“Oh, shit,” Cash whispered as he realized why she lost it.
A subject she’d avoided like the plague since she was placed with Ms. Lopez.
Cash’s arms tightened further, and his heart thudded like a drum beneath her ear, sympathy spilling out as he held her hedged in the safety of who he was.
“I can only imagine, Daisy. Or maybe I can’t. I have no clue what that would be like.”
“It’s the worst thing in the world, Cash, knowing I will never see her again.” She clung to him like he could stop her from drowning. “She should have only been gone for fifteen minutes, and I waited and waited for her to come back, and she never did.”
She never did.
And their mother was the only thing she and her sister had.
“I hate it for you, Daisy. I hate it.”
“I feel so empty. Like a shell that has no shape. Like I might collapse in on myself.”
“I know it might feel that way, but I can see you. Feel you. And I bet your mom can, too, even though you can’t see her.”
“Do you really believe that?” she whispered, still clutching to him.
He ran a hand down the back of her head. “Yeah, I’ve gotta believe we are more than only this.”
Her mouth tweaked at the side, though the tears wouldn’t stop falling. “I want to believe that, too.”
“What do we have if we don’t believe?” His lips moved against her head.
She could only nod, clinging to the idea.
She stayed like that for the longest time before she peeled herself away and sat up.
Cash sat up, too.
A knee drawn up as he faced her on the bed. He peered at her through the shadows cast by the credits that rolled on the screen.
His shirt was soaked with tears and she was pretty sure some of her snot.
Embarrassment rushed. Sniffling, she whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
A frown cut deep between his brows, and he reached out and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “You’re my best friend, Daisy. You don’t have to be sorry. I’m here. You’re not alone anymore.”
SIXTEEN
CASH
I followedTheo through the back door of Ivy Threads, maneuvering a ridiculous mannequin that was naked and as tall as me through the storeroom and out into the main area of the boutique. Trying to keep my shit together as I continued to war with the request that Daisy had made.
My insides in knots and my mind so twisted and tied I couldn’t make sense of a single thought.
Wrought with worry and dread and the long ago promise I made that I would do anything she asked.
But what she was asking…
Two weeks had passed with them staying at my cabin.
Two weeks of no one else knowing they were there.
Two weeks of turmoil as I struggled to figure out what the hell I was going to do.
