not sure if Daisy believed her at the time or whether she didn’t want to tell me because I was happy with Emily. I had no idea what was going on but Daisy ran away from home. She went off to school one day and never got there. She made her way down here instead, caught the train some of the way, walked a lot of it. Took her three days, she slept rough for two nights. It absolutely broke my heart. The police were out looking for her, it was horrible, the worst days of my life. I’m scared of it happening all over again. She got so lucky last time, no one found her or hurt her. She might not be so lucky if she runs away again. I promised her no one would ever come between us again. It’s harder because this is her home, and you’re part of it and I never want her to feel in the way in her own home.’
‘I understand.’
‘No, you don’t. Last night it did get serious between us – it wasn’t just sex, you know that. There was a connection there that I’ve never felt before. But this is all happening way faster than any of us could have imagined. She specifically asked me not to date you and I went ahead and did it anyway and I really don’t want to upset her when she’s smiling again for the first time this year. I just need to give her some time to get used to the idea. If you come round for dinner most nights, come out with us, she will get used to having you as part of our life, she will see how good we are together and trust that I’m not going to hurt you and then I can introduce the idea of us seeing each other. After last time with Emily and Rosie, I just want to tread carefully with Daisy this time.’
Penny took his hand and he sighed with relief. ‘I understand not wanting to tell her, but if she finds out we’ve been sneaking around behind her back and lying to her she is going to be even more hurt.’
‘I know. I would just like to get to Christmas without upsetting her. I like seeing a smile back on her face again.’
‘OK.’
‘And we’ll just be really careful for the next few days.’
She nodded.
‘Now let’s have a quick shag, whilst she’s on the phone to her friend.’ Henry reached for her, and she laughed, batting away his advances.
Henry chuckled. ‘Come for dinner tonight. I’ll cook you something special.’
Penny nodded. ‘I’ll bring some cake.’
‘Well, if making cakes is your response to getting annoyed with me, I’m going to be as big as a house.’
‘Then don’t annoy me.’
Henry smiled, peered over her shoulder at the still closed connecting door and reached forward to give her a brief, soft kiss, before walking out the door.
Chapter Fourteen
Henry pulled his car into the furniture factory car park and got out. The car park was nearly deserted.
He had been surprised to get a phone call from Audrey, Clara’s assistant, half an hour before, asking him to come in and discuss his designs with Clara and Edward. It was one of the things Henry had brought up in his interview, that he would love the opportunity to design his own furniture. Edward had seemed really interested but hadn’t been sure whether at that stage they would be looking to design anything new when their current lines were selling so well, but he had promised to talk to the design team. Henry hadn’t expected to hear any more about it and certainly hadn’t expected to get a phone call from Clara so late on a Wednesday night just a week before Christmas, especially because, according to Daniel, although Clara headed up the design team, she basically did a big fat lot of nothing. But it wasn’t an opportunity he was going to miss: designing and creating ideas from scratch was something he was passionate about. He loved building a piece that was individual and not like anything that could be bought in shops.
He grabbed his portfolio from the car and walked into the factory just as Daniel was walking out.
‘Oh hey, mate, what are you doing here so late?’ Daniel asked, shrugging on his coat and pulling his hat on over his messy hair.
‘I’ve been asked to come in and talk to Edward and Clara about my designs for some new furniture.’
‘Oh,