with emotion as he looked at her. ‘I think, the picture in the middle of the puzzle—’
‘Should be a cup of tea,’ Daisy interrupted with a smile.
Dennis’s face lit up. ‘Just what I was thinking,’ he said. ‘All of us at the table with a pot of tea.’
Daisy wiped away the tears with her fingers. ‘When shall we start, Dad?’
‘Right away,’ he replied. ‘We’ve got no time to lose.’
And that was the saddest part of all: they had no time to lose.
No time.
Daisy was feeling emotional when she walked up the lane to the pub. The sun was sinking in the western sky, catching the wisps of cloud and turning them pink. They looked like pretty feathers, floating slowly across the heavens. Marigold had come home in good spirits. She’d had a nice afternoon with Beryl, looking through Beryl’s photograph albums of when they were girls. Marigold had no problem remembering the past. She loved reminiscing. It was a phase of her life she could be sure of. Then Beryl had invited Cedric and Dolly, the Commodore and his wife Phyllida and Eileen for tea. They’d sat in her sitting room, discussing the way things were back in the day, when Reg ran the petrol station and the village hall held tea dances and Brownies. It had warmed Daisy’s heart to see her mother so happy.
Then Nan had come back full of complaints. She had sacked the bridge cheat, apparently, in spite of her protestations of innocence. Nan was having none of it. Now she needed to find another player to complete the four. Dennis had given her a glass of sherry and switched on the television, then he had sat with Marigold and helped her with the puzzle. When Daisy had left they were making real progress. What’s wrong with now? Daisy asked herself as she reached the pub. Nothing. Nothing at all. She couldn’t deny that, right now, everything was positive.
Taran was at the bar. He was wearing a white shirt and jeans and a wide smile. Something in Daisy’s stomach fluttered when she saw him. He was handsome, but there was a deeper connection between them now that rendered his looks superfluous: they were friends.
This time Daisy asked for a glass of wine and she resolved to have only a couple. They moved to a table tucked away in a corner and ordered something to eat. They didn’t notice the coming and going of people, or the passing of time; they had eyes only for each other and neither wanted the evening to end. Taran made Daisy feel good. The way he looked at her made her feel feminine. The tenderness in his gaze made her feel special. Above all, his humour dispelled her anxiety. It was so good to laugh when there was too much to cry about. When they left the pub it was dark and the moon was indeed big and round and shining brazenly upon the fields and woods as they wandered slowly up the farm track. When he took her hand it no longer felt strange.
They sat on the bench and he put his arm around her. ‘You asked what I was thinking,’ he said.
‘I did,’ she replied. ‘Are you going to tell me now?’
‘Yes.’
She turned to look at him.
‘I was thinking of this bench and how I’d like to sit beside you again, in the middle of the night, just like this, sober.’ She frowned and he hooked her hair behind her ear. ‘I know you thought I was drunk last time. I wasn’t. I wanted to kiss you then and I want to kiss you now. One drink or six won’t change that. I just want to kiss you, period.’
Daisy caught her breath.
He didn’t say anything else. He wound his hand around her neck, beneath her hair, and touched her nose with his. She didn’t pull away. Then his lips found hers and he kissed her. She closed her eyes. What’s wrong with now?
Chapter 24
Dennis was in his shed, working on the window shutters for Marigold, when there came a knock on the door. Mac lifted his head off his paws and watched suspiciously from his warm place on the windowsill. It was Eileen.
‘Hello, Eileen,’ said Dennis, looking up from his workbench.
Eileen slipped in and closed the door behind her. ‘I’m glad I’ve found you, Dennis,’ she said, clutching her handbag to her chest and looking decidedly guilty.
‘What can I do for you?’ he asked. He wasn’t used to people