Chapter 7 #2
They walked on in silence, passing The Gingerbread Bakery and The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore.
Music streamed out of Mac’s pub as they walked past. She was sure plenty of townsfolk went straight from the meeting to Thursday karaoke night, but she was more than happy to walk on by tonight.
She didn’t really feel like mingling with the people who saw her as a cursed mess.
A new litter of kittens stared at them from the window of the pet shop and Daisy stopped to put her hand on the glass.
‘Maybe I need a pet.’
‘To scare away the curse?’
‘Maybe. We’re not entirely sure how this curse works. Maybe a cat would do the trick.’
‘I’ve always been more of a dog person.’
‘Do you have one?’ Daisy asked, turning back to look at him. This was obviously important information to have about her fake boyfriend.
Elliot sighed and ran a hand through his mop of hair. ‘I did.’
‘He passed?’ she whispered, already dreading the answer about this poor sweet dog she didn’t know.
‘No, my ex kept him.’ He shrugged like he was used to life disappointing him.
‘That’s shitty.’
‘I told her to. It just made sense. She kept the house, too.’
‘Jesus, Elliot. What did you keep?’
He squinted like he was thinking about it. ‘The wedding china.’
Daisy slapped a hand over her mouth to keep in the highly inappropriate giggles bubbling up in her throat. ‘What the hell are you going to do with your wedding china?’
Elliot’s mouth tipped into a grin as more laughter escaped Daisy’s lips. ‘Well, I smashed some of it. That was pretty fun.’
She was full-on cackling now as they stood outside the pet shop in a golden puddle of light from the streetlamp.
‘You did?!’
‘It was a particularly bad night, but the smashing helped.’ He laughed. ‘And now I eat my cereal out of one of the surviving bowls every morning. They’re ivory with pale blue roses.’
‘That sounds lovely.’
‘It makes me feel very fancy.’
Daisy shook her head with another laugh and grabbed Elliot’s hand, pulling him one more shop down.
‘Well, here we are.’
‘You live at the flower shop?’ Elliot sounded surprised.
Daisy sighed. She did, in fact, live at the flower shop. ‘There’s a small apartment in the back. It isn’t really supposed to be a permanent solution but when I had to move out of David’s apartment … this is where I ended up.’ Luckily, her parents hadn’t rented it out to anyone else in a long time.
Moving back in here had not been a good day for her. Too bad she hadn’t thought to smash something. Maybe that would have helped.
She thought she had escaped the little flower shop of her destiny. She thought her mother was going to have to find someone else to take over. Maybe Iris. Maybe a new flower was going to run this place. She was going to be the Daisy that broke the chain.
But life had other plans. David had other plans.
Maybe she was cursed. All signs were starting to point in that direction.
Her fiancé left her. She was forced to come back home.
Forced back into her little Daisy life, like it was all meant to happen this way.
Not that she’d managed to make a life anywhere else.
Everything she knew was here. Everything she loved.
She’d given it all up for David and then he’d given up on her.
Just like that.
She shook her head. ‘So, do you want to come in? We can talk about how we’re going to do this. You know, set some guidelines.’
‘Guidelines?’ Elliot sounded amused and Daisy watched the corner of his mouth kick up. It was fun, this game they were playing, the secret they were telling. Things didn’t have to be romantic with Elliot, but maybe they could be fun.
‘Yeah, we should get our story straight. You know, our history and things we should know about each other. Like do you have any allergies? I don’t want to feed you something that ends up killing you.’
‘This is the second time you’ve made a joke about being a killer, Daisy, and honestly, I’m starting to get nervous.’ Elliot’s smile grew. He was so weird. She liked it.
Daisy laughed. ‘Come on,’ she said, pulling him inside. ‘Let’s talk. I promise not to kill you.’
‘Sounds like something a killer would say.’
‘You got yourself into this situation, buddy.’
‘Wow, way to blame the victim.’
Daisy scoffed. ‘I’m just saying, you volunteered for this fake-boyfriend gig without really knowing me. It’s possible you’ll agree with my exes by the end of this.’
‘I doubt it.’
They’d stopped inside the small, dark space that was her apartment. Elliot was suddenly very close to her.
She tipped her head up and found him gazing at her from behind his dark frames.
‘I like your glasses,’ she said because the closeness of him was making her brain short-circuit.
Elliot smiled. ‘Thank you.’ Still so close. So warm and close and she could reach up and press her hands to his chest and just…
Woah.
What the hell was that?
Too long without human contact. That was it. It had been too long since Daisy was this close to a man. Any man. It had nothing to do with Elliot and his sexy glasses.
Sexy?!
Daisy, get a grip.
She cleared her throat and abruptly turned away, flicking on lamps as she went. ‘Cup of tea?’ she asked. ‘Or something stronger, maybe?’ She could certainly use something stronger. ‘Sorry I don’t have any fancy china to serve it in.’
‘Tea is fine. Any mug will do.’
Good, she would make tea. Something to do with her hands and her brain. Appropriate things.
‘Make yourself at home.’ Even as she said it, she knew it was absurd.
There was exactly one place to sit in this sad little apartment, and it was at the tiny café table she had found on the side of the road.
It barely fit in the corner with its two chairs.
The only other furniture in the room was the murphy bed, currently still up in the wall.
She may have moved back, but she hadn’t exactly made this place home.
The apartment she’d been renting in Dream Harbor before moving into David’s city pad wasn’t available when she got back, and her finances weren’t stellar after waitressing for a year, so finding something new didn’t go great.
This spot behind her parents’ shop was the best she could do. And she hadn’t felt like decorating.
‘Thank you,’ Elliot said, folding himself into the tiny chair. He looked ridiculous, but he just smiled at her before she turned her back again and put the kettle on in the miniscule kitchenette.
By the time she sat down across from him, she was totally embarrassed by the state of her life and was about to suggest they call the whole thing off when Elliot caught her gaze again and smiled.
‘I’m glad we’re doing this,’ he said. ‘I know it’s kind of silly but’—he shrugged—‘I don’t have many friends here. So … this is nice.’
Damn it. Damn Elliot and his earnestness.
It was nice.
‘You’re right. I’m glad we’re doing it, too.’ If anyone wouldn’t judge her tiny apartment and her sad heart, it would be this man who had to leave his home and dog behind. Elliot understood her.
‘Great.’ He lowered his mug as though he was ready to get down to business. ‘So, what foods would kill you?’
Daisy threw back her head and laughed.