Chapter 3
I didn’t have a huge amount of stuff to add to the cottage, but it seemed to take up an extraordinary amount of space in my small bedroom, the hall and sitting room.
‘It won’t be as bad when it’s all unpacked,’ I desperately said as Mum, Dad and I tried to shift the randomly packed boxes about so they took up less space.
‘How on earth did you get it all in your car?’ Mum laughed, but Dad didn’t raise a smile and I could already sense that the summer had the potential to be a difficult one.
‘It was jammed in like sardines,’ I said, keeping my tone light. ‘Like some sort of complicated Jenga. Thank goodness the boot catch held.’
Mum laughed again, but still Dad said nothing.
‘I think I might just pop over to Nick’s and say hello,’ I said, when we’d finally finished moving things about and making them fit as best as we could.
I didn’t think it would do any harm to leave Mum and Dad to talk over my unexpected return to the fold. There must have been things they wanted to privately say about it and with me sleeping in the room next door, and with everything extra they currently both had going on, they were barely going to get the chance.
‘Unless I can do anything,’ I added, not wanting either of them to think that I wasn’t going to pitch in. ‘Is there anything I can do here? Dishes or anything? Or shall I unpack now?’
‘No, no,’ said Mum, with a flap of her hand. ‘You go. Nick will be thrilled to see you. I’ll just go up and check your bed’s got fresh linen on, so it’s ready for you tonight.’
‘I’ve already done it,’ I told her, grateful that I’d had the foresight to have, perhaps a little presumptuously, taken care of that. ‘It’s all sorted.’
‘Look,’ said Dad, roughly rubbing the back of his head, as I went to leave, ‘I know I didn’t do myself justice when you told us what’s happened, Daisy, and I’m sorry.’
Mum immediately looked close to tears again.
‘It was just such a shock,’ he carried on, ‘and I should have thought before I opened my mouth. I am upset that you and Laurence aren’t together anymore, but that didn’t give me the right to base what’s happened about that on your struggles to find a job and accuse you of being responsible for your relationship ending as a result.’
Dad had never been a demonstrative man, even less so since the argument we’d had the summer I left for university, but I rushed to hug him anyway. His words meant everything to me and I hoped the squeeze I gave him expressed that and perhaps took us a step closer towards the relationship we’d once had. He patted me awkwardly as I breathed in the smell coming from his shirt. It was a mixture of his familiar scent, warm compost and fabric softener. Earthy, homely and grounded.
‘You can take a few of my beers over to Nick’s if you like,’ he said when I finally let him go. ‘I know he drinks the same bitter as me.’
‘Thank you, Dad,’ I managed to say croakily, knowing my face was every bit as flushed as his. ‘For everything.’
‘Go on then,’ he said. ‘Mum can show you where they are.’
‘I really am going to try to not be here for too long,’ I then told them both. ‘As soon as I can find somewhere to go, I’ll move out again. I mean that.’
‘Pulling pints isn’t going to pay much,’ said Dad. ‘So rather than waste money on rent, you might as well stay here and put a bit by, if you can.’
‘But only until I get my head together.’
‘For as long as it takes,’ said Dad, in another welcoming show of understanding. ‘We might not know exactly what’s gone on between you and Laurence, but you’re better off with us while you get over it.’
‘You’re right, Robin,’ agreed Mum.
I didn’t mar the moment by telling them I was already over it, because unsettlingly, I wasn’t as convinced as I had been that I was. While we had unloaded my car, I had picked over the last few months with Laurence and fallen to wondering if he’d been unfaithful to me before. Not that I supposed it mattered now, but the thought was humiliating.
‘Right, I’m off to shut the glasshouses up,’ Dad said as he headed off.
‘And we’ll sort those beers.’ Mum smiled, looking thrilled to have heard Dad’s apology.
As I walked to the edge of the estate and Nick’s cottage, I realised the homecoming I’d experienced had been entirely unexpected and I wasn’t talking about the reception I’d had from Mum and Dad. When I was away from home, I always imagined life at Wynbrook carrying on exactly as it always had, with my parents doing what they always did at the same time and in the same order, but that had been na?ve on my part.
So preoccupied with my own issues, I hadn’t realised they’d had their own. And the same went for Algy. I loved him like a grandfather and yet I hadn’t been properly in touch with him for months either. As I wandered along, carrying the beers in the jute bag Mum had found, I hoped Nick wasn’t ex- periencing some drama too. I didn’t think I could cope with more guilt about being so insensitive and out of touch.
‘Anyone home?’ I shouted into the hallway when I found the front door open.
There was a car I didn’t recognise parked outside the gate and too late I noticed a pair of women’s shoes kicked off on the hall runner – I hoped Nick wasn’t entertaining.
‘Daisy?’ came a familiar voice and I realised he did have female company, but not the romantic kind. ‘Oh my god!’ Penny gasped, as she poked her head out of the kitchen which was at the back of the house. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Pen!’ I laughed, rushing inside. ‘What are you doing here? Isn’t it a school night?’
‘Oh, don’t,’ she said, letting out a flustered breath. ‘There’s still a week to go until the summer holidays and I’m already at my wits’ end. Come in, come through. Nick’s just doing the hunter-gatherer thing and burning some meat on the barbecue. He’ll be as pleased to see you as I am.’
She did look worn out, but obviously, I didn’t say that.
‘And I have beer,’ I said, holding up the bag so the bottles clanked together.
‘In that case, he’ll be thrilled to see you!’
I followed her through the house and out into the back garden.
‘Look who I just found casing the joint,’ she said, stepping to one side to reveal me standing behind her on the patio.
‘Daisy!’ Nick gasped, looking every bit as amazed as Penny had. ‘I don’t believe it!’
‘That’s pretty much what I said!’ Penny laughed.
‘Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?’ Nick beamed, then his smile faltered as he looked back over my shoulder into the house. ‘Are you on your own?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said Penny, as the penny dropped. ‘You did come on your own, didn’t you?’
‘I did,’ I told them, realising they were both expecting to see Laurence, because whenever I came back to Wynbrook now, it was always with him. ‘I’m very much on my own.’
‘Well, that’s great.’ Nick nodded, the grin reappearing.
He’d never been a fan of my former beau, and I knew Penny wasn’t particularly keen either, but she had always been better at hiding it than he had.
‘Permanently, as it turns out,’ I further said, my voice wavering a little, which was annoying. I took a breath before continuing. ‘I’ve left Laurence,’ I then more steadily said.
‘That’s even better,’ Nick laughed, and he threw the meat tongs in the air and only just caught them.
‘Nick!’ Penny gasped, as she looked worriedly at me.
‘What?’ He shrugged, as he then clumsily flipped a couple of burgers. ‘You never liked him either, Pen.’
I looked at Penny and found she’d turned bright red.
‘It’s fine,’ I told her. ‘I knew you didn’t.’
The truth was, Laurence hadn’t liked her or Nick either. In fact, when I thought about it, he was often the one who put me off video-calling and messaging them. Not that I was making excuses for my tardiness, but it was further food for thought. He was in constant touch with his friends, aka work colleagues, but had never encouraged me to talk to my childhood chums.
‘I am sorry though,’ Penny sympathetically said. ‘You’d been together a while.’
‘Probably too long,’ I tried to say stoically.
‘I hated the way he always treated you like his pet project,’ Nick then unexpectedly blurted out. He sounded really rattled. ‘As if your flighty ways needed fixing.’
His tone was scathing.
‘You can’t really blame him for that,’ I responded, ‘because for a while I wanted to be fixed. When we got together, I thought he was going to sort me out.’
‘Idiot,’ Nick muttered.
I didn’t know if he was referring to me or Laurence.
‘You are sorted,’ Nick then more loudly said. ‘You’re exactly who you’re meant to be, Daisy.’
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. If that was the case, I was destined to be fanciful and unfocused forever!
‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Penny asked, sounding calmer than Nick. ‘The break-up, I mean.’
A part of me really did. I wanted to tell them how I’d walked in on Laurence and his colleague working on the wrong sort of project, how status-obsessed he’d become and how unhappy in the relationship I’d been for quite some time, but I didn’t. The part of me that simply wanted to relax and enjoy some beer and burgers with my mates won out.
‘There’s nothing to talk about, really,’ I said. ‘We just grew apart, I suppose, and I decided to call time. It’s all still a bit… raw, though. It’s only just happened. I’ve only been back a few hours.’
‘Of course.’ Penny nodded.
‘What have your mum and dad said about it?’ Nick more bluntly asked. ‘I bet they’re gutted. They always thought the sun shone out of Laurence’s—’
‘Nick…’ Penny said.
‘They’re both pretty upset,’ I confirmed, thinking of their reactions.
And that was another reason why I wasn’t going to talk about Laurence’s extra-curricular activities. Neither of my friends were gossips, but I couldn’t risk the truth of what had happened getting back to Mum and Dad. It wasn’t loyalty to Laurence that stopped me exposing him as the cheat he was, I simply didn’t want to make the situation even more difficult for my parents than it already was.
‘I can imagine,’ Penny sighed. ‘Are you heartbroken about it?’
‘I’m really not,’ I was pleased to be able to honestly say, because my newer feelings about it all weren’t that distressing. ‘I’m still processing, but my heart is intact.’
I was a little bruised and embarrassed, but that was hopefully going to be the extent of it.
‘And what about Laurence?’ Nick asked. ‘Is he suffering?’
I had to smile at the loaded hope in his tone.
‘I don’t know.’ I shrugged, imagining Laurence eventually finding the note that stated what I’d seen and how it had been the proof I’d needed to confirm that ending things was the right, and only, outcome for us. ‘I left him a note at the flat and I’ve blocked his number.’
‘That’s how you broke up with him?’ Penny gasped.
‘Yep.’
‘Good for you,’ said Nick, smiling.
‘You don’t think he’ll show up here, do you?’ Penny asked.
‘I hope not!’ I blanched. I hadn’t considered that. ‘No. No, he won’t come here.’
Hopefully he’d assume that I’d told Mum and Dad what he’d done and as a result, he’d be too scared to face my father. He might try and call me, or email, but he wouldn’t have the courage to just turn up.
‘Do you mind if we change the subject?’ I asked. ‘Dad gave me some bottles of bitter to bring along. Where do you keep your bottle opener, Nick?’
‘In the kitchen drawer, next to the sink.’
‘Well,’ said Penny, giving me a sympathetic look, ‘if you do decide you want to talk about it, you know where I am.’
‘I do.’ I nodded. ‘And I appreciate that, Pen, I really do.’
‘And you can talk to me too,’ Nick called after me. ‘Though my response might be a bit different to the one you get from Pen.’
‘I’ve no doubt it would be,’ I laughed. ‘Thank you, Nick.’
Over drinks, a huge salad Penny had prepared and some charred offerings from Nick, we caught up with each other’s lives and I managed to keep the details of Laurence’s bad behaviour to myself in spite of the inhibition-busting bitter.
‘Tell Daisy what you’ve got lined up for the summer, Pen,’ Nick encouraged as he helped himself to the last chicken skewer and she mixed herself another weak shandy because she had to drive back to Wynmouth.
‘Something lined up for the summer?’ I frowned. ‘You’re going to be in recovery from a mad end to the school term for at least a month, aren’t you?’
‘I am,’ she agreed, ‘but I’m trying my hand at something different while I recuperate.’
‘Oh?’
‘I’m taking over Sophie’s beach café while she and Hope are flying out to be with a sick relative in the Caribbean,’ she announced. ‘I can’t wait to start working with moreish sandwich fillings and sublime sweet bakes instead of sulky students!’
‘You’re never doing that?’ I asked, feeling shocked.
Normally Penny deservedly took the whole of the summer school break to rest and reset, but running the café wouldn’t allow for that. It was a very popular spot, being the only eatery on the beach. Actually, as far as I knew, it was still the only café in the whole of the village and the summer holidays were obviously its busiest time.
‘I am,’ she confirmed and sounded thrilled about it. ‘And it couldn’t have come at a better time. This year has been the toughest since I starting teaching and I’m seriously thinking about leaving education for good.’
‘You’re not?’ It was my turn to gasp then.
‘Can you believe it?’ said Nick, sounding sad.
We both knew what a fabulous teacher Penny was, so her loss would be a severe blow to the primary school she worked in. And the children she wouldn’t get to teach, as well. But that said, we also knew how much Penny enjoyed cooking and baking and how hard she’d found it to decide which career path to follow.
‘No,’ I responded, thinking of the angst she’d gone through before settling on teaching, ‘I can’t, but I do know you still love to cook, Penny, and given my track record when it comes to the world of work, I’m hardly in a position to try and talk you into sticking with the teaching, am I?’
‘Not really,’ Penny said, grinning.
‘Well, I think it’s a shame,’ said Nick, ‘but I do love your food and knowing what you’ve been through this year, Pen, I can understand where you’re coming from. Life’s too short to work at a job that makes you miserable.’
‘Hear, hear!’ I agreed, holding up my glass and feeling another pang because I didn’t know the details of what she’d recently been through.
‘I thought we’d just agreed your opinion doesn’t count, Daisy,’ Nick then teased. ‘You’ve never stuck at anything long enough to find out if you like it or not.’
‘Hey,’ I yelped, pretending to be affronted and pelting him with a stray piece of lettuce. ‘I know my own mind, thank you very much,’ I stated, echoing Mum’s words. ‘I just can’t get it to settle on something, that’s all…’
My words trailed off as I wondered if, in reality, I was ever going to find something I could do, love and excel at.
‘It will one day,’ Penny then kindly and convincingly said. ‘Something will come along when the time is right, just like this café opportunity has for me.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘the next thing that’s coming along in the very near future is pulling pints in the Smuggler’s. Sam has offered me a few shifts behind the bar.’
My mind flitted to the American guy who I had earlier crossed paths with and I wondered if he’d been passing through the village or planning to hang around. I might end up pulling a pint for him. Assuming he had a taste for British beer.
‘That’s a new one, isn’t it?’ asked Nick. ‘I can’t remember you ever working in a pub before.’
‘Completely new. Maybe this could be that special something I’ve been looking for.’
‘Really?’ Penny asked, sounding sceptical.
‘Maybe.’ I shrugged, even though I didn’t genuinely think it would be. ‘Who knows?’
‘I do,’ said Nick, standing up and stretching his arms above his head, which made his shirt ride up and exposed his midriff. ‘I give you a fortnight. Three weeks at best.’
‘Biff him for me, would you, Pen?’ I requested. ‘I’m out of salad to throw at him.’
She didn’t biff him and when I turned to look at her, I found she was bright red and suddenly engrossed with stacking the plates together.
‘Just phase him out,’ she muttered, without looking up. ‘That’s what I’ve learnt to do.’
Between the three of us, we tidied everything away and I said I’d better get back to Mum and Dad’s before the drawbridge went up because I’d forgotten to take my key.
‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Nick, as he threw a blanket around Penny’s shoulders and we headed back into the garden, ‘I’ve got one for the cottage. You can borrow that if needs be.’
‘In that case,’ I said, quickly sitting down and stretching out on the recliner he had been heading towards, ‘I won’t rush off.’
‘But I’ll have to get going in a minute,’ Penny sighed, checking her watch. ‘It is, as you pointed out earlier, Daisy, a school night.’
‘The first of the week too.’
She let out a groan of frustration.
‘How can it only be Monday?’ she grimaced. ‘It’s sports day on Thursday and personally I’m hoping for rain.’
Nick reached for his phone.
‘The forecast is still showing sunny and very warm,’ he said regretfully. ‘Hot almost. Though of course, that’s exactly what I need to put some paint on the strawberries. Sorry, Pen.’
‘How’s the fruit farm doing?’ I asked, loving his description of the way the sun ripens the fruit. ‘It sounds like Dad’s got a lot extra on his plate in the garden this year. Have you got more to do on the farm too?’
‘Thankfully not and it’s going really well,’ Nick told me. ‘Even better than usual, I think. The weather has been perfect and considering we’re not at peak holiday time yet, it’s very busy too. Had it been a bit quieter, I would have been helping your dad out in the garden. I know he’s struggling.’
‘He’s told me Algy got him to set up a cut-flower enterprise,’ I said. ‘I haven’t seen it obviously, but I can imagine it’s another full-on thing for Dad to have to deal with during his already stretched time.’
‘Um,’ said Nick. ‘It’s not really working out because of the lack of seasonal staff. And with Theo gone now—’
‘I’m so pleased for him and Wren,’ Penny cut in. She sounded as dreamy as Mum had earlier. ‘That’s three little ones they’ve got now and a lovely big place to raise them in, just outside the village.’
Penny had always wanted a family of her own, but so far, her Mr Right hadn’t come along. Well, he had, only she hadn’t spotted him yet. I wondered, as I was going to be back for the summer, if I should take on the role of Cupid. There might not be any love in my life, but perhaps I could encourage some in hers…
‘I wouldn’t sound so chuffed about that,’ Nick laughed. ‘They might all end up being little terrors that you have to teach before long.’
That made Penny sit up.
‘Don’t say that,’ she huffed. ‘I’m sure they’re all as lovely as their parents, and besides, I might have left and be happily baking buns by the time they turn school age.’
Nick didn’t look convinced.
‘Right,’ I cut in, not wanting them to bicker. ‘I really had better get back. I’ve got to get used to sleeping in a single bed again, so it could be a long night.’
‘Isn’t there a double in the spare room?’ Nick pointed out.
‘There is,’ I confirmed. It was the bed Laurence and I used to sleep in when we were visiting together. ‘But I’m not moving in there. I already feel as though I’m imposing, so I’m trying to take up as little space as possible.’
Not that all my stuff dotted about the cottage suggested that. Perhaps I’d put some of it back in my car once Mum and Dad had gone to work tomorrow. That would free up a bit of space and I wasn’t going to need to unpack everything.
‘I’m sure you’re not imposing,’ said Penny, who had a penchant for looking on the bright side. ‘I bet your mum and dad are thrilled to have you staying with them, even if the circumstances are a bit—’
‘Mum doesn’t seem to mind,’ I interrupted, ‘but Dad’s not quite so thrilled.’
He might have apologised for what he’d said, but I knew that initial gut reactions were generally the ones that revealed what someone genuinely felt about something.
‘He’s got so much to contend with at the moment,’ Nick said, a little defensively. ‘I wouldn’t pay much attention to his current mood, if it’s a grumpy one.’
‘Mum’s got a lot on as well,’ I pointed out, just like I had to her. ‘Do either of you know what happened to Algy?’ I asked. ‘He was keen to play it down when I saw him earlier, but I know Mum’s worried about him.’
‘He buggered over when he was out in the garden, searching for this cat he’s been trying to look after,’ Nick told me. ‘Had your dad not been in the garden doing his evening gate check, Algy would have been stuck outside on the ground all night.’
‘Dad to the rescue.’ I smiled.
‘It shook him up, I think,’ Nick further said. ‘Your dad, I mean. He’s a good bloke and he thinks the world of Algy. I know your dad comes across as a bit crotchety sometimes, Daisy, but his heart’s always in the right place.’
‘Oh, I know that really,’ I generously said, though the argument between us in the past had given me reason to doubt it. ‘I’m his daughter, after all. And I daresay I wouldn’t be overly enamoured if my grown-up girl landed herself on me unannounced with everything else that’s going on.’
I could see now that my timing really couldn’t have been worse.
‘It’ll all shake down in a day or two,’ said Penny, drawing a line under the conversation. ‘Come on, I’ll run you back if you like. You can check out my new motor!’
I made all the right noises about Penny’s new car, but my mind was elsewhere. I had thought about doing a little preliminary digging into her reaction to the sight of Nick’s midriff on the drive back, but the journey was over almost before it had started and I was still thinking about Dad being the person who had found Algy prostrate in one of the flower beds. Nick was no doubt right in saying that it had given him a fright.
Both Dad and Mum were struggling with things I hadn’t known about and I felt doubly determined that while I was staying with them, I would be helpful rather than a thorn in their sides. If I could get to grips with working in the pub, help out around the cottage and keep an eye on Algy, then perhaps there was the potential for this to be the best summer ever, rather than a difficult one.