Page 46 of Ghost Note

“It’s incredible,” I whispered.

“My dad’s dad used to work here,” Danny said, drawing my attention back to him. “Grandad Albie was a volunteer groundsman when he was younger. My dad spent a lot of his childhood playing out of sight where the owners couldn’t see him. He drove Gran mad at home, apparently, always wanting to run or chase things. He broke a lot of stuff, and that’s why Gran said she’d only ever have one child. Dad was hard enough work for the two of them.” Danny sighed heavily, as though talking about his father caused him pain, deep down inside. “Gran told me that Grandad once brought her here when they first started dating—or courting, as they called it back then—and he snuck her down into the folly at the South end of the gardens to steal his first kiss.”

“There’s a folly here?”

“There’s everything here.”

The smile on my face grew at the thought of Albie and Florence dating here, and of Tim Silver growing up as a boy, hiding away in the greenery I hadn’t even seen yet.

“I never knew this place existed.”

Danny’s smile was weak. “It’s only a few miles down the road from where you’ve spent your entire life, too. Imagine what’s a hundred miles away. Or a thousand.” Without waiting for a response, Danny pushed on his sunglasses and tucked his car keys away in his pocket. “Follow me.”

I did. I followed him like he was in charge of my life again.

Old habits die hard. Even when you thought they’d been dead and buried six feet underground for a while. The heart wants what it wants, and mine apparently wanted to follow the enemy himself.

Fifteen

Atley House looked like it was from another time—another world. I could picture the cast of Downton Abbey venturing here, their smiles romantic, and their skirts swishing in the wind as they ran over the grounds.

My imagination had always done the travelling on my behalf—my mind letting me wander into unknown worlds and territories, while I stayed safe at home among a small community of people I knew and could trust—but not even that imagination could take in that this place actually existed… and so close to where I lived.

Danny guided me around the outdoor grounds, taking me past an orangery where he nodded to a groundsman as though he was an old friend.

“Do you know everyone here?” I asked, struggling to keep up with him.

“Kinda.” He chucked his chin at another gardener across the way. “Mostly.”

“How?”

“We all have our secrets, Daisy.”

I could only imagine how many he held within.

Danny led me across the sprawling acres of finely manicured, bright green grass, and he steered me into a section of wildflowers that looked anything but wild. It was organised chaos, and every coloured head of a flower hypnotised me until any anger I’d ever held became a long distant memory, leaving me almost… floating.

I felt like Mary Lennox on her discovery of The Secret Garden.

I wanted to roll in the grass, take pictures on my phone of the different shades of pinks, purples, reds, oranges, yellows, and blues. I wanted to shed the coat of adulthood and let childhood prickle my skin once more.

My face must have shown it, too because when I caught Danny’s eyes, they were tight, and his smile controlled, as though he was struggling to watch me.

“I think the willow is my favourite tree,” I confessed, almost romantically, seeking it out in the grounds, not too far away.

“Careful, Daisy. You’re starting to sound like you’re enjoying this.”

“I can admit that I’m finding it difficult to stay hard around the edges when I’m surrounded by so much nature and beauty.”

When I looked back at him, he was staring at me, his face sombre. “I know exactly how you feel.”

My cheeks blushed, and I couldn’t hide it. It was late in the afternoon now. The sun was beginning to die in the sky, and I was pretty sure that today had been the longest day of my life so far.

“As lovely as this is, why have you brought me here, Danny?” I asked, dropping my attention back down to him. “What’s this about? It’s going to get dark in an hour.”

“I know.” He smiled flatly. “So, let me show you what I brought you here to see. I have something I need to set straight.” Danny tilted his head in the direction he wanted to go before he spun around and began walking away.

I followed slowly, uncertainty tearing through my every vein as I hopped over small flowers I didn’t want to crush with my old Converse. Within a few seconds, Danny was wandering to the edges of some trees, and he glanced back to make sure I was where he wanted me to be. I didn’t realise I’d smiled at him until he smiled back in surprise, and I immediately cleared my throat and pushed that traitorous smile away. Old habits definitely died hard around him.

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