with its steering or Tamsyn’s driving was a little on the erratic side. She seemed to stray over the white line on more than one occasion making their arrival in the car park a welcome relief.
On the walk to the entrance the sound of braying donkeys welcomed them. Tamsyn was looking excited even before she’d seen a donkey. Daisy was surprised to see it was free to enter and became intrigued by the map promising all manner of donkeys, a gift shop, a café and a variety of walks around the many donkey enclosures. Daisy decided that if she was to get through the next couple of hours she had better upgrade her attitude. She took a deep breath, slapped a smile on her face and followed Tamsyn through the gate. Her friend was trying to take her mind off things, the least she could do was try to look as if it was helping.
‘I love it here,’ said Tamsyn, her face one large grin. ‘It’s my happy place.’
The first couple of enclosures had some bored-looking donkeys on the other side of their paddock who had no intention of making the long walk across to say hello. Tamsyn read out the information on the small board and Daisy listened to the sad story of Bernard and Biscuit, two of many rescue donkeys now leading a happy life at the sanctuary. By the third enclosure Daisy was starting to feel a bit better about things, some of the poor animals had suffered terrible neglect and had bounced back and here she was making a fuss about a possession. Learning about the suffering of another was good at giving you perspective, even if it was a donkey.
They walked through some pretty gardens, past a children’s play area where the volume rose above a comfortable level and then it changed to near silence as they reached a tree-lined area where many benches were dotted about. Each bench had a neat shiny plaque and they stopped to read them, noting the increasingly tear-jerking dedications. She was glad to come to the end. A sign announced the Poitou donkey enclosure and Daisy found her mouth tweaking at the edges at the sight of the giant hairy donkeys. They were friendly and came to the fence to be fussed. She discovered scratching a donkey’s ears was quite calming. A large gingery donkey cantered over, announced his arrival with a loud bray and barged the others out of the way.
‘Steady on,’ said Daisy, checking the name on his collar. ‘Hiya Guinness.’ Guinness wobbled his large head and tried to eat Daisy’s shirtsleeve, which made her laugh.
‘You feeling better?’ asked Tamsyn tentatively.
Daisy gave her friend a half hug. ‘Yeah, I am. Thanks for getting me out of the cottage.’
‘It’s what friends do.’
‘Let’s get a coffee. It’s my treat,’ said Daisy, and they followed the signs to the café. They took their tray outside and settled themselves down with a view of some white donkeys being fed their lunch.
‘Are you working today?’ asked Daisy in between mouthfuls of heavily buttered teacake.
Tamsyn gave a heavy sigh. ‘Yeah, they want me in at one o’clock, but they may not need me past four when everyone starts leaving the beach. I can never be sure what I’m going to get paid. Dad hinted again last night that I should be thinking about leaving home but even with saving all I can I don’t stand a chance of being able to afford my own place. Especially not around here.’ She sighed again and sipped her latte. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t moan. Especially not after the day you’ve had.’
‘My day has got a whole lot better,’ said Daisy. ‘Thanks to you.’ Tamsyn gave a weak smile, which quickly changed into a huge grin.
‘I’m going to hand in my notice. I’m going to quit the beach café.’
‘Whoa there. Let’s not get hasty,’ said Daisy. She wasn’t the best source of advice but at least Tamsyn had a job, however crap it might be.
‘No, I should have done it years ago. If I quit then I have to get something better.’ She picked up her coffee to clink mugs with Daisy.
‘Or you could keep the beach café job whilst you look for something else,’ she suggested. ‘That way you still have some income.’ How did you tell someone you cared about that this was the worst idea ever?
‘Hmm,’ said Tamsyn, appearing to consider this.
Daisy stared on wide-eyed and fearful. ‘What’ll you do?’
Tamsyn slowly ran a finger across her eyebrow. ‘I might do reading …’
‘I don’t think anyone will pay you for that. Unless you mean like a book editor – I think that’s all they do all day.’
‘No, palm reading, silly.’
‘I didn’t know you were like your mum.’
‘I’m not sure I am but if I don’t try I won’t know.’ Tamsyn was still grinning, the obvious flaws in her plan clearly not obvious to her.
‘You should probably test out your skills first. Punters will be hacked off if it turns out you can’t tell them their future.’
Tamsyn appeared to ponder this. ‘Let me try on you,’ she said, taking Daisy’s hand.
Daisy looked about her quickly, what would other people think? It looked like Tamsyn was about to propose. ‘I think you’re meant to read it not hold it,’ pointed out Daisy, embarrassment stealing over her.
‘I’m seeing if I can sense a connection.’
A loose connection in Tamsyn’s head was all Daisy could think of. Tamsyn shut her eyes and gripped Daisy’s hand. Daisy acknowledged an elderly couple who went past shaking their heads. Daisy waited. ‘Anything?’
‘I’m not sure what I’m meant to be sensing.’
‘Usually people with a gift tell you something about yourself you don’t already know.’
‘How can I not know something I’m telling you? Makes no sense.’ Tamsyn looked confused.
‘If you have the gift. You tell me something I know but you don’t.’ Tamsyn opened her mouth looking as if a light bulb had just pinged on above her head. ‘And not something Reg told you,’ added Daisy quickly. Tamsyn’s face dropped. ‘Just relax and see if you can sense anything.’ Daisy offered Tamsyn her hand once more.
‘Okay, let’s try again.’
Tamsyn held Daisy’s right hand for a while. Daisy noticed her coffee was going cold so picked it up with her left hand, which felt odd and she clumsily put it to her lips.
‘A-ha!’ shouted Tamsyn her eyes snapping open.
Daisy slopped her drink down herself. ‘Cock,’ said Daisy and Tamsyn gave her an old-fashioned look making her feel she needed to amend her swearing. ‘Cock … a-doodle-doo?’ Tamsyn seemed happy with the alteration. ‘Did you sense something?’
‘Yes,’ said Tamsyn emphatically.
Daisy was preoccupied with wiping the spilled coffee off her top. ‘Okay, what was it?’
‘Teaspoons!’ said Tamsyn her voice triumphant.
Daisy stopped what she was doing and blinked. ‘What about teaspoons?’
Tamsyn straightened. ‘My mind
