It was, in fact, incredibly selfish for Dan to go off on a solo road trip when their dad had died in a car accident fifteen years ago, because it meant that for the first time in her life, their mum couldn’t watch over him every second to ensure he survived.
“You don’tknowthat,” her mum said, her voice breaking.
Daisy checked the time—4:58. She refreshed the E! page, her heart landing in her throat as she took in the headline.Gary Newman Confirmed Dead.
She dropped her phone, copying the script she’d written on the bus, but replacing the first line about him being in hospital with the new headline. She clicked upload, adding an urgent tick. What time did the story break? 4:57. She could have done it quicker. She could have given the reporters more time to add it to their bulletin. Some of them might not have even seen it. They might still be running with the news that he was in hospital, when the rival stations will have picked up on it quicker. They’ll have picked up on it quicker because their mother didn’tcall the news desk almost bang on the hour, because she didn’t give a shit about the chaos that might cause.
Heart in her chest, Daisy waited as the jingle played for the bulletin.
“It’s five o’clock, I’m Harriet Brown. Gary Newman...” she squeezed her eyes closed and clenched her teeth “...has died.”
Daisy let out a breath, fist pumping the air, hearing the quiet voice in the background.
“Are you still there? Daisy?”
She scrambled to pick up her phone.
Daisy’s morning flew by after that. News was slowly drip-fed as to how Gary Newman had died, and each headline was reworked so that there was a fresh update every hour. She sent her reporter Felicity out onto the street to get some vox pops for a reaction piece. They varied from “Who? Never heard of him” to “Absolutely devastated. I had posters of him on my wall as a girl” to “I loved him inTerminator” (a film he wasn’t in so they had to cut it.)
The next time Daisy had a chance to look at the time, it was way beyond when her shift was due to finish. She was going to be late to meet Zack.
On my way!she messaged while still at her desk typing up a final piece for the 1:00 p.m. news, outlining quotes from fellow celebrities and costars who had already posted about Gary’s death on Instagram.
K,he replied. She should have left fifteen minutes ago and she wasn’t sure whether that response was an angry one or not. As if he needed another reason to dislike her job.
Her computer pinged with a new message on the intranet.
JOB ALERT! Investigative Journalist for our news desk. Keep News Now! At the forefront of UK and worldheadlines. Identify and pitch compelling news stories. Highest standards of journalism required. Experience necessary.Click hereto load your internal application.
Daisy leaned closer to her screen. It was the third time this job had come up since she started at Entertainment Now! five years ago. It was the whole reason she’d joined the Now! Group, in the hope that one day she could switch teams, but the timing had never been quite right. The first time, she was so new into the role that she hadn’t wanted to come across as flaky, and when it appeared for the second time, she’d talked herself out of it. It would be such a big leap, and she’d gotten used to her job. Enjoyed it. She had just waited and waited, watching as the job advert appeared, sat there and eventually closed and vanished.
She’d mention it to Zack again. See what he said. Standing up, she switched off her screen and left.
There were delays on the Victoria line, which meant that when Daisy eventually burst through the doors of the Baptist Church up from Oxford Circus, she was twenty minutes late.
“I’m so sorry,” she said to everyone, while scanning the circle of people to find Zack, throat dry. He looked up and locked eyes with her, his face lighting up at the sight of her, eyes crinkling at the corners as he pushed his dark brown hair away from his face. Phew. It hadn’t been an angry “K” he’d texted—or if it had been, she was forgiven. “Gary Newman died,” she added as though that would explain anything to this group of people who knew very little about her except her first name and her favorite chocolate bar. “My kryptonite would probably have to be a MARS Bar,” was not a sentence she ever thought she’d have to say out loud.
Denise, who ran the weeklyWeighing Downmeeting, offered a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and didn’t acknowledge Daisy’s late arrival beyond that.
It wasn’t exactly an unusual occurrence. Three months ago, when they first started going to this, Zack had chosen the meeting closest to where he worked as a human resources officer at a large hotel chain in central London so he could make it on his lunch break. It meant that every week Daisy had a high chance of being late, depending on the news that day. Denise, it seemed, was over it, despite the fact that Denise still got paid whether people were on time or not.
Daisy waited at the back of the room, as she was made to do when they were already mid-circle and eventually got summoned forward. She picked up one of the overpriced packs of low-fat chocolate orange biscuits by way of apology and handed over her money.
“Step on the scales,” Denise said, her voice monotone. She made no effort at eye contact.
Daisy stepped forward, then jumped off, putting her biscuits down so it didn’t impact her weight before getting back on.
Denise read the scales and picked up Daisy’s book, writing the numbers down.
“No change,” she said, finally lifting her gaze to run her eyes down Daisy’s body and back up, handing the book to her.
“Great,” Daisy said, forcing a big smile. It wasn’t great to Denise. She didn’t keep her return clients if they steadfastly remained the same weight, so she shrugged and handed Daisy her biscuits.
Zack appeared behind her. “Shall we go?” he muttered into her ear. “I’m not sure I can be arsed to sit through an entire meeting just to tell everyone I gained a couple of pounds.”
Daisy glanced around at the chairs that were still filled with people, hands clasped between their knees, as they waited for a pep talk on the week ahead.
“You don’t want to stay?”Given I’ve rushed all the way here,she didn’t add.
