Page 14 of Razor’s Redemption

"That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in years," she whispers.

I don't know what to say to that. Don't know how to tell her that I've been watching her for two months, that I know her schedule and her route home and the way she smiles at customers even when she's dead on her feet. That she's been quieting that noise for weeks without knowing I existed beyond the corner booth and the twenty percent tips.

So, I don't say any of it.

"You want to get a drink?" I ask instead.

The words are out before I can think them through, before I can remind myself that I'm supposed to be keeping distance, maintaining boundaries, not pushing into her life any more than I already have.

She blinks. "What?"

"A drink. There's a bar a few blocks from here, O'Malley's. It's quiet, not too crowded on weeknights. We could just... talk. If you want."

I'm giving her an out. Making it easy for her to say no, that she's tired, that she needs to get home to her daughter and her real life that doesn't include ex-cons who show up out of nowhere.

But she doesn't say no.

"I mean… I have tomorrow morning free," She stops, bites her lip. "It's been a really long time since I went out. Since I did anything that wasn't work or parenting."

"How long?"

"Six years. Since before Luna was born."

Six years. She's been running herself into the ground for six years straight without a single break, without a single night that was just hers.

"Then you're overdue," I say.

"Okay," she says. "Yeah. Let me just... I need to text my mom, so she doesn't worry."

She pulls out her phone and types quickly, thumbs flying across the screen. I watch her face as she waits for the response, see the slight tension in her jaw that says she's expecting pushback.

Her phone buzzes. She reads the message and her cheeks flush pink.

"What'd she say?" I ask.

"That I should have fun and not do anything she wouldn't do." Daisy looks up at me. "Which is her way of saying she approves but also wants me to be careful."

"Smart woman."

"She's the best." She tucks her phone back in her purse. "Okay. Let's go before I change my mind and remember all the reasons this is probably a bad idea."

Chapter 4 - Daisy

Razor pulls away from the curb, and I watch my house disappear in the side mirror, the blue paint that needs touching up, the white porch where Luna and I sit on summer evenings counting fireflies, the window of my bedroom where I should be right now, collapsing into bed like I do every other night.

Instead, I'm in a car with a man I met less than twenty-four hours ago, heading to a bar I haven't been to since before I got pregnant, doing something spontaneous for the first time in six years.

I should be terrified.

I'm not.

Maybe I should be more concerned about that.

"You okay?" Razor asks, glancing at me.

"Yeah. Just… This is weird for me. Good weird. But weird."

"We can turn around if you want."