He stopped at the top of the pathway leading down to the valley behind the hotel. Staring out from one end to the other, he tried to see where she might be, but couldn’t find her. He groaned, running down the stone steps to get a better view along the pathways. ‘Daisy!’ he shouted.
Realising that holidaymakers would be trying to relax in the peace of the beautifully landscaped valley, he decided he daren’t call again. When she didn’t answer, he turned to go in the opposite direction, nodding a hello to guests as he passed.
Where had she got to? he wondered, trying not to look harassed. He didn’t need any of the guests noticing his panic. After all, they might assume that there was a problem with the hotel and after the recent fire, that was the last thing his parents needed.
He hurried down the pathways, looking across to the other side of the narrow valley and down along the row of geometric ponds. Nearing the end, he was about to give up and return to the hotel to look for her there when he spotted a foot sticking out from behind one of the palm trees. Recognising the toe ring Daisy wore on her right foot, he hurried over to her. She was sitting on the grassy verge next to the end pool, resting back against the trunk of the tree, her eyes closed as she listened to something on her iPod.
Gabriel watched her for a few seconds, marvelling at how pretty she was and desperately trying to form a coherent sentence to persuade her to listen to him.
Daisy must have sensed him standing by her and opened her eyes. She glared at him and went to stand up, but Gabriel sat down next to her and as soon as she’d removed her earphones he said, ‘Please, Daisy, let me at least try to explain what happened between me and Bella.’
She glanced around them. He watched her smile at a couple of the guests before turning her attention backto him. ‘I think this is probably not the wisest place to start opening up about your private life, don’t you?’
She was right of course. ‘Yes. Where do you want to talk, then? We could go for a drive somewhere, have something to eat, or a walk maybe?’
‘I’ve got a few hours off and Fi said Luke had been looking for you, so you should be over at the orangery with him, not here. I need to make the most of some peace in the sun.’
‘You’ve got one hour,’ he said, aware that he was pushing his luck with Luke. ‘I’ll be back here to get you and then maybe you’ll let me explain.’
‘Fine,’ she said after some thought. ‘As long as we can walk. I don’t want to be inside a car on an afternoon like this.’
Before she had a chance to change her mind, Gabriel left her and ran back to the orangery to make amends with Luke for his tardiness.
‘Good to see you’ve remembered to come back,’ Luke scowled. ‘I do have other things I could be getting on with, you know.’
‘Yes, I’m sorry.’ Gabriel appreciated that Luke was taking time out from his busy life and work schedule to help them out, and said so.
Luke grumbled something Gabriel couldn’t hear, then added, ‘You’re here now, so pick up that brush and help me finish varnishing these frames. They’re going to need several coats, and if you don’t want them to be sticky when your guests arrive, we’ll have to finish working on them sooner rather than later.’
Gabriel did as he was told, relieved Luke was still here working on the repairs at all.
‘Fi brought me a coffee a little while ago and we got chatting. She let it slip about your wife introducing herself to your girlfriend. She didn’t mean to, so please don’t be angry with her.’ He frowned disapprovingly at Gabriel. ‘That must have been awkward though?’
‘I must remember to thank Fi for that,’ he said, irritated that she’d been gossiping about him and making a mental note to speak to her. She probably didn’t mean anything by it, but it wasn’t very professional. ‘It isn’t quite as it seems, though. Firstly, Bella and I aren’t together any more and the divorce is just a technicality. Secondly, Daisy isn’t my girlfriend, more’s the pity.’
‘Keep varnishing,’ Luke said, indicating the brush Gabriel was holding down by his side.
‘Sorry.’ He did as he was told. ‘Bella really is just a friend now, apart from the marriage certificate connecting us. As soon as we can get divorced we will. Both of us look forward to being free from the other.’
‘Good, I’m glad,’ Luke said. ‘I don’t know Daisy, but from what Fi tells me she’s a pleasant girl.’
‘She is,’ Gabe agreed.
Finally, having completed the tasks Luke had given him, Gabriel helped him pack up his pick-up truck and thanked him again. He noticed the time and went to find Daisy, relieved to find her exactly where he’d last seen her.
‘I’m sorry for taking twice as long as I’d promised,’ he said, wondering how many times he’d end up having to apologise to people today.
‘I did pack up when you didn’t come back,’ she said. ‘But when I passed the orangery and saw you hard at work with Luke, I thought I couldn’t blame you.’
He gave a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you.’
She shrugged. ‘I want the party to be a success. Your parents need the takings, especially after having to cancel that wedding. If that means me having to wait to go for a walk, then it’s the least I can do for them,’ she said.
Delighted she was still happy to go for a walk with him and determined not to give her the chance to change her mind, he reached out his hand.
‘Here, let me,’ he said, taking her hand and helping her to her feet. He didn’t miss her hesitation. ‘We can go through there,’ he said, pointing through a gap in the hedge. He wanted to get on with it without having to go via the rest of the hotel grounds and chancing bumping into Bella or Fi. The last thing he needed was Daisy to have any reason to decide not to go with him. ‘We can reach the Railway Walk from there.’
Distracted by this suggestion, he saw her confusion. ‘I didn’t think there was a railway here,’ she said, brushing a few stray blades of grass from her skirt.
