Page 8 of Picking Daisies on Sundays

even as fizzled as they were after all these years.

Pushing off the wall, Levi strode across the wide sidewalk in one fluid step. “What are you talking about?” he asked, shaking his head, perplexed. “Sarah would die to see you again; my family has always loved you.” The confession made me nostalgic, missing the large family dinners and chatter of Levi’s siblings. And that quick memory appeared on my face because the tension in his shoulders relaxed. How was I supposed to say no? This used to be my best friend.

“You’d be doing me a huge favor.” He gave me a childish smile that made me snort with laughter.

“It’s not fair,” I said like a child.

“What?”

“I’ve never been able to say no to you,” I said, knowing that he would take it as a sign of our friendship and nothing else.

Kissing me on the head in excitement as if nothing had changed, he said, “You’re amazing, Daniella Maria!”

“You owe me, Levi Coldwell,” I replied with a finger in his chest, trying to recover from the ghost of the kiss on my forehead.

“Free strawberry shortcake for the rest of your life,” Levi cheered with joy as I pulled his hands from my face.

“How do you remember this stuff?” I laughed in response, surprised that he would remember something so specific.

“Friends, remember?” He spoke nonchalantly, having no idea that those were the last words I wanted to hear.

Friends.

“Now, how is this going to work, and what is this game?”

3

it’s all you loved, but never yourself

Three hours later and I was back home—Aunt Mandy’s home specifically. A brownstone townhouse that used to belong to my mom before she moved to the suburbs and started a family. When her career in wedding dress design took off, she bought a home in the most expensive, but beautiful area in New York City. Years later when she got married and moved, she sold it to Mandy, my dad’s sister.

I moved in with her once college started. Mom often jumped between here, our home in the suburbs, and the five-star hotels of the cities she had work in for photoshoots, fashion weeks, etc. Mandy and my mom were only a year apart, so they acted more like best friends than sisters-in-law. It made for a very sitcom-like environment when we were all together.

Walking up the stairs with an immense amount of knowledge about Sarah’s wedding and how this plan was going to work, I found Gabe and Jia sitting on Mandy’s couch.

“Well, hello there,” I said, not expecting either of them to be here. They did have the keycode though, so it wasn’t the first time I’ve found them waiting for me.

Both flew off the couch once spotting me, asking questions at the same speed, only taking breaths for the other to ask the next one.

“What happened?” Jia asked.

“Was thattheLevi?” asked Gabe.

“Who was the blonde chick?”

“Why did you walk out holding hands?”

“Did he walk you home?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sit down and I’ll answer your questions, after I take off these clothes,” I spoke in a rush, running down the hall to change into sweats.

Coming back just as quickly, I explained what happened at the bar: how I hit my head off his beer—“Yes, saw that already,” Jia said aggressively wanting to know the parts she didn’t hear—and then what had caused Levi to say we were dating.

“I’m sorry, he said what?” Gabe asked, almost falling off the couch.

“Yup,” I nodded my head, crossing my legs on the couch across from them like a child in kindergarten. “They used to date, but it sounded like it didn’t end well, but her mother works in the department that Levi is trying to get a job in, so Bella has an influence on who gets hired—”

“So, nepotism,” Gabe reflected.