Lucy

Daisy was away again.

Lucy did not mind working a couple of extra hour to help close up the Pizza Stack, the heat of the ovens and smell of garlic beat the cold, empty home waiting for her. But the sudden need for coverage was suspicious, and she was worried about her.

Daisy went from hardly ever calling in sick to taking off multiple days a week. Rumor had it she was winding down and considering retirement. Lucy wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen the episode firsthand.

Kat was basically screaming at her, and she never responded. Like she was stuck in a dream or something.

If Lucy did not know any better, she would have thought it was a trance.

Wishful thinking. You know the truth; she’s sick.

Lucy sighed, a hollow, self-serving expression, and went back to the oven; there was a full order ready to come out.

She pulled them off the rack and started slicing.

Soon someone would be there to pick them up. Another meal out, another group of people she’d like to recognize but never truly interact with.

When Daisy came back—

If Daisy comes back.

Lucy shook her head beneath those harsh fluorescent lights.

When she came back, Lucy would make more time to talk to her.

She might not have much longer to do it. Soon, she may be a dream, then a memory.

And then she’ll be gone.

Lucy slid another pizza in. If it weren’t for Bradley, she’d fire as many of the remaining shells as she could so they could sell them as sliced, or if there were too many, she’d half bake them so they could be frozen and sold as quick oven pizzas.

Sophie didn’t like wasted money. Lucy didn’t like the idea of food waste. So she’d have been cool with it, even if the half-cooked frozen pizzas sounded disgusting to her. But Bradley always killed the idea when it came up.

He’d say it was a waste of produce. That, “fresh pizzas sell for more.” Or that, “It’s an awkward in-between. We have fresh food and packaged food. Frozen food is something different.”

But Lucy knew differently. She’d caught the hints in their conversations.

Bradley was only fighting the idea because Doug came up with it first.

What a couple of douchebags.

She snickered to herself as she folded a pizza box, deftly avoiding the epic cardboard cuts those boxes could provide. Maybe laughing at a pointless pissing contest wasn’t a brilliant use of her time, but she was getting paid either way. And it sure beat getting crushed under the weight of repetitive tasks.

Lucy glanced across the store at Kat, who was losing her mind at the cash register. Chipped red nails tapping away at the countertop, mouth agape with yet another yawn. It had been a slow afternoon, and she had no company. Boredom would soon be the end of her. Lucy could tell she was just itching to pull out her phone, but couldn’t do it with witnesses around.

Lucy smirked before a tinge of guilt snuck by the glee.

Come on, I’m just trying to look out for her!

She was just going to stay late to keep Kat company. It would be good for both of them. Kat needed a distraction, and Lucy…she had been meaning to call someone and needed a willing participant.