Page 3 of Three's a Crowd
If only it was that simple, Daisy had thought at the time.
He was an integral part of her holidays and she missed the sibling-like camaraderie they all used to share when they were younger.
Just as she thought this, there was a shout of greeting from outside and, peering through the kitchen window into the garden, she saw a familiar tall, athletic figure marching across the lawn towards the table where the rest of the party sat.
Zach.
So, here he was. Finally.
Even from a distance, she could see he still radiated the same inexplicable appeal she’d always been bamboozled by.
‘Hey, you made it!’ she heard Adam say, getting up from his chair to meet his friend half way to the table and clap him on the back.
Zach was turned away from her, but she could make out the deep, bass tone of his voice as it floated on the breeze towards the open kitchen door. ‘Yeah. Bloody British trains. Mine was cancelled and the next one was late and my phone ran out of juice.’
Sam got up from where he was sitting on the other side of the table, bringing his food with him – how could he still be eating? Daisy, wondered – and walked over to give Zach a rough-looking, one-armed bear hug. ‘Dude. Glad you made it. We thought you might not be coming.’
‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Sammo.’
Daisy continued to watch him surreptitiously out of the window as she added some chopped banana to the fruit salad. He was chatting amiably to Sam now. Even after all this time, she was still bothered by the same mingle of apprehension andexcitement when she looked at him. At one time, they’d all been at sixes and sevens, one minute enjoying each other’s company and the next, fighting like cats and dogs, but Zach seemed much surer of himself now. More adult. He held himself proudly and his face radiated confidence.
Drama school had been good for him.
‘Hey, Zach, you eaten? Sorry we didn’t wait. We were all starving,’ Sam said.
‘No worries. This’ll do me,’ Zach replied, grabbing a lonely looking sandwich from the plate Sam was holding.
Sally came bustling over and enveloped him in a motherly hug.
‘Zach! You’re here. We nearly gave up on you.’
‘Sorry, Sally.’ He returned her hug then turned to address the rest of the gathering still sitting at the table. ‘Gordon. Alright Andy. Hi Lizzy.’
‘So? How’s it going? It’s been ages,’ Adam asked, motioning to follow him to the table and pulling out the chair next to him so Zach could sit in it.
‘Yeah, fine. Come to London again soon. I miss having you around. The place is full of wankers.’
‘Yeah, I heard that. Thought you’d fit right in,’ Adam replied, shooting his friend a teasing grin.
Jealousy jabbed at her. She didn’t imagine she’d be invited along to that get-together. Not that she should care. Zach would probably only tease or maybe ignore her the whole time anyway, based on her last experience of being around him, which wouldn’t be a lot of fun. She dumped the last bit of fruit into the bowl, took a breath and readied herself to take it outside.
‘We’ll hit the bars, get trashed, nearly get arrested… It’ll be like old times,’ Zach was saying, his voice laden with mirth.
Stepping up to the open doorway, she saw his mouth curving into a wide smile and her heart did a weird judder in her chest.
She took another moment to study him from a distance, while she could. His dark eyes, framed by long lashes, gave him that brooding look she remembered so well from years past and his jet-black hair, which was currently longer than he used to wear it, the fringe pushed away from his face, made him look older than she knew he was. He wasn’t a pretty boy type, like Adam. His features were too angular for that, a little too harsh. But he wasn’t without his own particular type of beauty. It was wilder, more nebulous and difficult to describe. She supposed some people might call it sex appeal. He certainly gave the impression he was a very sexual being from the way he moved… and brooded. Like he was always thinking wayward thoughts.
The idea shot a frisson up her spine.
Zach glanced around the garden. ‘Is Daisy here?’ he asked, as if she might be hiding in among her namesake flowers.
That was her cue. Exiting the kitchen, she made her way towards the table with the dessert, a pulse beating hard in her throat.
It took him a few moments to notice her walking towards them, but when he did, he seemed to stop what he was saying to Adam in mid-sentence and stared at her in what appeared to be shocked confusion.
The last time they’d been together, she realised, she’d been a slightly goofy looking beanpole of a girl. Not the woman she was now. Since then, her figure had not just blossomed, but bloomed and she’d finally grown into her once overly large features: wide-set eyes, Roman nose and full mouth.
The penetrating frown he was now giving her made her tremble, causing the slightly wet glass bowl she was holding to slip out of her hands. It shattered on the stone flags and everyone else turned to look at her. She stared down, aghast, at the mess of fruit and glass: a tutti-frutti at her feet.
