Forever Love at Wildflower Lock (The Wildflower Lock #4)

Chapter 2

2

Daisy was one of those people who had had the same best friends since school. Yes, she had met other people, made other friends too, but none had ever compared to Bex and Claire. No matter what the occasion, whether it was an hour of need, or a celebration, Daisy could always guarantee they would be the first ones there with wine or tissues or sometimes both. Normally Claire’s daughter, Amelia, would be in tow too. Though she was still too young to work, she leapt at every opportunity to come to Wildflower Lock. Once there, she would spend the time drawing or throwing rocks for Johnny – his favourite game – while absorbing everything she could about the business, ready for when she was finally old enough to help. Though while Amelia couldn’t work the coffee machine, Claire and Bex would sometimes take time out from London life, just to help Daisy out. They had even dog-sat Johnny when she and Theo had gone for a weekend trip to Edinburgh. She spoke to one, if not both of them on the phone almost every single day and knew what their plans were from summer holidays to Christmas lunch, even though it was over half a year away. Which was why seeing them there caught her so much by surprise.

‘I didn’t know you were coming down,’ Daisy said, breaking away from Theo to hug her friends. ‘What are you doing? I thought you were coming down tomorrow.’

‘We were. We are,’ Bex answered. ‘But the weather’s really good?—’

‘And she was complaining about being in the city—’ Claire cut over her friend.

‘And so we decided to come down here. See if you wanted to take Johnny for a walk to the pub.’

‘And not a moment too soon,’ Theo muttered.

Daisy turned to face him, not quite sure she had caught what he said properly.

‘What was that?’ she said.

‘I just meant that it’s about time Johnny had a proper walk, that was all,’ Theo replied. His gaze skirted past Daisy, and he looked at the girls instead. ‘We’ve had quite a lot of time in the van today,’ he said. ‘Quite a lot of driving. He’ll need a long walk. A very long walk.’

Daisy was about to ask where they’d gone and why Johnny had had to be in the van so much. Even when Theo did consultancy work – which would sometimes see him spending nights away – he always made sure that walking Johnny was a priority. No wonder he was looking stressed if he hadn’t managed that.

‘In that case, we should probably get going now,’ Claire said, at which point Theo nodded enthusiastically.

‘Yes, yes. Absolutely. You guys should go get Johnny and I should get to the shops.’

‘To the shops? I thought you were dealing with swans for work?’ Daisy said in confusion.

‘Yes, yes, I am. Only I’ve got to go to the hardware store. Before I get to the swans, we need some rope.’

Daisy raised her eyebrows. It made more sense why Theo didn’t want to take Johnny with him on this escapade, but he probably should have gone to the store to fetch the rope beforehand. After all, she wasn’t even sure it was still open.

‘Well, you guys go for a nice walk, have a nice drink. Take your time, but don’t drink too much?’ Theo said.

‘Sure,’ Daisy replied, not sure why everything felt so abrupt and odd about the conversation. Yet before she could even check if Theo was okay, or kiss him goodbye, he was already sprinting towards the car park.