Chapter 11
11
Theo said he wanted to leave as early as possible to avoid the traffic, but deep down, Daisy suspected it was to stop her fussing about the coffee shop. The girls had run things now and then – on mornings or afternoons when Daisy had had appointments she couldn’t get out of. They had even held down the fort for a full day when Daisy had gone with her mother to a doctor’s appointment she was worried about, but they’d never opened up on their own before.
Not that there was much that could go wrong. She’d already baked enough cakes to get through the first day, and her mum had said she would bake anything else that was needed and make sure they were well-stocked throughout the entire weekend. It had been a long time since Daisy’s mum had cooked for the coffee shop and Claire had said she was perfectly willing to ship up a couple of batches of millionaire’s shortbread or carrot cake, but Pippa had insisted.
‘And sorry if I said anything inappropriate last night, dear,’ her mother said as she hugged Daisy goodbye. ‘Nicholas seems to think I had one too many. Although I didn’t think I was too bad, was I?’
Daisy recalled the way her mother had swayed back and forth and proclaimed loudly that she thought the quiches were under-seasoned, but it didn’t seem like the right time to bring it up.
‘You were fine, Mum,’ she said.
At which point, Pippa smiled broadly.
‘You need to get going,’ Bex said as Daisy broke away from her mother. ‘We’re fine here. You have nothing to be nervous about.’
Bex was wearing the striped apron with the embroidered narrowboat on that Daisy wore as her uniform and the hatch was already open, with the price board on display for all passers-by to see, although no one had yet purchased any drinks.
‘She’s right. Can we please get going?’ Theo said. ‘We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.’
Daisy looked at her friends, her mother, and then finally to Johnny, who was sitting on the ground by Claire’s feet.
‘Just be a good boy, okay? No trouble?’
The dog wagged his tail hard against the ground as Daisy offered him a tight squeeze, before standing up and turning to face Theo.
‘Okay, then. I guess it’s time we got going.’