Page 20 of Three's a Crowd
‘Good girl.’ Claire got up and patted her on the head as she walked past, giving her a backwards wave as she left the cubicle.
As soon as she’d gone, Daisy picked up the magazine and stared at the photo of Zach. Yeah, he still had the same effect on her, even after all this time.
Daisy often thought back to six years before, to theZach debacleas she liked to think of it. After getting back home, she’d been really down about the whole episode for quite a while. She was devastated at the thought that she’d never be able to be part of the old ‘holiday family’ group again. She’d loved those times with such a passion that the thought of them never happening again cut her to the core.
Luckily, Adam, who apparently was also upset at the thought of never seeing her again, had called her out of the blue one day a few months into her university career and had asked to visit her. He’d come to her student halls and first charmed her flatmates, then charmed her with the most gracious apology and a long monologue about why he couldn’t let her go and why he was perfect for her as a partner. She’d listened and decided he was probably right. But mainly, she desperately didn’t want to lose him from her life either.
As soon as he’d finished his speech, she’d leant forwards and kissed him, momentarily surprising him with the passion of it, but he’d quickly recovered and kissed her back hungrily.
She decided never to mention what had happened between her and Zach to him though and he seemed satisfied with her explanation that she was confused about where her life was heading when she’d rejected him before and hadn’t wanted to complicate things even more by starting a relationship with him at such an unsettled time.
Things had developed from there.
They kept in touch with each other constantly while they were both studying at their respective universities and after she’d graduated, she’d moved to London to pursue a career in the radio industry and he’d followed her there.
By that point, it seemed like a natural step to move in with each other.
It was a really comfortable connection they shared – easy and straight-forward – and she loved him dearly. He was a kind and fun partner and was good at ignoring her occasional black moods and treating her with the tenderness and respect she craved.
The first time they’d had sex, she was really worried about how it would make her feel, after thinking of him almost as a brother for so long, and had asked him to be patient with her. He’d agreed and they’d taken it slowly, building her confidence until she couldn’t stand it any longer and had ordered him to make love to her.
Afterwards, he’d held her in his arms and she felt awash with contentment. Adam was a good, considerate lover, but Daisy was acutely aware that he never made her feel the way that Zach had just by looking at her. This kept her affection for him slightly aloof, she realised, but Adam didn’t seem to notice and she knew he really meant it when he said he loved her.
Not long after Daisy had started at university, Zach had been offered an acting job in California on a very successful, long-running TV series and so very rarely had time – or perhaps theinclination – to contact anyone at home, so none of them had seen him again after the holiday in Cornwall. Until recently that is, when out of the blue, he invited Adam and Sam to go over to the States to visit him. Even though she told herself she didn’t want to see Zach again, she’d found being left out of that visit heart-breaking. Not that she’d let Adam know she’d felt like that.
Letting out a sigh, she threw the magazine back onto the desk and turned her attention back to the show, where Katrina Cross was about to give Flash FM a major boost to its listenership.
At least her life seemed to be finally starting to come together. After years of hard work, for very little pay, she was at a point in her career where she felt confident in her abilities and was being remunerated properly for them. Even better, she was now afforded the longed-for respect that she craved from her colleagues for her professionalism and dedication.
Yeah, life was good.
She was looking forward to the future, with Zach Dryden now very firmly in her past.
6
A week later, Daisy let herself into the Islington flat she rented with Adam, sighing with relief as she felt the warmth from the radiator in the hall soak into her chilled skin. It was bitterly cold outside and she hadn’t dressed properly for the weather that morning.
Hanging up her thin, three-quarter length trench coat, she kicked off her kitten heeled boots and walked into the living room, quickly walking out again and grimacing at how messy it was in there. Unfortunately, neither she or Adam were particularly tidy and they’d become even worse at clearing up recently because they’d both been working such long hours – her at the radio station and Adam at the recruitment agency he’d snagged a job with after moving to London.
She went into the kitchen instead to fix herself a well-deserved drink. It had been a tough day. One of the interviewees hadn’t turned up when they were supposed to, leaving Jez the Breakfast Show presenter – who was unfortunately also the Station Manager, therefore her boss – to fill with chat and music until she was able to locate the errant politician and get them to speak to Jez over the phone instead. Jez’s face was like thunderafter the show had finished and he’d said a few choice words to her before leaving for his office. He hated it when things went wrong – not being good at improvising, like Tallulah was, and having an unwieldy ego when it came to his professional reputation – and he always let Daisy know exactly how annoyed he was when they inevitably did.
She poured herself a glass of red wine and leant back against the counter to drink it, only raising the glass part way to her lips before she was distracted by the sound of Adam banging in through the front door, chucking his coat on the floor and kicking his shoes against the skirting board.
Daisy winced at the noise.
He barrelled into the kitchen, taking her glass of wine out of her hand and downing it in one.
‘Hey, that was for me,’ she protested.
Adam just grinned wickedly.
‘Hey, guess what?’ he said, reaching behind her for another glass and the red wine bottle and filling both glasses back up. He handed one to her before he continued, smiling at her expectant face.
‘I had a phone call from Zach.’ He paused for effect. ‘He’s moving back to England.’
Daisy’s stomach lurched. Just the sound of his name still made her heart race and she was intensely aware of her face getting hot.
Turning away, so Adam wouldn’t notice the effect his announcement had had on her, she poured a bit more wine into her glass till it was brimming to the top.
