Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
“You were right. Daisy left me,” I admitted. “She went to Ralph for help, and he turned her out on the streets. She has no money and no place to go. I want her found, Jim. And I want him dead.”
“When we find her? What then? Should I deliver her to you?”
I closed my eyes. “Just find her, Jim. Just fucking find her.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Daisy
I carefully tucked the sheets under my cot and smoothed out the wrinkles, the routine of it helped calm me. After three months, the pain in my chest had finally started to ease. It was worse at night. When I laid down at night and closed my eyes, when my hands stilled and my mind took over, the yearning for Brick’s arms to be around me took over. Even my dreams were filled by him. I tried to remind myself that he wasn’t the kind of man who deserved my pain, but it didn’t help.
During the day, I helped out around the shelter. Nadia, the woman who ran and owned it, was my lifesaver. She’d found me three days into living on the streets, huddled under an awning while the rain poured down with a hungry stomach, dark circles under my eyes, and a nasty cold. Nadia took me in, cleaned me up, and cared for me until I was back on my feet. I had nothing to offer her in return besides helping her out around the women’s shelter. When she asked for help, I quickly agreed.
I didn’t understand why she’d ask me when she’d just met me. If I couldn’t even take care of myself, how was someone in my situation supposed to help anyone else? I was a wreck. But after meeting with some of the other women, it was obvious I was one of the most able-bodied women in the shelter.
My pain was nothing compared to theirs. Victims of violent rape. Spousal abuse. Child abuse. One teenager had gotten pregnant and her father beat her so bad that she miscarried. My broken heart was nothing compared to what they had experienced, and helping them had slowly helped me heal.
Last week, I finally started to enter the real world. Nadia and I worked out a new schedule so I could get a job. I wasn’t leaving the women’s shelter, but it was time for me to stand on my own two feet. Not just financially but mentally as well.
The job at Burger Mac was hardly glamorous, but the fast food world was easy for me to navigate, and I needed that right now.
There was a soft knock on my door. I looked up and smiled at Nadia. The elderly woman had a brutal history herself, and she’d used that pain to help others. Her past was etched in every wrinkle of her face, but when she smiled, it warmed my heart. She was a beautiful person inside and out.
“Good morning, Daisy. A generous donor is bringing us a new washer and dryer today, so we won’t have to keep using the coin laundry. I’m going out now to meet them. Everyone is already eating breakfast in the kitchen, but Sarah is still in her room. Will you check on her before you leave for work today?”
“Of course. I wanted to spend some extra time with her this morning. She still hasn’t unpacked her duffel bag.”
“You should know as well as anyone that it takes time for them to feel safe,” Nadia said sadly.
Sarah had been at the shelter for a week now. She’d had bruises on her arms and abdomen. One of the police officers that Nadia works with had accompanied Sarah to the shelter, but the woman had barely said a word since she got here.
After I finished straightening up the room, I headed downstairs to grab a box of cereal, a cup of milk, and a bowl. I didn’t think that I’d be able to convince Sarah to eat with the rest of the women, but I wanted to make sure that she got breakfast.
“Sarah. It’s Daisy.” When I knocked softly on the door and didn’t get an answer, I eased it open. The twenty-something-year-old woman was sitting on the bed and staring out the window. I recognized the blank look in her eyes all too well. “I brought you some breakfast. Granola and berries. I’m a fan of Cocoa Pebbles myself, but Holly keeps eating it all before I get down there.”
Keeping my voice light and cheery, I sat the tray of items on the bed. Opening the window to let in some fresh air, I poured myself a bowl and settled into the small chair. The rooms here at the shelter were sparse. There were fifteen bedrooms total. Most of them had two beds in each room, but a few were singles. It helped cases like Sarah to feel more comfortable in the shelter before bunking with someone else.