Daisy had cried for a week straight. She’d refused to leave her bed, and even when Jamie or I forced her—made her come over, to get fresh air and get out of her room full of memories—she’d just cry in our rooms. I hadn’t beensure she was ever going to get over her first heartbreak until one day she’d just stopped. Stopped crying, stopped caring, and started pretending like her ex-boyfriend never even existed.
Until now.
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Daisy went on, tearing at the bottom corner of her notebook page. “It’s not like it’s a big deal.”
Daisy never went into depth onhowDalton broke up with her. She never told me what he’d said or how he’d said it. However he had done it had been hurtful enough to send her into a crying spell that could’ve flooded the Sahara Desert, that was all I knew.
Jamie stared at Daisy, and she pointedly ignored both of us. I wondered what he was thinking. His side profile as he watched Daisy was hard, full of a black hatred that I was sure would blink away the second she lifted her eyes. The hatred wasn’t toward her, of course. If Dalton Giovanni had no haters, Jamie and I were both dead.
“So we need to get you a boyfriend before he comes home,” I said, nodding. “Rub his freaking nose in it.”
“Yeah?” Daisy gave a ghostly laugh. “Like who? The only two single people our age at the club are Collin and Beck, and both are just—ugh.”
A thought popped into my head, and I couldn’t fight my smirk. “Could always date Jamie for the summer.”
Jamie flinched in his seat. “No, she can’t.”
Daisy gasped again, smacking his arm. “Please! You’d be lucky if I dated you. It’d be the achievement of your life.You’d tell it to your grandkids one day,I dated Daisy Carmichael.”
Jamie rubbed at his shoulder, gaze tracing her.
It was strange; in my head, Daisy was like a sister, and Jamie was my brother, but the two were not “like brother and sister.” A convoluted part of our dynamic, an oxymoron that didn’t make sense. The two of them dating would be gross—and I would seriously be ticked off, because that threw a wrench ineverythingwe’d been building since freshman year—but it wouldn’t bewrong.
The garage door in the kitchen suddenly swung inward, and Mom stumbled in with two plastic bags hanging from a hooked finger. She had a dust mop underneath one arm and struggled to cart in her briefcase along with the haul. Her eyes met mine. “A little help?”
All three of us burst into motion. Jamie got to Mom the quickest, taking everything from her but her briefcase. “You went to the grocery store?” I asked as Jamie pried the plastic bag open, peering inside.
“Cleaning stuff?”
Mom set her briefcase down on the kitchen counter. “I want to clean the house before Destelle comes.”
“Ooh, when is she coming home?” Daisy sounded far too excited.
I shot her a look, and she raised her shoulders to her ears.
“She’s not coming home until graduation,” I answered for Mom. “That’s, like, a week and a half away. Why are you cleaning already?”
“Have you seen this house? It’ll take me every part of a week and a half to get it ready.”
“It’s just Destelle.” I didn’t know why she was treating Destelle like it was the Queen of England visiting, and not just Mom’s own daughter. It was nothing that special. Besides, four weeks was a long time—she totally would cancel.
“And Harry,” Mom said. “She said he’s coming too.”
Jamie looked up. “Really?”
Mom nodded. “I don’t know why you’re all huffy, Nellie.” She patted my back as she walked past me and toward the fridge. “You like Harry.”
I did like Harry. Destelle’s boyfriend was probably as warmhearted as they came. I liked him a lot, actually.
Daisy frowned at me when Mom had her back turned.What’s wrong?
She might’ve grumbled when Jamie and I did our twin speak, but I was pretty fluent in Best Friend, too. I shook my head.Later.
“Are you going to be staying for dinner, Daisy?” Mom asked. “We’re having our famous chicken noodle mashed potatoes.”
“I have to cook for the kids tonight,” Daisy said apologetically. “But just know that it pains me to say that. In fact—” She twisted her wrist to look at her watch. “I should get going. Penn can only watch the two for so long, and Theo’s going to be dropped off soon from soccer practice.”
Even before she’d finished, Jamie backtracked toward where we’d left our review papers sprawled out. He slidher notebook and textbook into her backpack, and when he zipped the flap closed, he held it out to her to thread her arms through. “I’ll drive you.”
