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‘They might actually be mountains,’ Daisy said. ‘I probably need to check that with Theo. But yes, it’s very pretty.’

‘Where is Theo?’ Pippa asked, once again picking up on a tiny part of Daisy’s comment that she wished she’d not said. ‘I should probably say hello to my future son-in-law. Where is he? Get him to come and say hello.’

Daisy’s stomach plummeted. There was no chance she was going to tell her mother where Theo had actually gone. Given Pippa’s track record with relationships, there was no way she would believe anyone – even Theo – just wanted to saycongratulations to an ex without some ulterior motive. And so Daisy was preparing a lie about him using the campsite bathroom when she suddenly saw him in the distance.

‘He’s just there,’ she said, turning the camera around so her mother could see him. ‘He’s just been for a bit of a walk.’

‘And you didn’t want to go with him?’

Daisy swallowed, annoyed that such a nonchalant remark had left her needing to find another lie to follow it.

‘I was keeping an eye on the barbecue. Actually, Mum, I should probably get going. I told him that I’d have something ready before he got back, but we’ve just been chatting away.’

‘Of course, love. I don’t want to interrupt this time for you. But think about what his parents said, okay? They know him best, after all.’

For a second, Daisy was sure she must have misheard her mother and that she must have saiddon’t thinkabout what his parents said. But before she could question it, her mum had hung up and Theo was standing right next to her.

‘Hey, was that your mum or the girls?’ he said, planting a kiss on her cheek.

‘Mum,’ Daisy replied.

‘Well, I’m sorry I didn’t get to say hi. We were chatting a bit longer than I thought.’

Given how long Daisy had been lost in conversation with her mother, she hadn’t been keeping track of time particularly, but she was surprised when she glanced down at her phone and saw that he had been gone for almost an hour.

‘It’s not a problem,’ Daisy said. ‘But I am getting hungry.’

‘Then I shall put food on now,’ Theo said, moving towards the barbecue.

As he sorted out their meal for the night, Daisy considered whether she wanted to ask him her next question. She really didn’t want their entire trip to be dominated by conversationabout Heather, but at the same time knew it would be churlish not to say anything. So, as nonchalantly as she could, she said, ‘How was Heather?’

Theo’s smile gleamed. ‘She was incredible. She’s having twins. Can you believe it? We always talked about twins because she’d always wanted to have them. How lucky is that?’

Daisy felt a lump forming in her throat, but it took her a minute to work out why.

‘Super lucky,’ she said, before turning around and facing the tent so Theo couldn’t see her expression.

36

It didn’t matter how much she tried to ignore it. The lump in Daisy’s throat was going nowhere.

Even when the food had cooked and they were sitting outside, eating, it was there, stopping her from enjoying her meal.

‘Is everything all right?’ Theo asked. ‘You’ve been a bit quiet. Is it Mum and Dad still? Or was it me going to see Heather? Honestly, she was really pleased about our engagement. Genuinely. I couldn’t have imagined it two years ago, but I guess once she met the right person, she got it. When you know, you know, right?’

Daisy nodded, grateful that she could use chewing food as a reason not to offer a proper answer. She wouldn’t say she knew straight away with Theo, and neither did he. Not at their first meeting, at least. Sure, this relationship was very different from the one she’d had with Paul. But that was probably because she was older, too. More mature.

‘You and Heather talked about having children, then?’ she said, finally voicing the thought that had been niggling at her since Theo returned. ‘You knew she wanted twins.’

‘She always said she wanted twins; she didn’t want to have to spend years of her life lost to sleepless nights by having one after another,’ Theo explained. ‘I’ll be honest, the idea of it terrified me. I have a pair of cousins who are twins, and I remember all the horror stories my aunt would tell me about how the minute she got one to sleep, the other would wake up, and she could never remember which one she had fed and which she hadn’t. She was pretty sure she didn’t sleep for three years. I don’t think I could deal with that. But Heather insisted it would be easiest in the long run. I guess now she’ll find out.’

Daisy was only half listening. He had seemed to miss the point. It wasn’t that Heather wanted twins that had out her out of sorts; it was the fact that Heather and Theo had obviously talked about having children, and not just in a passing comment way. She couldn’t remember when, or even if, the comment had ever arisen between the two of them and if it had, there had certainly never been enough detail to decide how many or how far apart they would want them.

‘So you definitely want children?’ Daisy said, feeling the need to voice the question.

‘Of course. Don’t you?’

‘I don’t know.’