Chapter 26
26
‘You want to go camping?’ Daisy said as she put one of the bags down on the ground. Now that she looked more clearly at the assortment Theo carried, there was obviously camping gear in there, like the small sacks for sleeping bags and another which jangled insistently and was probably filled with poles for the tents.
‘I have a buddy that owns a campsite down by one of the lakes. It’s beautiful at this time of year. His parents used to run it, and we would spend all our summers there when we were kids. He took over it a couple of years ago and I’d been hoping to take you to see it at some point, but I didn’t think we’d have enough time to go during this trip. This is working out perfectly.’
His face was beaming, and Daisy could see the small child he had been, playing in the water, living life to the fullest. She held on to the image for a second, only for another person to flick into her mind. A young Heather, perfectly dressed even as a pre-teen, playing with Theo as they splashed around together. With a sharp intake of breath, Daisy shook the thought from her head and smiled.
‘Well, then I guess that seems perfect. Have you told your parents?’
For the first time, Theo’s smile faltered, then dropped altogether as he gritted his teeth.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I did.’
Daisy waited for him to expand and say a little more. Perhaps how they didn’t want them to leave, or how Penelope was sorry for making Daisy feel so uncomfortable, and yet Theo remained absolutely silent, so Daisy pressed again.
‘And what did they say?’
‘Honestly?’ he spoke through a hiss. ‘You’re probably better off not knowing.’
The words churned in Daisy’s stomach. So no apology then. It was clear that whatever they had said had been enough to upset Theo, although Daisy suspected that any harsh comments were probably directed at her. Was she being too sensitive? That sounded like a line Ice Queen Penelope would have used. Wanting people to be decent wasn’t overly sensitive in Daisy’s book. It was just called being nice.
Trying to shake Penelope to the same place in her mind that she had just banished Heather, Daisy looked up at Theo and smiled.
‘Well, I’m sorry if what they said was upsetting, but they are not the priority of this weekend. You and I are. And I think camping sounds perfect.’
One of the things Daisy loved about her and Theo’s relationship was how he always seemed to know the right thing to say when she was struggling, and when Theo’s face lit up, she knew she had managed it for him, too. His eyes twinkled as his smile broadened.
‘You’re right, it is,’ he said. ‘You and I will always be the priority. Now, let’s go camping.’