Bunny and the crew with a wave of his hand.
“Oh, no, quite the opposite, Mr. Ortiz. Thank you for coming by for such a spirited intro! Would you mind if I gave you a little ring tomorrow? I think we have a lot to chat about.”
Daisy gave me a panicked look, but there was nothing we could do. Not with the film crew here and the cameras rolling. I gave her a quick shake of my head. We had to let this one ride.
David gave a shrug and nodded at her. “Yeah, that’d be fine,” he said. “I’ll...I’ll be going now. Good night. Enjoy your dinner.”
Daisy gave him a weak smile and waved at him. “Bye, Daddy.”
“Night, honey.” Another gruff nod at the group and her father was turning on his heel and striding out of Carey’s with all of Clarity staring after him.
“Well, now that was special, wasn’t it?” Bunny asked, giving us a speculative look. She knew something was up.
Daisy gave a nervous laugh and sank back down into her seat. “My father never approved of us, on account of our history.”
