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‘Legally darling, you don’t have a leg to stand on there. You can’t dictate which visitors Henry has in his home.’
‘Pe
A
‘I’m so sorry,’ Pe
‘What? No, you have nothing to be sorry for. She is very over-protective of Daisy, we both are, and she’s seen it go wrong for Daisy quite a few times before. But don’t apologise for her issues and her bloody judgemental attitude.’
Pe
‘I don’t know about that, you pretty much captured me from the moment you opened the door with that huge endearing smile on your face.’
She smiled.
‘Come on, why don’t you bake a cake, that’ll make you feel better and I can help.’
‘I thought you wanted sex on my table.’
‘We can do that too.’
She laughed and she walked off back towards her kitchen. He sighed with relief as he watched her go.
She hadn’t seemed bothered by A
‘She’s late,’ Henry said, looking at his watch for the seventeenth time in the last ten minutes.
Pe
‘She’s not late.’
‘School finished at half past three. It can’t be more than a half hour walk from there.’
‘Firstly, she’s probably talking to all the new friends she’s made and making plans to meet up with them all over the holiday. Secondly, it might take you half hour to walk from the town to our house, but it takes us lesser mortals a good forty-five minutes or more – we haven’t all got freakishly long legs like you. It’s twenty past four, I hardly think we need to call out the search and rescue just yet.’
‘It’s getting dark.’
She frowned with confusion.
‘Why are you worried? It’s not about her being out on her own, she’s done that tons of times before.’
He sighed and sat down at the table. ‘I just want to know that she got on OK today. What if she hated it? What if the kids were mean to her? I want this move to work for her. I don’t want her to regret her decision to move here.’
‘She is one of the most bubbly, friendliest girls I know, the other kids will love her, how can they not? Plus her hero, Mr Cartwright, is her form teacher, she is going to be over the moon about that for at least the next six months.’
‘You’re right, I know, there’s just a lot riding on her loving her new school. I want her to be happy here.’
‘She is and she will be, stop fretting.’
Henry nodded and then looked at his watch again.
The timer went off on the oven and Henry jumped.
Pe
What if Daisy was miserable at school? Pe
She turned round and watched him as he tried to read the paper and surreptitiously look at his watch and the door every few moments. He wanted it to work too.
She passed Henry a block of cheese and a grater. ‘Grate this, it will keep you busy for a few minutes. And when she comes in don’t pounce on her, ask her but not as if it’s a matter of life and death.’
Henry nodded solemnly.
Almost right on cue, Daisy strolled through the back door as if it was the most natural thing in the world to pitch up in Pe
‘Hey honey, did you have a good day?’ Henry said, taking extra care not to let any worry or panic into his voice.
‘I had the best day ever, everyone was so nice. I made friends with two girls, Rebecca and Maisie, and we’re going to meet up between Christmas and New Year and Mr Cartwright is the coolest man ever and… I didn’t realise White Cliff Senior School and White Cliff College were on the same campus.’
Pe
Pe
‘I did,’ Daisy said, looking like she was about to burst from the excitement of it all. Henry was watching her with confusion too.
Daisy helped herself to a large portion of the chicken and suddenly leaned over and whispered in Pe
Pe
‘What?’ Henry asked.
‘Nothing,’ Daisy said at the same time as Pe
Henry scowled as he looked between them.
Daisy leaned over again to whisper some more. ‘He asked me to the ball.’
Ah, the reason for the giddy excitement had been explained.
Pe
‘I know,’ Daisy whispered back. ‘I think I love him.’
Oh lord. How was she supposed to explain this one to Henry?
‘What?’ Henry said again, trying not to smile as he scowled at their secrets.
‘Nothing,’ Daisy giggled.
‘We’ll go shopping for a dress then,’ Pe
Daisy nodded gleefully.
Pe
Josh was a sensitive, sweet boy but Pe
She would have to break it to him gently when he was in a good mood.
‘I’m going out for a bit, I won’t be long, I’m just popping up to Rebecca’s house,’ Daisy said, getting up from the kitchen table. Pe
Henry frowned as he looked at the darkening skies outside. ‘Its nearly dark out and we were going to go tree shopping.’
‘We will, I’ll only be half hour, Rebecca only lives up the hill.’ Daisy gestured vaguely and Pe
Before Henry could protest any further, Daisy threw her coat on and with a cheery wave she raced out the door.
‘She’s up to something,’ Henry said, as the door almost slammed back into its frame.