Page 35 of Daydreams & Doughnut Cake

I snorted. ‘Well, there are some things in life you canneverforget.’

I said it in jest. But instantly, I wished I hadn’t.

A loaded silence descended.

I knew what Danny was thinking because images of that day were filling my mind, too. The day of Mark’s funeral. They were memories I’d fought unsuccessfully to forget...

Swiftly, I changed the subject. ‘So my house is a couple of streets back from the village green in Risley Common. But I’ll direct you when we get there.’

He nodded and when I looked over, he was staring straight ahead, frowning slightly.

An awkward atmosphere had sprung up between us. I couldn’t wait to reach the house and get out of the car.

And say goodbye.

*****

When Danny pulled up outside the house, I was planning to make my escape as fast as I could. But to my alarm, he cut the engine and got out of the car with me.

‘Nice village,’ he said, stretching and looking around him.

‘Yes. I... love it here.’ Was he expecting me to invite him in? This was so awkward.

I searched my mind for something to say and came up with, ‘So do you play badminton regularly?’

He nodded and came round to the passenger side. ‘Usually every week. Wednesdays, funnily enough.’ He leaned back against the car, folded his arms and studied me with a smile, looking far more relaxed than I was feeling inside right at that moment.

Something occurred to me. When Danny stopped going to the badminton club with Clare, had she felt it was my fault that he’d decided to go ten-pin bowling with me instead? It seemed so petty. But if she’d liked Danny a lot back then, she might have been jealous that he seemed to prefer my company...

Could she have carried that resentment ever since? Getting revenge on me now that she’d tracked me down to Surrey?

But I dismissed this as ridiculous. No one would hold a grudge that long. Even Clare...

‘Did you... was there ever anything between you and Clare?’ I asked Danny now. ‘In a romantic sense, I mean.’

I was expecting him to say no, but he gave a sheepish smile. ‘We had a drunken kiss once.’

‘Did you?’ I stared at him, astonished.

‘It was never going to be a thing. We were friends and it was a mistake.’ He shrugged. ‘At least, that’s the way I saw it.’

‘So next day did you just carry on as if nothing had happened? Because Clare never told us.’

He nodded. ‘I think we were both a bit embarrassed. So we avoided each other for a day or two, then we slipped back into teasing each other like we always did, and everything went back to normal.’

‘Well, well.’ I stared at him, still reeling at this piece of information.

He looked down. ‘I couldn’t help it if I liked someone else.’

I swallowed nervously.

‘It was always you,’ he said lightly, looking back up at me.

Panic fluttered in my chest. ‘Danny, please don’t say that.’

‘It’s true.’ He shrugged helplessly.

His eyes – always so expressive – were full of sadness now, and I couldn’t seem to pull my gaze away from his. It was always Mark for me. Always. Right from the day we first met. But Danny was such a lovely guy with the biggest heart and a girl could totally lose herself in those mesmerising green eyes of his.

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