“I hear what you’re saying,” she says, but I know it’s only to placate me. “But I need you to remember that Jasper is a famous author. He’s busy, and even if he wasn’t, he makes up things for a living. If he didn’t want to go, he wouldn’t have had a problem coming up with an excuse to avoid it. As usual, you’re underselling yourself. He seemed into you when I was there.”

Nobody makes me feel better about myself than Elsie does. She thinks I’m the shit and never fails to let me know. She’s always there to give me a good pep talk when I need one . . . and I’ve needed quite a few over the years.

This makes her a good friend.

The best friend.

What it does not make her is a casual and impartial observer.

“I don’t think he was into me as much as he’s a nice guy to everyone he comes across.” When I was watching him at the event, he was so attentive to every single person he interacted with. I’m almost positive each person he talked to that evening went home feeling like they had a new best friend or, if they were lucky, a potential love match.

“Well, you didn’t see him approaching us. Trust me, the way he was looking at your ass was anything but nice.” She leans back on her elbows, delighting in the shock that must be written across my face.

“You do have a fabulous ass,” Daisy says. “It’s the only reason I woke up this early on a Sunday morning. I figure we share some DNA, there’s a chance I can get an ass like that if I can replicate your workout routine.”

“Wow!” I’m a sucker for a good compliment. So Jasper is long forgotten at my tall, leggy sister telling me I have a good ass. “Thank you! That made my entire day. I do enjoy yoga and I used to hike a lot—”

“No! You do have a great ass, but I don’t want to hear about workouts.” Elsie cuts me off again, her stern voice back in full effect. “If you don’t want to talk about Jasper anymore, I guess I can deal. But I only came today because you promised me brunch and mimosas. Yoga has been over for thirty minutes and I still don’t have food. I want carbs.”

“Ooooh! Nobody told me about brunch.” Daisy is thrown off topic again. She must get that from her mom. I don’t like claiming much from my dad, but focus that cannot be broken is one of the things we share. “I definitely prefer brunch talk to workout talk. Who needs a good ass when you can have hollandaise sauce?”