She wasnotdoing this again. She fell hard and she fell fast, and look where it had left her. Two times she’d found the love of her life, and two times they’d found someone else.
It didn’t matter that Elliot had a cute smile or that maybe she needed sex more than she’d previously thought. It didn’t matter that he was a good hugger or that she had yet to find a single red flag.
She was not going to latch on to Elliot like some lovesick barnacle. He was her friend. He was a nice guy helping her out.
He was a giant history nerd that wanted to show her some old pictures.
That was it.
‘Maybe there’s something in there that will help break the curse,’ she joked.
‘You’re not cursed, Daisy.’ He was serious, earnest, when he said it. But this curse was feeling more real every second she stood here looking at Elliot and wishing she could bury her face in his neck again.
Daisywascursed.
But she was going to fight it this time.
ChapterEleven
Elliot didn’t get a chance to argue with Daisy about her not being cursed before Iris entered the shop, with a tear-stained face and a wailing baby in a stroller.
‘Iris. Oh, my gosh, what’s wrong?’
Daisy dashed out from behind the counter to put a comforting arm around her friend.
‘Nothing… I don’t know. Everything?’ Iris sniffed.
‘Honey, you’re crying. What’s going on?’
Iris wiped her eyes, pushing the tangle of red hair away from her face. ‘I was just out for my daily mental health walk with Owen. Obviously, that’s going super well,’ she said with a watery laugh. ‘And we passed the shop and I was thinking about how I should start up my classes again soon, but then I thought about how I can’t even get him to stop crying today and… I don’t know, Daisy, how will I ever be a normal human again?’
She was crying again and so was the baby. Daisy rubbed circles on her back, glancing up at Elliot as though he could be some help here.
Unfortunately, postpartum emotions and newborns were not things Elliot knew anything about. But he was willing to try.
‘How about you go make Iris a cup of tea and I’ll man the shop,’ he said. ‘And… uh… the baby.’
Both women turned to look at him like he’d lost his mind.
‘You’ll just be right back there,’ Elliot said. ‘And I’ll be here with Owen. We’ll be… fine.’ He looked down at the fussing baby. Owen seemed even less convinced than Iris, who was now pushing the stroller back and forth in the shop, getting Owen to stop his more boisterous cries, but he certainly wasn’t happy.
‘Maybe that’s a good idea,’ Daisy said, hesitating at first but seeming to come around as she talked. ‘Just for a minute. You can have a little break and you’ll feel better. Come on.’
Iris eyed Elliot as he took over pushing the stroller.
He tried to give her a reassuring smile even as he doubted his entire plan. He may not know much about babies, but he knew a lot about having big, devastating feelings. He knew what it was like for the world to feel too much sometimes.
‘Just a short break,’ he repeated. ‘We’ll be right here waiting.’
With one last sniffle, Iris shuffled off with Daisy to the back of the shop and her apartment, and Elliot looked down at Owen.
‘Hello, there,’ Elliot said, and the baby scrunched up his face and made an angry squawking sound. ‘Hmm. Maybe you’re tired of being trapped in here.’ He reached in, and after several intense moments of squawking escalating to full-on cries as Elliot tried to extract him from the high-security baby seat buckle, he lifted him out, and Owen was free.
Owen’s body immediately curled up, turning himself into a tiny ball. Elliot held him to his chest, supporting his little head with one hand and his little bum with the other. He was so small. And yet so full of rage. He was still crying and squirming against Elliot, so Elliot began to walk, taking slightly bouncy steps around the shop, shushing and whispering to his new cranky buddy.
‘I get it man, life is tough out here,’ he said and Owen seemed to agree with another loud cry. ‘There’s a lot to be upset about.’
‘But there’s good things, too.’ He patted Owen’s back with a steady rhythm, and the baby started to settle.
