Blue Skies Over Wildflower Lock (The Wildflower Lock)

Chapter 88

Daisy and Theo picked up breakfast sandwiches from a local deli, which they sat and ate on the back of the boat, while her mother and Nicholas finished packing up the last of Yvonne’s belongings.

‘You know, I feel like I should be mad at you for keeping this from me,’ Theo said, his hand resting on Daisy’s leg. ‘But somehow, it makes me love you more.’

‘Really?’ Daisy said, swallowing a mouthful of food. ‘Me lying makes you happy?’

‘I don’t think that’s what I said exactly,’ Theo said, raising his eyebrows. ‘The lying doesn’t make me happy, but the fact that you would do this does. And that you would try that hard to surprise me. I think it’s amazing. I think you’re amazing.’

He gazed into her eyes, and Daisy knew he was about to kiss her, but she shifted back ever so slightly.

‘So amazing that you’re going to keep Johnny?’ she said, raising her eyebrows expectantly. Her mum and Nicholas’s arrival meant Theo hadn’t actually confirmed whether he was going to take the dog and while Daisy didn’t want to be greedy – she had already had more good news in the last three hours than she could ever have imagined – knowing she had got the best possible home for Johnny, where she could still spend time with him, would be the absolute icing on the cake. As she waited, she stared up at Theo expectantly. A small grin twisted on his face.

‘I guess that sounds like a fair deal.’

‘You mean it?’

‘I mean it. What do you think, buddy?’ Theo said, looking down at Johnny, who was bouncing on his feet as his tail wagged non-stop. ‘You think you’d like to come live with me?’

As perfectly timed as always, Johnny let out a single bark, causing Daisy and Theo to burst into laughter. They both reached forward and gave the dog some much-deserved fuss.

For a moment, everything felt right with the world. What could have been the worst week of Daisy’s life was turning out to be the very best. She had the links to her father back with the painting, a chance to bond with her mother like she hadn’t done in years. Her friend was coming home from the hospital. And her boyfriend… Well, there weren’t words enough to describe how grateful she was to have someone like Theo in her corner.

Having stopped stroking Johnny, Daisy was just about to say as much when Theo glanced down at his watch. A familiar knot twisted in Daisy’s stomach. The next words out of Theo’s mouth would be him saying he needed to leave any minute now and get back to work. That was the way their relationship had to be at the moment.

‘You need to get going?’ she said, anticipating the moment before Theo spoke. Only to her surprise, he shook his head.

‘Not yet,’ he replied. ‘I was thinking that we could get the map out and have a look together? Plot out your route and work out where I can come and meet you on my days off. Maybe some evenings too, when you get closer. I could give Pippa a bit of help with the locks.’

Daisy’s heart felt as though it was going to burst from her chest. ‘You’ll do that? You’ll come and meet me?’

‘After what you’ve done for me, I think it’s the least I can do. I’m in this for the long run, Daisy May. You and me against the world forever.’

As they leaned in to kiss, another bark resounded into the air, and Theo let out a short chuckle.

‘You, me and Johnny against the world,’ he corrected.