Christmas at Lilac Cottage - Holly Martin Page 0,26

that you meet up with occasionally and…’ Daisy waved her hand vaguely. Henry blushed. Shit, he thought he had been discreet. ‘Penny is an all-or-nothing kind of girl. Don’t use her and then cast her aside for the next. Either give her everything or don’t go out with her at all.’

‘Wise words for someone so young.’

Daisy smiled and carried on with her unpacking.

Could he give Penny everything? She was wonderful and warm and funny and sexy as hell, but despite Daisy’s magnanimous attitude towards him dating, it wouldn’t be that easy to change their cosy two to a three. Everything was great with Daisy again now and he didn’t want to do anything to upset their happy little equilibrium again. Penny couldn’t be a casual thing either, he knew that, he wouldn’t hurt her like that. So it looked like she was out of bounds.

Chapter Six

Penny was busy carving a giant angel for the forthcoming competition the next night, which had been taking a back seat for all the Christmas orders. This one was quite tricky with all the folds in the angel’s dress, the long flowing hair, and the feathers on the wings, but she loved the challenge. She was listening to her beloved Westlife album, singing – or probably wailing – as she chipped away the detail on the angel’s face. A movement caught her eye and she whirled around to see Henry and Daisy watching her from the doorway.

She quickly pulled out her headphones. ‘How long have you two being standing there?’

‘Long enough to hear your beautiful voice,’ Henry smirked.

‘And long enough to see your wonderful dancing,’ Daisy said, trying to hold back a giggle.

Penny blushed, knowing her dancing had consisted of a lot of bum wiggling.

‘I’m just checking it’s OK for Daisy to hang out with you for a few hours?’ Henry said, wrapping an affectionate arm around his daughter.

‘Of course you can,’ Penny smiled at Daisy.

‘Just tell her to clear out if she starts to annoy you, she won’t be offended.’

Daisy laughed.

‘There’s an old jacket of mine next door in the cloakroom. It’s thin and lightweight but will keep you warm. There’s also an old pair of steel-capped boots and some gloves, go and put them on and then I’ll show you a few things.’

Daisy disappeared into the cloakroom, leaving Henry standing there staring at her.

After a long while he finally spoke. ‘Thank you for doing this, you’re very kind. She has a huge passion for art, especially sculpture. She took a wood carving course over the summer so she loves stuff like this. But, seriously, if she gets in your way just tell her to get out.’

‘She won’t be in my way.’

Henry continued to stare at her. He ran his hand over the stubble on his head awkwardly. ‘Listen, about our date on Tuesday…’

‘I’m ready,’ Daisy announced, coming to stand in the freezer with her hands on her hips, looking like some kind of superhero.

Penny laughed. ‘Well, come in then.’

Daisy walked in and looked at the sculpture in awe and Penny wondered what it looked like through her eyes.

‘Can I touch it?’

‘Yes of course,’ Penny said at the same time as Henry said, ‘No.’

‘It’s fine, you can’t harm it, it’s perfectly dry too. It hasn’t been out of the freezer long enough for it to start to melt yet.’

Daisy tentatively reached out to touch it. Penny looked over towards Henry, wondering what he had been going to say before Daisy came in.

‘I’ll leave you ladies to it,’ Henry smiled at her sadly and then left, closing the door behind him, leaving Penny guessing that he had wanted to cancel their date. She tried to ignore the disappointment that twisted in her gut before turning back to Daisy.

‘So I thought you might want to have a go yourself, if I show you the basic skills.’

Daisy turned to her with wonder and excitement in her eyes. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, it’s quite easy to learn the basics and your dad says that you’ve already learned some wood carving so the skills are completely transferable. I’ve cut up a block into two smaller blocks for you to have a play with, create whatever you want. Now normally I put a template on the side of the ice and go over the lines lightly with this chisel, but you can just draw your own design with it.’ Penny hammered the chisel into a large block of ice that stood on the table. She quickly marked out a basic star outline. ‘Once