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I’ve called and texted him every day this week so, at this point, I know he’s ignoring me on purpose. Why though? Did I do something to upset him? Is he mad at me? Those thoughts have been swirling in a constant loop for the last couple of days, slowly driving me crazy. Except I can’t think of a single thing that happened that would make him feel like we needed this distance between us. If I don’t hear from him soon, I’m just going to show up at the bar and force him to talk to me. Sucking in a nervous breath, I scroll through my contacts until I find his name and press send.

“Please answer,” I whisper to myself over and over again like maybe somehow, he’ll hear me and finally pick up his phone. My heart sinks when I get his voicemail for the umpteenth time this week, and I toss the phone into the passenger seat before pressing my forehead against the steering wheel. I shouldn’t miss him this much. It shouldn’t hurt like this that he’s ignoring me…right?

Light tapping on the window startles me, and I jerk back. Daisy smiles and waves at me from outside the car, forcing me to muster my best mask as I grab my phone and turn off the car. The moment I step outside, the dense heat envelops me, and I wish I could duck back into my cool air-conditioned car.

“Hey! I’m so excited for you to see this,” she exclaims, wrapping her arms around me in a hug I didn’t realize I needed so badly. I feel better almost instantly and smile a real smile at her this time.

“I’m excited to see it. I told you that this was your calling.” I’m so thrilled that she finally listened to me and pursued her passion for interior design. Of course, I’m sure it helps that her boyfriend flips houses and needed her help. Let’s face it; Tucker doesn’t have much of a decorating sense. He would probably use milk crates and car parts to furnish his home if Daisy would let him get away with it.

“I know. I just think I wasn’t ready to make the leap yet, you know? Now that I’m doing it though, I can’t imagine doing anything else. Those people that bought that house from Tucker last week even hired me to design it for them. Isn’t that amazing?”

I can’t help but smile as her excitement bubbles out of her. “It is amazing but I never doubted you.”

“I know you didn’t. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have ever done this without your encouragement.”

“Of course you would have. It’s your destiny,” I say, motioning up to the house in front of us where workers are milling around. “Have they finished with construction?”

“Not quite,” she replies, linking her arm through mine as we start walking up the large front lawn. “It’s mostly done though so I’m just here to check on stuff that I picked out like the floors and look at paint colors.”

I nod in response and let my gaze wander over the house in front of us. It still needs a fair bit of work on the outside but I can tell that it’s going to be gorgeous. I pull my phone out to snap a picture for Trey before remembering that he’s not speaking to me. My teeth sink into my bottom lip, and I debate if I should call him again before deciding to just text him.

Me:

Please call me, Trey

My fingers itch to add I miss you at the end but I don’t, not willing to admit how much his disappearing act has affected me. This is ridiculous, and I’m done with it. If he doesn’t answer me by tomorrow, I’m going to find him.

“So, how’s life, hun? How are things with Kyle?” Daisy asks, drawing my attention back to her as we step through the doorway onto gorgeous cherry oak floors covered in paper.

“Um… we kind of broke up.”

Her face contorts with sympathy, and she squeezes my hand. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m actually the one that broke up with him.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing really happened. I just didn’t feel the way I should have about him, and he was being sent on a long business trip so it just seemed like a good time to end things. It really wasn’t fair to him to drag it on.”

She scowls, and I can tell that she’s worried about me. It seems since my two best friends shacked up that they are determined to see me do the same. “Man, I thought things were going so well.”

“I mean, they weren’t not going well. He’s a really sweet guy but he was more like a friend than a boyfriend.”

“Well, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I assure her. She smiles at me before her grin turns devious.

“Hey, why don’t you go out with this guy I know?”

I laugh and shake my head. “Uh, no thanks. You’re not setting me up.”

“Oh, why not? It was so funny for you and Emma to do it to me when I was hiding my relationship with Tucker,” she complains.

“Because I’m not interested. And you totally deserved that for hiding what was going on with Tucker.”

“You talkin’ about me again, Angel?” Tucker’s voice booms through the empty house, and Daisy spins around, beaming at him as he reaches her and wraps his arms around her waist.

“Only good things, I promise,” she whispers as he leans in for a kiss, and I try to casually turn away so I don’t have to watch them. Ever since he claimed her in front of everyone, they’ve been nauseatingly cute, and I couldn’t be happier for them but it still hurts to watch. Their love, like Emma and Nix’s, reminds me of the one my parents shared, and a little part of me resents them because I’ll never have it.