my tears ricochet

Chapter Sixty Two

"Dad?"

Daryl looked up from the couch where he was sharpening his knife. Ivy was tentative about calling him 'dad' but it came up more frequently, spearing him to the heart every time. "What's going on?"

It was late. They didn't operate much with a schedule but Ivy knew enough to come home when it got dark. The clock was pushing shy of midnight and realistically he should start getting some kind of routine for her that went into the specifics. "I have something to ask you. Because you like knowing before I do things."

"You gonna stand over there and tell me? Or do you wanna have this conversation properly?"

Something had definitely been going on. Ivy and Beth were exchanging notes on a regular basis written in a code that Abraham had taught them, flashing secretive signs at one another whenever he started turning away. Daryl tried sorting through the internal bank of crimes they could be involved with and wasn't sure where they could pick up from this round.

Ivy edged closer, abandoning the hallway and entering the living room properly. She took a seat on the arm chair instead of the couch, clearly aware of the space between them. In response, Daryl placed the sharpener and the knife down on the table rather than the holder at his belt. He didn't want to draw her attention to his belt if she was getting nervous. "C'mon. Tell me what's going on, sweetheart."

"There's supposed to be a party. Tonight. And I told Beth that I'd go with her."

Daryl blinked, thrown off by the confession. "What kind of party is it?"

"You know that pond? Everyone's supposed to go sneak out to go swimming."

It sounded tamer than half the parties he ever went to. The first one Merle dragged him had a man passed out cold on the lawn, clutching some empty can to his chest. Police always got called and Daryl usually spent the early hours dodging officers by jumping through backyards, vaulting over fences with Merle snapping at him to pick up the pace.

"You asking me for permission? Or you telling me that you're going?"

She fidgeted. "If I don't go, Beth's going to be alone. But I didn't want you to think I vanished if you checked."

Their sleep habits were bad. Nightmares constantly had Ivy abandoning her bedroom in favour of curling up tight on the couch, wired by her own stress. And Daryl couldn't sleep more than an hour or two without getting up to make sure she was somewhere safe, standing in the doorway until the pressure around his chest eased enough that he could go.

If he had opened her door and found an empty bed, Daryl would have lost it.

"Smart," he allowed. "Maggie know about this plan?"

Her face brightened. "Yeah, she does. Beth told her. She loaned her a watch so we could leave at a certain time."

"Lemme guess. Maggie thinks I already know about this?"

"Might've implied it."

A secret party was fairly mild for the two girls to fix their attention to. And, Daryl admitted to himself, it was nice being in on the plan to some degree rather than finding out after. "Do you even know how to swim?"

"Doesn't everyone?" He cocked his head, trying to decipher if she did or didn't. Ivy didn't clarify but she tugged at the collar of her shirt, showing a black strap of a swimsuit. "Maggie got it for me. So, can I? Please?"

"What time you coming home for?"

"Three."

"Want me to wait somewhere close? Just in case?" Daryl knew Ivy got tense with people she didn't know. Especially men. If they were swimming, he didn't want something setting her off or the wrong person saying something.