“Daisy…” he pleaded. But his pleading did nothing to stop her from rushing out the door.
Daisy held on to the wall as she hurried to the elevators.
She had to leave.
The pain was almost unbearable.
“Daisy!” His voice rang from a distance.
She almost stopped but then remembered that he was the reason for her current state and continued along, pressing the elevator button hard.
“Daisy!” he said again, touching her shoulder.
His touch was like fire. She whipped around and smacked him diagonally in the face.
His head hung low with shame. “Daisy, please let me explain.”
“I never want to see you again,” she cut him off, trembling.
“Darlin’—”
“Don’t call me that. You don’t ever get to call me that again.”
He sobbed, frantic. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I don’t know, I just—”
“I’m done,” Daisy said, voice firm despite the tears brimming. “Do not call me. Do not ask about me. Do not eventhinkabout me. This. Is. Over!”
The elevator doors slid open.
She stepped inside, her head bowed in defeat, her heart splintered into pieces.
“So over,” she whispered, as the doors closed on him forever.
Part II
Nine Years Later
Chapter Fifteen
San Francisco, California — 2024
IT WAS HAPPENING AGAIN.
That insistent chirping outside her apartment window. A month ago, when the nest first appeared on the flaxleaf tree, Daisy thought it was charming, front-row seats to a tiny bird family. The noise blended into the city’s buzz and she was almost delighted by the flurry of beaks and wings and the small, fierce devotion of the mother. She even named them. The babies were Kevin, Poppy, Mitchell, and Ally. She had no idea of their actual sexes; the names just fit. And the mother was simply—Mama.
Every morning with the sun, the birds rose, and more often than not, so did Daisy. She smiled when the babies jostled each other, fascinated when Mama tucked chewed food into their open beaks. A happy family in a cup of twigs. Daisy thought she’d never tire of watching them grow.
Until two weeks ago.
That morning, the chirping was different, thin and pained. Daisy kicked off the covers and yanked back the linen curtains. She counted quickly: Mama, Poppy, Ally, Mitchell…
But no Kevin.
Her stomach dropped. She looked down. A small feathered form, with an identifying white mark, lay in the wet grass, wings fluttering weakly. The fall had been far for a creature that light. Daisy wanted to be reasonable and let nature be nature, but something inside her wouldn’t allow it. She couldn’t bear to think of Mama watching her chick die.
So she rescued him.
Daisy slipped Kevin carefully into the pouch of her T-shirt and flew up the single flight of stairs, pounding on her neighbor’s door. Ronald, a retired veterinarian and resident grouch, opened with sleep-crumpled eyes and crossed arms.
