Page 52

She closed her eyes, wanting to shut it all out, when a hammering on the hatch caused her to jerk upward.

‘We’re closed!’ she yelled, before dropping back down onto her bed and staring up at the ceiling. It had been a long time since she’d slept in theSeptember Rose, and after theNarrow Escape, the wide beam canal boat felt cavernous. Especially with an entire double bed to herself and no collie sleeping at her feet. She had always thought having Johnny in bed with them meant there wasn’t enough room to sleep, but she had barely manageda couple of hours that night without rolling over and finding herself startled by the emptiness.

Reaching over to the bedside table, she picked up a glass of water and took a sip, though it did little to alleviate the headache that was throbbing behind her temples. There was something about the headache you got from crying, she remembered. It was more than just dehydration from the tears. It was like your entire body was drained. That was how it felt to her, at least.

She rolled back over, hoping to drift back to sleep, when her phone rang. Claire’s name flashed up on the screen. No doubt Bex had filled her in on the events of the previous day and she was trying to check in on her. But Daisy didn’t want to be checked in on. Daisy wanted to curl up until winter and then hibernate through that. She didn’t want to deal with anyone. Even her best friends.

After a moment or two, the phone stopped ringing and Daisy dropped back to the bed, although her head had barely hit the pillow when a message pinged through. Again, it was Claire.

I’m at the canal. See you in five.

Daisy jolted upright, picked up her phone and hastily hit call on the number.

Claire answered on one ring.

‘I knew that would get you speaking to me,’ she said. Daisy could almost see the smirk on her friend’s face and a pang of annoyance struck her from having fallen for such an obvious ploy. ‘Now, what’s going on?’

‘You’re not here? You’re not at the lock?’

‘Not yet. I’m twenty minutes away. But Iamcoming, which means you have time to get yourself out of bed, in the shower and dressed before I get there.’

‘How do you know I’m not already up and dressed?’

‘I was with you through the Paul breakup, remember?’ Claire replied.

A bitter laugh formed in Daisy’s lungs, though before she could release it, another question struck.

‘How do you know we broke up?’

While the girls were always there for one another, Daisy would have expected Bex to have given her the time to tell people about the breakup herself. Especially considering it had only just happened. That was why their friendships worked so well – they knew when to give one another space if it was needed. Calling Claire straight away didn’t feel like something Bex would have done in this situation.

‘Claire?’ Daisy pressed.

A slight pause filled the line before Claire spoke again. ‘Theo rang last night,’ she said.

‘He did? Why? To tell you that we’d broken up? God, what the hell.’

‘He rang because he was confused, Daisy. He wanted to know if I had any idea what had caused this, but I have to say, I’m as confused as him. The last time I saw you, you were so in love. I mean, it’s only four days since you said yes to marrying him.’

Why did people keep saying that to her? Daisy wanted to ask. Did they think she couldn’t recall the moment herself? She knew when and what she had said yes to, but she also knew that worlds could change in the blink of an eye and that was what had happened to her.

‘Look, we’ll talk about it when I get to yours,’ Claire said. ‘Do you need me to pick anything up for you?’

Daisy shook her head before remembering they were on a voice call. ‘No, I’m fine, and honestly, you don’t need to come. I’m okay.’

‘Yeah, right,’ Claire scoffed. ‘You can’t lie to me, remember? I’ll see you in twenty. And get dressed!’

70

Daisy had hoped that a shower would help, that the cold water would wake her up and make her see with absolute clarity that she had made the right decision. But unfortunately, it didn’t. Instead, it just made all the memories clearer in her mind. The look of betrayal and disbelief in Theo’s eyes. The anger that it had transformed to. Heather had been right about her. Of course she had. Heather was perfect. Beautiful, smart, a family woman who knew before she was even married what she wanted her future to be. She was the type of person Theo should end up with. Of course, Daisy had ruined that chance for him, but there were plenty of lovely people out there. Someone would be good enough for him, and he would find them, get married, have the family he dreamed of, and she would become nothing more than a distant memory. A barely significant chapter in the story of his life.

‘God, you look like crap. Now tell me, what the hell is going on?’ Claire wasn’t normally the one to offer the hard truths to Daisy; that was Bex’s job. Claire would offer the softer mothering approach instead, but at that moment, she didn’t look soft at all. ‘Have you lost your mind?’

‘Don’t you start,’ Daisy groaned as she walked over to the coffee machine. She wasn’t planning on opening the café that day, but that wasn’t going to stop her from having several double espressos.

‘I’m just trying to work out what happened,’ Claire said when Daisy was sat back on the sofa. ‘You two are perfect together, living your crazy lives on these boats of yours. He adores you. And you adore him. At least, I thought you did.’

‘Oh, I do,’ Daisy said. After all, there was no point in lying about how she felt – Claire would see straight through it. And her feelings weren’t the reason she had ended things. Not directly, anyway. ‘He’s the best person I’ve ever known. But that’s just me being short-sighted. I have to think about the future. I have to face facts.’