Page 3 of Electric Kiss

“Archer has borrowed a boat from Keith, and he’s taking me to a cove he knows the tourists don’t.”

“Sounds perfect. Don’t worry about what time you get back. I have plenty of formula and the bottles you made up for me. We’ll be fine, and I can lull her to sleep with accountant facts about Edward Hall.”

Erica laughed and gave Daisy a hug, with Isobel squished between them.

“It’s the first time I’ll be away from her all day,” Erica said, stroking her daughter’s cheek. “I have to get used to being away from her, but it’s like I blink, and she develops a little bit more.”

Erica was practising her detachment issues before she started her next project.

“When does the movie start?” Daisy asked while she swayed and cooed at Isobel.

Erica sighed long and hard. “Not for another month, but it will be long days.”

“At least you won’t have to go far,” Daisy said, nodding to Edward Hall. “I bet we’ll know they’re here with all the noise a movie set creates.”

“Yeah, it can be a noisy place, but the grounds are big enough. We hope it swallows up any inconvenience it will cause.”

“A minor inconvenience is nothing compared to what it will do for Edward Hall’s bottom line. The cottages are far enough away. We won’t hear much. There are only a couple of night shoots, so it should all be fine. Don’t forget, we allworked on an oil rig. There is no quiet place on one of those.”

Erica chuckled. “I am excited to do my first historical film, and on my doorstep. No other locations have I been on have been so near to the set. The morning calls are going to be bliss in comparison.”

“Have you convinced Archer to dress like Mr Darcy yet?”

“No, she hasn’t, and it won’t happen. I’m staying well away from the camera,” Archer said, coming into view.

“Spoilsport,” Erica said and tilted her cheek for a kiss.

Archer approached and ignored his wife to kiss his daughter’s head in Daisy’s arms.

Erica pouted, and he relented. He pressed a kiss to her neck and took her hand.

“Come on, honey, we have some relaxing to do,” Archer said, tugging on his wife’s hand. Then he turned to Daisy as they backed out of the patio. “We’ll come and get Isobel later on.”

“Don’t hurry back on my account. We’ll be fine,” Daisy said, swaying the baby from side to side. She lifted Isobel’s hand to wave goodbye and held her tight.

Erica and Archer walked away hand in hand across the lawn and only looked back once. When they were out of sight, Daisy took a stroll out of the back patio area and wondered if she should go left or right.

“Let’s go for a wander before we see Nanny,” Daisy whispered against the soft hair on her head.

Daisy wandered back to her cottage and placed Isobel in her carry cot. She then clipped the carry cot onto the pushchair frame and they set off for a walk around the lawn in front of the cottages. It took forty minutes to stroll around and point out wildlife, flowers, and trees. It mesmerised Isobel as Daisy narrated everything she couldsee. The little girl gurgled as they progressed around the grounds and were sound asleep by the time Daisy reached her back door. Pushing Isobel inside, Daisy settled her, still in her carry cot, on the chair next to where she sat at the dining table.

If she ate with her family, it was around their tables, so she had set up her work station with monitors and laptop in her dining room. Daisy tapped away at her laptop with Isobel sleeping, conducting Edward Hall’s accounting business.

There was a message waiting for her from Warren Clark, the accountant who trained her while she was on work experience. Erica had set it up as Warren worked for the accountant’s firm, where she held her personal accounts. There were certain perks to working with an entertainment accountant. One of them was many premiere show openings. She spent six months learning all she could from Warren, and her evenings were at events the accountant’s firm was attending.

Most of the senior staff had families to go home to, but she was in the city on her own for months, so she grabbed all the tickets. Her wardrobe was filled with dresses, bags, and shoes for every type of event. She would need to create celebrations on Copper Island to get to wear the dresses again. She went alone for half of the events she attended, and for the other half, she went with Warren. He lived in a flat share with three other guys who were seriously into serial dating. Warren told her he was looking for one woman and he’d know her when he saw her.

So he was her platonic date for the events.

Daisy had been back on Copper Island full-time for three months and hadn’t seen Warren in person for that time. She missed his company, his easy nature, and his slywit. Warren’s running commentary at the art shows, and movie premiers had her in fits of giggles.

Warren:The office feels empty without you here, filling it with your happy energy. You left me with all the stuffed shirts.

Daisy:They are the same stuffed shirts that were there before I came for job experience.

Daisy smiled. She could see he was answering and sat back, glancing at Isobel to check she was still okay.

Warren:Not really job experience. You showed me a thing or two. Anyway, now you’ve shown me the colours, I can now only see dull greys.

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