Page 60 of The Little Shop on Silver Linings Street
‘Stop avoiding the subject,’ said Kit. ‘Why we never spoke.’
‘Because I’m antisocial?’
Kit smiled. ‘No… I asked you once about your family, when you first came to Buchanans, do you remember?’
Daisy shook her head, feeling a little flicker of anxiety. She had no memory of it at all.
‘I don’t remember exactly what you said, but it was basically “none of your business and don’t you dare ask me about them ever again…”’
‘I was seventeen,’ replied Daisy. ‘And obviously going through my final years of being an obnoxious teenager.’
Kit was watching her, a soft look in his eyes. That, more than anything, was making her feel nervous. It was an inviting look, full of empathy.
‘Perhaps,’ he said. ‘But sadly I think I took you at your word and didn’t really speak to you much at all after that.’
Daisy dropped her head. ‘Yes, I know it was my fault.’
‘Hey…’ he said gently. ‘I wasn’t being critical, Daisy, quite the reverse in fact. I’ve been just as guilty of dodging conversation. You’ve had a bellyful of my family over the last couple of weeks, and because I’ve spent a huge amount of time in my past trying to work out how I fitted in between them all, my head has been stuck in the sand so long sometimes I forget it’s there at all. Of course being tongue-tied, flustered and painfully self-conscious around you hasn’t helped in the slightest. But, no excuses, I should have been a better friend.’
He’d been flustered and self-conscious aroundher? She thought back to all the times she had thought him rude or uncommunicative… and suddenly it all began to make sense. He was just the same as she was and the more time she spent in his company the more she realised what kindred spirits they were. The thought that she might at last be able to share certain things about her past with another person was almost overwhelming, but that didn’t mean that Kit was necessarily ready to hear them. Or that she was quite ready to share them.
‘Me too,’ she admitted. ‘But I’m not sure I know how. I don’t really have any friends, so…’ She wasn’t sure how to continue.
‘Neither do I…’ He grinned at her. ‘We make a right pair, don’t we?’ He turned back to the counter and, after a few seconds, turned back around holding a ceramic dish. ‘Twenty minutes in the oven to finish off and it will be ready. Do you want to slice some bread for me while I just wash up a few bits?’
She sidled from the table. ‘Okay, but let me wash up, I don’t mind.’
Kit waved a bread knife at her. ‘Nope. You can wash up after dinner if you like, but not before!’
He collected various pots and pans from where he’d been standing and carried them to the sink, leaving the counter empty apart from a chopping board and the knife. ‘The loaf is in the bread bin on your left,’ he added. ‘And when I said slice, I meant great thick chunks, so we can have it with our food.’
She nodded, pulling out a round loaf that smelled heavenly. It was a far cry from the sliced loaves she ate at home.
‘Did you make this?’ she asked.
‘Yep, when I got home from work. It’s soda bread, so no faffing about with yeast and proving and all that. Try a bit.’
She cut a small slice off the end that was virtually all crust and was just about to nibble a bit when Kit strode across to her, a butter knife in his hand. He pulled a dish towards him.
‘You’re really not good at this eating lark, are you?’ he said, swiping the crust from her hand, stuffing it in his own mouth and then nudging her out of the way with his hip. He cut a huge chunk from the end of the loaf and slathered it in butter before taking a bite. ‘Oh, that’s heaven,’ he mumbled through a mouthful of bread. ‘Here…’ And before Daisy could object he thrust the same chunk of bread at her, so close to her lips that she had no choice but to take a bite.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
‘Ha! I told you it was good,’ he said, taking another bite himself before offering it back again.
Daisy swallowed, reeling. The bread was good. It was soft and salty, rich in flavour, but she had also eaten something that had just been in Kit’s mouth too and that just wasn’t something she would normally do. She looked up at his face, split by a grin as he enjoyed his food and she laughed. What did it matter anyway? She opened her mouth to accept the last piece of bread, rolling her eyes.
‘That is gorgeous!’ she managed after a moment.
‘Told you. I can teach you how to make it if you like, it’s dead easy.’
She nodded. ‘Okay.’ And for some reason Monique’s words echoed through her head.One small extravagance every day…‘Do you know how to make macarons?’ she asked. ‘Only I had them recently and I thought I should try and have a go myself.’
‘No, I’ve never made them but I’ll certainly have a recipe in one of my books. We can have a look after tea if you like.’
Daisy nodded firmly, and turned back to slice the bread, in thick chunks this time.
‘So what are you going to be doing for Christmas?’ asked Kit after a few minutes. ‘I’m guessing something fairly quiet, or will it just be recovering from all the shenanigans at the shop?’
