Page 14 of The Bride and the Baker

“After what you did? Fuck you.”

Daisy jumped as there was a hard thud against the door. It sounded like Nick was throwing his weight against the door. Now Daisy was beginning to feel less confident. Nick had never raised a hand to her before - it had been all words until now - but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen.

She wished Lee was here now.

Her hands shaking, Daisy hurried into the bathroom and locked herself in. Then she dialed Lee’s number.

* * *

When Lee arrived at the apartment, it was silent. He couldn’t hear any shouting or cursing. He hadn’t been that far behind Keith, so unless his brother had performed some sort of miracle something had happened to make Nick and his new girlfriend pipe down.

He got out of the elevator on his floor, only to his sister Myra talking with one of the neighbors. Myra saw him first and excused herself, approaching him with that quick, confident stride Lee was used to seeing from his older sister.

“You okay, Lee?”

“I’m fine…why are you here?”

“One of the neighbors called and said there was a disturbance going on. It was on the scanner as I was heading home. I recognized your apartment address and headed over.” Myra frowned. “The neighbor said there was a dispute. Care to tell me what’s going on and why one of the other tenants was throwing himself at your door?”

“What?”

“Nick Ripley, the guy who lives opposite? I just got told he was trying to turn himself into a human battering ram with a woman egging him on.”

Lee hadn’t told Myra about what had happened, mostly because he knew Daisy would be embarrassed that everyone was aware of how she had been duped. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

“Nick was meant to get married a couple of days ago. He ran away with someone else, telling his ex to get out. She’s staying with me until she finds a new place.”

“Ah. I see.” Myra arched an eyebrow. “So, you’re housing your neighbor’s ex.”

“I just said that, didn’t I?”

“Just so we’re clear.”

Lee didn’t like where this was going. He fixed Myra with a stare of his own.

“Have you spoken to Daisy?”

“Keith’s in with her right now. He seemed to be less surprised about all of this.”

“He knows Daisy. We bump into her quite regularly. Where’s Nick now?”

“According to the neighbor, Ripley and the woman he was with scarpered when he came out and said he had called the cops. Ripley shouted through the door that they would be back to talk later, and they stormed off. Didn’t even go into their apartment.”

“Seeing as they have virtually no furniture, I’m not surprised.”

“No furniture?”

“I’ll explain in a bit.” Lee hesitated. “Can I see Daisy? I want to know that she’s okay.”

For a moment, he thought that Myra wasn’t going to let him past. But then his sister stepped aside.

“Go and see her. And tell me everything. I don’t want to get another report that someone is trying to bash down my baby brother’s door.”

“Who are you calling a baby?” Lee pouted. “Can you hang around for a moment, Myra? I might need to ask you for a favor.”

“Depends on what the favor is.”

“I’ll tell you in a minute.”

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