Daisy gave the other woman a look. “I thought we’d decided that I wasn’t an Amish grandmother. Besides, I don’t really sleep much. We could meet at midnight, for all I care.” An unhappy sound to her left made her turn her head and catch Chris’s frown. After giving him a reassuring smile, she turned back to the women. “Eight is fine.”
With that settled, everyone except Daisy and Chris said their good-byes and clustered into the small space between the interior and outer doors. Six people made it a fairly tight fit, but Daisy could hear them chatting and jostling each other good-naturedly, so no one seemed to mind waiting to exit until she’d secured the inner door.
When the locks were refastened, Chris reached over her shoulder and slapped the door with his open palm a couple of times. The voices faded as the group left, and the outside door cut them off completely when it closed behind them. Daisy looked over her shoulder at Chris.
“That went well, don’t you think?” Without giving him a chance to answer, she added, “It felt like it went well. At least, I’m pretty sure it did. Right?”
He waited until she fell silent. “You done?” She glared at him, but he just looked amused. “It went very well.”
Slumping back against the wall, Daisy felt suddenly exhausted—happy, but exhausted. “It was nice of you to lead the training.”
He shrugged off her thanks. “I enjoyed it. If I ever get sick of being a cop, I might become a personal trainer.”
“You can practice on us, then.” She smiled at him. “We’ll give you good references when you start training the rich snow bunnies who want to improve their skiing.”
Making a face, he admitted, “That doesn’t sound appealing. Maybe I’ll stick with training cops instead.”
“And me,” Daisy said on a yawn.
“And you, snoozy. Go take a nap.”
Surprisingly, she felt like she could sleep for a week. “Are you taking off, then?”
“Yes, if you can pry yourself off the door.” His smile was teasing.
“I suppose.” With put-on reluctance, she straightened and stepped to the side. “Thanks again, Chris.”
He was watching her in an odd way, but he just said, “You’re welcome, Dais. Sleep well.”
*
She couldn’t take her eyes off the gun. Even when she heard the sheriff’s deputy yelling at him to drop his weapon, and she knew that help had arrived, her gaze remained fixed on the matte black surface of the pistol. She saw his finger, curled around the trigger, pull tighter and tighter until—
Something woke her abruptly. Sitting up quickly before she was fully awake, she swayed a little as she listened for whatever noise had disturbed her sleep. All was quiet, though, and she eventually relaxed.
The clock on her nightstand glowed, showing that it was close to ten p.m. With a yawn, she relaxed back against the pillows, but the spurt of adrenaline that had shot through her veins when she startled awake kept her heart beating quickly and her eyelids open. With a sigh, she resigned herself to being awake for at least a few hours.
Kicking off the covers, she slid out of bed. If she wasn’t going to sleep, there was no sense in wasting time lying there and staring at the dark ceiling. She might as well be productive.
Daisy cleaned the training room first, snickering to herself at the sight of Max’s now-covered lower half. As promised, Callum had brought a pair of sweatpants and had even dressed the dummy himself. While she stood on a bench so she could wipe down the pull-up bar, the memory of the guys having their impromptu competition made her smile again.
It had been a fun day. Before the group training session, Daisy had been worried that she’d accidentally do something or say something that would drive them away, never to return again. As much as she loved her books and computer time, it would’ve been hard to go back to seeing only Chris and her father occasionally. Now, she had Monday night’s get-together to look forward to, plus they’d been talking about making the training sessions a regular, couple-times-a-week thing.
As she moved the mats so she could vacuum, she did a mental inventory of the pantry and freezer. The Monday evening meeting would be held too late for a big meal, but she had the ingredients to make teriyaki meatballs and crab wontons. She wished she had eggs, so she could make some brownies, too.
“What do you think, Max?” she asked over the whine of the vacuum. “Would it be crossing a line to ask Chris to pick up a few things at the store?”
The dummy dangled silently on his hook, his new sweatpants hanging low on his hips.
“I know he brought groceries today without me asking, but it’s different when I request it. It changes it from a favor between friends to, I don’t know, a duty for the poor housebound girl, I guess. I don’t want him to see me as helpless and needy.”
Max’s silence felt slightly judgmental.
“I know, I know. I am needy and kind of helpless. It’s stupid, but I want Chris to look at me and see a whole person, not just this living ghost haunting my house.”
Turning off the vacuum, she gave Max an accusatory glare.