So with that, her bitchiness continued. “Are you done?” she asked.
His eyes widened; his mouth dropped. He wasn’t expecting that.
“Yes, but I was hoping we’d… I don’t know—”
“We would what? Reconnect?”
“Well… yes.”
Daisy huffed a laugh. “Thanks, but no, thanks.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. I have no interest in seeing you again. Look, I forgive you, Jameson. I have for a while, but I can’t forget what you and that woman did to me. I wish you well, I genuinely do, but I want no part of your life.” She stood so fast her purse tipped, contents scattering across the tile.
“Crap.”
Punishment for being horrible. She crouched and swept everything back into the bag. Jameson bent to help, but she halted him with a hand and stood.
“I believe your time is up and I need to go.”
Jameson lightly tugged her wrist, sending a shock up her arm. “Daisy, please don’t leave.”
His eyes begged. Her heart said go. This was for the best.
She pulled away and met his gaze. “Take care, Jameson.”
Then she walked out of the coffee shop, not turning once to get a final look at the man who, without knowing it, had just put a crack in the cage around her heart.
The booming voice drifting from her apartment was the first indicator. Her mother and Amelia were never that loud. The second was the smell that followed the stairwell all the way to her front door.
Chanel No. 5.
It was all Anna wore now that her soon-to-be ex-husband loathed the scent. If he was going to drag her through a nasty divorce for half of everything she owned, she would flood his nostrils with the perfume he’d begged her not to wear. If Daisy could smell it from the hallway, she assumed it had been a rather intense day in court.
“Mommy! Auntie Anna is here!”
Daisy’s longtime friend sat at the kitchen island, perfectly put together in a cream turtleneck and dark jeans.
“You look like hell, Double D.”
Daisy could never shake the nickname; it was part of her now. “Thanks, Anna. I really appreciate that.”
“What? Your hair’s frizzed and your face is pale. Just stating facts, doll. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Daisy swallowed hard because that’s exactly what she’d seen. “It was a long day, and if you haven’t noticed, it’s drizzling outside.”
“Long day? It’s not even four.”
“Anna…”
Anna shrugged and turned to Dena, who was tossing a salad at the sink. “Hey, Mrs. D, can I ask you an honest question?”
Daisy rolled her eyes and hung her purse on the hook by the door. “Amelia, go to your room.”
Amelia looked up from her coloring book. “But why?”
“Just for a bit. I can tell Auntie Anna is about to ask Nani an adult question.”
