Zara’s POV
I closed my eyes.
“No, Mum,” I said. “I didn’t. And I’m not going to. I don’t want to lose weight.”
“Zara—”
“I exercise twice a week. I eat well. I feel good.” I kept my voice steady. “I don’t need to be a size zero.”
She sighed on the other end. The sigh I’d been hearing my whole life.
“I just worry about you,” she said. “Men like a woman who takes care of herself. You want to find someone, don’t you? You have such a pretty face, baby. If you just—”
“If a man doesn’t like how I look,” I said, “then I don’t want him.”
“Zara.”
“I mean it. And if I never find someone, I’m fine being on my own. I’d rather be single than shrink myself for somebody.”
The words came out firm. I believed every one of them.
But even as I said it, something flickered through my mind that I co
