Chapter 75
75
For the next three days, Daisy remained at Wildflower Lock. Bex stayed at her side the entire time, except for the hour or so in the evenings when Daisy took Johnny for a walk. From what Daisy could tell, remote working for Bex consisted of occasionally logging on to her computer, sounding very cross during online meetings, then coming in to tell Daisy how everyone was completely useless and that it would do them good to not have her in the office for a few days. For the most part, Daisy could almost believe life was carrying on as normal, except between 5.30 and 6.00 when Theo would appear outside the boat with Johnny, and the handover would occur.
‘He wouldn’t even look at me tonight,’ Daisy said. It was Thursday evening, and the pair were sitting on the sofa drinking wine. Despite every night that week being clear and warm, Daisy had chosen to stay inside in the evenings, just to avoid bumping into anyone. As far as she was aware, everyone on the lock still thought she and Theo were a couple, and she didn’t have it in her to tell them the news. Besides, she’d spent plenty of time out and about.
Daisy had taken Johnny on an extra-long walk that day, as they hadn’t discussed how things would work at the weekend, and she wasn’t sure if she’d get any time with him at all. After all, Theo usually hung around Wildflower Lock because he was helping her, but now they’d split up, he had his weekends back to do as he pleased.
‘You can’t blame him,’ Bex said. ‘This time a week ago, he was messaging Claire and me, buying thousands of fairy lights, and being all excited about the proposal he’d planned. It’s been a pretty abrupt turnaround.’
‘I suppose,’ Daisy responded.
‘It’s not as if you’re happy about things. I think it’s safe to say I’ve never seen you look so miserable.’
‘Of course I’m miserable,’ Daisy said with a sense of exasperation. ‘It’s not that I don’t love him. I don’t get why you guys don’t understand that.’
‘Oh, we understand it completely,’ Bex said, arching an eyebrow. ‘It’s just that it makes no sense. Despite no evidence at all, you’ve already predicted the failure of your relationship, which is basically dooming yourself.’
Daisy shook her head. It didn’t matter how much she tried to suppress the knots that filled her stomach. Every time she had a minute to think about things, they would return, and conversations like this didn’t help. ‘You’d understand if you’d been there. It’s for the best?—’
‘In the long run?’ Bex interrupted. Her voice was almost a shout. ‘I swear, if you’re going to say that to me again, I will throw something at you.’ She paused, and when she spoke again, her tone was far quieter, though just as harsh. ‘And I’m well aware it’s not me you’re trying to convince when you say that, by the way. You’re the one who needs convincing.’
Daisy didn’t respond; there wasn’t much she could say to that. Was it the truth? No, she knew she’d made the right decision. She had to have, because if she’d got it wrong… Well, that didn’t bear thinking about.
She put down her glass of wine and picked up the remote, ready to change the conversation.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I think we’re out of new horror movies to watch, which means we’re on to thrillers or true crime.’
‘Not romance?’ Bex said sarcastically.
Daisy shot her a glare. ‘True crime it is,’ she said, flipping through the channels to find something she wanted to watch. But before she could press play, there was a knock at the door.
‘Do you want me to get it?’ Bex said, a look of concern on her face.
Daisy shook her head. ‘I’ll go. It’s probably just Francis trying to get me to adopt whatever stray cat she’s found this week. Although maybe that’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’m destined to become an old cat lady.’
‘You’d have to get more than one for that to happen, though,’ Bex replied. ‘You know that.’
‘Well, let’s start with one and see how that goes.’
The pair let out a slight chuckle before Daisy walked to the back of the boat and opened the door.
‘Hello, love. It’s not a bad time, is it?’ Her mum was standing on the stern.
Daisy hadn’t responded to any of her mother’s texts in the past week, or even called to tell her about the situation with Theo, so finding her standing there probably shouldn’t have been a surprise. Her mum’s normal reaction to Daisy wanting space was to give her anything but. However, what was surprising was that her arm was around Nicholas.
‘We wanted to know if you and Theo fancied coming to a barbecue on the Jeanette this evening.’
Daisy tilted her head to the side, struggling to understand what was going on. Meanwhile, Pippa glanced past Daisy into the boat.
‘Hello Bex, dear,’ she said. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here. You’re welcome to join us too. The more, the merrier.’
‘Right,’ Daisy said. ‘On the Jeanette ? With you and Nicholas?’
‘Yes, well, given that we’re going to be spending a bit more time up north with his family, we thought we should make the most of our days down here. And it’s such a lovely one. It seems silly not to have a barbecue, don’t you think?’
Daisy was sure she’d slipped into an alternate universe, one where the last four days hadn’t happened, one where her mother hadn’t turned up on her doorstep and told her that her relationship with Nicholas was over and that Daisy’s engagement with Theo was going to end in disaster. Daisy looked to Bex, and the pair exchanged a knowing look that could only be shared between two people who had known each other their entire lives.
‘Nicholas?’ Bex was suddenly on her feet and moving past Daisy and out onto the stern. ‘I wanted to ask you some questions, actually, about sloe gin. I was thinking of making my first batch this year, but I’m not actually sure what sloes are. Any chance there are some here on the canal you could show me?’
Daisy was normally in awe of her friend’s spontaneous ability to come up with questions like that, but at that moment, she was too preoccupied, staring at her mother.
‘What’s going on? You’re being very strange about this. I only asked if you wanted to come to a barbecue.’
‘You told me things were over between you and Nicholas,’ Daisy said. ‘You came here, drank my wine, and told me you’d never be getting back together with him.’
A pinkish hue tinted her mother’s cheeks as she waved her hand dismissively.
‘Oh well, you know what we’re like. We bicker, that’s all. But you can’t believe anything I say after more than a couple of glasses of wine, you know that.’
Daisy could feel her jaw hanging open, the disbelief making it near impossible to speak and yet she forced herself to.
‘What about when you said Theo and I shouldn’t get married?’ she asked. ‘What about when you said that I was an idiot for not being able to see that things wouldn’t work out? If I had any sense, I’d end things before we got even more embroiled? What about that, Mother? Was I meant to believe you when you said that?’
Pippa’s cheeks turned a deep red.
‘Daisy, you didn’t… I didn’t… Oh, darling, please don’t tell me that you—’ she stammered, unable to finish the sentence.
Daisy finished it for her.
‘That I ended things with Theo because of what you said. Yes, Mother. I did. Because I foolishly believed that you were telling me the truth. That you were trying to protect me. That was honestly what I thought you were doing.’ It felt as though the world was slipping out beneath her feet, yet somehow she managed to straighten her back. ‘Thank you for the barbecue invite,’ she said, ‘but I think I’ll decline. Now, can you please leave?’