Page 79 of Best Summer Ever

I had no clue how the situation was going to be received, but as I returned the tools I had used to the potting shed, leaving them exactly as I had found them, I reminded myself that I wasn’t a teenager anymore and that I no longer had to blindly follow Dad’s plan for me, and again abandon the dream I was finally backtracking to embrace.

Because this time I was actually going to embrace it, wasn’t I? The forcefully determined answer that filled every atom of my body and mind when I asked myself this question was a resounding, yes!

‘Oh, Daisy!’ Mum laughed, when I happily skipped into the kitchen. ‘You made me jump. What on earth have you been up to? You look like you’ve carried half the garden in with you…’ Her words trailed off as she realised that I must havetaken her earlier half-spoken idea to heart. ‘You’re all aglow. What have you been up to?’ she asked, slightly nervously.

‘Aglow,’ I laughed. ‘Do you have to talk like you’ve just walked off the set ofPoldark, Mum?’

She had been obsessed with the new version of the show when it was first shown on television, but had always favoured dutiful Dwight Enys over unpredictable Ross Poldark.

‘Well,’ she smiled, ‘youareglowing.’

‘Sunburn, mostly likely,’ I said, as I picked sticky cleavers off my shorts and pulled off my hat. ‘I didn’t expect to be out for so long.’

I was still so hot, my hair was practically plastered to my head. I knew I must have looked scruffy and soil-encrusted, but I didn’t care. It was an aesthetic I had always loved when I was growing up and now I had finally found my way back to wearing it.

‘And what have you been out doing?’ Mum asked, even though, given the state of me, it must have been obvious.

‘Making up for lost time.’ I grinned and she smiled back. ‘How did Algy get on at the hospital?’ I then asked her, having just realised that I had been so entranced by my time in the garden and his subsequent offer that I had completely forgotten he had been for his check-up. ‘I saw him earlier, but we fell to talking about other things…’

‘He was given a clean bill of health,’ Mum said happily. ‘Now,’ she added, ‘get yourself tidied up and you can tell me exactly what making up for lost time entailedandwhat these other things are that you and Algy talked about.’

‘All right,’ I said, as I reached for the nail brush, ‘but I’ll make some sandwiches first if that’s all right? I completely missed lunch.’

Mum made me up a plate while I washed my hands and then tied back my hair. I glanced at the clock as I joined her at the table. With the afternoon practically gone, I was certain Dad wouldn’t be too much longer, so if I wanted to sound her out ahead of talking to him, I needed to hurry up.

‘And you enjoyed that, I take it?’ she ventured, once I had explained, between mouthfuls, how I had transformed the cut-flower patch in the time she and Algy had been off-site at the hospital and then visiting Holt.

‘I loved it, Mum,’ I told her, my eyes shining. ‘I haven’t worked at a single thing since I left home that has given me the same level of pleasure or satisfaction. I know now that I should have put my foot down when Dad talked me out of pursuing my horticultural career. I shouldn’t have let him bully me into changing my mind.’

‘Oh, Daisy,’ said Mum, sounding distressed. ‘That’s a very harsh word, my love. I don’t think he bullied you, did he?’

‘Coerced then,’ I amended, knowing that was an accurate but no less severe description for what he had done. ‘Press-ganged.’

Mum looked even more upset.

‘He only had your best interests at heart, you know,’ she said croakily. ‘Or what he considered to be your best interests,’ she then surprised me by insightfully adding. ‘He just didn’t want you to get stuck and not see anything of the world. He didn’t want you to have the same narrow world view as he used to think his father had inflicted on him. And you know, I only went along with what he wanted for you because your exam results suggested you really were capable of achieving so much more.’

‘Well,’ I said, knowing there was nothing to be gained fromquizzing Mum over what she had once thoughtso much moreentailed or indeed raking over any of that stony old ground again. It was time I planted a fresh new crop and harvested the rewards. ‘Never mind my ancient exam results,’ I said. ‘The important thing is, I’ve finally worked my way back to what it is I really love and this time, nothing or no one is going to put me off pursuing it.’

Mum looked delighted about that and I felt almost giddy as a result of her reaction. Everything was suddenly falling fantastically into place; all the years of trying to squeeze myself into a different mould had come to an end and I knew, without any doubt, where I belonged in the world and what the part that I had to play in it was.

‘I’m delighted to hear it,’ Mum said sincerely, giving my hand a squeeze. ‘Because you do look happy.’

I felt it too, even though I still had to face Dad.

‘I feel happy, Mum,’ I told her, with a smile so wide I could feel it stretching as far as my ears.

‘So, what will you do now?’ she asked. ‘Ask Algy if you can volunteer here for the summer? What did he make of what you’ve achieved today? I’m guessing it was in the garden that you saw him.’

‘It was.’ I was then even more excited to tell her the whole story. ‘He came into the walled garden while I was still working in it.’ I wondered then if he had been looking for little Luna. She seemed to have gone to ground since her fleeting appearance on the cat-cam. ‘And he was over the moon with what I’d done. Had he not turned up when he did,’ I laughed, ‘I’d probably still be there now because I was so engrossed!’

‘So, what exactly did he say?’ Mum asked.

She had obviously guessed I had more to share.

‘He said,’ I announced, drawing in the biggest breath, ‘that he’d like to offer me the job of running the cut-flower business. Actually, properly managing it.’

I loved that he had enough faith in me to allow me to take over something which clearly, for some reason, meant so much to him. It was a huge boost to my confidence.

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