Page 43 of Dear Daisy

‘Dan? When did he say that?’

‘Yesterday.’ Bobso received a soggy kiss on the nose at which he blinked his amber-button eyes, then began rotating his jaw around another carrot.

‘Dan was here yesterday?’

‘Mm. He came to help me put Bobso in his run. He’s nice.’ She turned her face up to me, a pale circle in the darkness. ‘Is he your boyfriend now?’

‘No.’ I moved off, back towards the Old Mill. ‘No, Scarlet, he’s not, and he never will be.’

‘Oh.’ The sound her boots made slapping along her bare legs was like an amateur wobbleboard enthusiast having a practice session. ‘He says he really likes you.’

‘Oh . . . does he.’

‘Mm. I told him that you had dinner with Alex and that you kissed him, and then Dan started laughing and said that Alex didn’t know the half of it. What’s the half of it, Winter? How can you know a half of something? ’Cos if you know something you don’t know there’s another half that you don’t know, do you? You think you know all of it.’

Luckily we reached the doors just then, because otherwise I might have said something about Daniel that I regretted, especially to a little girl who seemed to regard him as only one step down from St Francis of Assisi. ‘It’s just a saying, Scarlet.’ I held the door open for her. ‘It’s just Dan, stirring up trouble.’

‘C-coffee?’ Alex was waiting for us. Alone, so Margaret had probably gone home; that or been subsumed into Wool Hell. ‘Upstairs, S-scarl. B-bath and b-bed, young l-lady.’ Scarlet opened her mouth to protest, but Alex held up a hand. ‘W-what did we d-decide?’

‘That I’m only allowed to get up early to see Bobso if I get to bed before nine,’ Scarlet recited. ‘Night, Winter.’

The wellies hit various parts of the hallway and she slip-bounded her way up the stairs. The door to the flat closed softly and Alex let out a sigh. ‘S-seems to be w-working,’ he said, and looked at the floor. ‘It’s D-D-Dan’s idea.’

‘For God’s sake!’ Oddly, because I thought I was angry, tears needled behind my eyelids. ‘That bloody man is everywhere! Margaret, Scarlet and now you. He’s probably got all the Stepford Mothers in his pocket too.’ A sudden and very unwelcome image of Daniel, smiling down at one of those immaculately made-up and turned out women, putting a hand out to brush her hair away from her face and moving in for a kiss . . . my throat went hot and tight.

‘He-he’s j-just nice, Winter.’ Alex opened the office door and the red light winked like a summons into Purgatory. ‘He cares about a l-lot of stuff. About y-you.’

‘Just coffee, Alex,’ I said, sharply. ‘That’s all I came for. Not another one of Dan’s remote-controlled chats, I’ve just had one from your niece.’

The coffee machine spurted into life, jetting a great torrent of steam upwards and groaning like an old man forced out of his chair. ‘Y-you and D-Dan . . .’ He was busying himself with preparing mugs of coffee, not looking at my face.

‘I told you what he did, Alex. How could you ever think I would have any kind of thing again with a man who behaved like that? Apart from armed conflict.’

The coffee smelled good and my mouth began to water. How long is it since I last ate? I’m losing track here and that’s not good . . .

‘I s-saw how you w-were at the R-r — at the pet place, and it l-looked to me as th-though you h-have stuff to s-sort.’ He held a mug out to me. ‘And y-yes, you told me about D-Dan and your s-sister. But it l-looked to m-me like more th-than that.’ He raised his own mug in a silent toast.

My hand was shaking, I realised, when hot coffee began to slop over the mug rim, and I lowered it down to rest on my knee. ‘Dan being an absolute bastard wasn’t enough?’

Alex took a deep sip of his coffee, then looked at me through the steam. ‘Un-unless there’s more th-that you’re not t-telling me, n-no, th-that’s n-not enough.’ Another sip. ‘Is there?’

Despite the bitter coffee, despite the delicious smell sending saliva around my tongue, my mouth went dry. ‘No,’ my voice was cracked and hard. ‘No.’

‘Th-there’s n-nothing else?’ He was persistent, I’d give him that. But then, bringing up Scarlet would teach even the most indecisive person how to stick to their guns. ‘S-sure? B-because no one c-can help you, W-winter, unless y-you admit a p-p-problem.’

And then I began to wonder what Dan had said. How much he’d said, and how he’d twisted things around.

‘Look, thanks for the coffee, Alex, but I really ought to go. If I’m going to get the Editor from Hell dropping in tomorrow then I should get everything in order for a status report.’ I tried to smile and be light, anything else would only fuel the fire. ‘And also, incidentally, clear a backlog of cups that makes it look as though I’ve been hosting international coffee mornings all week.’

He gave me a complicated look, as though a smile was fighting with concern and almost winning, before being knocked to the ground by doubt. ‘Okay.’ He took the mug I held out and put it carefully on the desk, then moved in to give me a careful hug. ‘B-but if you w-want to t-talk, Winter, I’m h-here.’

I gave him a quick return hug. ‘Nothing to talk about,’ I said as I stepped clear. ‘Don’t get caught up in Dan’s games, Alex. I think he’s looking for collateral damage.’

The complicated look took on shades of sympathy and disappeared as he raised his mug and started drinking. ‘G-goodnight,’ he said, softly, and I made good my escape.

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To: [email protected]

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