“There’s a safe in Agnes’s closet…”
“A safe? No. I was in there just last week going through things. I lived here most of my life—there’s no safe.”
“It’s hidden behind a false wall,” I blurt out.
Her eyes narrow, and she purses her lips, then turns on her heel to hurry upstairs. I follow after her, knowing where I’m going. By the time I get up there, she’s already pulling the closet door open. Planting her hands on her hips, she looks around.
“I don’t see a thing.”
I squeeze in, our arms brushing as I lean into the small closet and press on the panel that’s hiding the safe. It pops out, and I move it to the side.
She gasps, her eyes widening when she sets them on the safe.
“I had no idea…”
“It took us a long time to find it,” I say.
“Wade and Rhett are stuck on not trying to fix this anymore, so they also didn’t want me to show this to you. They’re tired of being disappointed.”
Daisy looks back at the safe. “I don’t know what the code could be.”
“It’s only four digits,” I say.
“How do you know that?”
“It beeps when you press the buttons. We’ve heard her use it before. Didn’t put two and two together until a couple weeks ago, when we found the safe and tried to get into it ourselves.”
“Four digits?” she says softly, stepping forward and putting in a code. It blinks red. She tries another. Red again. “How many chances do I get?”
“Uh… there is a limit?”
“I wasn’t sure if this was like a cell phone and you only have so many wrong entries before it locks it.”
“I don’t know what that means…”
Understanding crosses her eyes. “Right, sorry. You aren’t very familiar with technology. Well, this safe looks old, so let's hope I get as many chances as needed.”
She steps further out of the closet, stopping in front of me.
She’s very close. So close I can smell the floral scent of her shampoo and see the different shades of color in her hazel eyes. Her lips are full, her skin flawless. Her light brown hair is pulled back in a messy ponytail, and she’s much shorter than me.
“You’re really pretty,” I breathe out.
Her cheeks turn pink. “Thank you.”
Smiling, I step back to put some distance between us.
“Do you think you could keeptrying?”
“Hm?” she says, her eyes staring into mine. “Oh, the safe. Right.” She laughs, turning her attention back to it. “Yes, definitely. It does feel like something important is in there.”
“Thank you, Daisy.”
Her smile is soft. “You’re welcome, Gus.”
“I, uh… should go.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?”
