He drew into a small car park by a bigger, more open beach than the one where Lydia lived. Unclipping his seatbelt, Gabriel turned to her. ‘There are so many things I need to tell you, Daisy. I have to admit being crushed when I didn’t hear from you again. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.’
‘I don’t know why you’re apologising to me, Gabe. I completely understand why you would be hurt, and let’s face it, it’s not as if you’ve been horrible to me at all.’ She stared transfixed at his beautiful face, every inch so familiar to her. Raising her right hand, she rested the palm against his cheek. ‘I’ve missed you so much and can’t quite believe you’re here with me now.’
‘Would you mind if I kissed you?’ he asked.
It seemed like the most natural thing in the world. ‘Not at all,’ she said.
He hesitated briefly, then, pulling her into his arms, kissed her with all the passion she remembered. Daisy seemed to melt into him. He eventually pulled back and smiled at her. ‘I’ve missed you so much.’
‘Me too,’ she admitted.
He took a deep breath and restarted the ignition. ‘I suppose I should be getting you back to the hotel; the last thing we need is Fi sending out a search party for you. The hotel grapevine would go into overdrive by morning.’
3
GABRIEL
Gabe woke the following morning and stretched. He stood up, pulled on a pair of boxer shorts, and grabbed hold of the bottle of water he’d left on his bedside table. Then he climbed the ladder attached to the wall of his bedroom, opened the metal hatch to the roof and breathed in the familiar salty smell of the sea. He loved being able to do this and knew it was a luxury few could enjoy. He stepped up to the roof terrace to breathe in the warm air. Sighing deeply, he gazed out at the rolling waves and took a deep swig from his bottle. He recalled his kiss with Daisy in the car the evening before.
As much as he missed his research, he did relish coming home to Jersey. Even more so this time now that he’d discovered Daisy working at the Encore. He knew he wouldn’t have mentioned his parents’ names to her when they were away, because he never spoke about his parents by name. Too many years growing up with people changing their attitudes towards him when they discovered that his mother was a renowned beauty and his father a well-known singer had put paid to that before he reached his teens. So it had been an unexpected surprise having Daisy turning up at the hotel.
Daisy. He couldn’t help smiling at the thought of her pretty face, so shocked to see him standing there talking to his nan. Then again, he must have looked stunned to see her working there. He suspected he wasstill in shock. After so many months trying to put her out of his mind and get over his feelings for her, to see her behind the reception area was unexpected to say the least. He rested back in a chair and raised his bare feet on the circular granite wall. Something tickled the side of his heel and he moved to see it was a ladybird. He reached down, waiting for the bug to step onto his finger before holding up his hand to let it fly away. He couldn’t help smiling. He hadn’t felt this carefree or happy since Vietnam. Daisy, he thought closing his eyes. It was easy to imagine being back in Vietnam with her on a hot morning like this one.
He swatted a fly away from his face and realised that someone was calling his name.
‘Gabriel!’ his grandmother shouted from the garden.
He peered over the side of the tower, to see her with a hand either side of her mouth. ‘Darling, are you coming to join me for breakfast this morning?’
He nodded, happy to be able to share times like these with her. ‘Give me five minutes.’
Hurrying back down to his room, he quickly showered and changed into a T-shirt and khaki shorts. Pushing his feet into worn flip flops, he ran outside to join her where he knew she’d be waiting at the table on her terrace.
‘Good morning,’ he said, bending down to kiss her lined cheek. ‘How are you today?’
‘All the better knowing you’re so close and that I can have you all to myself for a bit.’ She lifted the metal cover from his plate to reveal a full English breakfast. ‘There’s seeded toast under that napkin and I made you a pot of coffee, though why you prefer that when you could have Earl Grey like me, I don’t know.’
‘I suppose I must have got used to drinking it when I was in LA.’
She shook her head and smiled. ‘You do look a bit likeone of those beach bums sometimes, Gabriel,’ she teased. ‘Especially when you let your hair grow longer like it is now.’
‘It’s easier,’ he said, deciding not to bother telling her that he’d actually had it cut recently. He tucked into his breakfast with relish. Nan was a pretty good cook when it came to breakfasts, at least.
‘Do you mind terribly having to come back here to work at the hotel, darling?’
He shook his head. ‘I’ve been working without a break for a few months now, so they understand me taking a little time away from the project.’ He shrugged. ‘It can get too intense if it’s all you ever think about. It is important to me, but sometimes it’s good to step away and be forced back into the real world.’ He swallowed another mouthful of his food and, unable to resist, asked, ‘So, what do you think of Daisy, Nan? I could tell by you inviting her here that you like her, but now you know we were—’ he hesitated to find the right word ‘—close in Vietnam, does that change your feelings about her?’
‘No, of course not,’ she said immediately. ‘There’s a definite chemistry between you two, probably a little too much.’ She rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘I don’t want either of you to get hurt, though.’
‘Why would we?’ he asked, knowing exactly why but needing her to voice his concerns so that he couldn’t ignore them.
‘We don’t know how long Daisy will want to stay here. Even if she is happy working at the Encore, how long will it be before you have to return to wherever it was you were last working?’
‘South Africa. And I should only be here for a month,’ he admitted quietly.
‘You see, that’s not long at all. You work away for months at a time. Do you think it would be fair on Daisy to expect her to wait here for you each time?’
He could see where she was coming from. ‘Maybe she could come with me in some capacity,’ he said, although what exactly she would do he wasn’t quite sure. ‘She’s an artist, Nan, she can work anywhere, surely?’
