Page 31 of Like A Daydream
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Well played, Fisher,” she replies, “well played.”
She leaves Andrew to fend for himself an hour later, after teaching him where everything is and tells him he can yell for her if he has any problems. It’s a Thursday, which is normally a quiet day in the summer, so she doesn’t anticipate anything going wrong.
At leastnot this early in the morning.
She thinks that Andrew has already met her more insane customers already, just in the minimal time he’s spent at the store. The brothers have already taken to calling him ‘the grizzly bear demonrat’ because of how long his hair is, and Dan, the café guy, had looked up from his laptop and given him the nod.
Small wins with the population of Lake Placid.
Danielle sits behind her desk in the office, computer screen glowing in the low light she keeps. She’s always liked a chill space, even if it makes her sleepy in the mornings sometimes. There’s inventory to be ordered, taxes to pay for the month, and it’s Harper’s last day of school so Erick is picking her up and bringing her to the store after.
Then they’re going to go to the cemetery, at Harper’s request, so that she can see her parents and tell them who she got for a teacher.
Danielle doesn’t have the heart to tell her that they can’t hear her, and honestly, suspending her own disbelief is the only way she’s been able to find any comfort in the last two weeks since they’ve been gone.
The school had suggested a child psychologist for Harper, just to help her handle the trauma of it all, and they have their first appointment next week.
Today will be Danielle’s first time back to the cemetery since the funeral. She thinks, no, sheknows, she’s still waiting for all of this to be a joke.
Once Harper has talked to her parents, and they’ve had dinner, she’s going to stay overnight at Erick’s. He has the next day off and requested some uncle-niece time and Danielle didn’t have the heart to say no when two days off in a row for him are few and far between.
Danielle puts some lo-fi music on, pulls up her inventory order form, and locks in. Denial isn’t just a place in Egypt, it’s her new home address, and pushing it away with work is the only think that keeps her above water.
A knock on her door interrupts her process, and she looks at the clock before looking up. She’s been looking at her screen for two hours.
Cara is standing, arms folded over her chest, in the door. “What is Andrew Fisher doing running the register right now?”
“I don’t even get a hello?” Danielle asks. “That’s rude.”
“Sorry. Hi.” Cara says. “What’s Andrew Fisher doing running the register right now?”
“I hired him for the summer.”
“Youwhat?”
“You heard me,” Danielle says, “are you going to question my decisions, or are you going to do your job? We needed an extra staff member. That sign has been up for months. He asked, I said yes.”
“Does he even know how to stock a shelf?”
“That’s going to be what I teach him tomorrow,” Danielle says, “he’s getting register down today, and it’s quiet. It’s not like he can set the place on fire.”
“When people find out he’s working here, he just might,” Cara says, “I know you don’t pay much attention to the NHL but his situation is… precarious at best. People might start coming to pick a fight.”
“If it gets to that point, I’ll leave,” Andrew says, appearing behind Cara. She goes white as a sheet and turns slowly, eyes wide, to stare at Andrew.
Honestly, it serves her right, talking behind his back.
“I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine,” he says, firmly, but Danielle can see a shake in his hands that wasn’t there earlier this morning. Roscoe trails up beside him, sitting down so Andrew can run a hand over his ears. “I take it you’re not a fan?”
Danielle’s gaze shifts from Andrew’s face to the dog, and back again. Pieces beginning to line up, but not quite click into place yet.
“Like I would tell you if I was,” Cara says, glaring.
“Is there something I should know?” Danielle asks, turning back towards Cara.
