sighed, knowing it was hopeless to wish for anything different. George Thorpe was too set in his ways to change. ‘I know, Dad. It was just that the mention of the Royal Brook caught me off guard. I haven’t been there since the accident.’ She swallowed hard and continued briskly. ‘Stupid little things like that set me off, but I’m okay.’
Silence greeted her and she could imagine him rubbing the lenses of his glasses on the front of his jumper as he tried to find something to say. ‘I didn’t think,’ he managed in the end, sounding forlorn, like a small boy scolded for some foolish transgression.
‘Forget it, Dad.’
‘I can see why visiting your mother would be hard. They’re taking very good care of her and it would be more useful to both of us if you saved your trip until she comes home.’
Mia sagged against the wall in relief. ‘And you’ll postpone your dinner?’
‘Oh, yes. Good job you reminded me. I’ll send the email now.’ She heard the clattering of his fingers on a keyboard.
‘All right. Will I call you in a few days then?’
‘Yes. Fine.’ He hesitated, then cleared his throat. ‘You’re a good girl, Eunomia. I’m not sure I ever told you that enough.’ Surprised how choked up she felt over his comment, Mia rang off.
She’d been half aware of Daniel moving around in the room behind her, but now she stared at the phone in her hand, not quite sure how to approach him. He saved her the trouble, turning her to face him with a gentle hand on her shoulder. He brushed a quick kiss against her temple.
Turning back towards the table, he took his customary seat and she could see he’d laid everything out for breakfast. She watched him pour tea into the mug in front of him then unfold the morning paper he must have retrieved from the front doormat. He looked at home. As it should be.
***
The next weekend dawned fine and dry and Daniel was grateful for the respite from the recent rain. He waited at the station, memories of his own journey down from London playing through his head. He wondered again what would have happened to him had Madeline not been in the same carriage as him. He shuddered to think at where he might have ended up, and scrolled through his phone to his browser to look for a local florist.
He found a number for one in the main town and racked his brain for Madeline’s address. Luckily the florist was the same one that Richard used and he was apparently a huge romantic as he had an account with them. The florist even gave Daniel some advice on which were Madeline’s favourite flowers.
On a whim, he ordered a dozen roses for Mia, and settled on mixed shades of pink after another helpful hint from the florist. White or cream was for weddings only and red was such a cliché, apparently. They’d been taking things steady since the night of her breakdown, nothing they couldn’t back away from, but a few tentative steps closer to the intimacy he grew ever more certain he wanted. He craved every connection with her. Nothing major, nothing they couldn’t walk back from without hurting each other. Simple things like when she’d rested her feet in his lap while they watched a film one evening. The peck on the cheek they used to greet each other in the mornings now.
Daniel reeled off his credit card details as the train approached. He thanked the florist as he raised his hand in greeting when he saw Aaron and Luke step onto the platform. He grinned and returned the bear hug from Aaron and shook hands with Luke.
‘You scared the crap out of me, Fitz! Don’t disappear on me like that again.’
‘It’s Daniel now, not Fitz.’
Aaron blinked once, then nodded. ‘About bloody time too. Welcome back, mate. I missed you.’ He tugged Daniel into another hug, thumping his shoulder a couple of times in the way men do rather than express too much emotion.
Daniel tried to process his friend’s response as he bent down to pick up his bag. He felt sick at the mess that he had abandoned in his wake and guilty that he had essentially dumped his most loyal friend to live the high life. Yet here he was, with almost no complaints, ready to pick up where they’d left off. Daniel had used and abused their friendship and there would need to be a lot of restitution soon.
He dropped the bag and it was his turn to gather Aaron in for a tight hug. ‘I’m sorry, mate. Truly I am. I’ve been such a selfish bastard.’ Daniel swallowed hard around the lump in his throat as Aaron stepped back but kept his hand on the back of Daniel’s neck and looked him straight in the eye.
‘It wasn’t a problem, Fit…Daniel. Sorry, that’s going to take a bit of getting used to. I’ve been worried about you for a while now and I was just glad that you had got out of town for a bit. That lifestyle was killing you and I couldn’t find a way to make you see it.’
Daniel shook his head and wondered again about fate bringing the right people into your life when you needed them. It had certainly done the trick when he and Aaron had ended up in neighbouring rooms during their first year at university.
Both new to London, they had little in common other than proximity and not knowing a single person in the city. Daniel, the gruff Northern lad from a loving, working-class background. Aaron the outgoing West Country boy with a bumpkin’s twang hiding a sharp brain and plenty of heartache. They had bonded over stock North-South divide jokes and taking the piss out of each other’s accents. A few ill-spent evenings followed by some extremely rough mornings and they had become fast friends. Best friends.
They reached the car and Daniel helped them stow their bags in the boot. ‘I really appreciate you guys coming down here. I know I’ve been a shitty friend, but I’m getting myself back together I hope.’
Aaron patted Daniel on the arm as Luke crawled into the back seat. ‘As I said, you weren’t right for a long time and I knew it but I didn’t know what to do about it. I had my own stuff going on and it was easier to drift away when you got in with that crowd. It wasn’t my scene but I should’ve tried harder to get you out of it rather than just backing away. Let’s say we both could’ve been better friends there for a while and leave it at that, okay?’
Daniel felt a bit choked up and he grabbed Aaron for another quick, hard hug.
‘Pack it in, you two love birds,’ Luke yelled out the window. ‘I want to meet this woman who’s turned you on your head, Daniel and get on the right side of some of that great cooking you’ve been boasting about. The sandwich I had on the train was rank.’ As if to punctuate his point, Luke let loose a large belch and grinned unrepentantly.
He was still playing the annoying little brother, even at twenty-five. He’d been the bane and the pride of Aaron’s life since the day his step-mother had brought him home from the hospital. Daniel knew all about the problems Aaron had been through with his stepmother and it was to his eternal credit that he’d never allowed it to sour his relationship with his half-brother. Aaron adored Luke and he hero-worshipped him in return. Their closeness had been a source of envy to Daniel at first, being an only child, but the two men had just drawn him into their lives and he was beyond grateful for that.
The three of them laughed together and chatted about Daniel’s ideas for the barn as he drove them back to the house. They rounded the corner of the drive and he pulled up as the back door opened and Mia stood on the doorstep in her usual huge jumper and jeans. She smiled shyly as first Aaron and then Luke swooped on her with hugs and kisses before Daniel shoved them both away and stepped in front of her, arms folded like a bodyguard. ‘Oy, keep
