Everybody in the village knew that Daisy had never fallen in love with a playground buddy. She’d never sneaked fags or kisses behind the bike shed, she’d just been Daisy. Then Daisy had left school and turned into Daisy and Jimmy.
‘I’m not talking about shagging.’
‘So? Can’t this dog go on the floor?’
‘She’s asleep, don’t be mean. Look, you went on proper holidays when you were a kid, didn’t you?’ Daisy said, slightly accusingly, at Anna, feeling like she wasn’t being taken seriously. ‘All we ever got was a week in a caravan in Tenby, cos Dad had to get back to the cows.’ And the chickens, and the hay-making. She sighed. ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with Tenby. But we were supposed to go to France once, then there was a ferry strike. Dad said what will be will be and never tried again.’
Anna topped up the wine glasses. ‘So you’ve never even been to France?’ Daisy shook her head. ‘Or Spain?’
‘Nope.’
‘Greece? Italy?’
‘Now you’re being silly.’
‘Isle of Wight?’
‘You’re making me feel worse now, not better. I thought friends were supposed to help. I did go to Cornwall once.’
‘Well it’s a start, it used to be a separate country didn’t it?’
‘Dad was competing with a prize heifer in the Royal show. We were only there for two days.’
‘Okay, better than nothing I suppose. Just. Won’t Jimmy take you somewhere, you know, if you get married? You could have a blow-out honeymoon.’
‘He’s like Dad, he likes what he knows.’ Daisy sighed. She’d actually always liked that side of him, until it had come to the crunch. She knew where she stood with Jimmy, he was like a comfortable old fleece – the one you always grabbed. ‘He did go to Ibiza with Andy and the gang for a stag do, but that was it, and he kept saying how glad he was to be home.’
‘He is nice though, Jimmy. You do get on.’
‘My whole life is nice, Anna, that’s the problem and I hadn’t really thought about it properly until he asked.’ Had her cornered, more like. ‘But I do love him,’ maybe more in the old-fleece than mad-passion way, ‘and all this.’ She waved expansively to take in the cottage and everything outside. The world as she knew it. ‘But I just sometimes get this feeling that if I’m not careful I’ll miss out on a whole load of stuff.’
‘Like?’
‘I don’t know. Everything. I’m being daft, aren’t I? This should be enough. I should just know he’s the one for me.’
Anne grinned. ‘How should I know? Miss Footloose and Fancy-free, that’s me, but,’ the smile slipped, ‘you know what, girl? Maybe you need to sow some wild oats,’ Daisy rolled her eyes, ‘well not shag around or anything, but get away from Cheshire. I sometimes envy you, you’ve got everything while I’m just dashing round wasting my life, so I’m not going to hand out advice. But maybe you just need to get out there, go somewhere.’ She shrugged. ‘Then you’ll appreciate Jimmy and all this, or,’ she grinned, ‘never come back.’
‘I’d never not come back,’ Daisy protested, ‘it’s my home.’ She peered at Anna over her glass. ‘I could go away though, couldn’t I?’ Actually go somewhere, rather than just think about doing it.
‘You could. And you’ve got a deadline, so we need to come up with a plan, book flights to exotic locations.’
‘Anna!’
‘He’s given you an ultimatum, Dais, and it’s the best thing that could have happened to you. You can’t put it off – you either live a bit, or,’ she paused, and this time did look up, ‘or you give Jimmy an answer now.’
‘You know I’m not going to do that.’ She stared at Anna. She was right. It was her chance to actually do something.
‘If you stay here before you know it Jimmy will have moved in,’ she picked up one of Jimmy’s socks off the chair next to her and wrinkled her nose, then flung it in the air – it hit Mabel on the head, ‘and you’ll be married and have a brood of Jim and Jemima’s.’
‘He said you’ve got until Christmas,’ Anna’s voice softened, which was dangerous, so Daisy concentrated, ‘I know you’re still not sure, and you’ve got to be. This could be the most important decision you’ve ever made in your whole life.’
‘I’ll be fine. I’m perfectly capable of making my own decision.’
Anna sighed. ‘I’m not having a dig, it’s just you’ve kind of settled into middle-aged bliss without doing the bit before. You said yourself that you didn’t want to end up like your mum, giving everything up and becoming a farmer’s wife.’
‘I don’t.’
‘Well at least she had stuff to decide to give up, didn’t she?’
‘I think she had a pretty high-powered job, though she doesn’t say much. She used to fly all over the world.’
‘Exactly, and what have you done, Daisy Fischer? You said yourself that you’ve never been abroad. Let’s face it, you hardly ever get more than fifteen miles from Tippermere.’
‘Okay, I’m hopeless. Can we leave me alone now and talk about the weather?’
‘You’re not hopeless; you just need to take this opportunity.’
‘I am going to. I just need to think, decide what I really want to do, where I want to go.’ No way was she going to let Anna book her a ticket to Bangkok, or wherever she had in mind. But she was going to do this. It was just a case of deciding what ‘this’ was.
‘Now you’re talking. The world is your oyster.’
Not that she’d ever even had an oyster. ‘But who do I go with? I don’t know anybody but you.’
‘Well actually, it would be better if you went with yourself, just you, Daisy. Otherwise you won’t see anything and you certainly won’t meet,’ Anna’s eyes were positively gleaming with fun, ‘anybody. But I’ve got a better idea.’
‘What?’ Daisy really didn’t like that look in her friend’s eye.
‘I’ll tell you tomorrow, when I’ve done some checking. Come on, drink up, I’ve got another bottle of wine in my bag.’
Daisy groaned. Anna knew she was a pushover after two glasses of wine, she’d agree to anything.
Chapter 3 – Flo. Paris and back again
Florence Cortes liked Barcelona best when the fierce heat of the summer sun had mellowed and the crowds had thinned, not that you could ever call the city quiet. But in the autumn it was still warm
