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The couch sank under Daisy’s weight as she handed me a bag of frozen peas.
“You should put that on your eye, it’s already looking red.”
I pilfered the bag from her. “Thanks.”
“Also, we should text your brother,” Daisy whispered.
I clicked my tongue. “We absolutely do not need to text Dominic. You know how he is.”
Daisy winced. “It’s too late. I already texted him an SOS. Knowing him, he’ll be here in under twenty minutes.
I sputtered. “What? Why? How? Seriously, how did you text him? You were just over there with the pie.”
Daisy did a little “spirit fingers” gesture. “I’m fast.”
I tossed the peas aside, grabbed the nearest throw pillow, and put it over my face. “Ugh, he’s going to be unbearable.”
Daisy gently pulled the pillow out of my hands and tossed it onto a nearby chair. “He’s going to problem solve, which is exactly what we need him to do. I’m not sure how all this rich person stuff works, so my helpfulness is limited.”
“These aren’t rich-people problems.”
“Normal people don’t have paparazzi standing in front of their building, Faith.”
“Oh, right.” This was all I’d ever known. Sometimes I needed the reminder that this wasn’t normal. I turned to the kitchen. “How’s that pie coming along?”
“That thing is a frozen brick; it’s going to need more than thirty seconds to thaw.”
I pouted. “I should have defrosted it earlier today.”
“To be fair, your day seemed to be going pretty well until this happened.”
I glared at her until she lifted her hands in capitulation.
“Not helpful, got it.”
We both drank from our glasses, me lost in thought, Daisy busy texting again.
Ugh, at this rate my brother would know all the details before he even got here.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my brother. But since he was several years older than me, he took his big brother role seriously. Although to be fair, serious and grumpy were sort of his default settings. And as much as I loved him looking out for me, it sometimes careened into overbearing territory.
Dominic spent several years living in London and only recently moved back to take over Calm Waters, my dad’s empire that spanned several industries including public relations, investments, and real estate, just to name a few. When my mom died last year, it broke my dad’s heart and he didn’t have it in him to run the company. My brother stepped in to take over just as he was destined to do, albeit a little earlier than we all planned.
I’m holding onto the stress of it all.
Nothing has jogged my artistic bone. Long walks around Manhattan with Daisy, midweek spa treatments by myself. All the self-care in the world didn’t seem to make a dent in my mood.
While I normally loved the city, my home, it was starting to all feel a little claustrophobic for my liking.
Ding dong.
I facepalmed and then winced.
Oof my face is tender.
Daisy stood. “I’ll get it.”
I grabbed that pillow that Daisy tossed away and laid myself out on the couch, the pillow covering my face. I toed off my shoes, seeking any semblance of comfort I could find.
