see a smile pull at his lips.
Daisy stared at them in shock.
Penny smirked, sensing the tension had gone. She took the first aid kit back to where the rest of her stuff was and he followed her.
‘An ass?’
Confident that they were out of earshot from everyone else, she turned round to talk to him. ‘Yes and why don’t you take that gorgeous ass of yours and deliver the hot drinks for me and then sit over here out the way? Let Daisy get on with her ice carving, she will learn from her mistakes and be more careful about how she uses the tools. Plus I’ll keep an eye on her.’
Henry nodded, suddenly a whole lot calmer. ‘I’m sorry.’
She smiled. ‘It’s OK.’
Penny went back over to Daisy. ‘Are you OK to carry on? You can sit out if you want to?’
Daisy shook her head. ‘No, I’m fine.’ She glanced over at Henry who was doing as he had been told and dishing out the drinks. ‘No one has ever stood up to him like that before. I expected him to go ballistic. As I said, you’re good for him.’
Penny looked over at him. She had never stood up for herself before either, preferring to keep her head down in an argument. He had taught her that she should never accept being treated badly by anyone. She smiled. He was good for her too.
Chapter Twenty-two
Penny was up in her bedroom later that afternoon, fighting with changing the duvet cover on her bed when there was a tentative knock on the bedroom door. Henry had stayed down in the town when she and Daisy had returned home, needing to do some Christmas shopping, and he probably wouldn’t knock anyway, he had already seen her in all her glory.
She opened the door and was surprised to see Daisy, her hair and make-up done flawlessly. Daisy grinned at her, though it didn’t quite meet her eyes.
‘I’m meeting up with Josh. Can you tell Dad that I’ve gone to see Rebecca or something?’
‘Daisy, that’s not fair, asking me to lie and cover for you. I feel bad enough as it is not telling him what I know without adding lies to my list of crimes too. You need to…’ Penny trailed off, seeing the worry on her face. ‘What’s wrong?’
Daisy came in and sat on Penny’s bed. ‘I told Rebecca that you called the old hut the Love Shack and Rebecca said that everyone knows it as that. She said a lot of the teenage boys take their girlfriends there to have sex. Josh suggested we hang out there. What if he wants to sleep with me?’
Penny sat down heavily on the bed next to her. There was no manual for dealing with this kind of thing. She wished Henry was here but she knew he wouldn’t deal with it in the best way, which was probably why Daisy had come to her.
‘How many times have you seen Josh now, since the ice carving competition?’
‘How many dates? Three. I think I love him.’
Penny suppressed a smile at the simplicity of teenage love, although it was never simple at the time.
‘I’m not ready to sleep with him yet.’
‘Then you tell him that.’
‘What if he dumps me because of it? I’ve never had a boyfriend before. No boy has ever paid attention to me before as if I’m not worth even talking to. And maybe I’m not if my mum left me when I was only two months old. Josh doesn’t think I’m worthless or ugly. He loves me exactly as I am and I couldn’t bear it if he rejected me too.’
Penny’s heart ached for Daisy. The damage her mum had done was far reaching and was something it would take Daisy a large part of her life to get over.
‘You are beautiful and intelligent and kind and funny and Henry loves you so much. He doesn’t think you are worthless, you are the single most important person in his life. If Henry and I ever get together and get married, I will be proud to have you as my step-daughter. Your mum missed out big time when she walked out on you but that is a reflection on her, not you. If Josh can’t see how incredible you are then that is his loss, not yours.’
Daisy stared at her for a moment and then threw her arms round her neck and hugged her tight. Penny wrapped her arms round her too, stroking her back. Finally