“Fine.” I purse my lips and scrunch my nose, probably looking much more like her children than is socially acceptable for a woman of nearly—but not yet—thirty. “It was kind of weird. I left the night almost feeling bad for Daisy.”

She starts to laugh and only stops when she looks at my face. “Wait.” Finn begins to stir on her chest, and without skipping a beat, she starts rubbing his back through the carrier and doing this mom-bounce thing she’s always doing. “You’re being serious?”

“Yeah, it was weird—”

“Weird feels like a massive understatement.” She cuts me off again.

“Are you going to keep cutting me off or do you want me to tell the story?” I sound more irritated than I am. This is a huge change of tune for me and she’s right to be confused.

“Proceed.” She waves me on and now I’m the one rolling my eyes.

“As I was saying, I felt bad for her. She was asking about Gran and trying to make all these plans with me. I’ve been so wrapped up in my loss and dealing with the store and my dad that I never really thought about what she was going through.” I remember the sad smile that crossed Daisy’s face when I told her stories about going to the flea market with Gran to fill my apartment and the Book Nook. “My loss was huge, but at least I have a lifetime of memories to think back on. Daisy missed that. Gran would go visit them occasionally, but Daisy has never even been to the store. I don’t know, it just made me realize how lucky I was to get Gran when Daisy was stuck with our jackass of a father.”

“Wow.” Elsie is still bouncing baby Finn; her knees must be made of steel. “I never thought about that. You know you’re family to me, but forging a relationship with Daisy might be good for you.”

“I hope so.” Milo starts to fidget on my hip and I set him on the ground, holding his hand instead. “She invited me to a concert at Red Rocks tonight, but I have that stupid author event.” Damn Dirty Birds. “I talked her into doing Yoga on the Rocks tomorrow if you want to come.”

Elsie has only ever heard stories—mainly of me complaining—about Daisy, and it might be nice to introduce them.

“Aw, that’s nice of you to invite me to your sister time.” The bell over the front door, which I’m pretty much immune to, goes off and pulls Elsie’s attention over my shoulder for a second before she looks back at me. “You’re nervous to be alone with her, aren’t you?”

“It’s very rude that you know me so well that you won’t even let me lie to myself.”