Page 62 of Hutch
She glances at them and then back out the window.
“They’re idiots. Harmless idiots, but still idiots.”
Daisy shrugs and starts to eat, leaving us both in silence. It’s not until the hockey players leave that she seems to relax again. That bothers me.
“You good?”
“Fine.”
“I know you’re fine, but are you good? You seemed to clam up when the guys were here. And now that they’re gone, you seem less tense.”
“I uh…” She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. “I’ve had some bad experiences with teammates you could say.”
“This have to do with the ex that shall not be named?”
She stares at me for a full minute before she makes a decision. “Joseph was on the football team. Quarterback. State and regional champion for three years. He had an ego and so did his friends that were on the team. Let’s just say that ego led to comments I didn’t appreciate from his friends.”
“He didn’t tell them to fuck off?”
“It was funny to him.”
“That’s not cool.”
“There’s a lot of things I see now that wasn’t cool. When you’re seventeen and in love, you tend to ignore all the red flags because you think the relationship is special.”
“When you’re ready, I’m here to listen about all of his assholery and we’ll come up with a diss track or something.”
“You can write and mix music?”
“Fuck no but doesn’t stop me from helping you get all that anger out.”
“You think I’m angry?”
“Yeah, sweetheart, you are. I can see it in your posture, your tone, and your eyes. But it’s okay to be angry. He was an asshole and let his friends say some shit he shouldn’t have. I’d have kicked all their teeth in had I heard it.”
She sighs and slumps down. “I really don’t like to talk about it.”
“Then let’s not talk about it. Why don’t you spend the rest of our time here telling me a little bit about growing up in West “by God” Virginia as I’ve heard it called.”
“I can do that.” She gives me a hesitant smile and I sit back and listen to her tell me about growing up in a small mountain town where everybody knows everybody. By the time the bill’s paid and I’m dropping her at her class, she’s back to the same relaxed person she’d been before the guys showed up.
And maybe a little closer to letting herself accept me as her friend.
That’ll be enough until she learns she can trust me.
CHAPTER 17
Daisy
“What are you doing?”Jenny plops down on one of the barstools at the kitchen island. I’ve got my laptop open to several different recipe websites.
“Trying to make a carb friendly pizza crust. I’ve tested three so far and they’re awful.”
“You going on a diet?”
I shake my head. “Nope. Hutch was telling me he had to nix pizza and it’s his favorite. I volunteered to try and find a crust recipe without all the carbs.”
“You volunteered?”
