Chapter 4
4
While the walk from Wildflower Lock to Danbury wasn’t a quick one, it followed a reasonably straightforward footpath along the edges of various fields.
‘I can’t believe this is what you guys want to be doing,’ Daisy said as Johnny ran ahead of them. Bex really wasn’t dressed for a long walk, given that she had come straight from the office and was wearing white linen trousers and wedge sandals that didn’t look easy to walk in, though she didn’t complain.
‘Are you kidding?’ Claire said. ‘I love it. I don’t know why we’ve not done this walk before. I’ll do it with Amelia next time we come down.’
‘Speaking of Amelia, is she still coming tomorrow?’
‘I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,’ Claire said, throwing a glance at Bex.
‘Wait and see what?’ Daisy said. ‘What’s going on with the pair of you? You’ve been acting weird since you got here.’
‘We have not,’ Bex said, stressing her words far more than seemed natural.
‘We are just in a good mood,’ Claire seconded. ‘Enjoying the sunshine. That’s all. So how are things? How’s your mum? Did she patch things up with Nicholas?’
Daisy’s mother, Pippa, always had a sketchy love life, frequently picking the wrong type of men. And Daisy had been less than pleased when she had ignited a relationship with the grumpy Nicholas, a fellow canal boat dweller on Wildflower Lock. But despite Daisy’s initial reservations, she had grown fond of Nicholas and had been unexpectedly saddened when they had broken up a few months earlier. This sadness had been compounded by the fact that Daisy had to deal with all her mother’s melancholy, which often involved drinking a bottle of wine or more in the September Rose while lamenting about all her failed relationships. Fortunately, they seemed to have patched things up recently.
‘They got back together about a month ago,’ Daisy told Claire. ‘He was pushing Mum to retire early. That was the issue. Or find a job closer. She doesn’t want to stop working, she’s not sure she can afford to, but I think she’s considered looking for something closer. They seem to be happy enough now. I’m sure I told you this all on the phone the other day, though.’
‘You’re right,’ Claire said, ‘you did. Sorry. I think the pre-summer holiday panic has set in. I’m not sure how I’m going to cope with the full six weeks. Honestly, you would not believe the number of clubs Amelia wants me to take her to. Gymnastics, art, drama camp, football camp. I might as well become a taxi service. But I suppose it happens to all of us, right?’
Daisy shrugged as she watched Johnny running ahead on the path in front of her.
‘I mean, I guess so,’ she said. ‘Maybe not. I don’t know if I can see it happening to me.’
‘What about you and Theo? Haven’t you talked about having children?’ Bex asked, throwing yet another gaze in Claire’s direction. It was almost as if they were refusing to acknowledge Daisy was even there.
‘No, not really.’
‘You haven’t? Isn’t that weird?’ Claire said.
Daisy shrugged again, not sure why her shoulders were starting to tighten. ‘I don’t know, I guess not. We’re happy the way things are at the minute.’
‘I know, but?—’
‘I guess it’ll come up when it comes up,’ Daisy said. She was about to change the subject away from her and Theo to the far more interesting topic of Bex’s love life when Johnny let out a loud bark. There, ahead of them, the village had just come into view and right on the edge of it, was the pub.
‘Thank goodness for that,’ she said, excited to sit down for the first time all day. ‘I’m starving.’