Chapter 32
T he next day, Daisy was pottering in the kitchen not long after doing the school run and seriously contemplating what she was going to do if and when GayesBooks moved into Pretty Beach.
The kettle gave a loud click as it switched off and steam floated up against the windowpane above the sink as she poured hot water into the teapot.
Outside, the rooftops of Pretty Beach glistened in morning sunshine.
A very fine layer of thin mist curled between chimneys and there was the faintest trace of woodsmoke in the air.
Inside the bookshop kitchen, Daisy stood in her slippers and one of Annabelle’s cast-off cardigans, holding a teaspoon in one hand and trying to remember how many extra jobs she had to do for Suntanned Pete that day.
The kitchen smelled of toast and apples and the cereal bowls needed clearing away, as did a hairbrush, the butter dish and Evie’s scarf, which was hanging on the back of one of the kitchen chairs.
Somehow, they’d made it out of the house on time that morning and Daisy was now back and ready for a day of work.
As she started to potter and tidy the kitchen, she pondered the fact that Miles had sounded serious on the phone that he wanted to talk and wondered what he wanted to say.
She wasn’t really sure what she thought about any of it and whether bringing his mum to Pretty Beach was a good idea.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want his mum there, per se.
She didn’t really know her well and she wasn’t about to turn anyone away who needed a bit of convalescing and sea air, but it came with quite a bit of weight to it.
A sort of expectation and solidification of the Daisy and Miles story.
After spraying and wiping down the kitchen, she moved to the bookshop and stared out the window for a bit and looked out at the laneway wondering what it might look like with a GayesBooks sign.
A man in a high-vis jacket was walking a dachshund in a cable-knit jumper and next door’s hanging basket had given in to the chill and gone crispy.
Her phone buzzed with a reminder about a click-and-collect order from the chemist and she tucked herself into the squishy armchair behind the desk and started answering emails with her tea balanced on the arm and a tea towel folded under the mug to stop it staining the fabric.
After drafting a reply to Lotta about a reading club event, she started writing up a caption for a carousel of her favourite autumn reads.
Something light and warm to make people smile when they saw it pop up on their phones.
Reading nook ready. Cinnamon bun optional. Cosy reads guaranteed.
She added a leaf emoji and pressed save as the old building creaked slightly as she heard the heating click on. Frowning at a knock coming from the back door, she got up, put her mug down and padded to the back door, unbolting it with one hand and pulling it open with the other.
‘Morning, Daise.’ Maggie breezed in with a paper bag from the bakery, a tray with two coffees and what looked like a homegrown bunch of kale under her arm.
‘I brought cake, buns and proper coffee. Also, I had too much kale and I needed to get out of the house before I started cleaning out the airing cupboard for no reason. I have a rare day off and there is no way I’m spending it decluttering.
How are you? Have you seen the posters everywhere and the amount of people in the Facebook group? Twins good?’
Daisy stepped aside to let her in. ‘I’m just doing my social media posts.’
‘Right.’ Maggie eased two small takeaway coffees from their tray and put them on the counter like they were offerings and handed over carrot cake with thick cream cheese icing.
‘Mum made it. I stole it.’
‘You’re a good woman.’
‘Some say that. Others know better.’
Maggie put a white paper bag from the bakery on the kitchen table. ‘So, anything further on Miles and his mum?’
Daisy blew on her coffee. ‘He wants to bring her here to Pretty Beach to convalesce.’
Maggie paused, mid-sip. ‘Really? To the town about to be taken over by chains?’
Daisy shuddered. ‘Don’t even joke. Just for a while, while she recovers. Nothing dramatic or permanent. She is just going to have a bit of time near the sea.’
‘And? Your voice is telling me that Daisy is not sure what to think about that.’
‘My voice is correct. I don’t know what that means, for him, for us and for me. He wants to talk and he sounded serious . Strange, really.’
Maggie didn’t say anything straight away, which was unlike her. She just leant back in the chair, folded one leg over the other. ‘You don’t have to know what it means.’
‘It feels big. I’ve really missed him since he’s been up there. He said the same.’
‘Yep, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. His mum being mugged and in hospital has escalated things. You’re not talking about a man visiting for the weekend with a duffle bag and a nice bottle of red.
You’re talking about family and him bringing his life.
Stuff is getting real and we are seeing the difficult bits, not just the lovely bits. ’
Daisy picked at the edge of her cake. ‘I know. It’s taken me by surprise.
I was all for bumbling along and having secret romantic nights and now boom, his mum is coming here and the girls don’t even know him properly.
I did feel like I wanted to be with him full time but now, oh dear, I don’t know, it all seems a bit… is “rushed” the word I am looking for?’
Maggie sighed. ‘Daise. It’s fine.’
‘He said he’s tired of splitting his life into bits and he wants it all in one place. He said I’m that place.’
Maggie smiled. ‘And what did you say?’
‘I said we’d work it out. I meant it, but then I woke up this morning and started thinking about everything; the flat, the twins, the GayesBooks thing, the mums at the school gate, his mum here in my town… I mean, I don’t know. I am like in a proper relationship with someone, aren’t I?’
‘Err, yeah! You totally are.’ Maggie took a bite of carrot cake. ‘You’ll figure it out. What matters is whether you and Miles still feel like Miles-and-Daisy when everything changes which it already has.’
‘I think we do. At least I hope we do. I want us to.’
‘Then back yourself, Daise. Stop waiting for it all to collapse.’
‘Are you now moonlighting as a relationship counsellor?’ Daisy joked.
‘No, I’m a Doom Counsellor.’ Maggie bantered back as quick as a flash.
‘Right, well, if so, I’ll tell you this then and see what you make of it: I wasn’t going to say anything, but I overheard Georgia and the school mums on the ferry.’
Maggie rolled her eyes before Daisy could even finish. ‘Again? What did they say this time?’
‘First off they were talking about the town meeting. Then about me and that I was stupid to think that Miles would stick around. That it was all a fantasy and I was playing house.’
Maggie snorted. ‘Oh, please. As if they’d recognise something real. God, I cannot stand her. She’s still behaving as if she’s the one in school, not a mum at the school.’
‘I know, but it still gets to me.’
‘You’ve got actual evidence of someone showing up for you, not just in the good bits, but in the awful bits too.’
Daisy looked down at her coffee. ‘What if it all goes wrong with his mum here? Flipping heck, we already have to navigate how the twins fit in and now caring for the elderly too! It’s hardly romantic.’
‘You find the middle ground and you work it out together.’
‘You’re good at this Doom counselling.’ Daisy chuckled. ‘You should charge a hefty fee.’
‘I don’t need to. I get enough in my other job.’
Daisy smiled, then stood and topped up the kettle. The kitchen filled with the low bubble of water heating.
‘What’s your instinct, honestly?’ Maggie asked.
‘My instinct is that I want him here. All the messy, complicated, stressed-out bits of him and I want him to bring the people he loves, even if they don’t understand Pretty Beach at first. However, I am really selfish and I liked the bit where I just got to have my life and him there for the good bits. How self-centered is that?’
‘Very.’
Daisy poured hot water into a fresh mug, dropped a tea bag in and let it swirl. ‘He messaged this morning and said he was thinking about me. That he hoped my morning was ticking along okay despite the impending takeover of the building down the road.’
Maggie grinned. ‘Textbook lovely. I like him. I liked him before, but I like him more now since all of this has happened. Apart from that first vanishing thing, he hasn’t put a foot wrong.’
‘Nup.’
Maggie stood up. ‘I’d better push off if I want to make the most of my day off. Did you want me to do the school run later?’
Daisy shook her head. ‘Nope, thanks, we’ll be fine.’
‘Okay, I’ll get going then.’
Daisy saw Maggie to the back gate. ‘Thanks for the cake.’
‘No worries. Text me with an update about Miles and his mum.’
‘Will do.’
After Maggie had gone and the tea things were rinsed and the cake plates scraped, Daisy sat for a few minutes in the quiet and listened to the creaks and ticks of the old building settling around her.
She nodded at the fact that she did like the good bits and that she was selfish, really.
For once, though, it sort of felt okay to be just that.