‘And if he doesn’t stick around, then you deal with it as you’ve dealt with everything else, like a Henley girl. Head down, tea on, and getting on with it.’
Daisy nodded as her thoughts circled. It was okay for her sisters. They obviously meant well, but really neither of themhadanyclue what she’d really been through. ‘I guess so. Anyway, on the topic of Miles, he wants to take me away, so that’s nice.’
Annabelle raised both eyebrows. ‘Away-away? Like, overnight You hate leaving Pretty Beach. When you went up to meet his mum and brother, you couldn’t stand being in the city.’
Daisy nodded. ‘I know. He texted me while I was out the back of one of Pete’s cottages. He said that if I could get Mum or one of you to have the girls for a night, we could go somewhere. Just the two of us.’
‘Where to?’ Maggie asked.
‘I don’t know yet. Just a break, somewhere to have a nice dinner and some quiet. A bit of a change of scenery, or I can stay at his place and we can just chill.’
Annabelle giggled. ‘That’s not the action of a man planning to bolt.’
‘It’s definitely not. Blokes don’t plan weekends away with women they’re on the verge of ghosting.’
‘I know it’s a lovely thing and he was sweet about it, but after what I heard, I just keep wondering if I’m doing the right thing. You know? I have to consider the wellbeing of the twins.’
‘You’re impossible,’ Annabelle stood up. ‘He kisses you in public, he brings you books and wine. He moves furniture without complaining and now he wants to take you somewhere for the weekend and you are questioning it! Nup. You’re letting some stupid women at the school make you not see straight. Honestly, get a grip, Daise.’
Daisy rubbed a fleck of paint off her wrist with her thumb. ‘I guess I have overthought it a bit.’
Maggie crossed her arms and leant against the worktop. ‘You like him. He likes you. It’s fine that you’re a bit scared, but you’ve got to stop looking for the escape hatch every time something nice happens.’
Daisy tutted and shook her head. ‘It’s not just about me, though, it’s the girls. I keep thinking, what if we go away, and it’s lovely and then he changes his mind two weeks later? How do I explain that?’
‘You don’t, because it won’t happen and they don’t need to know. They will be none the wiser. Just don’t tell them where you’re going. You can do the Miles-meets-the-twins properly thing later down the track.’
‘And if it does go to pot, they won’t even know. Don’t preempt something that hasn’t even happened yet. That’s just borrowing pain you haven’t been given.’
Daisy looked over at the shelf where the baskets were now neatly lined up, looking fabulous. ‘It’s just easier when it’s all on me. Then I don’t have to brace for someone else pulling away. Do you know what I mean?’
Annabelle shook her head. ‘It’s noteasier. You just think that because it’s familiar and because you’ve been on your own for ages.’
‘Familiar isn’t always right.’ Maggie shook her head and sighed. ‘You are going away for a night, Daise. Flipping heck, if anyone deserves a break, it’s you.’
‘I’ll think about it.’
Annabelle smiled. ‘Don’t think too hard. You’re going. I’ll have the girls.’
Maggie raised her glass. ‘To men who plan things and don’t vanish into thin air. You’re going.’
Daisy raised hers too and clinked it gently against Maggie’s. ‘We’ll see.’
14
Daisy was crouched on all fours in the bookshop with her head stuck in a cupboard in the corner. Clearing it out had been on her list for ages ever since she’d moved in. But like the kitchen and a few other places in Uncle Dennis’s building, it had moved further and further down her priority list. She’d left it because she was well aware that it had her Uncle Dennis written all over it. Meaning in layman’s terms that it was a right mess. She’d taken one look at it not long before she’d moved in, shoved it behind the counter, covered it in books, closed the door and kept it that way.
The twins were upstairs, halfway through watching a film and arguing over popcorn, and the place was quiet enough that she could hear the click of the fridge coming in from the kitchen every few minutes. She’d decided that she had a perfect spare half hour to at least sort a few shelves in the cupboard and see what was what. For all she knew, it might be hiding some precious first edition book that would seal her fortune. Pigs may well start flying to the moon.
Mostly, the cupboard was crammed full of piles and piles of books, together with the odd few mismatched mugs, a job lot of old-school candles, six boxes of paper clips and a biscuit tinwithout a lid. Behind a row of more Penguin classics, tucked flat and slightly curled at the edges, was a huge bundle of yellowing receipts, torn envelopes, and pages from an old notepad. Daisy sat back on her heels and picked through the pile and marvelled at all the old things. The paper had a soft, dusty, but well-used, slightly brittle feel, a bit like old newsprint. Most of it was what she’d expected; boiler service notes from a company that had long since gone bust as far as she knew, a faded bill for gutter replacement, a whole pile of shopping lists that consisted of items like “batteries, biscuits, mints and teabags” repeated in different paper and pens. All of it, little notions from a life that was no more. Strangely melancholic and sad.
Right at the back, she found a whole pile of old-fashioned school exercise books covered from front to back in doodles. As she flicked through, she smiled at what she came across: little drawings of cats in hats, a sketch of the bookshop’s front window with a balloon stuck to it, a picture of a teapot that had arms and legs and looked decidedly cross. She smiled, tracing the lines with her finger, the paper soft and fragile under her hand. Tucked in between the pages, scraps of paper here and there held quote upon quote, more lists, doodles and drawings. Among the scraps of neatly folded paper inserts, Daisy unfolded one and smiled as she read and blinked as the words filtered through her brain.
Everything I’ve ever needed has been in these four walls.
Tears immediately pricked right at the corners of Daisy’s eyes as she re-read the sentence. What a funny thing for her to find and for Dennis to have written in the centre of a scrap of paper. One single solitary sentence written in blue biro in the same scrawly handwriting she’d seen all over the place. Here,acknowledging every single thing she thought about the building she now called home, too. Ten words describing her feelings succinctly.
Blinking, Daisy felt a weird lump in her throat. The words almost floated in front of her eyes because she realised that she felt so very much the same. The old building's walls had settled her, helped her and allowed her to breathe and like Dennis, she no longer felt as if she needed much else. It really was that simple. With her little business, the girls safe upstairs, the shop, the library ladders, somewhere to call home and shelves groaning with books, everything was good in her world.