Page 86 of Best Summer Ever

Dad looked at me and smiled and I knew Mum was right, itwasa dream come true. I might have set it aside for a while, but I was very happy to be living it now.

‘I’ll tell you what else is a dream come true, shall I?’ laughed Dad, giving Mum a full kiss on the lips.

She looked taken aback by the show of affection, but delightfully so.

‘What?’ she sighed dreamily and I felt relieved that I was no longer living under their roof if a spark in their relationship had been rekindled as a result of my job news.

‘The fact that god awful smell didn’t turn out to be coming from the currently absent cat!’ he laughed.

‘Amen to that,’ I joined in. ‘We still haven’t smelt the cat, obviously, but I reckon those half-eaten mice she’d left in the little cupboard under the stairs were the real source.’

Mum made a gagging sound and I shoved away the memory of Dad carrying the poor decaying things out of the summerhouse on the end of a shovel, before I got to work with the Dettol.

‘Assuming the cat put them there,’ Dad said.

‘Anyway,’ I said, not wanting to talk about it anymore, ‘thesmell has finally gone and if the cat does come back, then I’ll be checking she isn’t carrying anything before I let her in. Assuming she wants to come in.’

I truly hoped my presence in the summerhouse wasn’t going to put her off.

‘Good plan,’ Mum keenly agreed. ‘And now you’d better get cleaned up, Daisy, because Nick will soon be finished for the day and Penny will be on her way from Wynmouth.’

I quickly had a slice of cake, a cup of tea and a shower back at the cottage and had resigned myself to introducing Josh to Mum and Dad because I couldn’t think of a way I could sneak him around the outside of the cottage without either one of them spotting him.

I dithered on the cottage doorstep, waiting for Penny’s car to come into sight, hoping Josh wasn’t going to feel like he’d been ambushed, but in the end my fretting turned out to be unnecessary because he wasn’t in the passenger seat.

‘Hey Daisy!’ Penny grinned as she climbed out of the car and then reached back into it for a huge cool bag that was sitting where I’d expected Josh to be. ‘I hope you haven’t eaten because I’ve brought some substantial snacks.’

‘Hey yourself.’ I smiled, taking the bag from her. It weighed a ton. ‘I’ve had cake, but I could still do with properly filling up. Where’s Josh?’ I then whispered. ‘Have you stashed him in the boot?’

That would have been an extreme act of subterfuge!

‘He’s not coming, I’m afraid,’ Penny said and handed me a crumpled piece of paper. ‘I found this pinned to the cottage door when I went to collect him.’

Nick arrived at that moment and while the pair kissed a very long hello, I read what Josh had written.

Really sorry to bail.

George has been a bit under the weather and hasn’t felt able to rehearse until tonight. As we’re playing in the pub on Saturday – eek – I didn’t want to turn him down.

Maybe see you all tomorrow?

J x

I was disappointed that again he’d missed an opportunity to visit Wynbrook, especially as I had such exciting news, but I knew he was nervous about playing in the pub and having not had the chance to rehearse with George would have only compounded that feeling. So, under the circumstances, I was willing to let him off.

‘No Josh?’ Nick frowned, when he and Penny finally drew apart. ‘Don’t tell me your summer fling is already flung, Daisy?’

‘No,’ I tutted. ‘Josh just had a better offer tonight, but he’s going to be gutted he missed out because I have news.’

I wondered if he had tried to ring my mobile or sent a text before writing the note. I didn’t get much of a signal in the summerhouse and obviously there was no phone line or wi-fi connected. I’d have to go for a walk around the garden if I wanted to get in touch with him.

‘News?’ Nick frowned.

‘Oh,’ gasped Mum, sounding all aflutter and definitely looking all aglow as she appeared in the cottage doorway, ‘it’s you, Nick.’

Her eyes darted between my two friends.

‘I could have sworn I just saw you two…’

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