Jordan? They’ve been together what? Ten years? Eleven? Twelve?”
Cassidy’s mouth widened into a smile. “You don’t know. Of course you don’t. It’s not like she would have told you.” She lowered her voice. “He’s moved out. They’re separated. Ben and Krissa come see me every day after school and they told me. It’s been a few weeks now. He’s moved into a hotel. I don’t think it’s an apartment.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “You should so go after him. It would serve her right.”
“Cassidy, stop it,” Sage said, mostly to buy time.
Daisy and Jordan separated? She wasn’t happy about the news—in truth it should be meaningless to her, except for some generic regret that any marriage had failed. Only she felt more than that. For reasons she couldn’t explain, her stomach felt a little queasy and she had the strangest desire to bolt from the room.
“Well, I hate her. It’s not my fault.”
“You have no reason to hate her. She’s taken you in, even though you’re difficult and disrespectful.”
“I don’t care if she likes me. Dad is the one who wants me to stay and she’ll always do what he says.”
“Why do you hate Daisy so much? When we were kids, she cared about you.”
“I just do. Besides, you and Mom were always awful to her. This isn’t on me.”
Sage wondered if that was true. She and her mother had been pretty awful—yet another piece of her past she would like to do over. Had Cassidy learned to disrespect Daisy from them?
“We were wrong,” Sage told her. “I’m sorry about Daisy and Jordan. I hope they work things out.” She smiled. “Then I could give you an example of a successful marriage.”
“But until then, we don’t know a single one, which means I can never marry Desean. Not that he would want me now. I look awful.”
“You look fine and do you really think he cares about a few bruises?”
“No.” Cassidy sighed. “He loves me. That’s why I fell off the mountain. He was proposing and I was backing away and suddenly there wasn’t any ground and I was falling.”
“At least you have a good story to tell.” She rose. “Stop texting me. I have to work and I need my sleep. If you don’t stop, I’ll turn off my phone.”
Cassidy flashed her a confident smile. “You’d never do that to me. You can’t. You love me.”
“Less and less each day, kid.” Sage kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“Come back later. We’ll watch movies and talk all night.”
“No.”
“Sage, please?”
“Goodbye, Cassidy.”
Sage spoke as firmly as she could. If Cassidy continued to bug her, she was going to have to make good on her promise and turn off her phone.
“But I need you.”
Sage paused to look back at her. She smiled and said, “Read a book.”
* * *
Despite not having to be at the hospital until close to noon, Daisy woke at six in the morning, as per usual. One of these days, she was going to learn to sleep in.
She showered, pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt, and shoved her feet into a pair of Uggs. She checked her phone, hoping for a text from Jordan, but there was nothing. She’d seen him last night when he’d taken the kids to dinner, but a three-second “Hi, how’s it going” did not a marriage make.
She missed him. No, she missed them. She missed sitting across from him at dinner and hanging out as a family in the evening. She missed sleeping with him, and sex, not that they’d been doing much of that lately. Something she didn’t want to dwell on because it made her wonder if he was doing it with someone else and the thought of Jordan being unfaithful made her sick to her stomach.
The morning routine was familiar. She let the dogs out first thing. Esmerelda fed them and the cats later, after getting the kids breakfast. Theirs was a well-oiled machine and Daisy knew she was lucky to have so much help. Her schedule was constantly changing, but with Esmerelda around, she didn’t have to worry about things like getting her kids to school on time or making their lunch.
She opened one of the French doors off the kitchen and both dogs ran into the yard. She closed the door, turned and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Sage sitting at the table by the windows.
Daisy pressed a hand to her chest in a futile attempt to slow her heartbeat.