Page 99 of Best Summer Ever

‘Me too,’ Mum joined in. ‘I shouldn’t have left really.’

‘No,’ I said emphatically. ‘Don’t go charging in. Give them some time. If Josh has got ideas above his station, then Algy is sharp enough to suss him out; he’s bound to be wary given what his son did.’

Algy hadn’t actually looked or sounded suspicious but I knew he wouldn’t welcome our interference, no matter how kindly meant, and if he pushed us away that would make the situation even harder to monitor.

‘If you go pushing in now,’ I therefore warned, ‘Algy will resent you for it, whatever the outcome with his grandson, and as a result, the damage to our relationship with him could be irreparable.’

‘Daisy’s right,’ Nick agreed and I was relieved to see Mum and Dad stand down.

Penny was the quietest of all of us and she looked confused too. I knew she was recalibrating her feelings about Josh, and she wasn’t the only one.

Chapter 23

I wondered if Josh might come to seek me out that day, but he didn’t and I made no attempt to contact him either. Given the nature of our relationship, I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Just like Penny, I wanted to think the best of Josh – and not only because he was standout summer fling material – but my more than fond feelings for him kept muddying the water as I worked my way through every reason I could think of as to why he’d turned up at Wynbrook now and, on a more personal level, why he hadn’t been upfront with me about who he was from the day we’d met.

I knew the best way to clear the air was to ask him outright, but my pride had taken a battering and I felt I needed to repair my armour a bit before I faced him. In the couple of days that followed his return to the family fold, I knew he’d been a constant presence in the manor because Mum had told me she’d heard him and Algy going over the entire place and that they’d also spent endless hours with their heads together in the conservatory.

Whatever Josh’s reasons for turning up, he certainly seemedto be making the most of catching up on lost time and I couldn’t help wondering if he was being respectful in giving me some time to process it all or if I’d served my purpose now and was surplus to his requirements. Now I had been harvested of all the information he needed, was I just considered collateral damage and casually cast aside?

I knew it was the once bitten, twice shy adage that was making me feel that way and holding me back from calling in on him and Algy, but I’d been bitten twice in pretty quick succession and had no intention of either setting myself up as more of a snack or jumping to unworthy conclusions. Especially now I had so much more to lose – my dream job, my lovely home, ultimately my entire happiness. I hadn’t talked to anyone else about how I felt either, because I had no desire to unwittingly feed into the local rumour mill, which was in full flow.

‘You should know,’ said Algy’s voice behind me as I was tying in some sweet peas and completely lost in my thoughts, ‘that I asked Josh to move into the manor with me before he went back to the village on Monday night.’

I straightened up and somehow stopped myself from saying that was fast work. I wasn’t sure on whose part I would have meant and I didn’t want Algy shutting down when this was the first time we’d spoken since I’d walked out on him and Josh.

‘He’ll get lost in all that space after staying in Sam’s tiny cottage,’ I said instead as I turned around. ‘Which room will he be…’

My words trailed off as I took in the appearance of the transformed man in front of me. Algy’s stick was gone and he was standing much taller. He looked years younger and the twinkle in his eye was back with more spark than I had seensince I’d returned. In the few days since he’d been reacquainted with his grandson, he’d miraculously turned back into the sprightly gent I remembered.

‘No, he won’t get lost,’ Algy said, shaking his head and looking marginally duller again. ‘Because he turned me down.’

‘Oh.’

‘He knows what everyone is saying about him,’ Algy carried on, making me feel uncomfortable. ‘That he’s only come here to try where his father failed. I take it your parents have apprised you of the situation between me and my son, Thomas?’

I nodded and felt my face flush. Even though I hadn’t personally fed into the thread of gossip about Josh, I had, of course, heard it. The general consensus was that he had arrived in Wynbrook to do his dad’s bidding, but I just couldn’t see that myself, even though I felt he had done wrong by me and it would have been less complicated and far easier for me to think the worst of him.

‘Well, not telling everyone who he was from the get-go hasn’t exactly helped quell the inevitable chinwagging, has it?’ I pointed out. ‘And I feel like he used me, Algy,’ I added bitterly, airing my opinion for the first time and to the right person. Better to declare it to Algy than in front of a packed pub. ‘I told him all sorts of things about this place and if he has come here with…’

I had been about to say nefarious intent, but remembering how Josh and I had jokingly used the word, I couldn’t utter it again. I hated that our fun times were all now lost. So much for my reckoning that the most recent couple of weeks had turned what could have been a difficult time in my life into the best summer ever.

‘He’s come,’ Algy evenly said, picking up where I left off, ‘to get to know me and the estate. There are things you don’t know about the situation, Daisy, so please try not to judge him too harshly. I can understand why you feel that he has treated you badly, but I promise he had more reasons than you can possibly imagine for holding back who he was.’

‘And what were those reasons?’

‘Not for me to say, my darling,’ Algy sighed. ‘But what I can tell you is that your parents’ future is safe now, with Josh around. And yours too, if you decide to stay.’

I had known I wanted nothing more than to carry on living at Wynbrook until Josh was unmasked. Now, however, with things between us as they were, I wasn’t so sure.

‘What do you mean about the future being safenow?’ I frowned as Algy’s words sunk in. ‘Was it not before?’

He moved out of the glare of the sun and I followed him.

‘Well,’ he said heavily, ‘to tell you the truth, no, it wasn’t. This whole selling blooms from Wynbrook idea wasn’t set up with longevity in mind, you know.’

‘It wasn’t?’ I swallowed, looking back at the flower beds.

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