'Then we'll deal with whatever happens. That's what we Henley women do, isn't it? We make the best of things.'
By three o'clock, the bookshop was empty except for one last customer, a woman who couldn't decide between two different crime novels. Daisy helped her weigh up the pros and cons of each book while wishing her out the door before she finally made her choice and headed out.
Daisy flipped the sign to closed and locked the front door, then stood for a moment looking around at the bookshop. There were a few books scattered on tables where customers had been browsing, and the reading chairs were slightly out of position, but overall, the place hadn’t fared too badly. It did all look very nice; a shabby little bookshop by the sea crammed full of books, little lamps, sweet plants, gigantic vases of bits from Susannah’s garden and beautiful old rugs on the floor.
'Right then. Time to go and collect those girls of yours and get ready for your big evening.’ Maggie chuckled.
As they locked up the bookshop and prepared to collect the twins from Susannah's, Daisy felt her anxiety ramping up again. The distraction of the busy morning had helped, but now that evening was approaching and there was no more putting it off, all her worries came flooding back. The bookshop had felt like a safe space all morning, filled with familiar customers and the comfortable routine of Sunday trading. Now she had to go back to being just Daisy, the single mother who was about to properly introduce her daughters to the first man she had ever really cared about. The thought made her stomach churn with a mixture of excitement and pure terror.
They made their way back through to the kitchen, where the smell of the beef filled the room. Daisy checked on it and was pleased to see it falling apart at the touch of a fork and filling the kitchen with a rich, savoury smell that meant roast was on the horizon.
'Well, you got one thing right, that smells incredible. If Miles doesn't appreciate a home-cooked roast dinner, then he's not worth keeping around.'
‘Yep, all I have to do is shove in the potatoes and Yorkshires. I’ve even prepped the veg and the gravy.’
‘It’s going to be fine, Daise. Trust me on this one. Right, I’ll go and collect those girls and you can get this show on the road. What's the worst that could happen?'
'Please don't ask that question. I can think of about seventeen different ways this could go horribly wrong.'
'And I can think of about eighteen ways it could go brilliantly right. Which makes me the winner, doesn't it?'
Daisy smiled. Trust Maggie to turn impending disaster into a competition.
38
Daisy needn’t have worried about anything. A glass of wine may have helped to ease her nerves. Margot and Evie had been as good as gold, ditto Miles. The roast had been long and slow without any disasters. Once the twins had got down from the table, Miles and Daisy had enjoyed cheese and wine and a lot of chatting.
After they’d cleared up, the twins had insisted on showing Miles around the building properly, giving him a full tour that included a secret compartment behind one of the shelves in their room where they kept all sorts and the window seat where they liked to read on rainy days.
Miles was appropriately impressed in all the right places and Daisy found herself seeing the twins and the bookshop through his eyes. As she followed them around, it all felt a bit chaotic, with books piled everywhere and the twins' artwork stuck to various surfaces, but it was homely, lived-in, full of character and just as she liked it. The whole place smelled of books and coffee and the lingering traces of their roast dinner.
After the twins had run upstairs to fetch something they wanted to show Miles, he smiled. 'This is all really nice. The building, the dinner and well, everything.'
'It feels like home now. I’ve settled down here well.' As the words came out of Daisy’s mouth, she realised as she said it that it was true. The bookshop and living accommodation combination was home in a way that nowhere else had ever been since she’d had the twins. Mostly because she finally felt as if something was hers. Even with the GayesBooks threat, she could see herself living in the building for the foreseeable. The relief alone and living without the stress of possibly having to move had brought amazing improvement to her life.
'I can see why you love it here.' Miles looked around at the shelves of books, the comfortable chairs, the general sense of organised chaos that pervaded just about every inch of space.
'It took a while to get it right.' Daisy laughed as she said it. That was an understatement if ever she’d heard one. It had takenmonthsof hard work, accepting that she needed help, a lot of planning and more money than she had really had to spare, but it had been worth it.
The twins thundered back down the stairs and Daisy's heart sank a little as she realised what they were about to do, but it was too late to stop them. They had Daisy’s iPad and were tapping on folders.
'This is us when we were babies,' Evie said, holding up the screen showing two tiny pink faces peering out from matching blankets.
'This is us at the beach last summer,' Margot added, showing Miles a picture of all three of them building sandcastles.
'This is our dad. He died when we were little,' Margot said matter-of-factly. 'We don't really remember him, but Mummy tells us about him. He had a jumping accident.'
'I'm sorry.' Miles made a sorry face.
Evie also pulled a face. ‘Mummy said she was sad, but she's better now.'
'I'm glad she's better now.' Miles smiled.
The twins moved on to other photographs, other stories, other moments they wanted to share and Daisy felt as if everything was going to be fine. Miles seemed to be rolling with it. He hadn't been awkward or uncomfortable or tried to change the subject about anything. He had acknowledged the twins' dad and moved on, which was exactly the right thing to do, but which so many people got wrong.
As the twins completely lost interest in Miles and the late afternoon wore on to evening, Daisy found her anxiety melting away. The twins were wrapped up in play and the only problem had been when Margot had spilt juice on her dress and burst into tears as if it was the end of the world. Miles helped Daisy clean up the mess without making a fuss about it. By the time bath time came around, Daisy realised she’d stopped watching Miles for signs that he was finding the twins difficult or too much. Instead, she found herself just enjoying the time, herself, the easy conversation and the comfortable atmosphere.
'We should probably think about getting ready for bed soon.' Daisy said to the twins, who immediately began protesting as if bedtime was a personal insult.
