‘I panicked.’ She returned to her spot behind the counter and started sorting bits of ribbon. Elliot continued to watch her, waiting for her to go on. Maybe that was what had her being so honest. He seemed genuinely interested to hear whatever crazy words were coming next. ‘It’s just… they came in and they were so happy… And I hated that. And I know that makes me some kind of bad person. But seriously, who just waltzes into their ex’s hometown flaunting their new fiancée?! It’s rude, frankly.’
Elliot let out a quiet laugh. ‘I agree.Who does that?’
Daisy’s gaze snapped to his and she couldn’t help returning his smile. She’d be lying if she said she’dreallynoticed Elliot before. Sure, there was that moment at the wedding, but she hadn’t really considered him at the time. She wasn’t supposed to be considering anyone right now. She was supposed to be healing. She’d sworn off men entirely and was perfectly fine with her new celibate lifestyle.Perfectly fine.But being in such close proximity to him now, it was impossible not to notice his shy smile and his messy hair. The way his dark-rimmed glasses drew attention to his dark eyes and the way his cheeks flushed pink when she smiled back at him.
Maybe she should have listened to Annie at the wedding. Maybe Elliot was cute.
She shook her head.
No. Absolutely not.
‘I’m sorry for dragging you into my web of lies.’
Elliot shrugged, another quiet laugh rumbling out of him. ‘It made my day more interesting.’
‘You’re a pretty good actor.’
‘It was a pretty easy part to play,’ he said, his smile growing. Was Elliot the nerdy architect flirting with her? Did she like it?
Daisy’s cheeks heated and a nervous flutter started in her belly. It had been a long time since she’d been flirted with.
‘Well, thank you. It made this interaction slightly less terrible.’
‘With any luck, we scared them away from booking the inn,’ Elliot said with another shrug.
‘We can only hope.’ Daisy breathed out a long sigh. Just thinking about David being in town planning a wedding was giving her hives. How would she survive it if he stuck around? Weddings take forever to plan. He’d be here all the time! It had taken months for her to get to the barely functional place she was currently in.Look at me, wearing real clothes and being upright!Such progress! It had been nearly a year since she’d spent a full day crying. A few hours here and there, sure, but not a full day. But if David was around, if she had to see him, how the hell would she ever get over him?
She bit down on her bottom lip. Hard. She would not cry in front of this nice man who she had already accosted and forced to be her fake boyfriend.
She. Would. Not. Cry.
‘So, you were married to that guy?’ It was clear from the tone of his voice just how Elliot felt about her ex. Which didn’t seem fair based on their five-minute interaction.
‘No, just engaged. We never even made it to the married part.’Not crying, not crying, not crying.
‘He’s an idiot.’
Daisy’s brows shot up, startled by Elliot’s harsh words. She wasn’t expecting them from his soft-spoken demeanor. ‘You don’t even know him.’
‘I know he didn’t marry you. Seems like an idiot move to me.’ He held her gaze while he said it, and heat flooded Daisy’s body.
‘You don’t know me, either,’ Daisy whispered, surprised by how much his words affected her. ‘I could have dead bodies in the basement.’
Elliot’s lips rose in amusement. ‘Doyou have dead bodies in the basement?’
‘No.’ Daisy narrowed her eyes at him. This conversation was going off the rails, and she didn’t know how she felt about it. ‘But you don’t know that. I could be crazy. I could have driven him away with my constant nagging and insecurity. Maybe I always thought he was mad at me and I was always asking “are you mad at me” and he just couldn’t take it anymore.’ Oof, that was a little too honest. She swallowed the hot ball of emotion rising in her throat.
She had always felt like she was grasping with David, like she was trying so hard to hold onto something that just wasn’t working. ‘Maybe.’ But Elliot shrugged again like he wouldn’t mind if she asked him that a million times. ‘But it seems to me, he should have made you feel more secure.’
Daisy opened her mouth in an automatic urge to defend David but maybe she didn’t want to this time. Maybe it was nice hearing that the break-up wasn’t all her fault. Maybe this was the first time she’d considered the idea that maybe if David had held her tighter, she wouldn’t have had to grasp so hard.
‘If you ask me, David had a beautiful, intelligent, funny woman and he let her go. Doesn’t make sense to me, but what do I know? I couldn’t keep my ex-wife happy.’
‘You were married?’ Daisy asked, mostly to avoid thinking too much about thebeautiful, intelligent, funny womanpart of the whole thing. Elliot couldn’t be cuteandsay things like that.
‘Yep. For five years before she decided I wasn’t worth the trouble, I guess.’
The way he said it sounded so resigned, so sure that he was the problem that Daisy instantly felt defensive of him. ‘She sounds like an idiot.’
