Daisy sat on a stool, drinking away her sorrows with the vodka she found from Tom's personal stash. The stash he kept hidden but failed miserably. A cigarette was perched between her lips. She released the fumes that almost choked her. The smoke came out of her mouth but the block in her throat didn't seem to go away. In fact, the air in the whole room made her want to vomit. She coughed and wheezed for a second before getting a drag out of her cigarette again.
She was never really someone that smoked a lot. She only did it twice or thrice her whole life, but she needed to calm her nerves. The cigarette did not do much to help with the heat but at the very least, she was not as jumpy as she was before.
The click of shoes against their marble floors did not wake Daisy from her temporary coma. Not that she did not notice at all that someone had walked in. She was tired and she could not handle another second of an argument.
Silence passed between Daisy and Tom before she decided to break the spell that seemed to have placed itself in the room.
"Pammy is in her room. Unless you want to wake your daughter, I suggest we talk of this at another time." she said and attempted to stand up. But her legs would not move. Her feet lay firmly on the floor as if they had been glued. Almost like her house was pinning her down, mocking her, telling her to stay in her seat and have a conversation with her husband.
"Daisy, you do not honestly think that this matter is something that can be discussed tomorrow, do you?"
Tom had not moved from where he stood at all. He was having the same troubles that Daisy had.
"I guessed that." Daisy muttered. And in a slur of words, "I killed someone tonight."
"Daisy, you are drunk. You cannot have-"
"Oh, but I have."
Daisy fully expected Tom to walk away and leave her. But all she saw in his eyes was a flash of recognition. "You know about the accident. You know her." Daisy said and took a sip of her drink. She took a drag from her cigarette and her laughter suddenly filled the room.
"By God, it was her, wasn't it?"
Tom was still fully rooted on his post. Daisy's statement nailed his feet to the ground and slapped him silly like the way he slaps his horse's behind when he plays his sport.
"You must think me a bitter old hag, don't you?" Daisy finished her drink and filled her glass once more after reaching for the vodka that felt like it was on the other side of the table.
"Are you leaving? Do not lie to me." Tom finally said.
Daisy looked at him with eyes drunk with grief, loneliness, sadness, and vodka. A smile that didn't quite reach the heavens was on her lips.
"Of course, you're still thinking about that."
"Are you or are you not?"
Daisy straightened her back and turned her cheek. "Maybe I should."
"Do you realize that this man is not who he says he is? I thought you were smarter than that, Daisy."
Another of Daisy's laugh filled the room, "But aren't I a fool, Tom?"
A tear dropped from her eye. "I am nothing but a fool. I have always been a fool for you, Tom. Nothing else."
"That is not true." At this statement, Tom finally had the courage to walk up to Daisy and sit on the chair next to her. He took the cigarette away from Daisy's fingers and stubbed it in the alabaster table. It left a dark circle and the ashes went flying away. But they didn't really mind. What's a handful more ashes going to do? What's another piece of furniture ruined?
"Daisy, I defended my case earlier today but I will say it again. I always come back. I always come back to you even if I have fooled around."
"Why do you do it in the first place?"
Instead of a straight answer, Tom avoided the question and went on to a different topic.
"I do not believe that you desire to run away with that-that man. He was the one who instigated that you say those words. It was his words that came out of your lips, not yours."
Forgetting about her question, Daisy answered "But not all of them were his."
Tom took her hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it. "Daisy, we can still fix this. I can change, you can change-"
"What if I don't want to?"
Silence fell between them again. And it was then that Daisy swore that she saw the shadow of a man exiting her back garden. Can't he stay away? He knows he can't be here.
"Do you love me, Daisy?"
"Tom I-"
"Do you love me?"
Daisy hesitated. "Yes."
"Then that is enough." Tom stroked Daisy's cheek and planted a kiss on her forehead. "That is enough for me."
