Reid’s lips quirked in the beginnings of a smile, causing the rigid line of his jaw to relax a miniscule amount. Maybe Jinx had broken the ice. It was a nice, if overly hopeful, thought.
“I don’t know,” he said. “If protection was your goal, you might have considered choosing a larger, more menacing breed of dog.”
“Oh, she does the job well enough. She has you good and cornered, doesn’t she?”
“I’m humoring her,” Reid said, his tone sandpaper-dry. “Until she loses interest.”
“She’s stubborn on this account.”
“I’m fairly sure I can outwait a dog.”
“You can try, but as long as you’re here, she won’t stop.” Deciding to make her stance clear before the energy in the room shifted again, Daisy pulled every ounce of her strength to the surface and said, “Just be careful when you leave that you don’t let Jinx out. She runs like the wind, and I don’t relish the idea of chasing her down in this snow.”
“Good to know.” Reid shook his leg harder. All that did was compel Jinx to grab on tighter, growl louder and pull with increased force. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
“Um...of course you are,” Daisy said firmly. “You’re going home.”
Dark, molasses-hued eyes met hers in a silent challenge. “Why would I do that?”
“Simple. I’m here now.”
He looked at her with incredulity. Maybe with the slightest touch of annoyance, as well. “This isn’t that simple, Daisy. Not by any stretch of the imagination.”
“I disagree.” On the basics, anyway, if not the complete picture. “The girls don’t need two caregivers, and since I’m here, there isn’t any reason for you to stay.”
“There are plenty of reasons,” he countered, his voice growing cooler with each syllable. “I’ve been here the entire time. You have not. The girls know me. They do not know you. Add in the difficulty of what they’re going through, how scared they are about their father, and the last thing they need is for anything else to change in their worlds.”
Valid points, all of them. And damn it, she even agreed with his take. Because no, she didn’t want to upset her nieces or add yet another degree of turmoil into their lives. But she absolutely didn’t want Reid here mucking with her emotions.
“I admit I haven’t spent much time with Erin and Megan, but we talk on the phone every now and again, and I send them gifts throughout the year,” Daisy said, forcing authority into her voice, her demeanor. “I am not a stranger to them.”
“Not being a stranger is a hell of a lot different than knowing someone enough to feel comfortable or safe.” Reid swore again, this time under his breath. Whether at the still frantic Jinx or at Daisy’s statement, she couldn’t speculate. Probably both. “And let’s face the facts here. You don’t know them any better than they know you.”
Hurt by his words, by the truth of them, Daisy removed her wet coat and kicked off her shoes. No, she didn’t know her nieces, and she hated that it had taken something as horrible as her brother’s accident to propel her to change the status quo. But she was here now.
“That doesn’t mean we won’t get to know each other, or that they won’t eventually become comfortable. I’m their family, Reid.”
“Family? Depends on your definition. Mine has to do with being present, available, for the people you love.” Reid gave his leg another jerk, this one somewhat stronger than the last. Jinx, bless her heart, held on tight. “I’m not entirely sure my definition applies here.”
Wow. Just...wow. The need to offer a defense came on strong, but why bother? Yes, she’d kept her distance from her family, but Parker and her parents had done the same with her. The culpability—in this regard, anyway—did not wholly rest on her shoulders. More to the point, she didn’t owe Reid any explanations on this aspect of her life. Not a one.
“Seeing how I’m standing in my brother’s home right this very instant, I’m fairly sure your definition does apply,” she said, managing to hold her temper in check. “I don’t know what your expectations are, but—”
“My expectations,” Reid said, slowing his words to a crawl, “are that you’ll visit with your brother, assure yourself of his health and future prognosis, spend a little time with your nieces and go back home. That will take two, maybe three days. Four on the outside.”
“Hold on here. Are you asking me to leave?” Daisy took one step forward, stopped and planted her hands on her hips. “Or are you ordering me to leave?”
“Neither.” His shoulders tensed in frustration. “And my goal isn’t to sound rude, but no one here is counting on you, Daisy. There isn’t any need for you to hang around.”
Ouch. “Guess what, Reid? You don’t get to shoo me off as if I’m some pesky bug.” Sudden moisture dotted her eyes, threatening tears. “And in case you’re wondering, Parker asked me to come, so I’d say he is counting on me.”
“Parker—” Shaking his head in disbelief, Reid said, “I can’t fathom a reasonable scenario where your brother would ask for your help. He knows I have everything under control.”
“Of course you have everything under control, that’s your mantra, isn’t it?” Whoa. Unfair in this circumstance. Unfair, Daisy admitted, in any circumstance. Reid—his current level of rudeness notwithstanding—had never pushed for control, he’d just...stepped into the role with ease. “That was uncalled for and I apologize. But this is not about us.”
“Nope, this isn’t about us.” Reid gave Jinx—who hadn’t yet relented in her growl-and-tug approach—an exasperated, are-you-kidding-me-just-stop-already sort of scowl. “This is about Erin and Megan and what is best for them.”
“Which is what I just said!”
“Not really, no.” Now his eyes were flat, almost...cold. “You state that I should leave, without asking one question about the well-being of your nieces. What’s going on with them, how they’re doing, if there is anything you should know before you give their primary caregiver a boot out the door. Tell me, how is any of that what’s best for Erin and Megan?”
“I’m their aunt, whether you like that fact or not.” She counted to three, then to five. Unfortunately, her frustration didn’t subside. It grew larger. “Parker asked for my help,” she repeated. “I’m here for my brother and my nieces, and I don’t want—”
“Put yourself in their place, if you can,” he said, interrupting Daisy. “Try to imagine how they would feel to wake up in the morning and find you here and me gone. Without any warning or explanation.” Reid snapped his fingers. “Just gone.”
She stifled a gasp as Reid’s full inference hit home. He wasn’t only speaking of Erin and Megan’s feelings, but a reflection of his own from when he read her goodbye letter. Traversing that pothole-ridden road now wouldn’t solve anything, though. Not when their emotions, their shock at seeing one another again, remained so high.
Better, easier, to focus on the issue of who would stay to watch the girls and who would leave. And, at the end of the day, only one person had the authority to send Daisy packing. That person, no matter how much he might wish it to be so, was not Reid.
Lifting her chin, she said, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying for the duration, however long that might last. Unless Parker says different.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s so.” She raised her chin another notch. “You’ll have to find a way to deal with my being here, because that is not changing. I’m taking over