All the Things We've Never Said - Chapter 3

Daisy woke up on Wednesday morning with a twitching excitement. She and her father had had a water fight doing the dishes last night, which she’d won, and, afterwards, they had walked to the video store to rent a movie. He’d let her choose what to get, a rare treat because he didn’t like any of that ‘artsy-fartsy nonsense’ that Daisy generally favored. She chose something middle of the road, and they rented an action adventure film with the ever-present love conflict. She’d taken a bath before bed, and missed saying good night to her father -- he’d already been fast asleep when she was finished -- and now had an anxious feeling about him. She missed him. She chided herself for having such a childish reaction just because she didn’t say the words “good night, dad,” to him before going to sleep. But still, she wanted to see him. Daisy pulled her robe around her shoulders but left it hanging open on her way out to the kitchen. She’d decided to make some cookies to take down to the construction site.

In between batches, Daisy showered and tidied the kitchen. She heard the thud of the newspaper hitting the door across the hall just as she was sliding in the last try to bake. There were cooling racks all over the kitchen counter and table, even one balancing on the narrow edge of the bathtub. She couldn’t remember how many people were on Daniel’s crew, so she had made several dozen, hoping that’d be enough. Daisy tiptoed into the hall and picked up her neighbor's newspaper. The weatherman had decided on the smiling yellow sun wearing glasses as the graphic for the day, so Daisy selected jean shorts and a baggy white T-shirt. She’d found some boxes from their latest move, along with a shoebox or two, and piled the cookies inside, then tied them shut with twine. The bus left the corner of 60th and Cold Spring Road at 11:35 and got to downtown at 12:15. Just in time for lunch.
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The sun had been in his eyes all morning. Daniel squinted with his hand glued to his forehead, trying to get a better view of what Tony was doing on the rooftop. Dust and gravel dropped down like rain from the top of the building, and Jamie wasn’t wearing his hard hat. Dumb kid, Daniel thought.

“Hey, Kid!” he shouted.

Jamie Bradshaw, a 24-year-old veteran with the construction company, turned his face toward Daniel. He pushed down the instinct to shout back that he hated it when people called him “Kid.” Jamie counted to ten as he slowly turned to face Daniel and said “Yeah?”

“Where’s your hard hat? Gravel and (stuff) are falling from the sky and you're walkin’ around without a hard hat on! Hard hats are the law, remember?”

“Aw, gee, Daniel, I didn’t know you cared,” Jamie said, as he pulled the hat out from under his arm and put it on his head, patting it down, nice and snug. He smiled at Daniel and then turned his back to him.

“Stupid kid,” Daniel muttered as Jamie turned away.

“Gee, Dad, I guess you do talk about me a lot at work,” Daisy said. She’d turned the corner just in time to hear her father chiding Jamie Bradshaw.

“Days! What are you doing here?” Daniel swung an arm around his daughter and walked her toward the curb to avoid her getting dirty.

“I thought I’d bring cookies for you and the guys.”

“Hey, guys! My kid’s here!”

“Another one?” Jamie said as he walked toward them. Daniel looked up and glared at Jamie, who took off his hard hat and swept it in front of him in a mock bow to Daisy. “You know,” he said, “You shouldn’t be out here without a hard hat on.” He placed his own hat on her head. She smiled and watched Jamie walk away and turn the corner. Daniel snatched the hat off her head and threw it on the ground.

“See, what’d I tell ya? Smart alek to boot!” He turned her around to face the largest group of people and began to introduce her. But, Daisy’s eyes lagged behind her, glancing over to the corner where Jamie had disappeared.

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Daniel had taken Daisy around to just about everyone on the crew, and she’d politely said hello and offered him or her each a cookie before walking her around to the corner by the bus stop. She had a bit of a wait for the next bus, so Daisy strolled toward the front of the church. There wasn’t much work was being done there. She looked up as she passed the front, trying to find the name of the church. A shower of dust and debris fell down, and Daisy shut her eyes and turned her face down just in time.

“I thought I told you not to walk around here without a hard hat on!”

She shook her head and looked up to where Jamie Bradshaw was leaning out of a window. “You okay? Didn’t get anything in your eyes, did you?”

“No,” Daisy shouted back. “I’m all right.”

“So, you’re the one we all have to hear about all day, huh?”

Daisy laughed. She could barely see him. The sun was right behind him and it looked like a halo of light circled his head. “Yeah,” she said, squinting at him, “sorry ‘bout that. I keep telling him he talks about me too much.”

She tried to back up a few steps, thinking the sun wouldn’t be in her eyes so much that way, but she didn’t realize that there was a step behind her. She tripped backwards and landed right on her backside.

“Woah! Daisy!” Jamie shouted. “You okay?” He ducked out of the window and quickly exited the church, jogging to where she was sitting. He could see her just sitting on the ground, with her head bent down. He crouched down in front of her. “Daisy? Are you all right?” He was half afraid she was crying, but when she looked up, she had a huge smile on her face.

“Did my father ever tell you that I'm a klutz?"

Jamie laughed and sat down on the step in front of her. “Did you hurt anything?”

She kept laughing, leaning forward slightly. “Nope, just my ego,” she paused, “well, and my butt!”

Jamie shook his head at her, as if amazed she wasn’t crying like a child. “I don’t think we were really introduced. I’m Jamie Bradshaw, well, Jamison, but everyone calls me Jamie.”

“Nice to meet you.” She instinctively stuck out her hand to shake, but Jamie just looked at her. She stopped laughing then. Daisy began to pull her hand back, but Jamie grabbed it. Instead of shaking it, he turned it palm up and said, “You scratched it.” Daisy noticed the small scrape that had begun to bleed a little. She was surprised he even noticed something that small.

“Oh, that’s nothing. Here -” she tried to pull it away from him, but he’d already untucked a corner of his shirt and pressed it to the cut.

“Bleeding anywhere else?” He'd stopped smiling and was staring at her as though afraid she might bleed to death right in front of him.

Daisy stared for a second, looking at him like he’d just said something in a different language. When she didn’t answer, he said, “Daisy? Are you bleeding anywhere else?”

She blinked twice and mumbled, “Oh, no, I don’t think so.”

As Daniel came around the corner, he saw Daisy on the ground and Jamie holding her hand. As if he’d just walked into a room that was doused in a rank smell, Daniel crinkled his nose and sucked his lips in.

“Daisy!” he shouted. She immediately sat straight up, pulled her hand out of Jamie’s grasp and planted it behind her to boost herself up. Instead, her palm landed right on a piece of gravel.

“Ow! Shoot!” she yelped. Jamie automatically reached out and took her hand again, fighting to spread open the palm against Daisy’s instinct to ball her fist.

“Dad! What?” she yelled back. A stern and angry color bled across her face.

Daniel suddenly felt very childish. “What happened?" he asked.

"I was talking to Jamie and I fell. He came out to see if I was okay, and saw I had a scratch on my hand and was trying to stop the bleeding.” She looked up at her father a smiled a little. “He was doing a pretty good job of it until you startled me.”

Daniel took off his hat and squatted down next to Daisy. He took her wrist and shoved Jamie’s hand out of the way. “Let me take a look.”

Jamie glared at Daniel for a second and then stood up. He looked down at Daisy who smiled and said, “Well, this was a hell of an introduction. Maybe next time we can both stay on our feet.”

“Yeah,” he said, “maybe. I’ll see you around.” Jamie winked at her before turning and walking back into the church.