Stranger in Paradise

64.

In the back of Daisy’s Restaurant, there was a bedroom with a single bed, and a bathroom with a shower.

“I lived here when I first opened the restaurant,” Daisy said. “I was still single.”

“And how is the lovely Mrs. Dyke,” Jesse said.

“She’s great. And she’s starting to sell her paintings.”

“Good for her,” Jesse said.

“Makes her happy,” Daisy said. “Which makes me happy.”

“I got a kid,” Jesse said. “A runaway, fourteen, I think. Mother’s dead. Father’s a gangster. She doesn’t want to live with him. At the moment we’re taking care of her at my place.”

“We?”

“Jenn and me.”

“Congratulations,” Daisy said.

“It’s temporary,” Jesse said. “Molly can’t work twenty-four hours a day, and I can’t keep her there myself.”

“That would be your style,” Daisy said. “Sex with fourteen-year-old girls.”

“They’re so fun to talk with after,” Jesse said. “How about you?”

Daisy grinned. She was a big blonde woman with a round, red face and when she smiled like that it was as if a strong light went on.

“I’m an age-appropriate girl, myself,” she said.

“And the wife?” I said.

“Angela likes me,” Daisy said.

“Okay,” Jesse said. “If I can make it work, I’m going to keep her from her father, and I’m looking for someplace to put her.”

“To raise?” Daisy said.

“No, to give her an option.”

“And you think Daisy Dyke is going to play Mother Courage?”

“She can work in the restaurant, sleep in the back. I’ll be responsible for her. Get her registered for school, take her to the doctor, whatever.”

Daisy stared at him.

“She old enough to get a work permit?”

“I think so,” Jesse said.

“Is she a pain?” Daisy said.

“You bet,” Jesse said.

“Might she run off anyway?”

“Absolutely,” Jesse said.

“And you think the town will feel much better about her living with two lesbians than they would about her living with you?”

“I think so,” Jesse said. “More important, though, I think it would be better for her.”

“Because a fourteen-year-old girl living alone with an unrelated man will tie herself into some kind of Oedipal knot?” Daisy said.

“You’re pretty smart for a queer cook,” Jesse said.

“I used to see a shrink,” Daisy said. “When I was trying to figure out if I should be a lesbian.”

“Well, it must have worked,” Jesse said.

“I don’t seem ambivalent about it,” Daisy said, “do I.”

“I don’t know if this will happen,” Jesse said. “It won’t happen until I am sure her father will not present a problem for anybody.”

“This is a just-in-case,” Daisy said.

Jesse nodded.

“You want to discuss it with Angela?”

“No,” Daisy said. “I’ll do it.”

“Like that?”

“I’m not from here, Jesse, and neither are you,” Daisy said. “Neither one of us exactly belongs. And probably neither one of us ever will.”

Jesse shrugged.

“And I didn’t improve my chance for membership by marrying Angela Carlson,” Daisy said. “Of the Paradise Carlsons.”

“I think most people don’t give much of a damn one way or the other,” Jesse said. “Unless they’re running for office and their opponent is winning.”

Now Daisy shrugged.

“Maybe,” she said. “You may recall, I got some nasty feedback when I got married. But you’ve had problems of your own, and you do a tough job well, and ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been a decent and welcoming friend. I love it that you called me a queer cook.”

Jesse grinned.

“Can I take that as a yes?” Jesse said.

“You may,” Daisy said. “And to prove it I’ll give you the secret lesbian sign.”

She put her arms around Jesse and kissed him. Jesse hugged her for a moment and stepped back.

“You know,” he said, “we heteros have a similar sign.”