Page 40

‘It means that your weekend wasn’t as easy as we’d hoped it would be. And you’ve just got engaged. You have things that you probably want and need to talk to her about too, and I don’t want your mum to overshadow that.’

Daisy couldn’t explain why his words made her feel so tense. Something about the way Theo was speaking reminded her of the night before. Like he was trying to put words into her mouth. Or at least thoughts into her head.

‘She’s obviously upset, Theo. Neither of us has any idea what happened between her and Nick. Why are you assuming that she’s to blame?’

‘I wasn’t saying she was, I was just… It doesn’t matter.’

‘It obviously does, or you wouldn’t have brought it up.’ Daisy could feel the edge to her voice, but she wasn’t prepared to leave the boat with things hanging half-said between them. ‘What is it you wanted to say?’

Theo’s lips twitched and his Adam’s apple bobbed visibly up and down as he swallowed. ‘Daisy, I think the world of your mum, you know I do, but she tends to make things about her. She doesn’t always see when you need her fully.’

‘That’s not true.’

‘Well, maybe it just looks like that to me, but when you inherited the boat and you found out she’d been lying to you, it became all about her, right? About how she couldn’t cope with you being upset with her. She turned up at your work. That’s what you told me.’

Daisy could feel her temperature rising, the anger within her starting to bubble. ‘She had a lot of issues when I was born?—’

‘I’m not saying she didn’t. But even when you got everything sorted, she refused to come on theSeptember Rosefor months and months.’

‘And then she came on a massive trip with me, so that I could come and see you,’ Daisy reminded him.

‘I know. You’re right. But she also used that moment to give you all the paintings from your dad.’

‘Because I’d lost the ones from Yvonne. She knew I was upset.’

‘But you wouldn’t have been so upset had your mother not kept those others from you for your entire life. Do you not see that?’ Theo paused and drew in a long breath, which he let out as a trembling sigh. ‘Forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.’

Silence began to form, but as easy as it sounded, simply forgetting wasn’t something Daisy could do at that moment.

‘I’m all she’s got. Maybe she leans on me more than other people’s parents do, but it’s always been just us. That’s it. She’s not had anyone else she can talk to the same way.’

Daisy had thought that point alone would be enough for Theo to drop the matter, but instead, he seemed even more incensed.

‘But don’t you see that’s what I’m saying? You’re her daughter. You shouldn’t have to be dealing with her breakup issue now, and you certainly shouldn’t have been dealing with them when you were growing up. That was wrong of her to put you through that.’

‘You’re really questioning my mother’s parenting skills after the way your mum treated me?’

‘I’m not questioning her parenting,’ Theo tried, but Daisy wasn’t having any of it.

‘Yes. Yes, you are. That’s exactly what you’re doing.’

It was there again. That tension in her jaw. That tremble in her legs as they prepared for a fight or flight response, and once again, she knew exactly which it was going to be.

Daisy swivelled on her heel.

‘Come on, Johnny,’ she said. ‘You can sleep on my boat tonight.’

‘Daisy?’ Theo tried, but Daisy was already out of the boat, the collie trotting fast behind her.

55

How could a couple who had been so perfectly in love only a week before, have more arguments in the three days since they’d got engaged than in the entire length of their relationship? It didn’t make sense. Daisy’s mind went over and over the last five minutes. How they had been sitting together kissing one second and then shouting at each other a moment later? She couldn’t understand how it had all changed so fast, but she needed space to get her head straight. Unfortunately, space wasn’t something that was currently available to her.

Holding back the tears, Daisy pushed open the door to theSeptember Roseand found her mother sitting on the sofa, a half-empty bottle of wine on the coffee table as she ate from a large tub of ice cream that she’d raided from Daisy’s freezer.

‘You’re going to have to share that,’ Daisy said, heading straight to the kitchen to grab a spoon. She slammed the door shut, and a moment later dropped onto the sofa and took the tub from her mother. ‘So,’ Daisy said, digging deep so she could get to the chunks of caramel and chocolate chips hidden in the ice cream. ‘What happened between you and Nicholas?’

Her mother let out a long sigh and reached for her wine glass. Upon finding it empty, she topped it up from the bottle and promptly swallowed several mouthfuls.