Page 45 of His Curvy Distraction

“And you’re always grumpy,” Daisy shot back with a teasing smile.

“We all have those days,” Finley said. “But at least we have cake here.”

“It’s always a good day for cake,” Daisy said.

“Absolutely,” Blake said, handing over slices as we joined the rest of the women in the back of the store. “How are you guys?”

“Good,” Daisy and I said at the same time.

The others laughed.

“Someone has to have something we can talk about,” Elise said, slicing her cake. “How is it possible no one has man trouble?”

I carefully avoided the looks going around the room, not at all interested in being the center of attention.

Thank God Daisy was a good friend.

“I’d have to have a man to have trouble,” Daisy said. “I have not had any luck lately. All the men I meet are dads and shopping with their wives.”

“No single dads?” Willow asked.

Daisy shook her head. “Nope. I’m starting to wonder if I have to leave the area to find a date.”

Karissa chuckled and shook her head. “My app is still getting new downloads every day, so there are people out there. Are you on it? Book Boyfriends Wanted.”

Daisy nodded. “I am. Had one guy I was talking to for a long time. Thought we had a connection, but we met and it was all wrong.”

“Ugh, I hate when that happens,” Goldie said. “Dating was never easy for me, and it’s always worse when you think you have a connection then don’t. Sorry that happened to you.”

My throat tightened. Daisy was throwing herself under the bus and telling what she knew of my story so I didn’t get the focus. Could I have a better friend?

“It was tough,” Daisy continued. “But I’ll meet someone eventually. Sometimes I don’t mind dating, but lately everything has been harder.”

“It’s the holidays,” Finley said. “At least, I’m guessing because of your store. The holidays are always a tough time of year when you work in retail. Even though I’m not going to have anywhere near the same experience as you, I always feel like I’m more drained. Between the days being so short and the work hours being so long, I still collapse into bed at the end of a shift.”

Daisy nodded. “That’s true. I didn’t think about that. It’s my first Christmas with the store open.”

“How did it go?” Elise asked.

“It was great,” Daisy said with a wide grin. “Busy and crazy and so much more work than I expected, but now that it’s over I am really happy I opened the store.”

“It’s like childbirth,” Blake said. “After the first one, I forgot how bad it was and was willing to get pregnant again.”

Finley scoffed. “Oh, please, you were so thrilled to get pregnant. Especially the trying part.”

Blake grinned. “I was definitely up for that.”

The others laughed and hooted. I couldn’t remember the last time I had something to cheer about. Getting the summer camp going last year was a big project, and this year was going to be even bigger. Dating had definitely taken a back burner, and after my disastrous date, it needed to stay there.

But if I was honest, I missed sex. I missed the connection to someone. I didn’t enjoy one-night stands as much as relationships, but I hadn’t experienced either in a while.

“I miss sex,” Daisy said, as though she was reading my mind.

“Oh, honey, I remember those days,” Goldie said. “After my divorce, I didn’t care, but before Patrick and I got together, I was so desperate for sex I was leaving work during the day because he would get me so worked up I couldn’t stand it.”

“No you didn’t,” Karissa said.

Goldie nodded, chuckling. “Oh, I did. And he knew it, too. He did it on purpose.”

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