Page 1 of Electric Kiss

Chapter One

Daisy

Daisy Turner had been back on Copper Island for three months. In those few months, a day hadn’t passed without seeing her niece, Isobel. Now that autumn was approaching, Isobel would be in soft squishy onesies, perfect for cuddling. Archer, Daisy’s brother and his wife, Erica, had taken to parenthood like they were born to do it.

Daisy had been up since dawn, gone for a run, and returned to shower before she ate breakfast while working on Edward Hall accounts. She and her brothers had started their business mid-way through the financial year while she got work experience after her accountancy qualifications were achieved. It was their first full financial year running the business, and she was keen to make sure everything was in order. That meant she worked every day as it was just her running the money side of things.

Not that she minded.

The four of them had made a commitment to staytogether on Copper Island and run the event business out of Edward Hall. It still surprised her that their aunt had signed it over. Daisy looked through every part of their accounts to make sure they owned every penny they made.

Looking at the clock on her laptop screen, she closed the lid and pushed back on the dining room chair, forgetting it didn’t have wheels like her office chair. Groaning, she turned to the side and stood up. Daisy hadn’t noticed, but the scents of her childhood had returned with her. Rusty metal and wood, wood smoke, the heat of the fire, and the aroma of sea air, until now.

Remembering that she was in her cottage, she smiled. It was her first home where she didn’t have to share a room, bathroom, kitchen, or thoughts unless she wanted to.

Living on Copper Island growing up, there was always someone watching. Then at college and university, she shared housing. When she eventually got onto the rigs, it was even more cramped and no place for solace. The only respite she had was when she and her siblings went travelling the world. Her three brothers shared a room, and she had the other, but she was still with company.

Daisy had always felt the loneliness of being the youngest Turner. They didn’t like her at school because of her surname and that she was ahead in her school years. She graduated early from High School. Daisy completed her college diploma in half the time and then passed her engineering degree with flying colours. She wanted to be on the rigs with her dad and brothers.

Working with her dad was short-lived. Two weeks after she arrived on the rigs, he died.

Brain aneurism, dead before he hit the floor. Devastation rippled through her siblings to varying degrees, hittingLuke the hardest as he was the medic on the rig and felt responsible.

Daisy had a secret weapon, but it didn’t fill the loneliness of no one accepting her. She was too bright, too feisty, too accomplished, too happy, and too much of a Turner. She seemed to repel everyone. At school, they mercilessly bullied her as the nerdy girl in a year with girls two years older than her. No one wanted to be her friend. Same for college and then university. It startled Daisy to find there were still men who thought women shouldn’t do engineering degrees. When she got to the rigs, it was full-throttle misogyny.

She gave up very early in life, making friends. She hadn’t made a single one in her thirty years.

Daisy swiped up her keys from the kitchen counter to her cottage but left her back door unlocked as she walked outside, letting the door close behind her. Her mission wouldn’t take long, so she didn’t bother locking up after herself. Luke had a habit of coming along to the cottages to make sure they were all locked. He suspected that Aunt Cynthia would come searching for the tin he had found in the warehouse.

She hurried along the dirt path that connected the five cottages. They stood in a row but had a decent amount of space between them. They had privacy.

Daisy had three cottages to her left and one to her right. Her section of the path to Luke and Freya’s place was less worn. Dried leaves and twigs crunched under her feet. The path was dirt, unpaved and uneven, like too many birds had dropped their cargo as they flew by.

The autumn leaves scattered over the section from Luke’s place to Jason and Heidi’s place, but still it was clearer. The nearer she got to Archer and Erica’s place, themore debris free and trenched the path became. It was early September, so they were yet to get the miserable mornings of horizontal rain that lashed at her face. She wasn’t looking forward to October in the least. Her memories of trudging to and from school leading up to half-term were dire.

In the distance, across the lawns, the ocean crashed against the rocks, the sound calling her to it. The path was rough and worn in places, lined with weeds and tall grass. Daisy hoped they kept the stretch rural. The path she hurried along ran parallel to the cottages. Their homes were on her left and the wide expanse of grass was to her right that led up to fencing and then a cliff. The beach was at the bottom of the sheer drop. The sand was white, and the water on a calm day was clear. With the autumnal weather, Daisy betted it wouldn’t be long until the waters were murky as the waves rushed to the shore.

Daisy breathed in the salty sea air. It had a sharp tang to it, like the weather was on the turn. Growing up on Copper Island, she didn’t need the weather forecaster or the weather app on her phone. She just needed to smell the air. The cool autumn air was a welcome change from the heat of summer. Daisy would be glad to get back to her cottage.

Freya would be at school, and Heidi, Jason’s wife, would be at the surgery. Luke would be at Edward Hall along with Jason, no doubt eating his way through Jason’s stores of cupcakes. It did not surprise Daisy that no one was about in their homes. Just because it was Saturday didn’t mean they had the day off. Daisy wasn’t going into her office at Edward Hall to work, as she had a mission.

Daisy could already smell the rich aroma of fresh coffee that wafted from Archer and Erica’s place. The new parents were always up early, even before Daisy awoke.

“Yes,” Archer shouted as soon as he clocked her comingpast the wall and onto their back patio. “The baby sitter has arrived.”

Archer yawned, then grinned, stood up and stretched tall with his arms above his head like he’d been snoozing. Daisy wouldn’t put it past him, as their three-month-old daughter was keeping them awake at night.

Two coffee mugs sat steaming on the squat table. She went straight for the nearest cup.

Archer was dressed casually in long shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt. He was still barefoot, with his trainers under the table. Another sign he was taking a quick nap.

“Where is Isobel?” Daisy demanded, craning her neck to look through the glass door that led into the kitchen.

Daisy shook her head, her smile widening with each second, excited to see her niece.

“No hello for your brother?” he asked, with fake misery etched across his face.

Daisy rolled her eyes, an amused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Nope. You just called me the babysitter. I want baby cuddles.”

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