“I thought you didn’t drink,” Nora said.
“It’s white wine. It’s not really drinking.”
She couldn’t tell if Soraya was kidding or not.
She decided to let that one go.
“How old are your kids, Daisy?” Soraya asked, and the familiarity in Soraya’s tone made Nora wonder if Daisy and Soraya had been hanging out without her. That would normally be fine, wouldn’t bother her at all, except right now she was feeling a little bit raw, and if she found out that Daisy had made time for lunch with Soraya but had never managed to make time for Nora, she might cry.
Maybe.
“They’re nine, seven, and five.”
“Oh wow. So they’re all in school.”
“Yes.” Daisy twisted the ring on her left hand. “Yeah. All in school. All day. Which is nice, but it’s definitely different.”
“Well. My boys don’t have any time for me anymore. They’re seventeen and fifteen.”
Seventeenandfifteen. Nora felt closer to being a teenager than not. It blew her mind that somebody her age had nearly full-adult humans. But then, Soraya had gotten married one month after their high school graduation. Like a lot of those church girls tended to do.
That was what happened when you weren’t allowed to touch underneath the clothes until marriage. The timeline had to be accelerated.
“You must have a lot of free time,” Daisy said.
Soraya looked like she didn’t quite know what to say to that. “I make a lot of sourdough.”
“Oh,” Daisy and Nora said at the same time.
Soraya turned to Nora. “You still don’t have kids, Nora?”
Nora wasquitecertain Soraya knew she didn’t have kids.
“No.” She let that be a complete sentence.
The drinks came, and they put their order in for food. They ordered salad, a burger, and a chicken Caesar wrap. It seemed somehow very Daisy that her order was a middle ground between Nora’s and Soraya’s.
Soraya took a sip of her wine. Nora watched her closely to see what her reaction was. Did she actually drink? Or was she about to have her first taste of alcohol in the middle of the day on a Friday?
Soraya started to tear up, setting the glass down, her hands shaking. “I ... I do have a lot of free time,” she said, her lower lip trembling. “Because I ... I kicked David out.”
Chapter Two
Nora
When you’re in need, ask the divine power in the universe. It will provide.
—Rules for Witches
Nora could only stare at Soraya, her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“You kicked David out?” Daisy asked.
“Yes. I did. Two weeks ago. He’s staying in a house his real estate company was selling, with our boys, and they just want to live with their dad because he’s better than me, apparently.” She blinked back tears as she took a sip of wine.
“What happened?” Nora asked.
Soraya was the perfect tradwife. The kind who deferred to her husband in everything, or at least that was what Nora had assumed based on knowing her in high school, plus what she posted on social media. She couldn’t fathom Soraya throwing her husband out.
