Violet took a step toward her, laying her hands on the back of the chair across from her. “We know you feel bad, but you can’t just stop living.”
Feeling bad didn’t even begin to describe what she felt every day. The light she’d lived in was gone now, and she didn’t know how to get it back. The pain was so intense, she woke thinking she was dying most days and was surprised she hadn’t yet. Could a person die of a broken heart? Even one you created on your own?
Rose joined Violet at the table, pulling out a chair to sit down. “You need to get out of the house.” She glanced at Violet before saying, “You’ll be going to the store to work with us.”
She stilled. Did she read her lips wrong? Did she say they wanted her to work at the store?
“Not every day,” Violet said. “But after breakfast, we want you at the store.”
“You don’t have to talk to anyone,” Rose added. “Just stock shelves or do the inventory. Anything to get you out of the house?”
Were they going to force her to work?
She’d never worked at the store. Not once in her nineteen years had she been made to work there, and now that she was at her lowest, when she felt one breath away from dying, they expected her to go to the store every day as if her life wasn’t a string of miserable, unbearable days? In full view of people who would try to talk to her?
“I can’t.” She shook her head, meeting both their eyes. “There are too many people there.”
“And you don’t have to talk to any of them,” Violet said. “But we want you there.”
She opened her mouth to say more, but Rose held up a hand. “That’s final, Daisy. Come first thing tomorrow, you will go to the store and stay until we send you home. Your depression is over. It’s time to get on with your life.”
Working at the store was every bit as unpleasant as Daisy thought it would be. Not only did she have to pretend to want to be there, but she had to stop and talk to those who started conversations with her, which was difficult on a normal day. Now, when she didn’t even wish to be seen, let alone spoken to, it was torture.
She discovered that making them repeat themselves several times made them smile and wish her a good day before they’d move on, so that’s what she did. Anytime anyone approached her, she’d feign ignorance when they spoke to her, saying she didn’t understand them before they’d tire of trying and leave. She almost felt bad about it. They were only trying to be nice, but she didn’t feel like being nice back. Despite Rose telling her that her depression was over, it wasn’t. The sorrow she felt couldn’t be turned off on a whim, so she went through the motions. Stocking shelves while acting as if nothing was wrong, all the while, her heart withered inside her chest.
For two weeks, she did that, and as unbearable as it was, the day her worst nightmare walked into the store, something in Daisy seemed to snap. Veronica and her mother waltzed into the building as if they owned it, and the moment she locked eyes with Veronica, the jealousy and anger she’d felt seeing the girl's arms around Clay’s neck returned in a flash.
Daisy’s body went hot with anger, her fingers itching to scratch the girl's eyes out, and when she took a step to do just that, she remembered where she was and turned her back to the girl instead. She couldn’t even look at her. Every time she did, she saw her and Clay kissing or embracing in the stable, and she found it hard to breathe.
She lifted one of the jars of preserves Mabel Simmons used for trades and placed it on the shelf she was stocking. There weren’t many left now that more snow was falling. People were gathering food, and she didn’t blame them. Winters were hard.
Lifting her arm to set the last jar of apples on the shelf, she stumbled when someone grabbed her and jerked her back. She lost her hold on the jar of preserves, watching it slip from her fingers before hitting the floor, the glass breaking to sling apples over her shoes. She gasped before lifting her head to see who had grabbed her arm. Finding Veronica there made something dark and ugly sit up straight as she locked eyes with her.
“I will never forgive you,” Veronica said, her words clipped and no doubt loud as everyone within earshot stopped to look at them. Veronica’s face was red, her lips pinched bloodless, before she opened her mouth and started speaking again.
Daisy was only able to catch a few words here and there: “Clay…Your fault…hate you…mine,” before she turned away. Just because she couldn’t hear Veronica scream at her didn’t mean she had to let her.
The words made her anger intensify, heat spreading through her limbs. Mine. Did the girl honestly think Clay was hers? The desire to do her harm made her turn her back before she did something stupid. She blocked Veronica out, ignoring her completely as she looked at the apples at her feet. Rose would no doubt make her scrub the floors now.
Veronica grabbed her arm again and gave it a jerk. Her feet slipped on the apples, and before she could catch her balance, she fell. Glass bit into her knee, the pain registering as it burrowed deep and stuck. She yelled, the pain shocking as she twisted and fell back onto her butt. Lifting her skirt up, she saw the glass, fragments of it sticking out of her skin. Pulling the glass from her leg, she sucked in a breath before looking up at Veronica. The girl's face was red, her lips moving so fast she couldn’t make out any of the words she was saying, and she was no doubt screaming them at her.
Her blood ran hot moments before the girl drew her foot back and kicked her. The shock only lasted a moment before she jumped to her feet as fast as her bleeding leg allowed her to. Veronica’s face was blood red, spittle flying from her mouth, and when the girl raised her hand as if she were going to hit her, Daisy was faster. Her arm swung out, her palm hitting Veronica’s cheek so hard, it stung. The slap not only stilled the hateful words Veronica was spitting at her, but it made a tiny part of her soul jump in triumph. It was short-lived. Veronica’s mouth pinched tight a moment before she launched herself at her, their bodies hitting hard before they both toppled over and hit the floor.
She’d only ever been in one rolling brawl, and that had been with Violet. She didn’t even remember what they’d been fighting over; it had been so long ago, but she recalled their hits being weak, as if they knew better than to hurt each other. That was not the case with Veronica. Her slaps were hard and meant to inflict pain, and once the girl grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling so hard Daisy knew she’d ripped strands out by the roots, she didn’t hold back. They rolled over the broken glass and the preserves and kicked the surrounding tables so hard the items on them crashed to the floor.
She dug her nails into the girl's skin, yanked her hair and balled up her fist, and hit her in the face, which only angered Veronica more. They fought until they were both bleeding, stopping only when someone grasped her under her arms, jerking her off the floor as someone grabbed Veronica and did the same. Daisy kicked out with her leg, catching Veronica in the stomach before the girl started screaming again.
It was Josiah who held Veronica, and he lifted her, turning her away so she could no longer see her. The powerful arms around her waist grew tighter as she was pulled across the room to the curtain that separated the storage area from the rest of the store. When she was behind the curtain, the heavy fabric falling shut to conceal them from everyone out front, she was placed on one of the crates along the wall. She looked up and saw Graham’s angry face. It was nearly as red as Veronica’s had been. His lips were moving, but she didn’t even try to figure out what he was saying.
Rose swung the curtain aside as she stepped into the room. She took one look at her and started yelling, her lips moving so fast she couldn’t make out a single word. Not that it mattered. She knew her sister was berating her for fighting a customer in the store, and had it been anyone other than Veronica, she would have felt bad about it. It was stupid, fighting over a man she actively sent away by not accepting his marriage proposal, but life worked that way sometimes.
Her legs burned as the cuts from the glass finally registered. She looked down and pulled the hem of her dress up to see blood running down her legs, and she didn’t even realize she was crying until tears obscured her vision.
Her shoulders slumped as weeks of loneliness and despair poured out in harsh sobs. Rose stopped speaking, her expression full of pity, before she looked up at Graham. He turned and left her alone with Rose a moment later. Her sister said nothing for long minutes, just sat beside her until she was all cried out. When she’d calmed, Rose grabbed her chin and turned her head so she could see her face. “What are you doing, Daisy?”
The question only brought more tears. She didn’t know what she was doing. Or how to stop the pain she lived with now. She woke feeling hollowed out, a shell of the girl she used to be, and she hated every second of it. She wanted her old self back. The one who was happy to be alive, even though the world around her was silent.
Rose was still looking at her, her lips turned down into a frown. “What was that all about?”
