Staying at Daisy's (24 page)

‘I said, scrub my back.’ Daisy wriggled in the bath, splashing water and bubbles over the side as Josh’s hand playfully slid round her rib cage. ‘That’s not my back.’

‘Anatomy never was my strong point. Good job I’m not a surgeon.’ He grinned, glancing out of the bathroom window as his mobile began to ring in the living room. ‘Starting to snow again. Hang on, let me get that.’

Daisy heard him answer the phone, greeting one of his friends with enthusiasm. As she lazily soaped her arms, Josh came back into the bathroom.

‘…what? You’re where? God, that sounds fantastic. Hang on a sec, she’s right here, I’ll just ask her. It’s Tom Pride,’ Josh explained. ‘He’s in Austria. There’s a group of them sharing a chalet in Kitzbühel and one of the other chaps has just been flown home with a smashed-up pelvis. Which is bad news for him, of course, but on the other hand…’

‘Good news for you?’ guessed Daisy. ‘Or do we call it a lucky break? Don’t tell me, they’ve got room for one more and they thought of you.’ Was that a niggle there in her voice? A little niggly edge?

‘Wrong, actually. The other chap’s wife flew home with him. They’ve got room for
two
more and they thought of
us
.’ Luckily Josh hadn’t taken offense. Sitting on the edge of the bath he added persuasively, ‘So what d’you think? Can Vince take care of things here? It’s only for a week. Tom says the chalet’s fantastic, the skiing’s superb, they’ve got a great crowd out there—and it’s mixed, not just a horrible gang of boys, drinking nonstop and throwing up in the jacuzzi. Come on,’ he leaned teasingly over the bath, ‘we’d have a brilliant time. You could do with a break.’

Daisy knew she could, but she also knew she wasn’t going to get one. Vince had already booked a couple of days off in the coming week in order to attend a cousin’s wedding in Glasgow.

‘I can’t.’ Regretfully, she shook her head. ‘Vince is away.’ It was a shame, but it couldn’t be helped.

Josh’s face fell. ‘OK. Never mind. Tom,’ he returned to the phone, ‘sorry, mate, we can’t make it. Daisy has to work.’ A pause while he listened to Tom’s voice at the other end, then, ‘No, no. Thanks, but I wouldn’t feel… it wouldn’t be…’

‘You could still go,’ suggested Daisy, squeezing bubbles out of the sponge.

Josh looked at her. Hesitating. She knew how much he wanted to.

‘Hang on again, Tom. Daisy’s saying something.’ Moving the phone away from his mouth he said, ‘Wouldn’t you mind?’

‘Of course I wouldn’t mind. You love skiing. You can’t do much here while the weather’s like this.’ She waved at the snow tumbling like confetti past the window. ‘No golf, no driving lessons with Tara. And it’s only for a week.’

She meant it. The moment of nigglyness earlier had been a Pavlovian reaction, a hangover from her marriage. Even when she had thought she’d trusted Steven, some inner instinct had never
entirely
trusted him. But that had been then. Things were different now. This was Josh, whom she knew she could trust. He was the polar opposite of Steven.

‘You know what you are?’ Grinning, Josh leaned precariously over the bath and gave her a huge kiss. ‘Gorgeous.’ The phone in his hand began to cackle and he spoke into it. ‘No, not you, you’re an ugly sod. I’m talking to this beautiful
gem
of a girl here…
yes
, I mean Daisy. And she’s naked. In the bath. Oh yes. And right now I don’t know if I even want to leave her here on her own, but she says that if I want to come out to Kitzbühel, it’s fine by her.’

Ten minutes later, it was all fixed. Josh had got himself on a flight from Bristol to Salzburg, leaving tomorrow lunchtime. By late afternoon he’d arrive at Chalet Sattelkopf in the heart of Kitzbühel, for seven days of hard skiing and seven nights of wild après-ski.

‘You’re sure you don’t mind?’ Josh brought a bottle of white burgundy into the bathroom and handed Daisy a glass.

‘I really don’t mind.’ She smiled, because he was looking like a young boy on Christmas morning.

‘You don’t have to worry about me. I won’t be getting up to any funny business.’

‘I know that too.’ She did. It was a great feeling.

‘Unless Jennifer Lopez is there,’ Josh amended. ‘Obviously.’

‘Oh well, goes without saying.’ Daisy nodded to show she understood. He had a bit of a thing for Jennifer Lopez.

‘And will you miss me?’ Josh sat on the edge of the bath.

‘Every minute of every hour of every day.’ Tilting her face up for a kiss, she added, ‘Well, unless Jude Law books into the hotel. Obviously.’

Josh nodded. ‘I can understand that. I’d sleep with Jude Law in a flash. But otherwise I can trust you to behave—what are you doing?’

‘I think you need a bath.’ Daisy hooked her wet fingers round the front of his rugby shirt and pulled him towards her.

‘Right now?’

She tugged harder. ‘Right now.’

‘Still in my clothes?’

‘You can take them off if you want—oops,’ Daisy murmured happily as he landed in the water with a splash. ‘Too late.’

***

Tara was having the most fantastic dream. She was sitting in the hot seat on
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
with Chris Tarrant giving her his teasing, twinkly-eyed smile. She was up to five hundred thousand pounds with only one more question to go and the audience was agog.

Chris mopped imaginary sweat from his brow. ‘So. Tara. Are you ready for this?’

‘I’m ready, Chris.’

‘For one million pounds,’ he announced, skillfully building the drama. ‘Here we go. In Greek mythology…’

Tara listened to the question, a smile spreading over her face as he read out the four possible answers. She knew nothing about Greek mythology, but luckily she knew a girl who did.

Even more luckily, she still had her phone-a-friend lifeline left.

‘Of course she’ll be one of your phone-a-friends,’ Dominic had assured her yesterday. ‘She’d love to help you. Anything you want to know about literature, art, or Greek mythology, Annabel’s the one to ask. She’s a real expert.’

Hooray for that.

‘I’d like to phone a friend, please,’ Tara told Chris Tarrant. ‘Annabel Cross-Calvert.’

As they waited for the phone to be picked up, Tara fantasized about winning the million. Gosh, it was going to be so brilliant… if she had that much money, Dominic might even leave Annabel and come and live with her instead. Not at the cottage, of course, oh no. She’d buy a much grander place than that…

‘Annabel? Hi, this is Chris Tarrant, I’ve got your friend Tara here and she needs your help.’ Pausing, he added significantly, ‘To get her up from half a million to
one million pounds
.’

The audience buzzed with excitement.

‘Oh gosh, that’s
fantastic
.’ Annabel sounded thrilled too. ‘I just hope I know the answer! Right, go ahead, fire away!’

As Tara read out the question, her heart began to thump with anticipation. Annabel was an expert; she knew
everything
about Greek mythology. She was seconds away from an astounding triumph.

When she’d finished listing the four possible answers, there was a moment of silence.

Then Annabel said, ‘Well, I’m so glad you rang, Tara, because I
do
know the right answer.’

Tara waited.

Chris Tarrant was waiting too.

The studio audience collectively held their breath.

The man whose job it was to send sparkly confetti tumbling from the ceiling prepared to pull the sparkly confetti switch.

‘But guess what?’ Annabel went on gaily. ‘I’m not going to tell you what it is!’

Gasps all round.

‘You can’t do that! It’s not
fair
,’ Tara wailed. ‘Quick, just
tell
me the answer!’

‘Nope. Don’t want to. Bye, Tara.’ And Annabel put the phone down with ten seconds still left to go on the clock.

Totally humiliated, Tara hung her head and said, ‘I’ll take the money, Chris.’

Oh well, half a million, that was still pretty good, wasn’t it? Dominic might still leave Annabel…

But now it was Chris Tarrant’s turn to be unfriendly. That lovely twinkly smile of his had gone.

‘I’m sorry, Tara, but the rules have been broken. You named Annabel as a friend and she clearly
wasn’t
a friend. That means you’re disqualified from the competition. I’m afraid you leave here with nothing at all.’

Tara woke up with a start, just as the studio audience were beginning to boo her and chant, ‘Off, off,
off
.’

What a completely horrible dream. And how
mean
of Annabel. No wonder Dominic didn’t love her if she was capable of such a spiteful act. Who in the world would want to stay married to a bitch like that?

Untangling herself from the duvet, Tara climbed out of bed. It was ten to eight. Dominic had said he’d give her a ring at eight o’clock and she didn’t want to speak to him before she’d brushed her teeth.

The big thaw arrived two days later. The following morning, so did Dev Tyzack.

Daisy, discussing deliveries with the head chef at the entrance to the restaurant, heard a familiar voice behind her and felt her heart leap like a salmon. Turning, she saw Dev leaning against the reception desk. He spoke again, making Pam laugh. In fact, making Pam laugh
skittishly
, Daisy couldn’t help noticing. What was he doing here? Even more to the point, what were those suitcases doing at his feet?

Feeling as if she was walking through treacle, Daisy excused herself and headed down the corridor towards him.

Hearing her high heels tapping across the polished floor, Dev looked over his shoulder and shot her a dry smile.

‘What’s going on?’ She indicated the three—
three—
Samsonite cases. ‘Have you run away from home?’ Was he actually booking in?
Why?
Why would he be doing this?

‘I have.’ He sounded amused. ‘And you would too, if you could see my home.’

Pam, who was a huge devotee of bad news, gushed, ‘
Poor
Mr Tyzack, he was just telling me all about it. The pipes froze, then one of them burst in the night up in the loft. The whole house is wrecked, can you imagine? Curtains, carpets, furniture—everything’s completely ruined!’

If Christiane Amanpour ever needed a stand-in, Pam was the woman for the job.

‘But on the plus side,’ Dev kept a straight face, ‘Clarissa has learned to swim.’

‘How could your pipes freeze?’ Daisy was puzzled. He had central heating, surely?

‘I’ve been away for a few days. My cleaning woman was keeping an eye on the house for me. She’s a frugal lady,’ Dev explained with a crooked smile, ‘who couldn’t bear the thought of all that heat going to waste while I wasn’t there to appreciate it. So she turned the heating off. When we got home at four o’clock this morning, we found water pouring through the ceiling. It was like Niagara Falls. Every room in the house is affected. There’s nowhere to sit down because all the chairs and beds and sofas are waterlogged. The electricity’s off. The wallpaper’s hanging off the walls. I had to get out,’ he concluded with a shrug. ‘So I rang here.’

‘Lucky we weren’t fully booked,’ Pam trilled.

Lucky? Daisy wasn’t so sure. Having Dev Tyzack around was going to be a distraction she didn’t need right now.

Anyway, who was this person he had arrived home with at four o’clock this morning? He had definitely said
we
.

‘How long will you be here?’

‘Until the house is sorted out.’ Hazarding a guess, Dev raked his fingers through his hair and said, ‘Three or four weeks?’

Booking into a four-star hotel for a month was going to cost him a fortune.

‘Couldn’t you stay with a friend?’ Innocently Daisy added, ‘Wouldn’t Jennifer put you up?’

‘Jennifer’s my secretary. She isn’t my girlfriend. She shares a flat with three other girls in Bath.’

‘My mistake,’ said Daisy. ‘She acted as if she was your girlfriend. And you were taking her out to dinner.’ Maybe she insisted on being fed before she slept with him.

‘Dinner can be just dinner, you know.’ Dev’s dark eyes glittered. ‘Jennifer put in a lot of extra work, helping me set up the conference. It was my way of thanking her.’

‘Why move into this hotel, anyway?’ Daisy persisted. ‘I’d have thought it would be simpler to stay in Bath.’

‘Daisy, will you stop interrogating the poor man? Heavens,’ Pam exclaimed with a little laugh, ‘anyone would think you were trying to put him off!’

Dev, unperturbed, replied calmly, ‘I like this hotel. It’s handy for the M4. And you allow dogs, which most places don’t.’

The phone rang on the reception desk. Pam answered it.

‘Who was looking after Clarissa while you were away?’ Daisy couldn’t help it; she knew she sounded like a disapproving social worker. ‘Putting her into kennels isn’t going to do her any good, you know. She’ll just think you’re dumping her back in another dogs’ home, she’ll feel abandoned all over again.’

‘I didn’t abandon Clarissa. I took her with me. When I said
we
came home and found the house flooded, I was talking about me and Clarissa.’

Daisy’s stomach squirmed with a mixture of relief and horror. Horror because she didn’t want to feel relieved that ‘the other woman’ was only Clarissa. And now Dev was smiling at her in that unnerving way of his, as if he knew exactly what had been going through—

‘Daisy, it’s for you!’ Pam held out the phone she had been giggling into for the last thirty seconds. ‘It’s Josh, ringing from Kitzbühel.’

Pam adored Josh, who teased and flirted with her unmercifully.

‘Daisy’s boyfriend,’ she cozily confided to Dev. ‘He’s away at the moment, skiing in Austria.
Such
a card! He just told me he’s dangling by one arm from the ski-lift over a huge abyss.’

‘It’s not true,’ Josh told Daisy. ‘Actually, I’m sitting on the terrace of a restaurant at the top of a mountain, surrounded by stunning actresses and supermodels.’

‘Plenty of food left for you, then,’ said Daisy.

‘It’s not funny. They keep pestering me, telling me how gorgeous I am. I hope you’re missing me,’ he said. ‘Jennifer, stop it, behave yourself… Giselle, tell Jennifer to leave me alone.’

‘I’m missing you terribly. But I’m going to have to go,’ said Daisy. ‘Jude’s just turned up.’

At this, predictably, Pam’s head swiveled round to the doors.

‘You go and see to him,’ Josh urged. ‘In a purely hotel manageressy kind of way, naturally. I’ll speak to you again later.’

‘Happy skiing.’ Daisy nodded at Pam as she put the phone down. ‘It’s OK, he’s safe. The rescue helicopter came along and winched him up just before he fell.’

‘That Josh, he’s a one. He has me in stitches.’ Pam beamed up at Dev. ‘They make such a lovely couple—yes, Mrs Kendall, how can I help you?’

As Pam moved away to deal with Mrs Kendall, one of the porters came down the stairs.

‘James.’ Daisy beckoned him over. ‘Could you take Mr Tyzack’s bags and show him up to his room. Room…?’

‘Six,’ said Dev. ‘But I’ve got Clarissa waiting out in the car.’

Clarissa! She’d forgotten all about Clarissa. Daisy, her eyes lighting up, said, ‘It’s going to be so great having her here!’

‘Nice to know one of us is popular.’ With a brief smile, Dev slipped James some money to take his bags upstairs. ‘Want to come and say hello?’

Clarissa threw herself against the passenger window, scrabbling at it with her paws and yelping with delight when she saw them. Panting with excitement, she leapt up into Daisy’s arms and licked her face.

‘So this is how it feels to be Robbie Williams.’ Daisy hugged her number one fan in return. ‘Hello, sweetheart, guess what, you’re coming to stay here for a while, isn’t that brilliant?’

‘Better than that,’ said Dev. ‘The carpets are dry. There isn’t water dripping out of the TV. And your Bonios won’t float across the kitchen floor.’ As he spoke, he retrieved Clarissa’s sodden blanket from the boot, along with her basket. ‘I’m going to have to dry these out.’

‘We’ll put them in the boiler room. They’ll be dry in no time.’ Tilting her head, Daisy let Clarissa lick the blusher off her other cheek. May as well be symmetrical about it.

‘Just a thought,’ said Dev as they picked their way back through the melting snow. ‘But if you’re not doing anything tonight, and Josh is away, would you like to have dinner with me?’

Daisy concentrated on stepping round a slushy puddle. Her pulse began to race like a teenager’s. Would she
like
to have dinner with Dev Tyzack? Probably. OK,
yes
.

Then again, would it be wise to have dinner with him? Not really. Actually, no, it wouldn’t. Not wise at all.

I’m with Josh now. I decided it was for the best, and it
is
.

Dammit, vowing to steer clear of men was all very well, but not quite so easy when they moved into your hotel and started having nerve-wracking effects on your body.

‘Just dinner.’ Dev sounded amused. ‘No hidden agenda, all above board. Nothing…
lewd
, if that’s what’s bothering you.’

Feeling irrationally insulted, Daisy climbed the steps to the hotel, lowered Clarissa to the floor, and watched her bound off in search of more friendly faces to greet and strip free of makeup.

‘Tart,’ Dev fondly observed.

‘I can’t have dinner with you,’ said Daisy.

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t mean you were a tart. I was talking about Clarissa.’

Honestly, did he think she was completely thick?

‘I know, but I still can’t have dinner with you. I’m doing something else tonight.’

‘Oh.’ Dev looked as if he didn’t believe her. ‘OK. Maybe some other time.’

Daisy flashed her professional don’t-bank-on-it smile. ‘Maybe.’

***

‘That man thinks he’s so irresistible,’ Tara scoffed that evening when Daisy told her about the dinner invitation. She had her own reasons for not liking Dev Tyzack. ‘He really thinks he’s God’s gift to women. Well, I’m glad you turned him down. Jolly well serves him right. When did this bottle get empty? Daisy, this bottle’s empty, quick, emergency, dial nine-nine-nine.’

‘OK, OK, don’t panic.’ Daisy, back from the fridge with a fresh bottle, uncorked it and sloshed more wine into their glasses. This was nice, being holed up in her apartment with Tara, the two of them just drinking and relaxing and generally getting everything off their respective chests. ‘I mean, I’m happy with Josh. You know how happy I am with Josh.’

‘I do. I do know that.’ Tara nodded vigorously, clonking her glass against her teeth. ‘Josh is brilliant.’ Even if he did have a big mouth.

‘And I don’t fancy Dev Tyzack one bit,’ Daisy lied, ‘but the thing is, he seems to think I
do
fancy him, which is really annoying, especially now that he’s going to be here for the next God knows how many weeks. And I have to be polite to him because he’s a guest, but he just seems to think this proves how much I secretly like him and I honestly
don’t…
Am I rambling?’

‘No, no, no… well, yes.’ Beaming, Tara dangled her bare feet over the arm of the sofa and waggled her toes along to Coldplay on the CD player. ‘But that’s OK, because you let me ramble on about Dominic. ’S only fair. Did I tell you about the dream I had the other night?’

‘Twice,’ said Daisy. ‘Did I tell you he’s not going to leave his wife?’

‘About fifty times.’ Tara was no longer letting it bother her. ‘So many times you wouldn’t believe it. But I don’t care, because you think you’re right and I know you’re wrong… oops, spilt a bit, lucky it’s not red. Anyway, how’s Hector getting on with Ms Nip’n’Tuck?’

‘Oh, he’s enjoying himself.’ Daisy wrinkled her nose. ‘She’s a bit of a townie. You won’t sleep with him, will you?’

More wine sloshed down Tara’s chin. ‘
Hector?
’

‘Dominic!’

Phew.

‘I’ve already said I won’t.’ Tara made it sound like a grumble but inwardly she was hugging her latest idea to herself. She wasn’t agreeing for Daisy’s sake, but for her own. It had come to her in a flash that afternoon. If she and Dominic were secretly seeing each other
and
sleeping together, where was the incentive for him to leave Annabel? If, on the other hand, she refused to have sex with him
until
he had left his wife—well, wasn’t that more likely to propel him in the right direction? Tara-wards?

‘And keep your options open.’ Daisy wagged a finger at her. ‘If you meet someone nice in the meantime—someone
single
and nice—don’t refuse to consider them because of Dominic. Give them a chance. You never know, they might be just what you’re looking for.’

‘My shoes, that’s what I’m looking for.’ It was eleven o’clock, time to make her way home. Peering over the edge of the sofa, Tara just managed to stop herself rolling onto the floor. ‘Damn, head’s gone spinny. Time to go home.’

‘You can stay.’ Daisy, feeling pretty spinny herself, waved an arm in the general direction of the spare bedroom.

‘No, no. Thanks, but I’d rather… you know.’ Tara managed to grab her shoes. Dominic might phone and she couldn’t bear to miss him.

Jumping up, Daisy careered towards the door. ‘I’ll walk with you.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘I want to,’ Daisy insisted. ‘It’s slippery out there. You can’t go on your own.’

‘But if you walk me back,
you’ll
have to walk home on your own.’ Tara frowned. It was like one of those brain-teasing puzzles with the fox, the chicken, and the cabbage having to pair up in a rowing boat to reach the island. Even sober, it had never been something she could work out.

‘Got it! I’ll walk with you as far as the hotel gates. Then you can go home and I’ll come back here and that’ll be completely fair.’

Tara was lost in admiration. Daisy had always been so intelligent. Even if she was currently sitting on the floor struggling to put her wellies on the wrong feet.

‘God, these things are uncomfortable.’ Daisy waddled like a duck over to the door, then turned and put a finger unsteadily to her lips. ‘Now sshh, no giggling. And we’ll sneak out the back way—don’t want any of the guests thinking we’re pissed.’

‘Your feet are on the wrong way round,’ sniggered Tara.

‘What?’ Daisy peered down at them. ‘Nope. Toes at the front, ankles at the back. My feet have always been like that.’