Page 9 of Like A Daydream
“That’s accurate,” Cara replies. “I just wasn’t sure and wanted to ask. People here tend to pass information around faster than the newspaper.”
“You have to love a small town,” Danielle says with a shrug. She checks her watch. “We can probably get away with closing a couple of hours early today. We’ve already hit what we need in sales, so if you want to head out you can. I can take care of closing myself.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve got it,” Danielle says with a nod. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and sends a text to Emerson letting her know she would be heading home early. It buzzes in her hand and she swipes to a text from her mother.
mom:dad and I are going to head to your house
danielle:is everything okay?
mom:we’ll talk
She doesn’t think anything of it, mind already set on finishing up her closing tasks and what she needs to do on her way home.
Danielle swings by the grocery store after she’s closed for the day, thinking that she’ll make a cake for Harper’s birthday tomorrow. Emerson had never gotten around to ordering one, and it wasn’t a birthday without cake.
Especially when Harper was turning six. It’s not every day a girl turns six.
She hadn’t realized how much she actually needed for the rest of the week, just for herself. Her arms are loaded with reusable grocery bags when she comes through the door in her garage and steps into her kitchen.
She grins when she sees both of her parents, and sets her bags on the counter.
They’re dressed in dark colors, which is unusual for them in the summer, but they’d also probably just gotten back from Church. It was Saturday, after all, and with their small church offering evening services it always worked out better for them.
“Hey!” she says, throwing her keys by the coffee maker so she won’t forget them in the morning. “I hope you guys don’t mind that I closed early. The weather was so nice I think more people were on the lake than in town.”
Her parents,technically, owned the bookstore. They had inherited it from her grandmother when she decided she couldn’t run it anymore. Danielle is just in charge of the day-to-day operations and making sure they keep their heads above water while her parents work their real jobs.
Her dad, Eli, works at Thompson’s Lumberyard and her mom, Anna, is a teacher at Lake Placid Elementary school. They had raised her to work hard, and also to come out on top in everything she set her mind to.
Which explains why she hadn’t had many friends, growing up. But, people change.
“What brings you both here?” she asks, putting milk and eggs in the fridge. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but I was just at your house this morning.”
She turns to face them, pulling bread out of her grocery bag, along with chocolate chips and flour. She folds the grocery bag up, stopping what she’s doing to finally look at her parents.
They haven’t said anything since she got home, and her mother looks as if she’s been crying. Her father has his hands folded on the table in front of him, and looks older than he had this morning.
He won’t look at her.
“We have something we need to tell you,” he says, staring at his hands like they’re the most interesting thing in the world.
“I figured as much, since you’re in my house and didn’t tell me any news this morning,” Danielle says, rolling her eyes.
“Honey,” her mom says gently, “you might want to sit down.”
“Mom, you’re scaring me,” Danielle says, taking a seat at the kitchen table across from her. “You’re both acting like someone died.”
Her parents exchange a glance. It’s weighted, like they don’t know who should start.
“What is it?” she asks.
“It’s about Jack and Emerson,” her dad says, reaching across the table for her hand. “I don’t know how to tell you this…. They were in an accident.”
“They were driving into town this morning,” her mother says, voice trembling, “to do some shopping for Harper’s birthday party. A deer jumped in front of their car. They hit the deer, and Jack lost control. They hit a tree…”
Her mom trails off.
