Dangerous Territory

Dinner

"It's getting awful late and still no Daisy. I'll call her, she might have forgotten she needed to pick up her fiance." My grandmother laughs to herself. "That girl would forget her head if it weren't attached to her neck."

As my grandma dials Daisy's number, I stand by the door sipping water and watching Daniel haul bags of mulch from the shed. Dropping them on the ground near the garden path it looks like he heaves a sigh and looks up at the house, catching me staring at him. I wink and sip my water before turning and walking to the living room.

"Well, she most definitely did forget. She's so embarrassed." My grandmother says, taking a seat next to me on the sofa.

"Why didn't you tell me his fiance was Daisy Lochlen?" I inquire, turning the tv on and flipping through channels.

"Oh, I figured he'd mention it if you'd spoke to him. You wait till you see her, she's gorgeous." She says. "Oh! I don't know why I sat down, I need to prepare dinner. Give me a hand?"

Turning the tv off, I follow her into the kitchen. She says it's a spaghetti and garlic bread night and I don't disagree. It's my favorite meal.

When I look outside from cutting tomatoes I notice the sun is pretty far behind the horizon. "Gran, I'm going to tell him to come inside and wash up before his fiance arrives."

"Good idea," she smiles. As I walk to the door and yell for Daniel, she puts pasta in the boiling water. Just as he enters and goes to the bathroom to wash his face and hands, my grandmother turns to me. "I think I'll ask them to stay for dinner. What do you think?"

I nearly chop my thumb off and turn around. "Why?"

"What do you mean why? You haven't seen Daisy since you were girls and you never want to leave the house." She turns away from me to stir her noodles and stir the sauce. "It's not normal. A girl should be social. Have friends. Put the tomatoes in, please."

As I drop the tomatoes in the sauce, I sigh. "Grandma, I'm fine. I don't mind not having friends. Plus, you dislike when I'm social."

She heaves a breath. "Yes, because your only social with men. And even still, no prospect for a husband." As she finishes, Daniel walks in and sits at the table.

"I don't need a husband," I glance at Daniel and smirk. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Your father wants to be a grandpa, you know." I cringe at that and she laughs. "He'll be arriving in 2 weeks."

"Yay for that." I roll my eyes.

Before my grandmother can say something else, we hear a honk outside. "Oh!" My grandma exclaims, "she's here!" Just as Daniel is about to get up, she motions for him to sit as she rushes passed him and out the front door.

He looks at me confused and I say, "she wants you both to stay for dinner."

"She what!?" His shoots up and walks to the door.

I laugh and stir the noodles and sauce. My grandma ushers them both into the kitchen, saying, "now you both already have so much going on. Let me feed you and send you on your way."

"Alright, alright, Ms. Walker. We'll stay." A light feminine voice says.

I look up and there she is. Gorgeous and blonde just like when we were kids. Daisy Lochlen. She's slightly taller than me, slimer too. Her hips are defined in the tight dress she's wearing, still not much to say in the chest department. Her brown eyes are glittering under the kitchen lights. High cheek bones as always, her bottom lip filler than the upper. Her hair is in loose curles around her face and when she sees me, her smile shines brighter than the hot summer sun.

"Don't you tell me," she squeals. "Lucille?!"

I give a polite smile and sing "oh, this little light of mine

I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine" dragging out some notes as we did when we were kids, making it our own.

She bounces up and down and rushes to me, embracing me like she'd thought I'd disappear if she let go. I have to admit, it felt good. I hugged her back and laughed.

Backing away, but not letting go of me, she says "and you already met my fiance, Daniel." She looks over at him, beaming. She's in love with him too. If only she knew just how acquainted we were.

As if he knew exactly what I was thinking, he clears his throat. "C'mon darling, let's sit at the table and get out of Ms. Walkers way now."

"Oh! You're right," she says and pulls me over to the dining table. "You have to tell me what you've been up to! After you stopped coming to church I never seen or heard from you." She pouts. It's an adorable pout.

"Well," I start and feel my grandma's eyes weighing heavy on me. "My parents split up and I spent a lot of time with my mother."

Daisy squeezes my hand, "I heard. I'm so sorry, Lucille. How long has it been now? 3 years?"

"Almost 4 now," I correct. "Anyhow, I still visited. But after the split I was angry. I didn't want to go to church and pray because I'd been praying for years that my parents would come together and they didn't. So I was mad at God. Mad at everybody." I glance at my grandma, who was pretending she wasn't listening to every word that left my mouth. God forbid I tell the truth.

Daisy squeezes my hand again and says, "I understand. God understands too. You should come back, sing with me. It'll be like old times." She starts to get excited.

"Who's the preacher these days? I heard about preacher Mark stepping down a few years back." Good riddance.

"My daddy! You believe it? I mean, he is a very holy man. Always has been!" She beams. Her father was always kind to me and anyone he met. I couldn't think of a better replacement for the devil before him.

"That's amazing, you'll have to tell him congratulations for me." I smile.

"Tell him yourself, tomorrow!" She says excitedly.

"Now, honey. You don't wanna overwhelm her," Daniel says, placing a hand on her arm.

I roll my eyes, "I'd love to. The picnic, right?"

"Yes, ma'am!" She says and I wrinkle my nose. Daniel notices and laughs.

"Sure, I'll be there with gran tomorrow afternoon." I tell her.

Just then my grandmother begins placing plates of spaghetti and garlic bread on the table. "Let's say grace and get to eating," she says as she sits down.

-----

After dinner me and Daisy clear the table while my grandma and Daniel discuss plans for the garden.

"I've missed you," Daisy says.

"I've missed you too," and I did. She was the only thing close to a friend I ever had. After spending time with her, I feel myself becoming ashamed of what me and Daniel had done. Daisy was sweet and she was genuine. How could someone hurt her? I began to become angry with not only myself, but at Daniel too. "Hey," I say.

"Hm?" She hummed as she finished the last dish and handed it to me.

"Would you mind if I kept Daniel? I know it's passed 8, but I really want to get this path out there cleared out and put the new mulch down. Plus, it's so much cooler at night. Easier to move around and get stuff done."

She thought for a moment and then smiled, "not a problem. It'll give me some time to soak in the bath while he's away and get to sleep without his snoring. I'll just have him bring me home and he can drive back here."

"Excellent," I look over at him. He was going to get a piece of my mind.