Page 43 of Whispers at The Bookshop Pretty Beach
Daisy shrugged. ‘I am somewhere between managing and rearranging furniture until things feel better.’
‘That counts. That totally counts. How’s Miles’ mum? Any more news?’
‘Still in hospital, she’s stable, but not great and there’s a problem with her stitches. It’s truly awful what’s happened to her.’
‘Poor woman. That’s so rough.’
Daisy nodded. ‘Yeah. She’s been through the wringer.’
‘Hopefully, she’s still got some fight in her like us here fighting for small business in Pretty Beach.’
‘She has, but it’s taken a toll. Miles is trying to hold it all together, but it’s a lot.’
‘And you?’
Daisy wiggled her hands in front of her. ‘I’m just doing this, keeping things ticking over, hoping it all settles, and I have to be honest, I’m missing him like crazy, which has thrown me.’
‘How has it been between you two?’
Daisy shook her head. ‘Oh, yeah, fine. We’ve messaged and spoken, but it’s all still very… contained. He’s at the hospital all hours and he’s trying to work in between all that. Then he goes home, does more work and then he goes back to the hospital again. It’s like he’s on a loop.’
Lotta nodded. ‘Hmm.’
‘He said he doesn’t want to leave her when she’s discharged. He thinks she’ll need more support than she’ll admit to and he doesn’t want her rattling around her flat on her own.’
‘He’s probably right.’
‘I know. I do. It’s just that it all feels very far away now. I didn’t really realise until he wasn’t here, how, well, yeah, you know… strange, really. I’m just trying to support from this end. There’s not a whole lot more anyone can do. They thought she would heal more quickly…’
‘Has he said what he’s going to do?’
Daisy nodded. ‘He said he’s thinking of bringing her down here. I mean, he just mentioned it in passing that he might bring her to Pretty Beach to recuperate, which would mean we can see each other. I don’t know. He said she might do better by the sea for a bit. She would be able to get some sea air and rest properly.’
‘Really?’
Daisy nodded. ‘Apparently, she used to love the south coast years ago. They had a few holidays when he was little, they stayed in a fisherman’s cottage somewhere in Devon, I think he said. He said it was the only place his parents didn’t argue.’
‘That’s bleak, but also sort of lovely.’
‘He said if she comes, it’d only be for a few weeks or a month or so. While she gets her strength back and while they figure out what comes next. He was down here, well, I guess because of me and now that’s all up in the air.’
‘And how do you feel about that?’
‘I’m not sure. Part of me thinks it’s a good thing to bring her down here. I’d get to see him. Maybe not in the way we had before, but still and then another part of me feels completely untethered about it all. Like I’m on the edge of something and I don’t know if I’m meant to step back or forward or what. I have the girls to think about, too. When you throw in the GayesBooks thing, it’s all a bit of a muddle.’
‘You don’t have to decide anything yet. You’re allowed to sit in it for a bit.’
‘I know. I just don’t want to feel like a side character in all this with him. Gosh, I sound so selfish...’
Lotta joked. ‘Nah, you're the main character.’
Daisy raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t feel very main character-y.’
‘You’re sitting in a bookshop corner you designed, in a town you’ve rebuilt your life in, with a man who told you he loves you even when everything was going sideways.’
Daisy picked up a paperback and turned it over in her hands. ‘He said he doesn’t know how it’ll work if she comes here and that he doesn’t want to presume or put anything on me. But then he asked about the flats over at the hotel and if I knew if there was anywhere free. That temporary place he rented is lovely, but very small. Too small for two.’
Lotta shook her head. ‘So, there’s no money concern here then? He’s already rented that flat…’
