Mom and Dad were going to be invaded by the whole lot of us, but we wouldn’t be spending the entire week together. My family was together a lot and got along most of the time, though Van and I probably gave everyone the most shit. Twins did that, my mom had said when we kids and Van and I were identical with the exception of our tattoos.
We both had two arms of full sleeves. The difference came in what the tattoos actually were and though some of them were the same, people had to get pretty close to notice.
Mack hit a hard bump, causing Daisy to startle and lift her head from Lawson’s shoulder. “Did you run over a human?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes.
“Just a small one,” Lawson muttered.
I cracked a smile but held in my laugh. I wasn’t sure where we were supposed to be where Lawson was concerned.
At first, none of us had liked the idea of Daisy with Lawson. He was too old for her in all of our opinions. Him being twenty-seven, the same age as our oldest brother, Mack, and her being twenty-one just felt like too much.
Van had taken it the hardest for whatever reason. Of course, he’d let up now that he was with Lawson’s sister, but things weren’t what I’d call settled.
“No,” Mack told her as he gave Lawson a hard stare in the review mirror. I don’t think the guy noticed. “Just the fantastic Michigan potholes.”
The music in the car got a little louder. Glancing up, I saw Daltrey with his hand moving away from the radio. The song playing was one getting a lot of air time by Courting Chaos. Fuck, those guys were good.
When the song ended, the DJs came on. I tuned them out until something interesting happened. I didn’t give a shit about this intern woman’s history, which they seemed to want to know about. Nah. I’d listen when they got to the music.
“Let’s talk music.” One of the DJs cut through my fog. “You’re interning at a music station, so what kind of music do you listen to?”
“I grew up around the church choir, but most of the time I only listen to classical.”
The other guy let out a fake gasp. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.” This woman sounded unsure. Whether it was about herself or this being the first time on the radio, if that was the case, I wouldn’t know. But her voice was sweet and I hoped the guys didn’t give her too much of a hard time. “Obviously, I’ve heard more popular music and it’s great, but I grew up on classical.”
“Have you been to any concerts?”
“Tons,” she told him.
“What was your favorite?”
“Actually, my favorite performance wasn’t really a concert. It was more of a showcase of extremely talented local performers.” She was growing in her confidence. I wished I could remember her name. Assuming they said it in the beginning when I wasn’t listening. “Mostly all still in their teens, about five years ago. My favorite performer was a local violin player named Daisy Thompson. She was amazing.”
Daisy perked up, sitting straight as she turned her head back toward me. “Did she just say that I was her favorite performer?”
I snorted and nodded. “I’d guess you’re a lot of people’s favorite performer, Daisy. I don’t think you understand what you do to people when you’re on stage.”
“She doesn’t,” Lawson agreed.
“Yeah, but…” She held her hand up toward the radio like she couldn’t believe she’d heard it.
“Keep listening,” Lawson whispered as he kissed the side of her head.
Him showing affection to our sister didn’t bother me as much as it did Van. Now anyway. She was with him and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it so I’d gotten used to seeing them together. Van hadn’t chilled out at all until after he got with Lexi.
“Seriously?” the DJ asked. “You’re telling me that your favorite performance was Daisy Thompson playing her violin?”
“Yeah,” the woman said the giggled nervously. “Why? Is that weird?”
Better fucking not be weird. Daisy was almost savant-like with music. Her playing her violin was a thing of beauty and something we were all a little jealous of.
“Nope.” The guy sounded like he was trying not to laugh. “Not weird at all. I bet she was awesome.”
She was. I remember the performance the woman was talking about. Daisy had been sixteen and it had been an expo kind of thing. We’d all gone to see her and apparently, so had this intern.
“She was. What’s going on? You two look like you’re about to wet your pants.”
The SUV rumbled with laughter. The intern wasn’t joining in.
“Jurnie, have you kept up with Daisy Thompson? To see what she’s up to today?”
“No. Should I have?” she asked.
“Let me show you what she’s been up to these days.”
That was when one of our songs came on. I knew by the opening notes of her violin that it was “Endless.” As it ended, the DJ cut in, “What do you think?”
“That was really good, but—”
He cut her off.
“The singer is Daisy Thompson and the band is her band, Pushing Daisies.”
“Not her band,” the other guy corrected him, for which I was grateful. We were all in this together. “She’s in it with her brothers and they’re getting quite a lot of radio play.”
“I’ve heard their name before but didn’t know enough about them to put it together. But wow, she’s still awesome.”
That was when Daltrey turned the radio back down and glanced over his shoulder at us. “Ouch.”
We all laughed with the humor he’d intended it to have.
“We’re all just trying to be part of the Daisy show,” Van said while still laughing.
“Stop.” She sat back and folded her arms over her stomach. Daisy was the only one not joining in on the fun.
The idea of us being her minions had always been uncomfortable for her, but she was the one with the most talent. This was our band, but there was no denying her star power or the fact that, while the guys and I had tinkered for years, we hadn’t been complete until we’d gotten her to join us. She had the voice of a fucking angel.
“I’m serious,” she insisted, which made us, including Mack, laugh harder. “You guys know that’s now how I feel.”
But the more she talked, the more we laughed. There was no hierarchy when it came to Pushing Daisies. We were all in this together, but damn, if we could give her shit, we were going to take the opportunity.
“They’re fucking with you,” Lawson said quietly, but the SUV was small and we could all hear him.
Daisy sighed. “I hate you all.”
It was another full minute before we were done with her.
“Poor Jurnie,” Daltrey said after we’d calmed down.
“Who the fuck is Jurnie?” I asked.
He turned toward me with his face contorted in a way that said I was being stupid. “The intern on the radio. They were harassing her to no end. We all know what it’s like to be the new guy.”
“She gave it back to them.” I brushed him off. He was right. We did all know what it was like to be the new guy.
“Yeah, she had a great personality,” Daltrey told us as if that were proof of anything.