‘We will be,’ Jess said. She looked Daisy up and down. ‘If you need to borrow a dress for tonight, just say so. We always dress up to fit into whatever occasion we’re hosting and have several flapper dressers each. You’re about the same size as Izzy so you’ll probably be OK.’
Izzy clapped her hands. ‘You can come back to our cottage with us, if you like. We can help you get ready.’
‘We’ve got some gorgeous head-dresses you can choose from, too,’ Jess added. She looked at Izzy. ‘I think the black one with the peacock feather will look perfect with Daisy’s hair. Although we’ll need to tie your hair up, put it in a tight chignon at the back. I think it’ll look very dramatic. What do you think, Iz?’
Izzy nodded. ‘Yes. Daisy, you’re going to look gorgeous.’
Daisy couldn’t help getting excited at the prospect of dressing up in something so different to anything she’d ever worn before. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’d love to.’
‘Brilliant,’ Izzy said. ‘Now we’d better get on, otherwise we won’t have time to go and change.’
Daisy, having seen what they’d done with the tables, helped them check that everything was exactly as it should be. She was distracted by a sound coming from the pathway to the side of the building, when she spotted Gabriel walking round, joined by the tall man that had arrived with the girls.
‘That’s Ed,’ Izzy said quietly. ‘Oh, you met him at the Sunset Concert too, didn’t you?’
Jess leaned over to Daisy and whispered. ‘It’s like love’s young dream with those two since they hooked up.’
‘Hah,’ Izzy said. ‘You can talk. You and my brother drive me nuts with all your mooning about.’ She turned to Daisy. ‘One minute she’s besotted with my brother, the next with Ed’s. I think she just likes the attention from both of them.’
Daisy laughed. These girls were so much fun. She was loving being in their company and realised she was feeling happier than she had since Gabriel’s revelation at the concert. ‘What do you think they’re carrying?’ she asked.
The three girls stared out of the window and watched as brass stands were placed by the entrance of the orangery, five in a row, then a chain was linked to each one.
‘Oh, wow, it’s for a red carpet,’ Jess laughed, as Gabriel unrolled one between the two linked rows. ‘This is going to be a brilliant party.’
Daisy thought so too. She was so busy watching Gabriel and Ed setting up the red carpet, she almost bumped into two waiters carrying through a huge cake. ‘Oh, sorry,’ she gasped, quickly moving out of their way as it teetered slightly on the tray they were carrying.
They set the three-tiered cake down on a circular table near to the back wall. Each tier was different. The top one was white and circular, the middle one silver and square and the largest one at the bottom square with rounded edges and gold with pearl beading. She’d never seen anything like it before.
Two bar staff carried in trays of glasses and arranged them in order on a table near to where the cake stood.
‘I think we need to get out of here now,’ said Izzy, studying the room. ‘It looks like we’ve covered everything and they’ll want to be bringing in the food and booze soon.’ She checked her watch. ‘Come on, Daisy, let’s clear these hampers away into the van and go back tothe cottage and make ourselves glamorous.’
‘Here, we’ll give you a hand,’ Gabriel said, coming into the room and helping with their boxes and hampers. He took one of the hampers from Daisy’s hands, his finger grazing her own, sending shockwaves through her body. She glanced up at him and for a few seconds everything was blanked out as they locked eyes and stared at each other.
‘Er, you guys,’ Ed said, shaking his head. ‘We need to get a move on.’
Daisy could feel the blood rushing to her face. She looked away and hurriedly picked up another basket to carry. Everything was soon safely in the van.
‘You’re going?’ Gabriel asked, when Daisy stepped up to the vehicle. He looked, Daisy thought, rather disappointed.
She told him about the cottage and the girls lending her an outfit for the party. He smiled. ‘That’s brilliant. I’ll see you later then.’
As the van wended its way along the south coast, Daisy looked out at St Aubin’s Bay with its wide curved beach and Elizabeth Castle sitting proudly in the middle of the sea. The sun sparkled on the almost still water and she wondered why she hadn’t taken the time to come out and investigate more of this island by herself before now.
‘We live in Rozel,’ Izzy said. ‘Have you been there yet?’
Daisy shook her head. ‘No, I haven’t seen much of the island at all so far. I only arrived a few weeks ago and have been working as many hours as I could since then to try and save up.’
‘What are you saving for?’ Jess asked, stretching her arm out of her own window and yawning.
Daisy had to admit that she wasn’t certain yet. ‘I want to go travelling again, but most of all I want to be able to rent my own place at some point.’
‘Do you think you’ll stay over here?’ Ed asked.
She shrugged. ‘I do like it here,’ she said, thinking of Gabe. ‘But there’s so much I haven’t seen yet. I was told that it’s only an hour by boat to St Malo and there’s a train there that can take me straight to Paris in only a couple of hours.’
‘That’s right,’ Ed said. ‘If ever you want somewhere to stay when you’re travelling in France, let me know. My family have a home there.’
