She shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly. ‘Maybe you need to talk this through with Stella. I’m not a part of your life. Let’s face it, I never really have been, and its fine,’ she said, when he went to protest. ‘I like being independent. You carry on and I’ll do the same, and if we meet again we’ll say hello and be civil.’
‘But you’re my daughter and I love you.’
Daisy closed her eyes, desperately trying to remain calm and not let him know now much this was taking out of her. ‘But I don’t really fit into your life any more, do I?’ she said, wishing he’d leave her alone.
‘You could, if you wanted to,’ he argued, his voice quiet and strained.
‘Let’s leave it for now, shall we? I’m still recovering from Mum dying and trying to make a life for myself. Maybe in a couple of years we could give it another try.’
‘But how will I know where to contact you?’
She thought for a moment. ‘Write to me here. I’ll make sure they have a forwarding address when I move on.’
‘Peter!’ someone called from higher up the pathway. He stiffened and Daisy realised it must be Stella.
‘You’d better go,’ she said. ‘You don’t want her to discover we’ve met up in secret.’
She watched him head off into the hotel, thinking that she had no intention of being second best any more. His wife and son now knew about her and she had no intention of meeting him behind their backs ever again. She would hate someone to do that to her.
The following morning Daisy woke before her alarm went off. Her first thought was the chaos that would be caused to the party guests if the fog hadn’t dispersed. Willing the fog to have lifted, she got out of bed and took three strides to her bedroom window. She pulled back the curtains and winced. She could barely see a few feet ahead of her. Her heart sank as she wondered how the party was going to turn out when most of its important guests wouldn’t be able to attend. She hurriedly showered and dressed and went to find Gabriel to see if there was anything she could do to help.
‘Not good, is it?’ he said, staring out of the front door of the hotel, his tanned arms crossed in front of his chest. ‘I spoke to Bryn and Soraya last night and explained that this sometimes happens. I tried to persuade them to book the ferry for them and their family to come across today. It’s the only way they’re going to get here. I hope they did as I suggested.’
‘Me too.’
‘I saw the Lapins de Lune van on my way throughhere,’ she said, recalling the two girls unloading their hampers with a tall fair man and two of the hotel bar staff. ‘I thought they did chintzy weddings, or that’s what Fi said anyway.’
‘They do all sorts of events,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Shall we go and see if we can lend them a hand?’
They walked to the car park at the rear of the hotel.
‘They have vintage crockery with some nice Art Deco designs which they’ll use here,’ he said. ‘Izzy and Jess have only been going a couple of years, but they helped my parents out after the fire and they’re very hardworking girls,’ he said.
Daisy loved the idea of having her own business one day and said so.
‘What would you like to do?’ he asked, holding open the back door and stepping back to let her pass.
‘I’m not really sure. I’d love my own gallery, but I know that’s expensive and out of my league.’
‘You shouldn’t ever doubt yourself.’ He frowned. ‘You can do whatever you wish, you know. You’ll find a way, I’m sure of it.’
She smiled up at him. ‘I wish I had as much faith in my abilities as you seem to,’ she said, spotting the two girls still unloading their van and giggling with the men helping them.
‘I know what you mean,’ he said.
Confused by what he’d said, she stopped. ‘What?’
He shook his head. ‘Only that my grandmother was saying something similar to me the other day.’
She relaxed. She probably shouldn’t be so defensive. She was aware that for some reason she always assumed someone was trying to put her down or was making a derogatory remark. Especially Gabriel, but he’d only ever been kind to her, she realised. She wondered if it had something to do with the way her mum had always looked at things. She hoped she wasn’t becoming like her; it hadbeen hard living with someone who only ever seemed to see the negative in things.
‘Lydia’s right; you should have more faith in yourself,’ she said eventually.
‘Ditto,’ he said, giving her a brief hug. ‘I think we could both learn a lot from her.’
‘Hey, Izzy, Jess,’ Gabriel called, taking Daisy by the hand and leading her over to the van to meet them. ‘Meet Daisy. She’s a friend of mine who’s working here on reception for the summer. We’ve come to help unload your stuff.’
‘We met at the Sunset Concert, remember?’ Jess said, noticing Daisy’s hand in his.
