‘Don’t speak to her like that,’ Blake told him again, glaring.
‘Maybe we should all calm down…’ Willow said worriedly. It did seem like Blake and Henry could easily come to blows if this carried on.
Sarah grabbed Blake’s arm. ‘Please, Blakey. Can we talk alone inside? I know you’ve done this to punish me. I get it. But she can’t mean as much to you as I do. And what about our business together?’ She stared up at him with glistening eyes.
I watched as Blake’s chest sagged. He was clearly torn. I felt bad for him. He’d stuck up for me and lied to Henry to help me and now he felt terrible for lying. Pushing aside my nerves, I did what I needed to do to help him in return. ‘It’s okay,’ I said, looking at Blake. ‘Go and speak to Sarah in your cottage. Henry, let’s go for a walk.’ I glanced at Willow. ‘It’ll be fine,’ I promised her although I wasn’t at all sure it would be.
‘I don’t want to leave you,’ Blake said. All eyes were on us but for a second, I didn’t notice them as I met his earnest gaze.
‘It will be okay,’ I said softly.
Henry let out a loud puff of air. ‘Can we go, please?’ he said impatiently, starting to walk away. I remembered then all the times he had walked on ahead of me like he couldn’t bring himself to match my slower pace.
‘Finally,’ Sarah said, starting to move towards Blake’s cottage.
Blake kept his eyes on me. ‘Well, I guess, I better…’
Somehow, I found myself reaching out to give his arm a gentle squeeze. ‘I’ll see you later,’ I said.
‘You will,’ he promised me. It made me feel a tiny bit better.
‘Daisy,’ Willow said as I started to follow Henry. ‘Make sure you do what you want to do, yeah? I’m here if you need me.’
I nodded, grateful that people cared about me here. ‘Thanks, Willow.’
It felt way too soon to face Henry but I had no choice. Like he always did, he’d bulldozed in, giving me no chance to work out how I felt by turning up here. And now I’d fallen into a lie that Blake and I weren’t strangers but old friends that were reconnecting. Sarah thought we were seeing each other and neither of us had denied it.
Everything felt like it was swimming out of my control. I didn’t like being sucked back to feeling like I wasn’t in charge of my own life. I’d had five years of it. And was just starting to think about what I wanted again.
But now, Henry was here and I was scared that I’d go back to who I was before our wedding. So, I needed to go along with the pretence that I was dating Blake. And hope that would make Henry give me the time and space I needed.
13
Henry and I walked out towards the crop fields. The breeze was strong but I liked the coolness of it. It helped to keep my head clear.
‘This feels like the last place you belong,’ Henry said once we were alone.
It was the opposite to how I’d been feeling. It made me stumble a little in my step. Was he right?
‘And you changed your hair,’ he continued, giving me an appraising look. ‘Why?’
I glanced across at him. Henry was handsome. I couldn’t deny that. He was polished to perfection with dark hair, clean-shaven, smelling incredible thanks to the expensive aftershave he wore; he even had manicured hands. His outfit was expensive as well as his sunglasses. He was trim but he was only a bit taller than me, something that I knew bugged the hell out of him. I’d never pick a man based on height but sometimes, his hang-up about it had made me worry. He was quite judgemental about other people’s appearances and I thought maybe it was to cover his own insecurities, but sometimes, he could be mean.
‘Yeah, it was kind of an impulsive decision but I really like it,’ I said, touching my new hair. I knew I never would have had the nerve to do it with him around. He always said he liked women with long hair. ‘Henry, I said I came here for space. Why did you follow me?’
‘Are you serious?’ He looked out at the crop fields and shook his head. ‘We really are in the back of beyond. Daisy, I came so we could talk. You ran away from our wedding. Out of nowhere! You never said you were unhappy before then. Suddenly, you’re telling me the wedding is off. I’ve been going out of my mind,’ he cried, with more passion that I thought him capable of, to be honest.
‘I’m sorry that I left it so late to say anything.’
‘Why did you?’
We walked past the sunflowers. I glanced at Henry, who was watching me intently. ‘It had all been getting out of my control. I’d had no say in my own wedding! And you didn’t seem to notice. And then your mum started talking about what was going to happen after the wedding…’ I said. ‘That I would give up my job and have babies immediately. We’d never even discussed that, Henry. You were all planning your future without me having any say in it! That’s not what I want from a life partner.’
‘You’re right.’ Henry paused and I stopped too, shocked at his statement. We faced each other. He took off his sunglasses, his dark eyes meeting mine. ‘My parents took over; I can see that now. I should have seen it, and put a stop to it. I was just so busy with work and I thought you were fine with it. But I really regret it. I should have asked how you were feeling more. And what you wanted. I just thought we were on the same page. You usually agreed with me about everything. I thought we were both happy and excited. You really shocked me when you said you couldn’t go through with it,’ he said, and he did look genuinely upset about that.
‘I feel really guilty for calling it off on the day. And I know your parents went to a lot of trouble and expense, but it’s worrying that you thought I was fine about everything. When I really wasn’t. I know that’s partly my fault. And that’s why I knew I couldn’t marry you. It wasn’t fair to either of us.’
‘What do you mean?’
