When everyone gathered by the door in preparation for leaving, Ellie pulled her back. Surprised, Daisy allowed the other woman to tow her to a corner of the kitchen. After a quick glance at them, George kept his distance, even if that distance was only ten feet.
“I just wanted to tell you how brave I think you’re being.” Ellie rushed the whispered words, as if she knew they’d have only a minute of privacy before someone crashed their conversation. “When George has to go on a search and rescue call during the night”—she took a quick glance over Daisy’s shoulder, presumably to make sure he wasn’t in hearing distance—“I get so scared when I’m alone out there, even with a deputy sitting in a squad car outside. Instead of sleeping, I prowl around the house, checking the door lock for the millionth time. George doesn’t know it bothers me. If I told him, he wouldn’t leave, and then whoever was lost in the wilderness wouldn’t get George’s help. They might die, all because I’m a chicken.”
Daisy had no idea what the right thing to say was. It wasn’t like she was the best person to be giving advice about anxiety. “I’m sorry.”
Her mouth turning down at the corners, Ellie admitted, “I didn’t used to be like this. I used to love being alone, until…” With a small shrug, she gestured toward the center of her chest.
“You were shot,” Daisy said. “I think you have the right to be scared.”
“I just wish they’d catch him. Not knowing if he’s in Mexico or watching me from the trees outside my bedroom window is making me crazy.”
Grabbing her hand, Daisy gave it a comforting squeeze. “I never sleep.” When Ellie just blinked at that, she clarified, “I mean, I have insomnia. Next time George has to go on a call at night, give me a buzz. If you think it would help, I mean. That way, we can talk about something completely unrelated to murder or gun-toting psychos. Okay?”
Ellie’s eyes got a little glassy with tears, but she smiled. “Okay. That sounds…good. There’s something about being up at two in the morning that makes me feel like the only person on Earth, you know?”
“Oh, I know.”
When Ellie focused on something over her shoulder, Daisy knew their private time was done. This was confirmed by George’s rumbling voice.
“Ready?”
Her smile broadening, Ellie nodded. “Bye, Daisy. Thank you.”
“Anytime.” As she followed them to the door, Daisy tried to analyze the odd—but good—sensation she was experiencing. She finally realized that she felt helpful. It had been so long since she’d offered a hand, rather than always being the one accepting it. Excitement fizzed through her, carbonating her blood. It almost felt like she was floating.
Everyone made their way through the interior doorway, chatting and shouting final good-byes to Daisy.
“I’ll call you later,” Chris said quietly in her ear. “I’m so proud of you.”
When she turned to smile at him, their gazes clung. The voices in the background faded until it was just the two of them. When Chris stepped back, breaking the moment, Daisy had to resist reaching out to him, grabbing him and keeping him with her. Instead, she contained herself and just watched as he joined the others.
Once everyone was cleared from the entryway, she gave a last wave and closed the inner door. Each dead bolt slid home with a thud, and then she reached for the bottom chain lock. Before she could touch it, her fingers stopped in midair. Instead of latching it, she left both chains hanging uselessly against the door.
Raising her fist, she gave her usual “good to go” pound. She heard the exterior door open and her friends as they spilled out, talking and laughing as they headed to all the places she couldn’t go.
Yet. She looked at the two unlatched chains and smiled. She couldn’t go yet.
Chapter 14
The knock was so hesitant that Daisy only heard it because she was standing by the door. She’d been staring at the final dead bolt for an embarrassing amount of time. Her hand kept creeping toward it, but she’d been successful so far in not touching it. The interior door was completely unlocked, and she would’ve been excited and proud if she hadn’t been so close to screaming hysterically and possibly fainting.
At the hesitant tap, tap, tap, she jumped as high as if someone had slammed into the door with a battering ram. Her finger fumbled for the intercom button, but she hit the unlock one instead. Her entire body went rigid. Illogically, her main source of panic was not that she’d just let who-knows-whom into her house, but that there were no locks between her and the open door.