Pushing Up Daisies Read Online Free

morning just to sit around and keep his house. For what? So you have to depend on him? You already had one man raise you. What makes you think you need a second daddy?”
    Daisy crossed her arms defiantly. She wanted to curse at her friends, but she knew they were right. “Well, ladies, you can rest assured. Jasper obviously had a place to stay last night, so he can live there. And as far as working, I don’t know. He never wanted me to, and I didn’t have to. But that doesn’t matter now. He’s gone, and there’s nothing more to be said. A girl’s gotta do—”
    “You’ve always got us,” Gigi interrupted, smiling kindly. “Remember that.”

    “What now?!” Daisy grumbled, fumbling to find the ringing cell phone, which had awakened her for the third time. God, please? Make it stop. She sat up and immediately regretted it. Her lids felt twenty pounds heavier and she strained to keep her burning eyes open. Her temples pounded against her skull, threatening to explode. And her ears rang. And rang. And rang some more. “Too much wine. Much…too much…wine,” she whispered while digging in the sofa cushions trying to locate the dreaded digital device that wouldn’t allow her to sleep. “This better be good,” she answered.
    “Daisy, you up?” Gigi asked breathlessly.
    “No. I’m talking in my sleep. Call me back when I wake up…in about five hours.”
    “Goddamnit, Daisy. Get up! Marcus just called. Jasper’s in the hospital.”
    Daisy sat up and pressed her fingers against her throbbing temples, hoping to slow the pounding. But the drumming didn’t shift; it sped up, accelerated like her heartbeat. Moved in rapid, short successions like her anxious breaths. Breathe. Breathe. Goddamnit, breathe! She’d lost track of the inhale/exhale pattern and was forced to relearn it in seconds. Seemed like years. Panic made its way in with a slow crawl and a push so steady it dominated her hangover. “What?! He’s in the hospital? What hospital?” she managed to ask.
    “University…”
    Daisy raced down the Staten Island Expressway as rain spattered on the windshield. The slick roads and potholes added to her shakiness. She couldn’t make it to Jasper fast enough. “Lord, please let him be okay,” she prayed as her back tires slid, losing control for seconds, when she exited the expressway onto Lily Pond Avenue. Let me be okay too, she continued her plea as she fought to gain control of the vehicle. She chastised herself for acting in haste, for throwing out Jasper’s clothes, for assuming that he was cheating.
    She turned into the parking area at top speed. Her heart—her need—wouldn’t allow her to slow. She had to get to him. She pulled into a handicap spot without a second thought. She didn’t need a wheelchair tag; she was the sign, a walking billboard that screamed, “Mentally and emotionally handicapped.” Every bad thought that she could think infiltrated her mind. Stole her sanity. Please, she begged God again, let him be okay.
    As she ran toward the ER, the cold, wet cement reminded her that she wore no shoes. She had no purse. The only thing that she carried was worry for Jasper.
    “Excuse me,” she asked, pounding on the reception counter to get attention. “I’m looking for Jasper Stevens.”
    “Hmm, Stevens. Stevens.” The lady smiled and began searching what Daisy assumed to be an intake sheet.
    What the hell is she so happy about? Doesn’t she realize this is an emergency room? Emergencies aren’t funny.
    “Is he here?”
    “I’m sorry. I don’t see a Jasper Stevens listed. But, then again, they just changed the sign-in sheets. New shift. Let me check in the back for you. What’s your name?”
    Daisy waited a small eternity for the woman to return. Three whole minutes. One hundred and eighty ticktocks on the hospital-issued clock.
    “We don’t have a Jasper Stevens in the back,” the receptionist said, and followed with a shrug. “I’m sorry…”
    “Alright.