“Becca didn’t have a single vice. She didn’t eat carbs, she did a ton of stuff for charity. Even her hair did everything it was supposed to do.” Thinking about it made Flora gloomy. “Just looking at her photo made me feel like a sloth. Her body was so hard and honed you would have bruised yourself if you’d bumped into her. I’m more of a soft landing.”

“Flora—”

“You should have seen the pictures.” She trimmed stems and put the flowers back into fresh water. “She was so thin and perfect.”

“—and also no longer here,” Julia said gently. “You don’t need to compete, Flora. Be yourself. Be you. That’s the woman Jack can’t stay away from.”

Being herself had never really worked for her in the past. She’d spent so many years trying to please her aunt that at some point she’d lost track of who she was.

Julia finished cleaning the last of the buckets. “So what happens next?”

“Nothing. He hasn’t called.”

“Is that unusual? How often does he usually call?”

“Every evening, before we go to sleep.”

Julia stared at her. “What do you talk about?”

“I don’t know. What we’ve done during the day, that kind of thing.” They mostly focused on the present. She didn’t talk about her past, and he didn’t talk about his wife. And there was something intimate about those late-night conversations when they were both in bed. Not that they were in bed together, of course, but it was the next best thing and the closest they were going to get right now.

“If you’re talking that often, you should definitely call him.”

And force him to admit the kids didn’t like her? The fact that he hadn’t called told her everything she needed to know. She was braced for the most seismic, monumental rejection of all time. “I’ll leave it for now.”

“Coward.” Julia helped put the flowers back in the buckets. “Maybe it’s time you stopped talking and moved on to the action part of the relationship.”

“That isn’t an option.” They were past that, and even if they weren’t she wouldn’t have been surprised if Izzy had installed cameras and alarms.

“Well you definitely can’t take him back to yours. Your apartment isn’t designed for passion.” Julia frowned. “I’m not sure what it is designed for.”

“It doesn’t even matter.” She cleaned the knife carefully. “It’s over.”

And she felt battered and bruised even though it hadn’t actually happened yet.

Julia was frowning. “Flora, this is the first guy you have liked in a long time. Message him.”

“If he wanted to get in touch, he would.”

Julia thumped the bucket down. “I can’t believe he hasn’t at least called you. Men are spineless.”