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She had turned away, when she heard Henry speak.
‘Do you have any idea how rude it is to come over and interrupt me when I’m talking to someone?’
Pe
Beth looked around and saw Pe
Pe
‘Well I do,’ Henry said, storming past Beth so he was at Pe
‘No, she was in my class at school but we’re definitely not friends.’
‘I can’t abide rude people. Look, I better go, I have to pick Daisy up.’
‘I love Daisy,’ Bea said, cuddling into Henry’s chest. ‘Do you love Daisy, Uncle Henry?’
‘Very much.’
‘And do you love me?’
‘Of course.’
Bea seemed satisfied by this answer. He had a lovely way with his niece. He would have made a great dad to his child and it broke Pe
‘We’ll pop by later so you can meet Daisy, if that’s OK. She’s dying to see you.’
Pe
Pe
Pe
Pe
‘Daisy, this is our landlady Pe
‘Hi,’ Pe
‘Hi, I’m so pleased to meet you, I saw Bernard through your window, can I meet him, Bernard is the coolest name for a dog ever,’ Daisy chattered with the over-exuberance of a puppy.
‘Sure,’ Pe
‘I’m just going to check on lunch, you girls go ahead,’ Henry said, disappearing through his own front door.
Daisy followed her in and Bernard fell off the sofa and ambled over to greet the new visitor, wagging his tail and sending the magazines and newspapers on the coffee table flying.
Daisy immediately sank to her knees to stroke him. ‘Aren’t you the cutest thing ever?’
Bernard rolled over onto his back so Daisy could stroke his belly and Daisy giggled. ‘I love dogs, but my dad would never let me get one.’
Pe
‘So, Daisy, are you at university or…’ She trailed off before she said college; she didn’t want to offend her. Maybe she just looked a lot younger than she was.
Daisy giggled again. ‘Everyone always thinks I’m a lot older than I am. I’m sixteen, just. It was my birthday last week. I’m at school, taking my GCSEs this year, but I’ll be going to college in September.’
Pe
‘Would you mind staying here with Bernard for a moment? I just need a quick word with Henry.’
‘Sure.’ Daisy barely looked up as she stroked Bernard all over.
Pe
His eyebrows furrowed with concern at her face as he walked into the lounge. ‘You OK?’
Pe
‘Very astute.’
‘And you’re married to her, how is that even legal? Surely someone has to be eighteen to get married. Look at the size of her and look at the size of you. You make me sick.’ She slammed her finger into his hard chest.
Henry couldn’t have looked more shocked if she’d come into his house stark naked dancing the conga. ‘Wait, wait a minute. I’m not married to her.’
‘That doesn’t make it any better.’ Pe
His eyebrows shot up and then immediately slashed down in a furious scowl. ‘Firstly, just because you are my landlady doesn’t mean you have the right to walk into my home any time you feel like it.’ Henry opened the door behind her. ‘Secondly, Daisy isn’t my wife, or my girlfriend, she’s my daughter. Now get out of my house before you see me get really mad.’
Chapter Four
Pe
How had she been so stupid? Why hadn’t she asked for more information on the people that were moving into her home? Had she been so desperate for some company that she would have accepted anyone? The agency had never said that it was a father and daughter, they’d just said Henry and Daisy Travis and she had wrongly assumed they were a couple. Maybe they deliberately hadn’t told her because she might have had reservations about a teenager moving in next door, or maybe they just hadn’t thought to pass that kind of information on.
She hadn’t seen Henry all afternoon as she finished her ice carving and not even later when her assistant Josh had come round to help her load it into the van. Daisy had gone out earlier, clearly to explore the town, but although Henry had been in, there had been no sound at all from next door, the silence somehow foreboding.