AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Right,” Mary said, snapping her fingers together too playfully for the seriousness of the moment. That was the thing about death. You expected the world to stop. To grieve with you, but it kept moving no matter what. “We heard about Doug. You’re back for the funeral?”
Paisley didn’t let her feelings show. Women like Mary and Gail could sense that kind of sadness and try to turn it into some kind of juicy gossip. “No, I don’t want to make it a media circus. His parents have been through enough. I’ll pay my respects at the cemetery afterward.”
Mary nodded thoughtfully. “You’re so sweet.” Her words had all the connotation of a southern,bless your heart. “I guess you can’t really go anywhere without people falling all over you. Must be hard.” She didn’t sound empathetic but rather catty.
“It was good to see you both,” Paisley lied, turning toward Ben to save her.
Without skipping a beat, he jumped into action. “Did you see these sunflowers over here? They would be nice.”
Paisley took the opportunity to turn away from the women and pretend to be shopping.
Gail, ignoring the body language, sidled up to Paisley again.
“The papers didn’t say much about what happened to Doug. His family has been very tight-lipped too. Was it like a heart attack or something? He was always so big. I worried about him.” Covering her chest with her hand disingenuously she sighed. “Or was it an overdose of some kind? I’m sure it’s a glamorous life you are living. Drugs are part of the lifestyle of the rich and famous. You can’t really keep clear of them.”
“I uh...” She suddenly felt like that awkward teenager everyone but Doug ignored in the cafeteria. Why did people like this always find ways to make a bad situation worse with shitty behavior? Couldn’t they just say, sorry this happened and I hope you are alright. Digging around for some hot gossip was a bigger priority to them than any empathy for what she might be feeling.
“I’m not judging him,” Gail cut back quickly, trying to make herself look like a decent human being. Unfortunately that ship had sailed. It had sailed, caught fire, burned, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. She was horrible and made more so by the company she kept. The pack mentality was what kept them together. They were never the worst for long, some other friend would come in and trump their disgusting behavior.
Gail lowered her voice as if the whisper made her inquiry less intrusive. “I’m just wondering why it’s so hush hush. I mean he was our friend; we’d like to know what happened to him.”
“Friend?” Paisley asked, choking on the word. “You weren’t friends with Doug. You two treated him like garbage for most of high school. Now you want to know how he died so you can swap gossip with the other assholes at the coffee shop or something. We’re not doing that. We’re not doing any of this.” Paisley leaned in, her voice sharp and threatening. She felt Ben’s arm loop around her waist and pull her backward toward the door. There had been so many days in school she felt small and ineffective. It never crossed her mind to hit one of them but in that moment, it seemed like a perfect solution. It was only Ben’s intervention that prevented it.
“Come on,” he said, his voice husky and demanding. “We need to get out of here.”
“This is bullshit. They didn’t care about him. I cared about him. He was my best friend. All I wanted to do was pick out some flowers and—” She pulled herself free from Ben’s grip as he swept her out the door and toward the car.
“This is not healthy, Paisley. None of it. Maybe coming back here was a bad idea. You’re not the same person you were when you left. Things are a mess. I think we should leave. You have no security team here. You’re completely exposed.”
“Trust me, Mary and Gail need a security team now. Not me. You have no idea what this feels like. It’s not like I can call up my old team and tell them I need them back. I don’t know who I can trust. I don’t know if any of them were involved in poisoning Doug. Who can I trust besides you?”
“Being here isn’t going to help you. We should leave. Doug would understand.”
She laughed in a wild kind of way. “You know what’s so funny about this?” She waved back at the floral shop. “Doug hated flowers. They made him itch. He always thought it was ridiculous for people to buy something that would just wither and die in a week. What kind of gift was that? And he would have said that dead people can’t appreciate flowers, so why bother. Yet here I am trying to decide between lilies and sunflowers.” She laughed again. “That’s why I didn’t know what to pick because he wouldn’t want any of them. He wouldn’t want those two women pretending to feel bad about his death.”
“Then we just go.” He again gestured toward the car. “I’ll start driving and we’ll keep going until I can’t stay awake anymore. Or throw a dart on the map. Wherever it ends up, I’ll take you there. But staying in a town where everything reminds you of Doug and you’re completely exposed to people who want you dead is a bad idea.”
“Paisley?” a voice called from the doorway of the floral shop. It wasn’t Mary or Gail. An older woman with an arm full of flowers was jogging in their direction.
“Yes?” Paisley asked, trying to place the face but she wasn’t able. She didn’t know this woman.
“Sorry, I heard those women talking about you. I’ve got some flowers here in your name. They were ordered yesterday. They were sure you’d be in sometime in the next few days. It was a strange request but I held on to them. They are for you.”
“From who?” Paisley asked, skeptically.
“They didn’t say. There is a card on there. I’ve got to get back to the store.” She handed the flowers over. “Those two women are probably writing me a bad review since I made them wait to cash out. They are impossible.” She jogged quickly back toward her store and Paisley stared down curiously at the flowers.
“What’s the card say?” Ben asked, clearly trying not to sound too alarmed. He fished it out of the bouquet and read it out loud. “Thought you’d be here. Enjoy the flowers. I won’t make the same mistake twice. I’ll get it right next time. Signed, The Chef.”
“Shit,” Paisley said, dropping the flowers in a heap, the glass vase that held them smashing to pieces. This was what she wanted. There was no point in being bait if the fish weren’t swimming around and biting. These people knew where she was again. Understood her habits well enough to know she’d come for flowers for Doug eventually. It was spooky, but almost impressive.
“Get in the car,” Ben demanded, ushering her quickly into her seat. “We need to get out of here.” He rounded the front of the car and slid quickly into the driver’s seat.
“And go where?” Paisley gasped for breath as he put the car in drive and sped away. “Maybe this is what needs to happen. They know where I am. Let them come for me and we can end this.”
“End this?” Ben asked, his brows crashing together. “You understand they want to end this by killing you?”
“Let them try. I’m done being scared. Screw Mary and Gail. Screw people who think they know me and my life. And screw these monsters who think they can scare me. Let them come. Let them try.”
