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“Sixteen. She was being reckless and had an accident.” Her jaw tightened, and I wondered if there was more to it than what she was saying. “It was an indescribably dark time for our family. We didn’t have her funeral here. My mama insisted she wouldn’t have been able to stand living here anymore if we had. My dad stayed with her…body while his colleague prepared her. He didn’t leave her until she was in the ground. None of us were the same after. If we lost Reed—” She brought her fist to her mouth, shiny eyes finally meeting mine.
“You’re not going to lose Reed, Daisy.” I took her hand in mine. “Give me the names of the kids who are bullying him. I’ll end them.”
She gave me a long look I couldn’t decipher. “You can’t just end kids.”
“I know, but—”
“If anyone’s going to do it, it’ll be me.”
I closed my eyes, laughing. “You little vicious devil. Why do I believe that?”
“Because it’s true.” She sucked in a breath. “Enough of this. I’m too hungry to be this sad.”
“Then let’s get you fed.”
I’d drop it for now, but if she thought I was going to forget people had hurt her and her family, she was wrong. Hyperfocused Miles was a thing to be reckoned with, and since I’d met her, she’d had all my attention. I didn’t see that changing any time soon.
Chapter Twenty-five
Daisy
Elise and Weston’s rehearsal dinner was my first official Grazing job.
It would have been a gift, but when I tried to offer it as such—ignoring Saoirse’s previous advice—Elise put her foot down and insisted on supporting my business. She allowed the friends and family discount, though, since we were “basically family.”
When she’d said that, I’d had to swallow several times to stop the bile from surging from my stomach. Guilt, but also regret over something that would never be true.
Me: How is the rehearsal going?
Miles: Chaos! Would you believe Elise and I are now married?
I grinned at my phone. Miles and I had gotten back into a good place. We didn’t hang out every day, but we saw each other most days. He’d roped me into renovating his house with him in the evenings, but he always fed me and talked Grazing business, so it was a fair trade-off.
There had been no more kissing.
And definitely no more…anything else.
I couldn’t say I didn’t miss the anything else—what had happened in that hot tub had set a new bar for future partners—but I liked being with Miles more than a handful of orgasms. If I had to give up one, it would be the orgasms, hands down.
As long as I got to keep Miles.
Me: Did the officiant come from clown school or something?
Miles: Something like that. Luckily, Luca looked up how to get out of a wrongful marriage. All we have to do is circle the real groom seven times backward and that’ll undo it.
Me: Makes total sense. Be sure to write a scathing review for that officiant, though. Not everyone has a friend like Luca who thinks so fast on his feet.
Miles: Absolutely. I’ll see you soon, Cupcake. Can’t wait to eat your table.
“Um, excuse me. When you asked me to help, I didn’t realize that meant I’d be doing everything myself.”
I tucked my phone away and looked at Bea, who was tapping her foot and scowling at me.
I smiled.
“Sorry, just checking on the rehearsal progress.”
She rolled her eyes. “While you were flirting with your boyfriend, I opened four packages of crackers and made ten meat roses.”
