Page 85 of In Safe Hands
“Why?” He almost dropped the milk, barely catching it before the glass bottle hit the floor.
“Just trying to guess what’s wrong.” And succeeding, judging by his reaction. “When I was your age and something was bothering me, it was usually something at school, or my parents were driving me crazy.” Her smile slipped away. “After my mom…died, it was a different story.”
“Your mom died?” He finally met her gaze.
She nodded. “She was shot during a gas station robbery.”
“Shit! How old were you?”
Daisy wondered if she was supposed to reprimand him for swearing, but then she just shrugged it off. “Sixteen.”
With his hip propping open the refrigerator door, he focused on the egg carton he was holding. “That sucks.”
“Yeah.” The understatement almost made her laugh. “It does.”
“My mom’s crazy.” Meeting her eyes briefly, he dropped them to the eggs again. “Full-on wacko. Not, like, a little bit crazy, like you.” His head came up, and he stared at her, stricken. “I…I mean…”
Taking pity on his obvious consternation, she smiled. “I know what you mean. Don’t worry about it. I’m fully aware I’m not juggling with a full set of balls.” When she heard the words as they left her mouth, she frowned. That seemed like an inappropriate thing to say to a teenager.
Tyler didn’t appear to be offended. “She left. My mom, I mean. She used to come back once in a while, but then, one day, she was gone for good.”
“I’m sorry.” Daisy felt like a self-pitying ass. She’d had a great mom for sixteen years, and now Daisy couldn’t leave the house. This poor kid had a messed-up mother who’d left him, and Tyler seemed to function just fine. She even felt a spark of sympathy for the sheriff.
“It was better, actually, when she left.” If he squeezed the carton any harder, he was going to crush her eggs. “She could be…mean.”
Overwhelmed with pity for the kid, she took a step closer to him. She wasn’t sure if she was planning to hug him or what, but he turned around before she could do anything.
“Sorry,” he said to the interior of the fridge. “I’ll just get your groceries put away.”
“Thanks, Tyler.” She stared at his back for a moment, wishing she could do something for the poor kid. A knock drew her attention to the door, and she hurried over to push the intercom button. “Hello?”
“It’s Bill,” the familiar voice of the package delivery service answered. It was strange that Daisy knew his voice so well, but she’d never seen him. Their routine was for her to leave any shipments between the doors, but that was one more thing she’d forgotten during her discombobulated morning.
“Hey, Bill. Give me a minute, would you? I need to grab the boxes from the study.”
“No problem.”
As she moved through the kitchen, she said, “I’m sending out a few packages, Tyler. Help yourself to milk and sugar for your coffee, and I’ll be right back.”
“Sure.” Tyler sounded depressed again. Obviously, she’d done the wrong thing by discussing their dead and insane mothers to try to cheer him. Grimacing, she hurried to the study, trying to think of different conversational directions that might make Tyler feel better, instead of worse.
The grimace turned into a smile as she toted a stack of carefully wrapped packages toward the front door. “Good-bye, demon dolls.” They’d both sold for much higher than she’d expected, and now they were leaving the house. It was a good day. “Soon you’ll have brand-new families to terrorize—especially you, Fangs.”
Shifting the boxes around to free up one hand, she pushed the unlock button. Bill’s eyes went wide when he saw her standing there, holding open the inner door.
“Daisy! Nice to meet you in person, finally.” He looked pretty much how she’d pictured him, with a graying goatee and a good-sized belly. His smile was warm and wide.
“You too.” She grinned back at him. “Pretty soon, I’ll be meeting you at the curb.”
“Can’t wait.” He took the boxes from her and retreated through the outside door. “See you next time!”
“See you.” Giving him a wave, she made herself wait until the outer door had closed completely before shutting the inside one. As she headed back for the kitchen, she turned one of her steps into a skip. It really was a good day.
“So, Tyler—” Her words stopped as he brushed by her, almost running toward the front door.
“Gotta get back to work.” He didn’t look at her as he yanked open the inside door.
“Okay. Bye,” she called after him. The door closed with a thud, and she stared at it for a moment. “Weird kid.”
