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

Chapter 3

3

‘Did Theo seem strange to you?’ Daisy said to the girls as they crossed over the gate towards the Narrow Escape .

‘I don’t think so,’ Claire replied. ‘He sounded perfectly normal to me.’

‘Did he really?’ Daisy wasn’t convinced. ‘I don’t know. Maybe he’s stressed. You know, it’s not like he gets a day off ever. If he’s not working on the canals, he’s working in the coffee shop. I try to tell him he doesn’t need to, but he always insists. Maybe he should book a weekend away so he won’t feel guilty for not working.’

‘I’m sure it’s just because it’s Friday,’ Bex said, joining in the conversation. ‘He’s fine. So, do you want to have a shower or something? I’ll have a quick search for nice restaurants in the area and book a table. I don’t mind not drinking, so I’ll drive.’

‘Drive to a restaurant?’ Daisy shook her head. ‘I need to look after Johnny, remember? He’s been cooped up too much today. And I thought you wanted to go for a walk too. We were gonna head to the pub. We spoke about this two minutes ago.’

Bex shook her head and rolled her eyes.

‘Gosh, sorry, crazy day. Can’t get my thoughts straight. It’s probably this heat.’

Daisy wasn’t going to deny it was hot, but it wasn’t like Bex not to pay attention to things and having both her and Theo acting oddly didn’t make Daisy feel great, but thankfully Claire was still her normal, practical self.

‘I had a quick look on the map,’ Claire said. ‘And there’s a lovely pub in Danbury. We could go there.’

‘Danbury?’ Holly winced a little. ‘That’s over an hour’s walk away.’

‘I know. Didn’t Theo say Johnny needed to properly stretch his legs?’

‘I know, but then that’s an hour there, an hour or so having a drink and something to eat, and another hour to walk back. We won’t be home until gone nine.’ Daisy struggled to believe that after a long week at work, the last thing her friends wanted to do was spend two hours walking. She waited for Bex to object to Claire’s suggestion, but instead, she grinned.

‘Perfect, so we’re back by ten,’ Bex said. ‘Will it be dark by then?’ she added, throwing a look at Claire with an expression Daisy couldn’t quite read.

‘Hold on a second, I’ll check,’ Claire replied before tapping away at her phone. ‘Yes, yes, it will be. It should start getting dark when we’re walking back.’

‘See, that sounds dangerous,’ Daisy said. ‘We could go somewhere a bit closer and not have to come back in the dark. Or we could take Johnny for a walk for an hour or so, then come back to Theo’s. We’ve got a few bottles of wine in.’

‘No, we don’t want to stay here,’ Bex said with an unusual amount of fervour. ‘This’ll be an adventure.’

Daisy let out a low internal groan. As much as she fancied curling up in the Narrow Escape , Johnny needed a proper walk, and she knew she wasn’t going to get out of this one.

‘Fine,’ she said with a sigh, ‘but I’m getting my torch for the way back. The last thing I want is to walk home in the dark.’