“Is it?” Daisy asked. “We sat at lunch together, and you said everything was going to be okay. That we would get what we needed. Then it was like the apothecary was just there. And we walked in and ...”
“It’s a blessing.” Soraya looked a little pious as she said that, but Daisy chose not to be offended.
Daisy chose to agree, because why let word choice be a barrier? “It is. I don’t care what we call it. I think ... I think we were meant to find each other. I think that us being together, being friends, is doing something.”
“Divine intervention,” Soraya added.
“Exactly,” said Daisy.
“Real talk.” Nora turned toward Soraya. “How is an enneagram not Christian Girl astrology?”
“What?” Soraya asked.
“I’m serious. Vision boards, enneagrams. It’s like the same thing with different branding. Spells and manifestation, prayers and your enneagram number.”
“Oh, now you know enneagrams?” Soraya asked.
“I don’tknowthem. I’m aware they’re a personality test and you get a number type, but I don’t know what they’re supposed to mean. But you and so many other girlies I went to school with talk about them like they’re something we should all know and like they’re some intrinsic part of you. Most especially you church girls. So I ask, how is that different from your astrology sign? The idea that you have these immutable characteristics and can glean whatever you need to from categorizing it.”
“Well ...” Soraya blinked. “You take a test. You don’t just enter your birth date and act like the stars are deciding everything for you.”
“If God made the stars, couldn’t he assign meaning to them and the time that you were born?”
Soraya made an exasperated sound. “He could do whatever he wanted. So, sure.”
“Listening to you two really is like being back in high school,” Daisy said.
“No, it isn’t,” Nora said. “I would’ve made her cry by now. She’s a lot hardier these days.”
“Oh, I’m untouchable. Nothing will ever match the crashing horror of finding out my husband ... well, you know, and there’s only so many times I can say it.”
Nora made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. “That’s awful. Genuinely awful. What is he even doing right now?”
“Pretending to be father of the year and acting like he’s the victim. He’s coaching the kids’ baseball games, and because they’re so into sports, and he’s all involved in that, they’re living with him and ...”
“When is the first game?”
“In a few days.”
“Are you going?” Nora asked.
“Of course I’m going. I’m going to end up sitting by myself and hoping the kids talk to me.” Soraya looked so glum, and Daisy had to be thankful that whatever other nonsense Jonathan had done, he hadn’t turned the kids against her.
He wouldn’t want to take care of them all the time.
“No, you’re not going by yourself,” Nora said. “We’re going with you. I love sports.”
“You really love sports?” Daisy asked.
“No. I don’t at all. But you know what I do love? Unsettling men. I would like it if we sat there and stared at him and made him feel like justmaybewe might put a hex on him.”
Soraya winced. “Oh, I don’t really want to generate hex rumors.”
“Why not? They probably already exist. In fact, if he knows you work at the apothecary, he’s probably told everybody at the church by now that you’re a witch.”
Soraya examined her noodles. “Well, yeah, he did. I left him. There is no greater sin than leaving a man who has been labeled good, even when he’s done nothing to demonstrate his goodness. I guess it doesn’t matter if they think I’m a witch, in practice, since they already do because I stood up for myself.”
“What are you supposed to do? Lay down and let him wipe his feet on you?” Nora asked.
