‘I suppose Daniel has told you about the fool I made of myself last week.’
‘He did, yes.’
‘It was a mistake. I just got carried away for a moment with the idea of us being a family again. It wasn’t even about Daniel really.’
Anna was glad to hear it, even if she wasn’t convinced Lucinda was telling the truth.
‘But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this last week and I’ve realised that, although we can successfully co-parent, we will never be a family again. And Daniel made quite clear the depth of his feelings for you.’
‘He did?’ She felt a surge of relief at Lucinda’s words, and also a little foolish that she’d doubted him in the first place.
Lucinda smiled wistfully. ‘Yes, he did. And I can accept that.’
‘Well, that’s all right then.’ Anna still couldn’t see why Lucinda was here, and she wasn’t sure she even wanted to know.
‘I can see why you might be prickly towards me, but I really would like to get to know you better, now that you’re going to be a much more permanent fixture in our lives.’
‘You would?’
Lucinda smiled. ‘Yes. Maybe even one day we could be friends?’
Anna would rather pally up with a cobra, but she kept her thoughts to herself.
When she didn’t say anything, Lucinda continued, her tone a little harder. ‘If nothing else, we can try to get on for Ben’s sake.’
‘Yes, of course we can.’ She could do that for Ben. In fact, she’d always been civil to Lucinda, even when the other woman was giving her daggers and throwing barbs at her.
Lucinda got up elegantly from the table. ‘Good, I’m glad to hear that’s settled. And if you’re going to be spending more time up here, maybe I could introduce you to some of my friends.’
‘That would be nice.’ Anna was already thinking how she’d get out of that one. Hopefully, eventually, Lucinda would get the message.
‘Well, then, I’ll leave you to whatever you were planning to do before I barged in.’
Anna shut the door behind Lucinda, breathing against it with a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure she was comfortable with this newfound desire for friendship. Friendship required trust.Anna didn’t trust Lucinda, and she couldn’t envisage a time when she ever would.
Chapter Twenty-Five
That afternoon, Anna lost herself in her work. She was always happiest with a camera in her hands and Chester offered a wealth of interesting photo opportunities. As she had last time, she investigated some of the lesser-known architecture. Daniel had told her about Albion Street, a row of Victorian terraced houses, which was used as a location in the World War Two dramaFoyle’s War. She was fascinated by how it fitted into life today while still retaining its original charm. It made her wonder how many other hidden gems were around, what opportunities there were for her camera lens, if only she looked for them.
She returned to Daniel’s house tired but full of inspiration. And after Ben had gone to bed they sat happily entwined on the sofa together, chatting about their ideas.
This was something she loved about being with Daniel — that they could talk to each other about their ambitions. Daniel was a willing sounding board for her ideas, as she was for his, and she liked that they pushed each other to be the best that they could be.
After much research Daniel had found a venue on the outskirts of Manchester where he was going to launch his photography school. He was going to stay here while she got the train back to London on Monday morning.
When the time came for her to go, Daniel gave her a long final hug goodbye. ‘I’m going to miss you.’
‘Me too,’ she said quietly, wishing that they didn’t have to be apart. She pondered their situation as she sat on the train. She could see how much Daniel enjoyed his time in Cheshire and how he was beginning to think of it as home more than he did London. Whereas her roots were firmly embedded in London. She liked going to Cheshire, but it wasn’t where she needed to be, either for work or for her family. So, for the moment, shehoped that she and Daniel would cope with this hybrid living, although she feared that in the long term one of them would have to compromise on where they wanted to live. With Ben being a big part of the equation, she was all too aware that she would be the one making the sacrifice.
* * *
As Anna got off the train at Canada Water, she spotted Daisy, whom she hadn’t seen since her exhibition. Immediately she called out, ‘Daisy, hi!’
Daisy turned and Anna was shocked at how drawn she was looking. What on earth had happened to her happy-go-lucky friend?
‘Oh,’ she couldn’t stop herself from saying, ‘you don’t look great, are you okay?’
‘Thanks a lot.’ Daisy managed a smile. ‘But to answer your question, no, I’m not feeling particularly good.’
