AllFreeNovel
Share Us
DAISY LAZARUS
Daisy’s fingersfisted in the sheets. To keep tears from spilling, she stared at the potted plants she’d put in the room for Elena. They now looked dull and limp.
She wasn’t sure why she was so emotional. Axel had a job. He had a life. She couldn’t expect him to stay with her.
I need time to think,he’d said. There were no strings of Portuguese curses mumbled under his breath. At least if he’d been angry at her, then at least she knew he felt something. But he’d been angry at himself. And then he’d looked dejected. Cold.
And Daisy knew that detachment was worse than anything else.
A million logical reasons danced around her head, but the only one that stood out was the irrational one. That this was the start of her being left behind. And this time, she only had herself to blame. That she hated life with its messy love.
A knock came at the door. Elena poked her head through.
“Hi,” she said, a broad smile on her face.
She still wore her beanie to cover her bald head, but her complexion truly glowed. Daisy had never seen her so beautiful and full of life. It was remarkable. Her spirits lifted, if only for a little while, and all the stupid things she’d just thought hurt her head.
Feelings were confusing.
Too hard.
“I brought you soup,” Elena said and showed a bowl of steaming liquid. “I hope you like it. I wasn’t sure what your favorite was so made you mine. Apparently minha mãe—my mother—used to make it. Since I was so little when they died, Axel taught me.” Her brows lifted. “He taught me many things, chiefly the naughty words in Portuguese.”
Elena waited expectantly at the threshold and Daisy didn’t have the heart to turn her away.
“Come in,” Daisy said.
It had only meant to be an appeasement, but the moment the mouthwatering aroma of chicken soup hit Daisy’s nose, her stomach grumbled, and she groaned. “That smells good.”
“It’s Canja. You’ll love it. Trust me.” Elena lifted a small bed tray from the floor and placed it over Daisy’s legs. Then she set the bowl down and handed Daisy a spoon. “I hope you don’t mind that I cooked it. I wanted to say thank you and Doctor Grace said that if you woke to feed you proper food.” She blushed. “So stupid to think a bowl of soup will ever measure up to your gesture but, like Axel, I’m kind of like a bad smell. I won’t go away.”
Daisy hoped that was true of her brother. She hoped her manic thoughts were just her own stupid fears and irrational insecurities. But after the life she’d lived, decades of self-destructive thoughts were hard to correct. Elena perched on the bed near Daisy’s feet and stared.
“You’re just going to watch me eat?”
“Yep.”
“Did Axel tell you to watch me?”
“Nope.”
Daisy slurped the soup. “This is good.”
“Told you.” Elena beamed.
In the next two minutes, Daisy ingested the entire bowl while Elena watered the plants and hummed a song that sounded remarkably like You Are My Sunshine. It was nice.
Daisy hadn’t even known she was hungry until she’d tasted it. A bit like Axel, she realized. She hadn’t known how bad she missed him until he was gone.
“Does he hate me?” she asked quietly.
Elena stopped watering. “Of course not.”
“I think I messed up.”
“Why?”
“I guess I should have asked him to help when I helped you.” She bit her lip. “Mary is also angry. I would have thought saving you was a good thing, but they both acted like I was being selfish.”
