Jill Mansell Boxed Set

by Jill Mansell

  ‘She won’t catch him,’ shrieked Mel, completely hysterical by now. ‘She’ll drop him, I won’t let you do it!’

  ‘Stop it. She won’t drop him, I promise.’

  Daisy only wished she had Dev’s confidence. She might not drop Freddie, but what if she missed him completely?

  ‘Daisy, tell her,’ ordered Dev, his voice hoarse with smoke.

  ‘I’ll catch him,’ she shouted up obediently. ‘He’ll be fine.’ Oh God, let him be fine, please let me catch him.

  ‘Nooo!’ screeched Mel.

  ‘One… two… three,’ counted Dev, and threw Freddie out of the window.

  Daisy caught him. She hadn’t even needed to move her feet, so accurate had been Dev’s aim. Freddie, having flown through the air in appalled silence, found himself clutched in Daisy’s trembling arms and promptly let out an ear-splitting wail. Daisy, tightening her grip on him and still panting, felt her own eyes fill with tears. She kissed Freddie’s blond head, hard, until he flailed his fists at her in protest.

  ‘Ouch, my ear,’ whispered Daisy.

  ‘WAAAAHH,’ Freddie bawled, whacking her again.

  ‘OK, now move out of the way,’ Dev shouted. ‘We’re coming down.’

  Daisy could hardly bear to watch. It was a twelve-foot drop—what if he was killed?

  But Dev wasn’t risking leaving Mel up there refusing to jump. He helped her onto the narrow window ledge and shouted like a parachuting instructor, ‘Three-two-one… go.’ Mel jumped and hit the ground with a sickening thud.

  Chapter 50

  ‘It’s OK, you’re all right, you’re all right.’ Daisy rushed over to Mel, praying she hadn’t broken her back. Crouching over her, she said anxiously, ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I think so.’ Gritting her teeth, Mel levered herself upright on legs that were shaky but thankfully unfractured. Then, taking Freddie in her arms and hugging him, she burst into tears.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ puffed Bert Connelly, arriving on the scene with one of his sons. ‘We heard shouting. Christ Almighty, love, are you OK? Is the little ’un all right?’

  Great billows of pungent black smoke were shooting from the upstairs window as Dev jumped. This time Daisy really couldn’t watch.

  ‘Nice landing.’ Bert nodded his approval. ‘Keeps himself fit, that one. I rang the fire brigade, by the way, when I realized what was goin’ on.’

  ‘So did we.’ Weak with relief that everyone was safely out, Daisy began to shiver.

  ‘And the hotel. Told Barney to get himself up here, pronto.’

  God, poor Barney, his beloved cottage ruined.

  The next moment Hector’s Land Rover came screeching up the lane. Barney, white-faced, leapt out of the back before it had even reached a standstill.

  ‘Everyone’s fine,’ Dev said quickly as Barney raced to embrace Mel and Freddie. Hector, wearing a dinner jacket, swung himself down and said, ‘Paula and I had just got back when Barney came pelting out of the hotel. I’ve phoned nine-nine-nine. God, what a thing to happen… sweetheart, look at your face.’

  Daisy’s eyes were streaming from the smoke. Putting up a hand to wipe them, she realized her face was streaked with black. Dev’s was even blacker; he looked like a commando.

  ‘I threw Freddie out of the window,’ Dev told Hector. ‘Daisy caught him.’

  Despite the horror of the occasion, Hector chuckled. ‘Daisy did? Good grief, I saw her trying to play basketball once at school. Awful. Well done, darling. This has to be a miracle.’

  ‘Hector,’ announced Paula, her tone faintly querulous as she shivered in a pale yellow dress and spindly heels. ‘Give me your jacket, darling. I’m cold.’

  Two fire engines arrived minutes later, closely followed by an ambulance and assorted villagers. Clarissa, who had quailed beneath a blackcurrant bush while the urgent people-saving business had been going on, sensed that the scary bit was over and began greeting people she knew like an It girl at a party.

  ‘I don’t know how it happened,’ Mel repeated numbly, trembling as the paramedics led her into the ambulance. ‘Oh Barney, look at the cottage, we’ve lost everything.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid. I’ve still got you and Freddie.’ Barney was shaking too. They could both have been killed in there. It didn’t bear thinking about. Gazing out of the back of the ambulance, he saw Paula Penhaligon leaning, arms folded, against the Land Rover with Hector’s dinner jacket draped around her shoulders. As he watched, Clarissa danced up to her and sniffed one of her elegant ankles. With a look of irritation Paula kicked her, hard enough to send Clarissa scuttling backwards. Barney, who at any other time would have been outraged, was distracted by a piercing scream in his left ear. Freddie was objecting to being prodded with an ice-cold stethoscope.

  ‘We don’t need to go to the hospital,’ Mel protested. ‘We’re all right.’

  ‘Well, his lungs sound healthy enough.’ The paramedic winced as Freddie’s protests, abruptly doubling in volume, blasted down the rubber tubing of the stethoscope. ‘But we’d better have you both checked over properly, just to be on the safe side.’

  Climbing out of the ambulance, Barney found Dev.

  ‘Thanks for everything.’ The words were woefully inadequate, but what else could he say? ‘I’m just going with them in the ambulance, but the paramedic’s pretty sure they won’t be kept in.’

  ‘And what happens after that?’ As Dev wiped his smoke-blackened forehead, Barney realized with a jolt what he meant. They no longer had anywhere to live.

  ‘The ambulancemen are waiting for you.’ Daisy joined them, Hector close behind her. Wondering why he was looking so dumbstruck, she said, ‘What’s wrong?’

  Barney hastily shook his head. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘He’s wondering where he’s going to go once the doctors have given them the all-clear,’ said Dev.

  Daisy looked at him, her heart sinking like a stone.

  ‘Oh, for crying out loud, I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life.’ Clapping his hand on Barney’s shoulder, Hector boomed, ‘You’re practically family, lad. You’ll stay with us.’

  Barney hesitated, looking as if he might cry.

  ‘What about… ?’ His head turned towards the back of the ambulance.

  ‘I meant all three of you,’ Hector declared. ‘No problem! Bloody hell, what did you imagine we’d do—lend you a tent?’

  Barney was now gazing at Daisy, who forced herself to smile. Hector, of course, hadn’t the faintest idea that there was rather more of a family connection than he thought.

  ‘Daisy? Are you sure that’s OK?’

  What could she say to Barney? Not on your bloody life?

  ‘Of course it’s OK.’

  In the darkness, she felt Dev squeeze her hand. Touched by his support, Daisy wondered what the next stage would be. Mel had moved into the village with Steven’s child. Now, just days later, she was moving into the hotel. At this rate, by next weekend she’d be taking over her bed.

  The ambulance disappeared down the lane. The fire crew were making headway with the blaze. It was midnight and more villagers, alerted by the unaccustomed activity, were turning up to find out what all the excitement was about.

  Tara, wearing Maggie’s parka and wellies over her pajamas, arrived as Hector and Paula were leaving. By the time she found Daisy, she’d heard the whole story of what had happened from Bert Connelly.

  Well, not quite the whole story.

  ‘Poor Barney,’ Tara breathed, stunned by the sight of the blackened, smoldering cottage. ‘Poor all of them. Blimey, his girlfriend’s only just moved in and now this. Did you really catch the baby or was that just Bert getting carried away?’

  ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’ Daisy took Tara’s arm and pulled her towards the lane before she could start drooling over the firemen. (Those hats! Those h
oses!) ‘Wait till you hear whose baby I caught.’

  ***

  ‘I don’t believe it! Her. What a bitch! What a nerve,’ raged Tara, stomping around her living room in disgust. ‘You should have punched her, that’s what I’d have done.’

  ‘What, for having an affair with a married man?’ It was nice that Tara was being so indignant but the words two-faced and floozy did rather spring to mind. Holding her wine glass out for a refill—desperate to get the acrid taste of smoke and ashes out of her mouth—Daisy said mischievously, ‘Couldn’t be like that yourself, then?’

  It was just as well Maggie had gone upstairs to bed—some conversations simply weren’t suitable for chaste, spinsterly ears.

  ‘That’s different. I didn’t sleep with Dominic and I didn’t get pregnant by him and if I had—oops, sorry,’ Tara splashed in too much wine, ‘I certainly wouldn’t move into the same village and flaunt our baby under his wife’s nose.’

  ‘You don’t know that,’ Daisy pointed out. ‘You might.’ In fact it sounded just the kind of thing Tara would end up doing.

  ‘Anyway, it’s over. I’m not seeing Dominic anymore.’

  ‘Right.’ Daisy rolled her eyes.

  ‘Seriously. I never want to speak to him again.’ Looking pleased with herself, Tara said, ‘He’s a waste of space and I deserve better.’

  ‘Blimey. What brought this on?’ Had Tara been given a talking-to by one of those TV therapists?

  ‘Well, his wife came to see me.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You remember Annabel. She’d been having him followed by a private detective. Actually, she’s OK,’ said Tara. ‘We had a really good chat.’

  Daisy glugged her wine. This was the thing about not bumping into your best friend for a day or two, you could end up with an awful lot to catch up on.

  Over the rest of the wine, they caught up.

  Finally, when the bottle was empty, Daisy said, ‘I’d better go. They’ll be back from the hospital soon. I have to decide which room to put them in.’

  ‘I don’t know how you can bear to look at her.’ Tara shuddered. ‘Or speak to her.’

  ‘Not much choice. It’s something I’m going to have to get used to. If they settle in the village they could be here for years. What?’ said Daisy, because Tara was giving her an odd look.

  ‘They might be here for years,’ Tara agreed. ‘But if you’re not, it won’t matter, will it?’

  Daisy was zipping up her smoke-infested fleece. She paused in mid-zip.

  ‘Why wouldn’t I be here? Where would I go?’

  ‘Um… well, Miami.’

  ‘Um… well, why?’ mimicked Daisy, mystified.

  Tara prayed she wasn’t putting her foot in it. ‘Josh said you might go. When he starts his new job, he’d take you with him. I was a bit shocked myself,’ she added hastily, ‘but the way he said it, it kind of makes sense. I mean, if you two are a couple, it definitely helps if you’re on the same continent.’

  ‘He wants me to give up the hotel and move to Florida with him?’ Daisy was stunned.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry, I thought he’d have mentioned it. I mean, it’s not that far away now.’

  ‘It’s thousands of miles away!’

  ‘I meant when Josh leaves. He’s only here for a few more weeks.’ Tara frowned. ‘I can’t believe you haven’t talked about it.’

  Me neither, thought Daisy.

  ***

  Josh arrived back at the hotel early on Saturday morning, swooshing into reception on imaginary skis and wearing a daft three-cornered hat to match his daft grin.

  Tara, who was busy attacking the higher reaches of the oak-paneled walls with her feather duster, said, ‘You look such a berk in that hat.’

  ‘Looking pretty berkish yourself, feather-dusting away with your skirt hooked up in your knickers. Ha, got you,’ said Josh triumphantly as she let out a little shriek and clapped her hands to her bottom.

  Tara recovered herself. ‘Good holiday?’

  ‘The best. You seem pretty pleased with yourself too.’ Pulling off his hat, he aimed it with a flourish at the newel post and missed.

  ‘The date for my driving test came through this morning.’ Bursting with pride, Tara whipped the envelope from its resting place, tucked into her flamingo-pink bra. Since arriving at work she’d waved it—the envelope, not her bra—at everyone she’d clapped eyes on, whether they were interested or not. Actually, so far nobody at all had been interested, but she wasn’t going to let that spoil her excitement. Just wait until she passed her test and they were desperate for a lift home from a party at four o’clock in the morning—ha!

  But Josh seemed genuinely delighted. ‘Sweetheart, that’s fantastic. When?’

  ‘Two weeks.’ She showed him the precious slip of paper with the date on and waggled her eyebrows in mock alarm.

  ‘Right, no problem. Intensive instruction. What time d’you finish today?’

  ‘Three.’

  Briskly Josh rubbed his hands together. ‘We’ll get a couple of hours in. Three till five suit you?’

  He really was brilliant. Daisy was so lucky to have him.

  Guiltily, Tara wondered if she should warn him about her brief foot-in-mouth incident regarding Miami. Then again, she didn’t want Josh to be cross with her and cancel the driving lesson.

  ‘Ten past three,’ Tara told him with a grateful smile. ‘Give me time to get home and change.’

  Chapter 51

  Upstairs, Daisy was in the bath when she heard the key turn in the lock, signaling that Josh was back. Hurriedly she sloshed more bubble bath into the water and spun the taps with her toes. Sometimes you wanted just that extra bit of coverage.

  The bathroom door swung open and Josh stood framed in the doorway with bottles of duty-free clinking in his arms and a giant bar of Toblerone clamped between his teeth.

  ‘Chocolate and booze, what more could any girl want?’ The words came out muffled; it wasn’t easy to speak with a bar of Toblerone clamped in his jaws. Letting it drop onto a pile of towels, Josh said with pride, ‘Be honest, am I irresistible or am I irresistible?’

  Daisy smiled. How could she not smile at Josh?

  ‘Well, you are irresistible, but—’

  ‘Although I have to say I’m disappointed. And hurt. I thought you might have tied a few yellow ribbons round the old oak tree. As I came up the drive I thought she’s bound to have done that.’ Josh crossed to the bathroom window and peered out. ‘But no, not a yellow ribbon in sight.’

  ‘Josh, you haven’t been gone for ten long years,’ Daisy patiently explained. ‘It’s been six days.’

  ‘You’re joking! Seemed like ten long years to me.’ Bending over the bath, he kissed her on the mouth. ‘Blimey, got enough bubbles in there? You look like a decapitated head floating in a sea of foam. Are you sure there’s a body under all that?’

  ‘Josh, we have to talk.’ Daisy hadn’t meant it to come out quite this abruptly, but he was trailing an investigative hand through the water. Wriggling out of reach—no mean feat in an average-sized bathtub—she looked up at him and repeated slowly, ‘We have to talk.’

  Josh’s expression changed. The laughter lines around his greeny-brown eyes faded. Then, with a brief nod, he turned off the gushing taps and perched on the side of the bath.

  ‘OK.’

  ‘It’s not working.’ Daisy exhaled slowly, lifting the sponge in her left hand and squeezing it. She watched the water pour out, making a well in the foam.

  Almost imperceptibly, Josh nodded. ‘I know.’

  At least it was out in the open. Light-headed with relief, Daisy babbled on, ‘I thought we’d be fine. I mean, I suppose in a way we are fine. We get on really well, so it’s not as if we don’t like each other… oh shit, how can I say this?’

  ‘You don’t h
ave to say it. We both knew it wasn’t going to last.’

  ‘But I didn’t know that! I thought it would last,’ Daisy protested. ‘God, I so wanted it to last.’

  ‘Because I was safe,’ Josh interjected with a crooked smile. He sounded remarkably calm. ‘Because you wanted someone to protect you from the kind of man who isn’t safe at all. Like that husband of yours.’

  Steven’s wasn’t the face that had flashed most immediately into Daisy’s mind. But that was beside the point. The principle of avoiding getting involved with anyone who would only end up hurting you was one she still thoroughly believed in.

  All that the past few weeks with Josh had taught her was that making do with someone simply because they were good and kind and unthreatening wasn’t a viable alternative.

  Depressing, but out of her control.

  ‘And now here I am, finishing with you all over again.’ With her index finger, Daisy stroked the springy blond hairs on his left wrist, just below his watchstrap. ‘Are you mad at me?’

  ‘We’ve had fun. We’ve had great sex. And we’re still friends.’ Playfully, Josh picked up her wet hand and kissed it. ‘What’s to be mad about?’ After a pause he added, ‘Unless this means you’re kicking me out.’

  ‘Don’t be daft, of course you can stay.’ Daisy let out a shriek as he pretended to bite her fingers, and splashed water in his face. ‘You have to get Tara through her driving test before you go anywhere. And it’s only a few weeks before you go back to the States.’

  ‘Ah, but are you sure I won’t be in your way? Not got anyone else lined up to take my place in that big old bed of yours?’ Josh raised a teasing eyebrow. ‘I wouldn’t want to cramp your style.’

  ‘Nobody else lined up.’ Daisy was firm. Absolutely no one else.

  Josh winked and hauled himself to his feet.