“I did,” Daisy countered, turning toward him, and Nora could practically feel the tension sparking between the two of them. Daisy hadn’t mentioned that she had a preexisting thing with Zach. Yes, Nora knew he was a business partner to Daisy’s husband, but she hadn’t realizedtheyhad a thing.
Daisy was looking at Zach like she wanted to punch him, while Zach looked completely unbothered while somehow also conveying that he was a breath away from wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. It was clear to Nora that Daisy didn’t see that.
If she did, she would probably look less angry and would be looking a lot moreflustered.
Nora wasn’t inexperienced, but that man was hot enough to make her stutter. If he had looked at her the way he was looking at Daisy, she might have combusted.
That made her feel eased slightly, which bothered her. Because she’d gotten a little bit prickly about Daisy’s appreciation of Sam, and it was clear that was generic, and Zach was the one she had real, undeniable chemistry with.
Not that it should matter.
“Well. Let’s get ... going.” Nora charged forward and knocked on the front door.
Soraya opened it a moment later, her face red and blotchy. “Sorry. Having a mental breakdown.”
“Oh, that’s completely allowed,” Nora said.
Soraya looked past Nora and saw Zach standing next to Daisy. She shot Nora and Daisy weighted looks.
“We’ll wait out here.” Sam waved them away. “Go on.”
Daisy and Nora went into the house, and Soraya closed the door behind them. “I didn’t know Zach Woods was going to help with the move. I ... I wish I didn’t look like I had just cried my eyes out and ate my weight in bread and butter.”
“You don’tlooklike that,” Daisy said.
“Oh.” There was a hysterical giggle on Soraya’s lips. “That’s good. Because I just cried my eyes out and ate my weight in bread and butter.”
“That’s progress. Remember just a week ago, you couldn’t eat your feelings.” Nora practically did jazz hands—anything to lighten the mood.
Soraya laughed, but it sounded like a watery choke.
“I should have told you Zach was coming,” Daisy said. “But I ran into him at the coffee shop, and I ended up telling him what we were doing today. I also told him that Amberly and Jonathan are getting married.Anyway.I think I must’ve looked sad and pathetic, and before I knew it, I had been hijacked, and he was renting a moving truck. I think he must feel like I’m his own personal charity at this point, between the sets and now this.”
Did she actually think it was pity? Nora looked at Daisy, really looked at her. She was beautiful, and Nora had a feeling she had no idea. Maybe because she’d spent years with a man who hadn’t told her, or maybe because of the way life had shaped her long before Jonathan had been in the picture.
Weren’t they all a ragtag group of issues they’d collected through the years?
“Daisy.” Nora grabbed Daisy’s shoulders. “He likes you.”
“I ... What?” Daisy blinked furiously behind her large glasses.
“Helikesyou.” Nora elongated each word. “Like, he thinks you’re cute.”
“He ... he does not,” Daisy said.
“Oh, he surely does,” Nora countered. “I felt like I had walked in the middle of a good enemies-to-lovers romance out there.”
“I’mmarried to his friend.”
“I know,” Nora said. “That wouldn’t prevent him from being attracted to you, and also, you’re not really married to him anymore, even if you are legally, given he moved in with another woman he’s now marrying.”
“That isn’t the biggest barrier to Zach Woods liking me,” Daisy said, her tone dry. “I’m ...” She waved her hand over her body, and Nora searched for what on earth her friend could possibly be indicating.
“You’re hot, Daisy.”
“No. He’s hot. I am ... a thirty-five-year-old woman who carried and birthed three children and has all the stretch marks and baggy skin to prove it. He’s physical perfection. He’s the hottest man I’ve ever seen in real life. In fact, he was the hottest man I had ever seen on TV back in high school when ... You remember.”
“I obviously remember that, but what does that have to do with anything? What does that have to do with now?”
