Chapter 3: A New Friend
Daisy enjoyed peace and quiet but Tom preferred conversation. So by the time that the meal was finished Tom had shared innumerable anecdotes with her about his crazy Italian friend who is afraid of cats, his high school best friend who is a doctor and his namesake who is a Casanova. There were points where Daisy had laughed so hard that there were literal tears in her eyes. It was a moment of an awkward pause after such a hard laugh that Daisy finally sobered down. She reached for a glass of water as her throat was quite thirst after the laughter uproar.
"I am going to be sat out of this project tomorrow, after putting months of hard work into it." she sighed into her glass of water.
"Oh, don't fret. You are a clever woman to deal with the thug like you did. I hardly doubt your bosses would be fool enough to violate an NDA that they are liable to keep." Tom assured her while taking her left hand between his giant palms. He had extremely long fingers that Daisy noticed were quite slender.
"You have nice hands" she said involuntarily.
"Do you have a fetish?" Tom asked to her chagrin. When he noticed her going beet red with embarrassment he winked at her.
"I think I better get the bill. I need to go home and rest. Do you want to order anything else?" she said while purposefully avoiding his eyes.
"It was a joke Daisy. If it is of any comfort you are not really my kind of a woman, so I won't try anything on you. I joke a lot if you haven't noticed." He confessed.
His words hurt more than they should have. Daisy knew that she was a woman on the wrong side of thirty and Tom seemed to be quite the ladies' man. "I understand quite well. I am not delusional."
Tom nodded. "Like I said, it was just company. I enjoyed your company very much."
After the sting of rejection his words only soothed a little. 'Did I think rejection?' she thought to herself and frowned. "I really need to go home though." she whined.
"Alright. We both seem to have finished. Let us leave." Tom said getting up.
"You have to ask for the bill." she insisted.
"No, I do not. I own this place. Let me drop you home."
"I can go myself." she insisted stubbornly.
"I have a car waiting outside and I am perfectly capable of driving you home. You on the other hand are sleep deprived and I won't feel at ease unless you are safely tucked into a bed with a fluffed up pillow under your head and a teddy bear in your arms." Tom whispered into her ears, getting close with every word. Daisy tried to pull out of his proximity and only then noticed that he had gently but firmly put his hand on her elbow and was leading her out. She tried to think of something to protest but her mind failed her. By the time she could think of anything she was seated in his Audi while he leaned into her doing her seat belt with her taking in his woody aftershave. As he finished he noticed her with intent eyes observing his every movement. Their faces were inches from each other and Tom leaned in a bit further to touch his lips to hers. An inaudible gasp escaped her lips as his eyes widened at the touch. His lips weren't really soft. But the touch was so delicate that it felt like the petals of a flower.
Tom straightened himself and placed his hands on the steering wheel. "So where is it that you live?"
....
The place was a dump. It was a sketchy part of town with overcrowded tiny apartments and dingy alley. "If you don't mind me asking how much do you make a year to have to live in this dump?" Tom asked.
"I mind very much. It is none of your business. I told you that you do not have to drive me home." she insisted.
Sighing he nodded. "You are right. It is none of my business." Then there was an awkward pause. It was Tom again who asked, "How do you travel to your work place from here? It must take eons."
"It takes a hour and a half but the commute is worth the savings I get to make."
"You have savings?" Tom asked a bit skeptical.
"Yes Mr. Restaurant-ear. I have enough saving to last a month if I am laid off tomorrow because of your antics." she snapped. Tom couldn't help control the smile tugging the corner of his lips.
"If you lose your job contact me and I will set you up with something. Take down my number."
"I don't have any qualification or experience to work in a restaurant. Yeah I can cook but I am more of a home cook than a chef." Daisy said dismissing him.
"I have other ventures and I know people that may be in need of a law school graduate. I won't make you wait on tables Daisy. I am not that insane."
"Why? Am I too old to work in your restaurant?" she retorted.
"Why are you snapping at me? I told you that I can get you a job according to your qualification and experience. Isn't that what you want?" Tom said facing her. It was then that Daisy realized that the car had come to a stop right before the building where she said she lived. She actually lived two blocks down but she wasn't telling a stranger where she actually lived. This was far enough.
"I do not want your charity Tom. I am an independent woman, if you didn't notice." she shouted at him.
"Have you considered the fact that you are projecting your frustration at your job and your angst at the PR's threat on me. Also because of your sleep deprivation you are feeling restless and insecure."
Daisy shut herself up. Tom was right. None of it was his fault. Even if he were not sitting beside her Daisy wouldn't have violated the NDA. However it was so easy to do the right thing with him sitting next to her. Daisy knew that it was going to be just that hard on Monday to face Ramon and tell him the same thing she could say today. Well, actually she was not the one doing the talking. At that moment the realization of her loneliness hit her all the more strongly. There was no one there for her to turn to and if somehow she did lose her job it would be this stranger she would have to turn to.
"Were you serious about me contacting you if I ...?" Daisy couldn't finish her sentence. The tears that she was trying to check burst forth. Tom reached inside his jacket and brought forth an blank piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled something and handed it to her. "Here. This is my personal number. If you call this number you will get me personally. If for some reason I don't answer I am in a meeting and I will get back to you. Only my closest friends have this number. Ok?" Tom asked her.
Daisy could only manage to nod. Then she took a deep breath. "I don't have any friends left." she said softly.
"Well good for you that you made a new one today." Tom assured her. "Now do you really want to walk through these streets or will you tell me which way you live?"
Daisy looked up with gaping eyes. "How did you know?"
Tom smirked at her. "I have been around the block a bit more than you kiddo. I know the type of girl that leads a man to her bedroom and I know the type that makes a guy drop her a few blocks away from her real home because she is too afraid of the neighbours. But I can assure you that you are old enough to stop worrying about it." Tom cocked his head angling his chin away from her.
Daisy pointed forward. "Two blocks and then left. It is a large yellow building with a moth eaten wall. You can't miss it."
"Now that wasn't too difficult, was it?"
Daisy shook her head, smiling.
A few minutes later she was actually parked outside her apartment. When the day began Daisy did not think that she would be able to go through the day without sobbing her eyes out. But she had to admit sh enjoyed lunch. More than anything she had enjoyed Tom's company. She didn't remember when was the last time she laughed so much. But the day was coming to a close and she knew that they would part ways. She had his number but it was something he had given for emergencies. A part of her hoped to lose her job the coming Monday so that she would have an excuse to call Tom up. But then again her fear of men kept her heart beat in check. She couldn't depend on a man to take away all the problems of her life. It would be too much of a fantasy to hope.
Daisy forcefully banished all thoughts of Tom for the remaining day and all of Sunday morning. It was Sunday afternoon when she had an unexpected visitor. It was Mallory. Daisy was surprised to see her elder sister knock on her door firstly since it was a rare occurrence for Jonathan to allow her to venture out of doors on the weekend and secondly the last time Mallory spoke to her was a in a voice mail when she was by her dying childhood friend, accusing her of things she didn't do.
"What do you want Mallory?"
"Won't you ask me to come in? It has been a long time since we got together and shared our problems."
"You mean your problems, your quarrels with Jonathan. Him controlling you, controlling your life and then getting drunk and beating you up. Trust me Mallory that from what I have heard I already know enough and I know that my word has no value to you but at least you could look around and see how stupid you are being in sticking with him."
"I am not like you Daisy. I am afraid of becoming like you. I am afraid of becoming so lonely that I would forget what it is like to be comforted. I know you are strong. That is how you do it. I am not strong. You were young when you accused Jonathan of things you didn't fully understand and I know you refuse to be weak and take it back. But I know my husband. Despite everything he is a good man. He just struggles a lot to be happy with what we have. He had great dreams you know and we haven't really been able to achieve much of it. Don't judge him sis."
"Is that all?" Daisy replied with a straight face.
"I am pregnant. I want to have this baby. We have been married long enough. But Jonathan says that he can't afford a child right now. I told him that I would work to support the child. But I need money for the doctor's bill and all, till I can start earning. I have actually got a job but I need some money for the hospital and few decent dresses to wear to work. I would pay you back as soon as I get settled in my new job."
Daisy stared at her stock still. That is the only time her sister remembers her, when she needs money. But she is pregnant. She wouldn't lie about that. What wouldn't she do to have a child of her own. Really? What wouldn't she do? Nothing perhaps. She could go to any length for her child and she could go to any length for her nephew or niece as well. She wrote out a cheque of all the savings she had in the bank and handed it over to her. Mallory took the cheque and left. Daisy felt numb. She felt like the universe was against her. At that thoughtless moment she did the most stupid thing that she could. She went over to her phone and dialled Tom's number.
The phone was ringing. It was ringing. Nobody was picking up the phone and tears had started to form in her eyes. She was at the brink of a sob when she heard his voice. "Hello".
"Hello Tom." Daisy could hear music in the background. It was perhaps a club or something. It was a Sunday evening. Who parties on a Sunday evening?
"You will have to speak up love, I can't hear a word you are saying."
'That's because I haven't said anything' Daisy mumbled to herself. At that moment Daisy realized how stupid it was to call Tom. who was he but an absolute stranger. Daisy disconnected the line and went to her room. She curled on her bed and hugged her beaten down pillow. her sobs started on their own. Before she knew it she had cried herself to sleep.
It was the sound of the alarm that woke her up. She opened her eyes to see that it was not the alarm but the telephone. She was too groggy to walk over and take the call. She let it go to voicemail.
You have reached Daisy but she isn't at home. Please leave a message after the beep.
BEEP
"Daisy, your windows are open and your light is on. I know you are inside. Your crazy landlady won't tell me which apartment you are in. Please come to the front door. I promise I don't bite." It was the one voice she wanted to hear but he was here? Daisy had just wanted to hear Tom's voice because she had no semblance of human contact other than him outside her office and at office she was as good as a vegetable to those around her. But he was here!
Daisy rushed down without bothering to close the door behind her and soon found Tom in a crisp white shirt with a steel grey waistcoat looking a bit dishevelled.
"What happened to you?" Daisy asked concerned.
"I was with some friends. Things can get a bit rough when you are with people you have grown up with and they know you are hiding something."
"Oh...what are you hiding?"
"You" he said shyly. Tom looked down and the blush on his face was visible despite his four o' clock shadow.
When Tom looked up Daisy was also looking down and her blush was far more prominent. Tom knew he was in trouble. He wasn't lying to Daisy when he said that she wasn't his type of woman. His type of women came a dime a dozen and lined on the sides of the notorious Ralph street to gain a new customer every night. He often visited those streets not so much to fish for women as much as to harass the younger ones into quitting. If someone captivated him he would take her to a hotel and leave a substantial amount of cash on her bedside to prevent her from going back to the place. After every 'case' he would 'rescue' he would prowl the street to see if she got back and then he would only return after a few months.
Tom could have women lining up for him if he wanted, honest women, decent women who wanted nothing more than his money. But his money wasn't all of him.
Daisy didn't fall into either category or so he hoped. She was the girl that he could let his guards down with and that both scared and excited him.
"So what made you call me. Wasn't there a three day rule or something?" he joked.
Daisy looked up surprised. "Yesterday wasn't a date." she countered.
"Nope". he said, popping the 'p'. "I was just joking. I am glad that you called. What can I do for you?"
"Were you serious about being my friend?" Daisy asked innocently. Something about how she said it tugged at his heart. It was like a child who was promised a toy she felt she couldn't have.
"Absolutely"
Her eyes teared with the note of sincerity in his. "I could really use a friend right now." she replied. Tom nodded. "Lead the way" he said gesturing with his hand.
Daisy climbed the stairs and Tom followed unaware that he was the first male person to enter her room in seventeen years.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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