Chapter 6
6
DAISY
“So . . . you would really rather stay with Bryce Lemieux than me? I’m trying not to be offended here, but damn.”
Kristen—Kiki to me—kicks her legs out in front of her and sighs. She’s lying beside me on the football field, both of us staring up at the clouds in the sky. The grass is thick beneath our backs, groomed to perfection by the old man who runs the rec centre in town. Cherry Peak might be small by design, but it doesn’t lack the necessities.
There’s a fire station, town hall, small RCMP office, and locally owned supermarket to start. Add in the coffee shop, diner, bar, Poppy’s pole studio, and Anna’s salon, and I’ve never felt like I didn’t have what I needed here.
Well, other than a university or a single decent rental.
The football field is empty today, but it won’t stay that way much longer. Once school starts next week, everything is going to get a bit crazier. My life especially.
“You know I’d rather live with you. But while I mean this with all the love in the world, your place is . . . a little . . . rough around the edges,” I say carefully.
She whips her head to the side so fast one of her blonde curls slaps me across the face. Her glare is weak, more for show than anything else.
“That’s rude.”
“I said I meant it with love. It’s better than the haunted house, at least.”
“That’s literally the whole reasoning behind saying ‘no offense’ before dropping a serious insult.”
I laugh. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry, but even you can admit your place needs some love.”
Love and a bulldozer.
The one and only apartment building in town is two stories tall with eight one-bedroom rentals inside. It hasn’t been updated since it was built forever ago and is cheap for a reason. But in Cherry Peak, you can’t be picky about your housing unless you plan to buy instead of rent. Most of the people who live here have been residents for generations and were either handed down property or have the funds to build something new.
“It’s just classic, Didi. You know, original .”
“Originally a dump.”
“Daisy!” she scolds, giving my arm a shove. “At least I have a place.”
“Can’t argue with you there.”
“So, Bryce?”
I wince as memories of the last time I spoke to Bryce come spiralling back. I’m beyond nervous to stay with her, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do my best to make it work. My only other choice is to move back in with my moms.
“Yep,” I say.
“And? When are you moving in?”
Kristen keeps her eyes on me, her interest in this situation obvious. I don’t blame her for it either. It’ll be an interesting next few weeks.
“She said she’d text me with information.”
“Alright. Well, it’s not like you have a lot of stuff to bring. All of your furniture from Calgary was included in your rental, right?”
I nod. “All I’ll take are my clothes, shoes, and toiletries. Things like that.”
“Obviously, I’ll be helping you.”
My lips curve into a grin. “Obviously.”
“I’ll feel out the big bad ice queen while I’m there. Make sure she isn’t going to turn you into an ice sculpture in your sleep.”
“I think she’d most likely freeze and shatter me before bothering to sculpt me.”
She snorts a laugh and looks up at the sky again, her hands folded over her stomach. “Just make sure you don’t stay there if you’re going to be unhappy. I’ll buy you some heavy-duty earplugs for your brother’s house before watching you suffer somewhere.”
“Thanks, Kiki. But I don’t think it’ll be quite that bad. We’ll both be working during the day, and I’m not looking for another best friend or anything. It’ll be fine.”
“What does she even do for work? Do you know?”
“I think she works at the town office. Her dad’s the mayor.”
A pause. “I’m sorry for her loss, then. That man leaves a lot to be desired.”
“Really? I’ve never met him.”
“I’ve only met him once, but he didn’t exactly leave the best impression.”
I huff, my nerves growing. “Great.”
“But it’s not like you’ll ever have to see her parents. Not unless you’re planning on being more than roommates,” she teases, looking toward me with a devilish grin.
“Don’t start with the matchmaking. You were just talking about her carving me up into an ice sculpture.”
“I was just joking about that.”
Pushing up on my hands, I glance ahead of us at the goalposts before meeting her green-eyed stare. “I’m not looking for anything more than roommates. ”
“Boo. You never are.”
“You’re supposed to be grateful for that. It means you don’t have to share me with anyone.”
“Seeing you in love wouldn’t be too bad of a trade-off,” she says.
“I’m content being single.”
“For now,” she sings, sitting and pulling her legs into her body. “Don’t you ever feel lonely not having somebody?”
I soften my expression at the emotion in her voice. “Do you?”
“Honestly, yeah. It’s not just having a boyfriend that I want but the love, I guess. The emotional connection to someone. Does that make sense?”
“Of course it does. I think we all want that.”
“Even you?”
Exhaling, I lean forward and rip a handful of grass out of the ground. “Even me. I just don’t want to prioritize finding that right now. Not with everything else going on. I’m too busy trying to get ready for my new job and this whole roommate situation to handle much else, let alone another entire person.”
“I get it, Didi.”
She leans against me as I say, “Thank you for caring.”
“Shut up. I’ll always care about you. Even when you leave me behind and move away to Calgary for four years.”
“You’ll never fully forgive me for that, will you?”
“Nope,” she answers, popping the p .
“I’m here now.”
“For good.”
“For good,” I promise.
Two days later, I’m spending my Monday morning at my moms’ house, grabbing the rest of my things before heading to Bryce’s place. Her text came only yesterday, and while it left a lot to the imagination, I decided not to waste any time before moving in.
Bryce: Hi. This is Bryce. Monday is fine. Lock code is 1031. I left your bedroom door open. Mine is shut. I work til 4:30.
The address to her place was attached in a separate message, and I thanked her immediately before jumping into packing. The two suitcases in my parents’ living room, in addition to the one from Johnny’s, are all I’ve decided to bring, other than my laptop and all the paperwork and lesson plans I have for school.
Johnny’s off moping somewhere, more upset that I’m moving out of his place than I am. It wasn’t like I planned on staying there for very long, anyway, but I do wish I could have stayed a smidge longer. There’s no one that gets me the way my twin does.
“This is the last time I’ll ask, but are you sure you don’t want to just stay here, Daisy?” Mom frowns at me from her spot on the couch. “Is there a reason you aren’t?”
My mom and mama have both been bombarding me with these questions the past couple of days, but where one lacks subtlety, the other does not.
“If there was a reason, I’m sure she’d have told us. Right, baby?” Mom asks, her lifelong experience as a youth therapist paying off in the way she words her questions.
I can tell it frustrates Mama sometimes to see her wife understand us in a way that she doesn’t always, but she never makes a big deal out of it. And I try my best not to make her feel like she’s doing anything wrong simply because she doesn’t know the exact right way to handle certain situations.
I tighten my hair tie and then slip my shoes on. “I’m just ready for something else. I’m home now, and I don’t want to have to move backward from where I was in Calgary.”
“You wouldn’t be. It’s perfectly healthy for adults to move back into their parents’ house at any time if they need to,” Mom argues.
“Jen,” Mama says on a long outward breath. Focusing on me now, she steps around my suitcase. “We support your decision, Daisy.”
Mom gets off the couch and rushes toward me. Once I’m in her arms, she kisses my head a half dozen times. “Of course we support you. Doesn’t mean I love the idea.”
“I’m not a kid anymore. None of us are,” I whisper.
Her arms grow tighter around me. “I know. I’ve already said goodbye to you a million times and just hoped it would be a little longer before I had to again.”
I let all my arguments die.
It doesn’t matter that I’ve been moved out for years or that I’ve been staying with Johnny and not them since I got back. The few minutes it’ll take to drive from Bryce’s house to this one is a pointless fact.
My moms have been without kids in their house for a while now, and I think they just miss us. We’re a big, close family, and now, the house is empty and quiet.
“We’ll cook your favourite meal this week. How about that? You can tell us all about your new classroom and how you’re feeling before the first day of school,” Mama suggests.
Mom pulls back but doesn’t release me fully, keeping her hands on my arms. “That wasn’t really a question, by the way. It’s a summons.”
“Good thing I was going to say yes, then,” I tease.
“Let our baby go so she can get out of here. You can’t keep her stuck to your side by grasping onto her like that,” Mama says.
She closes a palm over Mom’s hand and gently pulls it from my arm. The wedding ring on her finger makes my chest swell with emotion, a fierce sense of happiness filling me. They’ve been married for what feels like ever, and I swear they look more in love every passing day.
“Thanks, Mama. I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
Mom looks around the room, brows furrowed. “We’ll help take your suitcases out to the truck. Where’s your brother? ”
“Johnny! Come here, turd face!” I shout.
“C’mon, I could have done that,” Mama mutters.
With a shrug, I walk around them to lift the handle of my first suitcase. “He’s hiding somewhere pouting.”
“Probably in the backyard,” Mom huffs before disappearing in search of him.
Once she’s gone, Mama comes closer, pulling me into her arms with tight squeezes. I release the handle of my suitcase and breathe in her perfume, shutting my eyes.
The bond I share with Mama is something I would go to the ends of the Earth to protect. Mom is an incredible mother, but Mama has always got me in a way that I feel deep in my soul. Maybe it’s all of her counselling experience or something bigger than that; I’ll never know.
I’ve been lucky enough to be raised by two amazing women who I’ve grown to idolize. But it was Mama who I sat down with first on my sixteenth birthday and came out to as a lesbian. I don’t have an explanation as to why I didn’t go to them both together other than I felt like Mama would understand me the best. She reacted the way I expected her to and hugged me so tight I thought my bones would pop out of their sockets. Five minutes later, Mom was joining us, and they were telling me how happy they were that I felt comfortable enough with them to share that part of myself. I don’t think I’ve ever told them just how much I appreciate their support.
“Daisy, please tell Mom to stop bringing up why you’re moving out of my place!” Johnny yells, his footsteps heavy on the floor as he heads our way. “She’s embarrassing me!”
Mama laughs into her hand as I roll my eyes and drag my luggage with me to the front door. Johnny appears with a huff and takes a long look at my suitcase.
“Don’t huff at me,” I say. “And you don’t get embarrassed by anything.”
“I’ll huff if I want to. Now, come on, I need to have time to give Ice my big brother speech before you kick me out. ”
“Your big brother speech? Why does she need that?” Mom asks, eyes narrowing. “Isn’t she one of your friends?”
Johnny waves a hand through the air. “She is, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still get a good ol’-fashioned talkin’-to.”
“Oh, please. Don’t start,” I warn.
He grabs the second suitcase and rolls it toward where I stand in front of the door. “Start what?”
“Don’t give her the talk, Johnny. I’m serious.”
“What talk?” Mom steps closer to open the door for us. Mama smiles coyly at her. “Don’t look at me like that, Rachel. What talk is going on about?”
“ The talk, Jen,” Mama says.
“Oh.” Mom blinks a few times. “ Oh .”
“You’ll keep your mouth shut, Johnny. I’m serious,” I threaten.
He shrugs me off and shoves open the porch door before yanking the suitcase down the stairs. I wince as the wheels clang on the cement, but when he starts to whistle, I’m chasing after him, doing the exact same thing to the suitcase I’m hauling with me.
“Don’t act all innocent, Jonathan. You will not make this awkward for me. Got it?”
Unlocking the truck, he lowers the tailgate and starts tossing the first suitcase into the bed. “How would I make it awkward?”
I set my hands on my hips and try to look as intimidating as I can. Compared to my twin, that’s hardly ever possible. He’s a mammoth, with the stubbornness of the mules on Steele Ranch. Shifting his body toward me, he leans his hip on the edge of the tailgate and cocks his head.
“If you bare your teeth a little and work on your death stare a lot , you might have a shot at giving your new roomie a run for her money,” he says, poking fun at me for the millionth time in our lives.
“You’re so annoying. Just keep your bro speeches to yourself, please. At least until I can make her like me a bit. If you go in there now spouting your mouth off already, she’s just going to hate me even more than she does.”
The humour in his eyes fades. “She doesn’t hate you, D.”
I make a disbelieving noise in my throat. “Maybe hate is a strong word. But she strongly dislikes me. And that’s fine, but just please don’t make it any worse.”
“Maybe it’s another speech I need to be giving her altogether,” he mutters.
“You’re not giving a single one. I’m serious. I can handle myself.”
“I know you can.” He takes the suitcase from me and puts it in the bed before slamming the tailgate shut. “But you’ll let me know if you need anything, right?”
“Of course.”
Nodding, he reaches for me and pulls me in for a hug. “She’s good people, D. Rough around the edges but real good to those she cares about. You’ll be fine.”
“It’s not my first time with a roommate, J. It’ll be good. And short-lived, hopefully.”
I squeeze him once before turning to face our moms. They’re standing together on the sidewalk, hands linked with gentle expressions on their faces. Mom adjusts her glasses up her nose before speaking.
“Call us when you’re settled.”
“Or just come back over,” Mama suggests casually.
I smile, heading to my car. “I’ll call.”
“Loosen the reins a bit, you helicopter moms,” Johnny calls.
Mama doesn’t hesitate to flip him the bird, making him burst out in loud, booming laughter before I’m hopping into my car and waiting to follow Johnny to Bryce’s place. A beat later, we’re gone.