Pushing Up Daisies (9 page)

Adonis smiled and winked. “Our dinner’s getting cold. Aren’t you coming?”

I’d follow this man anywhere.
She smiled as she walked beside the man she’d always dreamed of having at her side.

T
he day was ruined. Daisy had been planning to celebrate her first job, but the letter she was holding had crushed her mood. Social Security had denied Jay survivor benefits. She raked her fingers through her hair. “This can’t be right. No way.”

She dialed Gigi at work. “I need you to come over right away.”

“Daisy, you know I don’t get off until—”

“Gigi, I’ve never asked you for anything. Swore that I wouldn’t. But now, for Jay’s sake, I’m asking you to come.”

“Okay, I’ll make up some excuse. I’ll be right over.”

“I’ll be waiting outside.”

Confused, angry, and skeptical, Daisy paced the sidewalk waiting for her medication to slow her pulse. The house made her feel claustrophobic, as if the walls were swallowing her whole. Breathing didn’t come easily and she needed every ounce of air she inhaled, but more important, she needed answers, and someone was going to give them to her, even if that someone was Jasper’s mother. She stopped pacing when she saw Ming Li pull up with Gigi right behind her.

“You two know, don’t you?”

Gigi stopped in her tracks. “Know what?”

“You know what I’m talking about. You two know. That’s why Ming Li’s here.”

“I’m here because Gigi called me and told me something happened to Jay. What’s going on?”

Damn.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t know what the hell is real anymore. I’m talking about this.” Daisy held the envelope in the air.

Gigi grabbed it and read. “Oh, God.”

Ming Li took it from Gigi, glanced at it, and covered her mouth. “Oh, shit.”

The three women sat thinking in Ming Li’s living room.

Gigi finally broke the silence. “Okay, we gotta figure this out.”

“It’s impossible,” Daisy said.

“It’s a mistake, that’s what it is. A simple mistake.”

“But what if it’s not?” Ming Li asked.

“How could it not be?” Gigi replied.

Daisy grabbed the letter from Ming Li. “I’m looking at it. It’s here.” She tapped the letter. “It’s right here, written in black and white.”

“Computers make mistakes.”

Daisy sighed. “Yeah, and people lie.”

She read a portion aloud:

“He’s Jasper’s son. There has to be some clerical error,” Gigi insisted.

Ming Li stared straight ahead.

Daisy stood. “Fuck that. Gigi, do you know where your aunt lives?”

Ming Li jumped up. “No! Don’t go over there. Please don’t.” Her eyes were teary, something Daisy and Gigi had never seen before. “I know. I know everything.”

“What in the hell?” Gigi said, dumbfounded.

Daisy approached Ming Li. “Spit it out.”

Ming Li slumped on the sofa. “I knew Desiree, Jay’s mother. Jay is Jonathan’s son, not Jasper’s.”

“Jasper’s twin?” Daisy asked. “Wait. I’m not understanding this. None of it. If Jay is Jonathan’s son, why didn’t the family know about him?”

“I’m speechless,” Gigi said.

Tears streamed down Ming Li’s face. “Jonathan and I were best friends. I knew him before I met Jasper. And I know for a fact that he and Desiree were together. They were a couple. Desiree was wild. She slept around a lot—more than I do. After Jay was born, she contracted HIV and gave it to Jonathan. She died first…and fast. Didn’t get treated soon enough.”

Daisy couldn’t take the half-truths, half-stories. “Ming Li, get to the point. Where does Jasper fit into all this?”

Ming Li swallowed. “Jasper knew Jonathan’s secret. When they were kids, their stepfather doted on Jasper, but he hated Jonathan. Jonathan was a threat, and his stepfather beat him mercilessly. Somehow Jonathan had discovered that his stepdad had a past, that he’d been accused of fondling some little boy. He confronted him about it. Jonathan later told his mother everything, about the beatings and the molestation. She never did a thing. Didn’t protect her son, or question it—”

“Oh…my…God,” Gigi said. “I had no idea. How could they? It had to be the money. Their stepfather was loaded. After they married, she started acting different, treating the family like shit. That’s why she’s an outcast.”

Ming Li nodded. “Right. And Jonathan disappeared as soon as he was old enough to make it on his own. Their mother never heard from him again, and Jasper never admitted to knowing his whereabouts. She never knew she had a grandson. Before Jonathan died, Jasper promised him he’d keep Jay away from that dysfunctional household. Jay’s safety was not to be gambled with.”

Daisy couldn’t concentrate. Orders were rushing in and flowing out in vases, elaborate arrangements, and boxes. The clock was ticking fast, but time stood still every moment she thought about Jay. Beauty filled every corner of the flower shop and burst into full blooms in the storefront window. But all Daisy pictured was the ugliness of Jasper’s family that Ming Li had told her about. She prayed Jay wouldn’t have to see it.

One more order and I’m out of here.
She looked at her watch and pepped up as she did every day around closing time. She selected a handful of white carnations and began to arrange them in a circle. “Is this for a man or a woman?” she asked no one, then reread the order slip. She shook her head in disbelief.
Not again,
she thought. She was supposed to be creating a wedding arrangement, not a funeral spray. But she hadn’t been able to help it; death had knocked on her door when Jasper had died and kept finding ways to stay—to remind her of who he really was.

Daisy locked up the flower shop, relieved. She hadn’t been able to think straight for over a week, and she’d almost mixed up two orders. The house had been tense. She and Ming Li had been avoiding each other ever since the revelation. Daisy understood the principle of the matter, and she still loved Ming Li, but she now had to question whether she could trust her. Eventually, she knew, one of them had to give in. Ming Li was in the wrong, but Daisy would have to take the first step. She hated to acquiesce, but she was living under Ming Li’s roof. The last thing she wanted was for Jay to return to a tense house.

She didn’t want to go back to the house, so she walked around the neighborhood to kill time. After an hour or so, and one too many coffees, her bladder felt as if it were going to burst. Just then, she noticed an office building with scaffolding in the front.
Please let them have a restroom I can sneak into.
She walked through the glass doors and spotted a security guard, who was busy reading a newspaper. She hated to disturb him, but Mother Nature left her no choice.

“Hi.” She danced in place the way children do when they can’t hold it.

“May I help you?” he asked without looking up.

“Yes, may I use your restroom?”

“Not open to the public.” He still didn’t make eye contact.

“Please. No one will know. It’s after hours.”

The security officer looked up now and scowled at her. “No.”

“Damn,” Daisy said, slapping the counter. She turned to leave.

“Wait,” the man called out.

Yes, thank you.
“Yes?”

“Try two doors down. Their security isn’t as tight.”

Daisy walked out without saying a word.
New Yorkers! He knows he could’ve let me use the bathroom.
She speed-walked to the building two doors down to the right, but found it locked.
Was he talking about two doors down to the left, or to the right?

Daisy turned away. If she didn’t find a bathroom soon, she was going to cry.
Times like this, I wish I were a man.

She doubled back and went two doors to the left and peeked inside the glass doors of an office building. “Whew,” she breathed when she didn’t see anyone inside. The marble-tiled halls and wood-grained walls made her think of lawyers.

As she entered the seemingly empty building, Daisy noticed pots of plants and flowers strewn on the floor. She hoped they weren’t going to be planted together; the ones that would help each other thrive weren’t next to each other. She squeezed her legs together and tried to think what should go where, but her bladder ballooned a reminder of why she’d come in here.
When I come out.
She jigged and began her mission for the bathroom.

On her way out, she started rearranging the pots. After inspecting the leaves that were turning brown on some, and moving the wilted ones into brighter light, she stopped to move one more, but felt a presence behind her.

“Excuse me. Are you supposed to be here?”

Daisy turned to find an older gentleman standing behind her. “I’m sorry. I just needed to use the facilities.” She started for the exit.

“Wait. What were you doing with the plants? Weren’t you just moving them?”

Daisy smiled. “Sorry about that. But if they were going to be planted in the order they were lined up, they were in the wrong place.”

“Really? How do you know?”

“It’s what I do.”

“Landscape, hunh?”

“Not really. I work in a flower shop. But I have a degree in horticulture, and I used to work for my dad. He had his own landscape company, Great Escapes.” Daisy held up her hand. “ ‘Growing’ hands run in our family.”

“You’re not a native New Yorker, are you? I hear an accent.” He extended his hand and offered Daisy a business card. “I’m Mr. Wiles. And you are…?”

“Daisy Parker. I’m originally from California,” she said, shaking his hand. “Nice to meet you. I apologize for intruding.”

“No, I’d love for you to intrude again. Did you say you do landscaping? I just fired the company that does mine. They just never get it right, and I can’t keep paying for dead plants. You seem to have a genuine love for greenery, a knack. I’d love to give you a shot at the job, especially since I’m a native Californian myself.”