Page 4 of Claiming Lily (Claiming 2)

“Exactly! Now, where’s the feisty Lily I met three years ago?” Daisy demands.

“She’s still in here somewhere,” I sigh. “Three years, huh? That’s crazy! Can you imagine if we hadn’t both interviewed for the same job that day? We never would’ve met.”

“Oh, you mean the job I didn’t get?” she teases good-naturedly.

Daisy and I just clicked that day, bonding over mutual interests as we both waited to be called in for our interviews. Friendships happen like that sometimes—you just connect with someone in a completely unexpected way. Daisy and I have been best friends ever since. We like the same things, laugh at the same jokes, even have similar tastes in men – although, like me, Daisy has never found a man she wants to play hide the sausage with. She’s waiting for the right one.

“Remember that pact we made? The first day we met?” I ask, my voice rich with remembered amusement.

“Oh, Lord, how could I forget?” Daisy chuckles. “We promised each other that if neither of us found the man of our dreams before we hit seventy, we’d both sign up to the same nursing home and become horny old spinsters.”

“Well, we haven’t reached the nursing home stage yet, but at least we got to share an apartment,” I reply, smiling at the memories of all the fun times we’ve had.

“God, I miss that, Lils! I miss you,” she says sadly. “I loved our little apartment.”

“Me too, honey. Colorado seems so far away. The last few months haven’t been the same without you here to keep me sane.”

“I know, but Mom needs me right now,” she replies, reminding me of the reason she had to go back to her hometown.

“How is she?”

Daisy sighs heavily down the line. “It’s tough. I’m not going to lie. People don’t realize that alcohol addiction is a sickness just like any other.”

Tears sting the back of my eyes at the pain in my friend’s voice. “I’m sorry you’re having to deal with it alone. I wish I could be there to help you.”

“Just hearing your voice helps me,” she replies softly. “And you know you can come visit anytime you like.”

“I know, and I will just as soon as I’m settled in this job,” I reply, blinking away the wetness in my eyes.

“Good. Enough depressing talk,” Daisy says firmly. “Did Boss McHottie say when he wants you to start?”

“Monday,” I reply, chuckling at her nickname for Callum. “My new boss may be hot, but no way am I going down that road, even if I do want to lick him like a popsicle.”

“Ha! Like you’d even know how!” Daisy sniggers.

“That’s a low blow, Daisy Jenkins!”

“Again, how would you know?” she asks, then bursts into gales of laughter at her lame joke.

I shake my head at Groot in exasperation. “My best friend has a mind like a sewer.”

Groot looks up at me with bored amber eyes and then carries on licking his ass.

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