Chapter 49
Daisy stood up, her heart drumming in her chest. She had thought about him time and time again since that incident in the marshland. Even chased down a man that she thought was him. But this time, there was no denying it. Not the way his eyes locked on her. A look of clarity dawned on him.
‘Mud Girl?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Mud Girl would fit. For you, at least. I can’t believe it’s actually you.’
‘Me neither. Small world.’ Daisy wasn’t sure if he sounded pleased by this or not, but before she could comment, he was speaking again. ‘What are you doing here? You looked lost.’
‘Oh, no, I’m not lost. Thank you, though. I’m just not much of a dog owner. Though in my defence, I’m not technically his owner, except in a legal sense, I suppose. I still can’t believe it’s actually you.’
She knew she wasn’t making much sense, but this entire situation didn’t feel like it made sense. There was a strong chance Daisy would have carried on staring and babbling for a lot longer, had a loud snuffling sound not drawn her attention. The dog, having realised that tummy rubs were over, was now on his feet again and sniffing at the man’s satchel.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Daisy said, clipping the dog’s leash back to his collar. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with him.’
The man smiled. ‘I reckon you smell something good in there, don’t you,’ he said. ‘Let’s have a look what we’ve got, shall we?’
As he finished speaking, he shifted the large leather satchel around his body. The man was dressed very differently from the last time Daisy saw him, in his T-shirt and torn cargo shorts. The outfit would have been far better suited to running in than the chinos she had seen him in before, although the bag was strangely out of place. It was boxy and formal and looked more like the type of thing a wealthy commuter would carry a laptop in than something someone would take on a stroll through the park.
Although, what did Daisy know? Maybe that was just the way more fashionable people worked, pairing something completely out of sync with the rest of the outfit as a statement piece. Maybe running in chinos was something people did too. It wasn’t like she was a runner.
‘Now I think I’ve found the culprit. Look at what we’ve got here.’
With a wide smile on his face, the man proceeded to pull out a large packet of dog treats from the satchel. ‘You don’t mind if he has some, do you?’ he asked.
‘Be my guest.’
A moment later, the dog was sitting perfectly next to the man’s feet, and offering his paw in exchange for a biscuit.
‘Sorry about this. And thank you, again,’ Daisy said, feeling the need to speak.
‘Really, it’s no problem. He’s a cute dog. What’s his name?’
Daisy looked down at the animal. It was getting ridiculous. It was one thing for her and Yvonne to refer to him as ‘the dog,’ but even she had started to find this odd. After all, if she’d given him a name from the start, there was a small chance he could have come back when she’d yelled at him. And now someone was directly asking her.
Daisy sifted through her mind, racking her brain for something fitting. She thought back to when she first found him. Perhaps something water-related. Marshland. Marshall? Her mind was coming up blank. How was she going to explain to a stranger that she didn’t know the name of the dog she had brought aboard the September Rose?
That was when the name struck her. The September Rose wasn’t only hers; it was her father’s. He was the one who had made her and named her. So, in a strange way, it made sense that he named the dog too.
‘Johnny,’ she said without hesitation. ‘His name is Johnny.’