Selfish.
And he was right.
She didn’t like talking about herself, not because she cared about other people so much, but because she never wanted to be vulnerable. She hadn’t called Ben when she found out he was cheating on her because she couldn’t stand the idea of crying in front of the man who cheated on her, and as Soraya had pointed out, if you couldn’t even cry then, when could you?
Was her relationship with Sam really a one-way friendship?
She thought of all the times he had come over and turned her lights on. Dropped everything and been there for her.
She got out of the car and went upstairs and lay down in bed in the room that probably wouldn’t be hers for much longer. In the house she would have to leave.
She couldn’t sleep. So she started making a plan instead.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nora
Nothing withers magic faster than selfishness.
—Rules for Witches
“Good morning. Whore.”
Daisy gave Nora an extremely unamused look as Nora pushed her way into Daisy’s house, holding a bag of pastries that she had a feeling would lighten Daisy’s mood.
“You sound jealous.” Daisy crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose, trying to meet Nora’s gaze without flinching, clearly.
“Hey. That was whore,affectionate, if you couldn’t tell.”
“I assumed.” Daisy pushed her hair out of her face. It was disheveled. More than just a side effect of sleeping.
Good for her. Genuinely. Nora wasn’t bitter or jealous at all.
“What’s going on?” Daisy asked.
“I haven’t heard from Soraya. She’s not answering her phone.”
“Itispretty early.”
“Yes,” Nora said. “But of course I’d be checking in on her this morning, and of course after she said she ... Do you really think she’s going to quit? Do you think she’ll go back to that church and all those people who are so awful to her—or worse, to David—because she feels guilty?”
Daisy sighed. “Ifeel a little bit guilty.”
“Why?” Nora asked.
“Because it feels like it all got out of hand. It feels like everything went too far. I wanted karma, sure, but this is ...”
“You’re assuming what we did actually had an effect.”
Daisy looked at Nora, unwavering. “We wanted it to happen, Nora. We wanted to ruin them, to hurt them. There was a point where that felt good and like it was enough, but now other people are in the cross fire.”
Nora turned away, walked into the dining room, and set the bag of pastries down on Daisy’s table. “Are your kids still in bed?”
“Yeah,” she said. “So is Zach.”
“Ooh. He spent the night?”
“Yeah. He stayed with the kids while I went over to the fire last night. And then ... well. You know.” She smiled.
