Page 9

‘God, I hope they like me.’

‘What a ridiculous thing to say,’ Theo said, leaning over and kissing her on the lips. ‘Anyone who doesn’t like you is insane. Besides, it doesn’t matter what they think, does it? It matters what I think. And I, Daisy May, am completely and utterly smitten with you.’

11

Theo said he wanted to leave as early as possible to avoid the traffic, but deep down, Daisy suspected it was to stop her fussing about the coffee shop. The girls had run things now and then – on mornings or afternoons when Daisy had had appointments she couldn’t get out of. They had even held down the fort for a full day when Daisy had gone with her mother to a doctor’s appointment she was worried about, but they’d never opened up on their own before.

Not that there was much that could go wrong. She’d already baked enough cakes to get through the first day, and her mum had said she would bake anything else that was needed and make sure they were well-stocked throughout the entire weekend. It had been a long time since Daisy’s mum had cooked for the coffee shop and Claire had said she was perfectly willing to ship up a couple of batches of millionaire’s shortbread or carrot cake, but Pippa had insisted.

‘And sorry if I said anything inappropriate last night, dear,’ her mother said as she hugged Daisy goodbye. ‘Nicholas seems to think I had one too many. Although I didn’t think I was too bad, was I?’

Daisy recalled the way her mother had swayed back and forth and proclaimed loudly that she thought the quiches were under-seasoned, but it didn’t seem like the right time to bring it up.

‘You were fine, Mum,’ she said.

At which point, Pippa smiled broadly.

‘You need to get going,’ Bex said as Daisy broke away from her mother. ‘We’re fine here. You have nothing to be nervous about.’

Bex was wearing the striped apron with the embroidered narrowboat on that Daisy wore as her uniform and the hatch was already open, with the price board on display for all passers-by to see, although no one had yet purchased any drinks.

‘She’s right. Can we please get going?’ Theo said. ‘We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.’

Daisy looked at her friends, her mother, and then finally to Johnny, who was sitting on the ground by Claire’s feet.

‘Just be a good boy, okay? No trouble?’

The dog wagged his tail hard against the ground as Daisy offered him a tight squeeze, before standing up and turning to face Theo.

‘Okay, then. I guess it’s time we got going.’

12

Bex was right. There was no reason for Daisy to be nervous. Not about the coffee shop, at least. Meeting Theo’s family, though, that was a whole different matter.

‘Okay, what do I need to know?’ Daisy said as they hit the motorway. They still had a solid four-hour drive ahead of them until they arrived in Yorkshire, and Daisy wanted to put it to good use, making sure she made the best impression on Theo’s family as possible.

With his eyes on the road, Theo let out a slight hum before he spoke.

‘Okay, well, don’t get into politics with my dad. That’s the first thing.’

‘He’s into politics?’

‘He is, and he thinks that it should be the number-one priority in everyone’s life.’

Daisy thought about the comment for a moment. ‘I guess it is kind of important. We do need to know what’s going on in the country we live in. And it’s obviously useful to know what’s going on in the rest of the world too.’

‘Oh, yes, I’m not disagreeing with that,’ Theo said. ‘But Dad’s passion goes way beyond there. You bring up the slightest thing and he’ll start telling you when these laws were first put in place and what regulations other countries follow instead. Trust me, politics is not something you want to get into with him. Plus, if he disagrees with your viewpoint in the slightest, he’ll spend the rest of our visit trying to convince you you’re wrong.’

‘Okay…’ Daisy said, now understanding why Theo had said it was a subject she needed to steer clear of. ‘What should I talk to him about instead?’

Theo pondered the question. ‘Birds,’ he said finally.

‘Birds?’

‘Yup. Dad loves birds. I got him one of those camera boxes last Christmas. You know, where you can watch while a bird builds their nest. Something laid eggs in it. A blue tit, I think it was. Anyway, he can talk for hours about that. Not that you need to worry; you just have to be yourself. They’ll love you just as you are.’

Daisy smiled at the comment as she considered the topic of birds a little longer. A few years ago, she wouldn’t have known where to start. Even when she had moved to Wildflower Lock, she had struggled to tell the difference between an egret and a cormorant. But now, she could talk at length about the various birds of prey and waterfowl that lived on the canal. Yes, she would do well talking to Theo’s dad about birds.