“He was the hot boy I was into when I was a girl, and he is definitely a hot man for the woman in me now, but, like, fantasy level. I’m only some woman he met a few years ago. Fantasies are all fine and good, but they’re just fantasies.”
“Why does it have to be a fantasy?”
“For all the reasons I said. He’s Jonathan’s friend and business partner.” She looked at the back wall. “So I think you’re crazy, just FYI.”
“Noted,” Nora said.
“But even if I didn’t ... I’m so tired. I spent all those years doing everything for Jonathan, and for what? If he was that costly, imagine how expensive a man like Zach would be to keep.”
Soraya had been so quiet through the whole exchange that she surprised Nora by speaking. “I relate to that feeling. I gave David everything, and for what? I gave him my youth, my virginity, years and years of perfunctory sex that didn’t blow my mind even half the time. Igave him my dreams. I let him reshape them around this house, around his business, his goals, his friends. That’s why I lost my friends. They’re all married to his friends. Everything in my life is his, and I get feeling so exhausted by all that. I just don’t think we failed to hang on to them. They took us for granted. They didn’t think we’d find a spine and tell them to go to ... to go to hell. But we did. So if you’re tired, I get that. I’m tired too. I’m sad. I’m ... I’m so sad. But this isn’t our failure.”
It’s not your failure.
Nora tried to cling to that. Maybe it felt more true if you hadn’t been left by your mother, your grandmother. Your father, whoever the hell he was. Maybe for them it was more true.
“Thanks, Soraya.” Daisy forced a small, quick smile. “God. I wouldn’t know what to do with a man like him even if I had the energy to do it.”
“Oh, don’t let that stop you. Soraya and I could help you choreograph it.”
Soraya barked a laugh. “I know how to give blow jobs that send your man straight into the DMs of other women.”
The shock of Soraya sayingblow jobmade Nora dissolve into laughter, and Daisy right along with her, until Soraya broke into a fit of giggles too. It wasn’t that funny. None of this was funny, but laughing felt good.
Nora wiped her eyes. Tears of laughter or sadness, she really couldn’t say. “Oh, we’re a mess.” She let out a breath. “Is Zach even still friends with Jonathan? He’s here with you now, he’s building your sets, he recruited Sam.”
“He’s ... not happy with him, that’s for sure.”
“Because helikesyou,” Nora said, completely convinced of that truth.
“I don’t even know what to say to that. I don’t know what to say to that, and I wouldn’t know what to do with him even if ... I’ve been with Jonathan since I was sixteen.”
“I know you’re tired. I know you feel weird. But you were also just saying you were missing sex.”
“That doesn’t mean I can hook up withZach Woods. Be serious.” Daisy looked at Soraya. “Can you say something pure and pious now, please?”
Soraya smiled, or at least attempted it. “Sorry. I fear that I am all out of piety. It’s gotten me nowhere. Here I am, moving out of this house that we had built for ourselves. By your husband, incidentally.”
“Does your electricity go out all the time?” Nora asked.
“It does,” Soraya said. “What made you think of that?”
“Mine does too. It’s that electrician Jonathan uses.”
“That doesn’t really surprise me,” Daisy scoffed. “He’d rather hire his friends than make sure he’s getting the best. It’s like a giant boys’ club.”
“Here’s Zach. Breaking the terms of the boys’ club. He’s here foryou.”
Daisy’s cheeks did turn a little pink then. “I think he’s just nice.”
“Except.” Nora held up a finger. “Sam and Zach showed up to help a woman they don’t even know move. I can tell you who wouldn’t be here right now.”
Daisy bit the inside of her cheek, and Soraya nodded slowly. “Isn’t that a great point. The men who didn’t think anything about betraying their wives wouldn’t lift a finger to help someone in this situation. But you’re right. I don’t know Sam. Not really. I don’t know Zach at all, except that he’s rich and formerly famous. But they’re here. Pretty amazing, honestly.”
“Sam probably likesyou,” Daisy countered, looking at Nora.
Nora thought back to the way his arms had felt around her and pushed that thought away. “Sam and I have a trauma bond. That’s its own whole thing. Besides, we’re practically siblings.”
The lie made her feel funny.
