Текст книги "Christmas at Lilac Cottage"

Автор книги: Holly Martin

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

Chapter Twenty

Henry returned to the gingerbread house and Penny looked at him hopefully as Daisy ran off to get a few more oversized sweets.

‘Don’t worry, I’ve sorted it. She won’t bother us again.’

‘Really? Because she certainly walked off with a skip in her step.’

‘I’ve sorted it,’ Henry repeated.

He threw himself into building the house, hoisting Daisy up so she could help to attach the roof and do the icing at the top, helping with the decorations and the best placement of the big foam sweets for an aesthetic appeal. Lastly, as several teams had already finished, they added the cardboard box to the front, making a short porch, and quickly added decorations and icing to that too. He barely heard the cheers from the audience as they saw what they were doing or the good-natured calls of cheating from the other teams, his mind was only on what he had to do after this was finished. It was scummy, he knew that, and he’d probably end up with no job afterwards anyway but it was the only way to stop this before it got any further.

The other teams finished and the judges walked around to make their decisions, but he was barely aware of any of it. His heart was hammering against his chest. For their ingenuity in using the cardboard box as the porch they won first place in the design stakes, something that Daisy and Penny were over the moon about, but Henry couldn’t concentrate, could barely even muster a smile as the hamper of chocolate and other goodies was handed over. They didn’t win overall because they had been one of the last teams to complete their house. Daniel and Maggie’s team won again but Henry was so distracted he even forgot to clap. He was finding it difficult to breathe now as panic slowly set in.

Edward awarded the final prizes, said a few more words to the crowd and then suddenly people were leaving.

He looked at his watch, it was already past half past five. He needed to act now.

As the last of the crowds dispersed and people shouted out their goodbyes to each other, Henry left Penny and Daisy and marched straight over to Edward. But as he got close, he noticed that Audrey, Clara’s assistant, was talking to him. Crap. He hadn’t accounted for this. What was she telling him? If she was a friend of Clara’s then she certainly wouldn’t be painting him in a very good light for what he had said to Clara in the office the other day. But whatever she was saying, he wasn’t going to turn back or change his mind.

He approached and Edward was clearly furious. Edward saw him come closer and his expression of anger only deepened.

‘Henry, is this true?’

Henry swallowed. ‘It depends what Audrey has told you. I can certainly tell you my version if you’d like to hear it.’

Edward nodded, his eyebrows slashing down into a deep frown as Henry explained everything. He had never seen Edward so angry before, and Henry tried to imagine what he would feel if someone came up to him and said these things about Anna. Henry would most likely take a swing for them and Edward looked about ready to do the same. Finally he finished. Well most of it.

‘That’s pretty much what Audrey just told me. She told Clara that if she doesn’t leave you alone she would tell me, and after seeing Clara with you today, Audrey knew it had gone too far.’

‘She threatened me with my job if I told you, but I’d rather lose it than let her get away with that,’ Audrey said, clearly as terrified about telling Edward as Henry had been.

‘I know you have no reason to believe me,’ Henry said. ‘I’ve worked for you for one day, but I have no reason to lie to you. I want this job, I moved across the country to take this job and I would never do anything to risk losing it, but I will not be blackmailed into sleeping with her so I can keep it. Sadly I can prove I’m not lying too. Right now, she is waiting in her office for me to come and sleep with her. She told me to meet her there at six or she would tell my girlfriend that we’ve been sleeping together. I agreed but knowing that I was never going to go and thought you might like to go in my place. You’ll be able to see that I’m not lying about this. Her being there should be all the proof you need.’

‘Henry, I don’t need any proof. I believe you. Sadly it’s not the first time this has happened. Although I’ve only heard rumours before and none of the men were actually brave enough to come and tell me about it. I don’t know if any of them slept with her to keep their jobs, I’d like to think they slept with her because they wanted to, not because they were forced to. Without any complaints or proof there was very little I could do to stop it other than talk to her but she always insisted she had never done anything wrong. I will go and see her now, and I will put a stop to this. You have my sincere apologies that this has happened but I assure you it will never happen again, to you or to anyone else. Please rest assured, both of you, that your jobs are safe, but I would ask that you please keep this to yourselves. The reputation of White Cliff Bay Furniture Company is a very good one and I would hate something like this to tarnish the company or get out into the local or national presses.’

Henry and Audrey nodded.

Edward said goodbye and Henry thanked Audrey for her honesty. He would have told Edward anyway, but it was easier having two of them corroborate the same story.

He walked back over to Penny, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He should have told Edward the other day rather than dragging it out like this. It could have been over so much sooner.

Daisy was nowhere to be seen as he approached. Penny was watching him carefully.

‘Daisy has gone off to see an art exhibition in town with one of her new friends – apparently Jackson Cartwright has some paintings in the town hall so she wants to see it and then they are going for pizza afterwards. I hope you don’t mind, I said it was OK. I gave her some money and Rebecca’s mum said she would drop Daisy off later and…’

She trailed off as he suddenly wrapped himself around her, holding her close to him and not caring who saw.

It was over and now everything could get back to being perfect again with this incredible, patient, beautiful woman.

Penny tried to watch Henry talking to Edward outside the lounge window without letting Daisy notice how worried she was. They had come back from dropping off a couple of ice sculptures earlier and Edward had been waiting for them, awkwardly talking with Daisy who had also returned in their absence.

Daisy was sitting next to her now, giving Bernard all the attention in the world and she clearly had no idea what was going on other than Henry was talking to his boss. Edward had obviously been very diplomatic with whatever he had talked to her about.

Whatever was going on, they both looked very serious.

She watched Edward walk off and Henry wave him goodbye before he let himself back in through the front door. He didn’t say anything but the look he gave her was one of pure relief. It really was over, and by the looks of things his job was safe too. Henry hadn’t said a lot about what had happened after the Gingerbread House Race, or what Clara had said to him, just that he had told Edward everything and he would just have to wait and see what would happen next.

‘Let’s all go out for dinner tonight,’ Henry said, smiling hugely.

‘I’ve already had enough pizza to last me a lifetime,’ Daisy said. ‘You guys go out though.’ She waggled her eyebrows mischievously.

Penny blushed. Daisy seemed dead keen on them getting together, which was quite a leap from the conversation Penny had had with her the week before.

‘You should come out with us anyway,’ Penny said. ‘You can have dessert. Don’t stay here on your own on a Saturday night.’

‘I’m fine. X Factor is on in a bit and I said I’d Skype Melissa anyway and watch it with her. You go and enjoy yourselves.’

‘Just me and you then,’ Henry said, trying to keep the amusement off his face at his daughter’s meddling.

‘Well, give me a hand loading the van with the ice blocks I need for the ice carving workshop tomorrow and then I’ll get changed.’

Henry nodded and they walked into the freezer. He helped her load several small blocks that she had cut in preparation for the workshop onto a trolley and they wheeled it round to the van together.

‘Are you going to tell me what happened?’ Penny whispered just in case Daisy could hear them.

‘No, I’ll tell you in the car. I don’t want Daisy to hear this.’

They loaded the blocks onto the van, wrapping each piece in bubble wrap so they didn’t stick to the van or each other. Then Penny went to get changed.

She wanted something smart but not overly dressy for what was probably going to end up as a meal in a pub, so she just grabbed a nice jumper, threw on a little bit of make-up and brushed her hair into a plait. Henry had seen her first thing in the morning when her hair was everywhere, he’d seen her in her definitely not sexy pyjamas and in her usual jeans and hoodies and he still seemed to really like her.

She ran downstairs, they said their goodbyes to Daisy and got in the car.

‘So come on, out with it,’ Penny said as Henry drove down the bumpy driveway.

‘OK, but I don’t want you to think less of me. Part of me thinks it was a pretty shitty thing to do. Clara wasn’t taking no for an answer – the more I rejected her, the more of a challenge she saw me as. She told me to meet her in her office tonight or she’d make my life hell. So I agreed.’

Penny swallowed down the sudden fear that clutched at her throat. Had he agreed to sleep with her in order to get her off his back once and for all? No, he would never do that.

Henry glanced over. ‘I had no intention of ever meeting her. I wanted proof for when I told Edward just in case he didn’t believe me. I told him everything and Audrey, Clara’s assistant, backed up my story too. I told him where he could find her, that she was waiting for me, but he believed me without that. I feel bad that I set her up like that when I didn’t need to. Anyway Edward went to talk to her about it and found her in a very compromising position, half naked, sprawled across her desk from what I can gather. She must have been mortified.’

‘Don’t you feel sorry for her, don’t you dare,’ Penny said angrily. ‘She did this, no one else, only her. She blackmailed you to sleep with her and threatened you with your job too. What kind of scuzzy lowlife does that? If that had been the other way round and you had blackmailed her people would look at you like a sick monster because you’re this big man bullying some little woman into sleeping with you. Why is it any different that she was the one that was bullying you? She deserves everything that she gets.’

‘Well, I still feel a bit bad especially as Edward fired her on the spot.’

‘He fired her? His sister? How did he do that? They both have control of the company. I didn’t think Edward had more power than she did.’

‘Well, apparently he does. The company was originally offered to him by his dad as Clara had no interest in it, but she kicked up such a fuss that their dad was forced to make her managing director too, but he ensured that there was a sixty–forty split in the shares of the company, with Edward having the bigger share so that Edward would always have the deciding vote in the big decisions for the company. Clara’s never done anything for the company, he openly admitted to me that he has no idea what she does all day in her office and that she’s been a dead weight for the company for years, but she was his sister so he just let it go. Anyway he’s sacked her now. He stayed with her whilst she cleared out her things and took her key off her. She won’t be back. It caused a massive row between them and I feel bad for that too. I’m not sure if sacking her was an overreaction on his part or not. I feel like she should have had a warning first but apparently Edward has heard rumours that she’s done this kind of thing before, but he could never prove anything. Maybe he just wanted to get rid of her and this was the excuse he needed. But Audrey will be relocated to another department in the factory and I still have my job so I guess you were right. Fighting for it actually made a difference.’

Penny smiled. ‘I’m glad it all worked out for you and I’m sorry that you had to go through that at all. But don’t feel bad about how it ended for her. She brought this on herself and if it wasn’t you it would have been some other poor man. It would have ended this way eventually. Plus, Jill’s family are completely loaded. Clara is not exactly going to end up out on the streets after losing her job. I think she’ll be fine.’

‘Oh god, Jill … I forgot that she is Clara’s step-mum. Do you think she’ll hate me for this?’

‘I doubt it, there has never been any love lost between her and Clara. Besides, this isn’t your fault, stop thinking that it is.’

Henry nodded as he drove down through the town and out the other side to The Bubble and Froth, a lovely little pub on the furthest reaches of the town that sat nestled in Silver Cove, right on the beach, amongst a cluster of houses. The pub was owned by her brother’s friend Seb and served the most amazing food.

They walked in and Penny admired the gorgeous huge Christmas tree that took pride of place in one corner of the room. It was tastefully decorated and looked almost boring in comparison to the wonderful monstrosity currently sitting in her lounge.

Henry held out Penny’s chair for her and she smiled at his impeccable manners before he sat down opposite her.

‘You look lovely tonight.’ He reached across the table and took her hand.

‘Thank you.’ Penny glanced around the pub, wondering if people were watching them. This was the first time they had properly been out as a couple in White Cliff Bay, but they had already been seen at the tree farm and paraded as a family that day at the gingerbread competition. It seemed that their togetherness was old news as no one was looking in their direction at all. She looked at the empty chair at their table and felt a pang of guilt. ‘I feel bad that Daisy is at home alone.’

‘You did ask her to come with us and it was her idea that we came out without her. I think she likes the idea of us being together, which is a huge U-turn from asking me not to date you last week. She certainly didn’t stay at home because she wanted to watch X Factor – she hates it, she’s never watched a single episode in her life.’

‘Well, I hope it’s that she wants us to get together and she doesn’t feel awkward being a third wheel around us.’

Henry frowned. ‘I hope she doesn’t feel like that either. I certainly didn’t get that sense when she was pushing me out the door and telling me to have a good time but I’ll talk to her just in case.’

Amy, one of the girls who worked in the pub, came and took their drinks orders.

‘I was thinking about Christmas Day. Do you have any plans?’ Henry said after Amy had gone.

‘I’m not sure yet, I might go to my brother’s, but he doesn’t like Bernard in his house so if I did go I’d probably just go in the evening – I couldn’t leave Bernard alone all day. Jill always invites me round but I feel in the way of the big family dinners I know she has. I’m happy to stay in on my own, there’s always some gorgeously trashy Christmas movies to watch and lots of food to eat. Will you go to Anna’s?’

‘We’ve been invited but… I was thinking it’d be nice to spend Christmas on our own this year. We’re always at my mum and dad’s or at Anna’s. It would be lovely to spend it with just me and Daisy. It’s always a tradition that I make mince pies on Christmas Day and we eat them fresh from the oven. They taste awful as I can never get them right but we always do it. One year I suggested that I didn’t do it as my pie making skills were so bad, but Daisy insisted.’

Penny smiled at that lovely idea of it just being the two of them and their traditions.

‘When I suggested to Daisy that we stayed at home this year, she loved the idea and she also said it would be great to have one or two friends over for lunch and then maybe go to see Anna in the evening. I’m guessing she wants someone else to share the burden of the bad mince pies, but want to guess who she wanted to invite over for lunch?’

Penny felt her smile widen.

‘Well, Bernard was her first choice, but you were a close second.’

Penny laughed. ‘I would love to come for Christmas lunch and I know Bernard would too.’

‘Well, that’s settled then.’

They took a few moments to choose their food and Penny couldn’t help the huge smile spreading over her face as she stared at the choices. This night couldn’t have turned out any more perfect.

Suddenly Henry’s phone vibrated on the table between them. He glanced at the caller ID and he frowned and quickly answered.

‘Daisy, are you OK?’ Henry asked.

Penny couldn’t hear the words but after a few moments of her talking Henry was already out of his seat, yanking on his coat so Penny quickly followed suit.

‘OK, honey, don’t worry. We’re on our way home now, we’ll be with you in about ten or fifteen minutes.’

Penny threw some cash down on the table to cover the drinks and waved at Seb and Amy behind the bar to say they were leaving. Henry grabbed her hand and marched out, still talking to Daisy on the phone.

‘Hang on, Daisy.’ He held the phone away from his head and covered the mouthpiece so Daisy couldn’t hear him. ‘Do you have any candles?’

‘Yes, in the drawer to the left of the cooker. Why, what’s going on?’

‘There’s been a power cut and she’s freaking the fuck out. I’m sorry about our evening.’

‘Don’t apologise, it’s fine. If I was home alone when the power went out, I’d be freaking out too. Let me talk to her, you can drive,’ Penny said, sliding into his car.

Henry passed her the phone as he slammed the car into gear and sped out the car park.

‘Daisy, it’s me, are you OK?’

‘No.’

Penny cleared her throat. ‘Are you alone?’ Henry gave her an odd look but it was entirely possible Josh had come round while they were out, another reason why Daisy had pushed them out the door so hurriedly.

‘Yes. Josh couldn’t come. I’m in pitch darkness, all the lights went out and I’m really fucking scared… Don’t tell my dad I swore.’

‘I won’t. OK, what are you scared about, aliens, ghosts, mad axe murderers?’

‘Don’t give her ideas,’ Henry hissed.

‘Yes, all those things,’ Daisy cried.

‘OK, the house isn’t haunted, I promise you that. I’ve lived there my whole life and never seen a dodgy shadow or had anything moved or go missing. If there’s such a thing as ghosts they don’t live in my house. If aliens were going to come down and destroy the human race, I think they’d likely start with the White House or the Houses of Parliament or the cast of The Only Way Is Essex rather than a little house in the middle of nowhere with one girl and one lazy fat dog.’

Daisy giggled. ‘You have a fair point.’

‘And statistically you are more likely to be murdered by someone you know than by a stranger and as the only people you know in White Cliff Bay are racing along the roads to get to you as we speak and Anna, who is tucked up at home looking after her babies, I think you are safe from that too.’

‘What if it is a stranger and they’re in the house with me right now?’

‘Do you know what the crime rate in White Cliff Bay is? I do, because I had to sit and listen to the yearly crime figures at the White Cliff Bay town council annual meeting two weeks ago.’

Henry took a corner hard and Penny banged her head against the window. She placed a calming hand on his leg; the last thing Daisy needed right now was for them to end up in a ditch because of Henry’s erratic driving. She felt the car slow minutely.

‘So the crime figures. There were five crimes committed in White Cliff Bay this year. Two of them were kids playing music too loudly on Silver Cove beach in the summer, one was a cow getting out of a field and trampling over someone’s garden. Mrs Jacobs complained to the police when her neighbour came home drunk one night and accidentally trod on one of her gnomes and an umbrella was reported stolen from a pub. Apparently it had been left to dry in a rack by the door and when Mr Sampson came to collect it on his way home it had been taken. It was, however, returned to the pub a few days later so Mr Sampson was reunited with it and no further action was taken. That’s it as far as crime goes in White Cliff Bay. We don’t have axe murderers.’

‘What if the axe murderer is from out of town?’ Daisy said, obviously slightly mollified.

‘Well, that’s entirely possible. You are completely out the way though there. You know it takes a good two minutes to drive from the main road to our house, longer to walk with a heavy axe.’

Henry put his foot down and she was thrown back in her seat.

They reached part of the town that was in complete darkness and people were out on the streets with candles and lamps, obviously making a big party out of it all.

‘You can’t even see our house from the main road,’ Penny went on, trying to calm Henry down too. ‘I can’t see someone making that journey just to kill a stranger.’

‘I suppose not.’

In the background, Penny suddenly heard Bernard barking furiously, immediately undoing all Penny’s hard work to calm Daisy down. Daisy gave a little whimper of panic.

‘It’s rabbits, I promise you, Bernard hates them. There is no one in the house with you. Look, where are you?’

‘In my bedroom.’

‘OK, so you have that white chest of drawers right next to the door, can you push it in front of the door?’

‘Hang on.’

Penny listened as she heard a few grunts and the sound of furniture being dragged across the floor and then Daisy came back on the line.

‘Done it.’

‘OK, you’re safe now. No one is going to get through that door and we will be home in five minutes, well probably two with the rate your dad is driving.’

‘Is he scared?’

‘He knows you’re upset, he just wants to be there for you.’

‘Is he clenching his jaw?’

Penny glanced over him. He was scared, there was no doubt about that. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were determinedly on the road. Perhaps all the talk of axe murderers had done more damage than good because he was clearly more upset than Daisy was.

‘No, he’s fine.’

Daisy laughed. ‘You’re such a liar.’ The laughter faded from her voice. ‘Dad doesn’t do scared very often.’

‘He does when it comes to you, honey.’

She somehow knew Daisy was smiling at that.

‘Bernard has stopped barking,’ Daisy said, there was an edge to her voice.

‘Because the daft sod has got tired of barking at the rabbits and probably fallen asleep again. Next time we go out you can have Bernard in your room with you, he’d protect you from any axe murderers.’

‘Is he a good guard dog?’

‘Is he heck but his farts are lethal, enough to scare away the bravest of men. Plus he’s really good at shagging anything that moves. Bernard could shag the axe murderer whilst you made your getaway, but the farts would probably kill the axe murderer before he came anywhere near your bedroom.’

Daisy laughed.

‘We’re pulling into the driveway now, we’ll be there in two minutes, just stay in your room until we get there.’

They bounced down the dirt track, slamming through pot holes in a way that couldn’t possibly be good for the car. She sort of expected this overreaction from Daisy, but not from Henry; it was clear to see that Daisy was his entire world.

The house loomed up over the edge of the hill and, shrouded in darkness, it did look slightly foreboding and sinister.

He skidded to a halt at the side of the house, narrowly missing the back of her freezer van.

They got out and he ran round the back before she could stop him. It’d be too dark round there to see the key hole, whereas at least she had the moon to help her get in the front door. She quickly let herself in and ran past Bernard who was snoring loudly on the sofa. She pushed through the connecting door and raced up the stairs. She wasn’t scared for Daisy’s safety, she just wanted to get to her as soon as possible.

‘Daisy, it’s me, open the door.’

There was a second’s hesitation and then she heard the drawers being dragged back away from the door. The door was flung open and in the limited light from the moon she saw a glint of blonde hair before Daisy’s body slammed into hers hard. Daisy wrapped her arms round her and Penny held her tight.

‘You’re OK, we’re here now.’

‘I’m so sorry, I’m such a tit. I should have grown out of being scared of the dark a long time ago.’

Penny heard a thunder of feet as Henry came rushing up the stairs.

‘Hey, it’s not silly to be scared of the dark. Trust me, if I was here in the house alone and the lights went out, I’d be shitting myself too. Don’t tell your dad I swore.’

Daisy giggled against her.

‘Too late, I already heard,’ Henry said, wrapping them both in a huge bear hug and squashing Daisy between them.

Oh god. It was beyond silly to attach anything to that hug but Penny couldn’t help smiling to herself. This was what it would feel like to be part of their family and it felt wonderful. It wasn’t so much having children that she had always missed, it was this feeling of togetherness and belonging that she had never had before. She released one of her arms and wrapped it round Henry and he shifted her and Daisy tighter against him.

‘I can’t breathe,’ Daisy protested from somewhere between them and after a few moments Henry reluctantly let them go.

Henry held Daisy at arm’s length as if checking her for injuries and Penny found herself smiling at how completely over-protective he was.

‘Why don’t we all go into my lounge and we can light a fire and some candles? I have some marshmallows we could toast too.’

Henry nodded and led the way down the stairs, holding Daisy’s hand. Daisy reached back and held Penny’s hand and they walked down the stairs in a chain and back into her lounge.

‘Henry, why don’t you build a fire and I’ll grab some candles?’ Penny suggested once she had turfed Bernard off the sofa and situated Daisy there.

Henry set about throwing in logs and twigs and Penny returned to the kitchen to grab some matches and candles. She lit all of the ones she had, attaching some of the taper candles to little dishes, and then positioned a few around the kitchen and brought the rest into the front room.

The fire was burning quite well by this point and coupled with the candles it sent a warm, golden glow around the room.

Henry sat down on the sofa and pulled Daisy into his arms, just as he had done with Penny the first night they had kissed. Penny sat down behind Daisy, leaning into her and stroking her back.

‘All that bloody talk of axe murderers scared the crap out of me,’ Henry muttered, kissing Daisy’s head and linking hands with Penny. He stared at her, his eyes filled with emotions Penny couldn’t comprehend.

‘It made me laugh,’ Daisy said, pressed against his chest, completely unaware of the staring competition going on over her head.

‘That was the general idea,’ Penny said, defensively, unsure if Henry was angry with her, although the way he was caressing her hand said otherwise.

Henry smiled slightly at her then returned his attention to his daughter, though he kept his hand entwined with Penny’s.

Henry woke up later with a crick in his neck and his two favourite girls in his arms. Penny had got up earlier to cook them all some food which they’d eaten in front of the fire and then they’d resumed their positions on the sofa in one big group hug. He knew that Daisy and Penny were mostly trying to reassure him rather than Daisy needing that reassurance. She had been laughing and joking with Penny over dinner whereas his heart refused to calm down.

It was ridiculous to react that way over a power cut, but knowing how scared Daisy had been had scared the crap out of him too. He’d always reacted badly whenever Daisy got hurt. He remembered when she had fallen off her bike as a kid and badly scraped her knee and he’d rushed her off to hospital. He’d nearly punched the dentist once when Henry had mistakenly taken Daisy’s scream of terror for one of pain and the dentist had barely even touched her. When it came to Daisy he knew he was completely over-protective and irrational and there was nothing he could do about it.

He looked down at Penny, her face tucked under Daisy’s armpit, her arm wrapped tightly round Daisy’s back. Their evening hadn’t gone anywhere near as planned but somehow this was miles better. Penny had accepted Daisy into their relationship as if it was the easiest thing in the world to suddenly have a teenage girl to factor into the equation. It would normally take weeks or sometimes months before he introduced his previous girlfriends to Daisy and there had always been an awkwardness between them. Even the ones who had faked liking Daisy to get on his good side had never had the ease that Penny and Daisy had with each other. Daisy adored Penny and the feeling was quite obviously completely mutual.

He ran his fingers through Penny’s hair, feeling the softness of it. She opened her eyes blearily to look at him and he just wanted to lean forward and kiss her, which he would have done if he hadn’t had the dead weight of his daughter lying on his chest.

‘I’m going to take Daisy to bed,’ Henry whispered.

Penny nodded and scooted back off of Daisy.

With some difficulty, he managed to extricate himself from Daisy, stood up and then he scooped her up. Penny smiled up at him sleepily and he smiled back before he walked out and carried Daisy up the stairs. A minute later he came back for Penny, who was fast asleep again, still on the sofa. He scooped her up too.

‘What are you doing?’ she mumbled.

‘Taking you to bed.’

‘Oh.’ She snuggled into his neck as he walked up the stairs. ‘I’m not really awake enough for that.’

He felt her breathing immediately becoming heavy again.

‘I can’t stay, not tonight. I don’t want Daisy waking up and finding me gone.’

‘K,’ Penny whispered.