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I glance down at the menu and point to something at random, smiling apologetically at her. I don’t want to speak aloud. I don’t want Daisy to hear me and pop this bubble just yet.

I need to look at her. Just look. Just for a minute.

While I watch, she flips her hair over her shoulder andpulls out her phone, leaning back in the booth to swipe through her phone.

Emma goes to take Daisy’s order. They’re clearly friends, or at least friendly because after Emma’s eyes dart over to me a few times, I see her lean down on the pretense of showing Daisy something on the menu and hiss words that I can’t hear but know exactly what they are anyway.

“Don’t look, but Penn Adler is sitting in the booth behind you.”

I see Daisy’s back go tense as Emma slips away, and then there’s nothing between us but three empty booths.

Daisy turns slowly, lifting her big brown eyes to meet mine.

I’ve made a career of creating beautiful things, but this… her…

She’s perfect, and I’m ruined.

Chapter Three

Daisy

“What are you doing here?” Penn slides into the seat across from me, jaw tight and shoulders tense.

I’m like a deer in headlights, still reeling from the shock of seeing him after so long. He looks good, somehow better than I remember, a black baseball cap pressing his wavy gray hair flat on his forehead and bright blue eyes still locked right on me.

“I come here a lot.” I finally manage to answer weakly, tearing my eyes from his to stare blankly at the tabletop as embarrassment finally begins to overcome the shock.

That phone call.

Oh god.

“I waitressed here last summer, and I was going to pick up some shifts this year too….” My words trail away, and we’re plunged back into a silence that’s thick with all the things I drunkenly said to him two weeks ago.

“Daisy,” He begins, and I can’t stand the tired, warning tone of his voice like I’m going to crawl over the table to dry hump him or something.

“I’m really sorry.” I look up again, meeting the same dark eyes that have haunted my dreams for years now. “For calling you that night. For what I said. I was drunk. Obviously, I didn’t. I mean, “ I stumble over the words, my chest tight with embarrassment.

“Mean it?” Penn supplies grimly, his fingers drumming on the edge of the table.

I shrug. Truthfully, there are parts of it I’m glad he heard. He should know how shitty it’s felt to be cast aside. How hard it is to be left behind, a relic of his timebeforemaking it big.

I’m not so glad I called him Daddy and drunkenly touched myself to the sound of his voice.

“Can we just forget all about it?” I beg, my eyes suddenly burning. “Please, Penn? I’ll never speak of it again, and you can go back to making up excuses not to see me. Just like old times.”

Pain flashes across his face. “You’ve been in college, I’ve been in LA, our lives have changed.”

I nod slowly, turning his words over in my mind. He’s making excuses, but he’s not wrong. Our liveshavechanged, and I don’t want to argue with him anymore. I can’t stand it. I just want to forget this whole thing ever happened and learn to live with my ridiculous, unrequited feelings for this man.

“Fine.” I finally agree, forcing a tight-lipped smile. “Things have changed. I was silly to expect you to fly across the country for my show. I won’t ask again.”

I’m not sure why my agreement makes Penn’s expression fall, but he looks like he’s in physical pain. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“How else did you mean it?” I shake my head, feeling the familiar pinch of rejection I always get whenever I stop to think about Penn’s absence from my life. “You weren’t at my solo show last year, either. You didn’t come to Christmas or Thanksgiving. I sent you a piece for your birthday, and you didn’t even text me to thank me. You want me out of your life. Own it, Penn.”

I’d spent weeks on that sculpture.

It wasperfect, damn it. Definitely some of my best work, and I was so proud to give it to him. I’d packaged it carefully in about a whole roll of bubble wrap, spent a fortune on shipping, and refreshed the order tracking twenty times a day. Then the notification finally came that it was delivered, and I checked my messages obsessively for weeks, waiting for Penn to offer criticism, praise, obligatory thanks,anything.

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