Page 68 of A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft

‘I don’t know what time I’ll make it over yet – depends on what’s going on with Chez.’

‘I’m not going anywhere, so message me when you know your plans.’

He held me tight and, at that moment, I knew that no matter how difficult or complicated it was for both of us, I was going to pull out all the stops to make it work. I’d already broken the cycle of the everyday visits to Dad and felt better in myself for doing so. Maybe Joel and I could meet up every so often at a halfway point. I was willing to give anything a try because I could already feel myself falling for him and I wasn’t prepared to let him slip through my fingers. What had Phil said last night about timing?Timing might be everything, but sometimes what can seem the worst possible timing can turn out to be the best. Life’s chaotic. I say embrace the chaos!This was me well and truly embracing the chaos.

26

JOEL

I hated saying goodbye to Poppy, even though I was going to see her again later. As she closed her door after another incredible kiss, I felt like I was leaving part of my heart behind and the intensity of the emotion took my breath away. I leaned against the wall for a couple of moments before returning to my room to pack.

As I placed Cloud in Imogen’s case, I replayed her interrogation over breakfast in my head. Poppy had responded to it so well and hadn’t given anything away about us. There was a big risk that Imogen would tell Tilly about Poppy anyway. I had never and would never ask Imogen to cover anything up for me – not fair on her and likely to backfire on me at a later date. If Imogen did mention Poppy, Tilly would jump to the conclusion that Poppy was my long-term secret girlfriend who’d attended as my plus one and she’d be fuming that I’d introduced her to Imogen without Tilly’s approval. I’d cross that bridge if I came to it.

I loved how Poppy had skilfully steered the conversation away from her love life by asking Imogen about riding. She couldn’t have picked a better subject as Imogen told her all aboutthe lessons Barney had given her on Munchie and how she’d been scrapbooking her progress. That led to her telling Poppy about how Zara had introduced her to the world of scrapbooking after presenting her with a scrapbook and box full of tape, ribbons and stickers for Christmas two years ago. I’d bought her a Polaroid camera for the following birthday which she used only for special photos to go in the book. She’d taken a few at the wedding across the afternoon and was planning on a special section in her scrapbook devoted to the big day. The pair of them had discussed ideas for those pages and Poppy had said she’d love to see it when it was finished, as though that was their normal. And the strange thing was that, despite knowing her for less than twenty-four hours, it really felt like it was.

It took ages to say goodbye to everyone, but I was still ahead of schedule for dropping Imogen back at Tilly’s. Despite that, she’d already sent three texts and left a voicemail making sure I’d have her back well before lunch. I’d ignored them all. I understood that she was eager to have Imogen home, especially when I’d had her two weekends in a row, but both weekends had only involved one overnight stay, so it wasn’t like Tilly hadn’t seen Imogen at all. It would be great if that insight into my world – missing Imogen constantly – would make Tilly more understanding of my situation and willing to do something about it, but I doubted it.

When the car was loaded and Imogen was settled, I sent Tilly a text to confirm we were leaving. My phone beeped with a reply as I started the ignition but I didn’t bother opening it.

‘Have you had a good time?’ I asked Imogen as I set off down the drive.

‘It was awesome. I love weddings. I can’t wait for Fizz and Phoebe’s wedding and I don’t mind not being a bridesmaid. Can I still wear a pretty dress that twirls?’

‘Next time I see you on a weekend, we’ll go shopping for one.’

For the next half an hour, she barely drew a breath, chattering about all the things she’d loved about the wedding – doing the Taylor Swift routine, the photo booth, the sweetie cart, seeing her grandparents and having a sleepover with Darcie, if only for a few hours.

‘Leighton will be so jealous when I tell him about the sweetie cart,’ she said.

‘You got a bag of sweets for him, though, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, but I ate them all.’

I bit back a smile. That might explain her feeling sick last night.

‘I hear you’re going to have two more half-brothers in the summer. Are you excited about that?’

‘No. I don’t need any more brothers and it’s not fair that we have to move to fit them in.’

My stomach lurched. Tilly hadn’t mentioned anything about moving. They were already short on space but I’d been led to believe that money was tight, so I couldn’t imagine how they were going to afford a bigger house.

‘You’re moving?’ I asked.

‘Yes. How far away is Scotland?’

I felt the colour draining from my face as I gripped tightly onto the steering wheel. Scotland?Scotland?What the hell?

I was seething by the time I pulled up outside Tilly’s house. Scotland? Seriously? Even if they were planning on only justgoing over the border, we were still talking three and a half hours away. How dare she even think about taking my daughter so far away without breathing a word to me about it?

The front door opened and Tilly stepped out, wrapping her cardigan around her stomach. As Imogen ran up the garden path to hug her mum, I removed her suitcase, coat and dress carrier from the boot, my jaw clenching.

Tilly had stepped into the hall and pushed the door to, presumably to keep out the cold. Or unwanted fathers. I could hear her inside gushing about how much she’d missed Imogen and how she hated it when she was away which just added fuel to the fire burning inside me.

I pushed open the door and placed Imogen’s belongings just inside.

‘I need to go, sweetie,’ I said. ‘Goodbye hug?’

Imogen released Tilly and raced to me, hugging me tightly and thanking me for taking her.

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