‘Well go if you get the chance, it’s a beautiful part of the country. Waking up to those hills – there was nothing like it. It was a freedom that’s hard to explain.’ A thought zipped into her mind of Joshua camping, withher, tucking them both beneath a blanket and looking up at the wide expanse of a starry night sky.
‘Did you get many pictures?’
She tilted her head to one side.
‘OK, silly question.’
‘Most are on my camera and my laptop at home, but–’ she took out her phone ‘– I do have some I emailed to myself – I’m paranoid the backups of my backups won’t work,’ she said, smiling.
She showed him the picturesshe’d taken of the sunrise, when she’d had the privilege of watching the breathtaking skies bursting with colours that were different every time. The rise of the sun had brought with it a crisp, clear day, as burned orange faded to blue and shadows of the surrounding trees on the ground were cast long and thin around her.
‘You have a real sense of adventure, Daisy.’
‘I’m not sure about that.’
Rhys came over to them. ‘Look up, guys,’ he said.
They both obliged. And dangling right above them was a sprig of mistletoe. Green stems forked in different directions, clusters of pearlescent berries clutched at their hidden meaning as Rhys told both Joshua and Daisy that they had to kiss, it was a rule.
‘So that’s why nobody was standing over here,’ she said wryly.
‘And we walked right intoit,’ said Joshua, although he hadn’t looked away from Daisy.
And they were still standing beneath the mistletoe.
‘Come on, you two, where’s your Christmas spirit?’ Rhys clearly had plenty and Daisy suspected they weren’t going to walk away from this.
And now Joshua wasn’t looking at her. In fact he looked embarrassed, awkward as though if he were to oblige, he’d be taking advantage. It wasan emotion she’d never read in him before. He’d always seemed so confident when he’d asked her out, so sure of himself.
And in a quick decisive moment, Daisy, with enough beer inside of her to give her the confidence to talk to the man she’d opened her heart to moments ago, put Joshua – and Rhys – out of their misery.
With her fingers against Joshua’s cheek she turned him to face her. She puther hands against his chest, the muscles defined beneath the thick winter jumper. And then she stood on tiptoes and planted a smacker on his lips. But rather than pull away now the deed was done they both melted into the kiss, his surprise at the gesture doing nothing to diminish the skill of his tongue.
Daisy only pulled away when she realised they were being watched and more than one wolf whistleechoed around the pub as she heard someone yellGo, Daisy!And someone else call outIt’s about time, you two!
Breathless and aware Ginny was watching too, she pulled on the woolly hat she’d stuffed into her pocket and left the pub without saying another word.
Ginny had followed her and outside her sister didn’t have much to say apart from, ‘That was unexpected.’
Daisy didn’t have a chanceto explain what happened to herself let alone anyone else and before she could say anything the sound of heels accompanied by a familiar voice grabbed their attention.
‘Mum said you’d be here, I came to meet you both.’ Fern attempted a smile. ‘I thought you were here for a quiet drink but it seems wild in there, or at least it was from what I saw through the window.’
Daisy, confused, realisednot only had they been beneath the mistletoe but the mistletoe was hanging so that anyone outside the pub could see exactly what was going on. ‘You saw me kiss Joshua,’ she concluded. Great, she couldn’t have timed it any better if she tried.
Ginny was first to hug their older sister. ‘I’m glad you’re finally here.’ She stood back and smiled. ‘And it really was a few quiet drinks but, you knowwhat it’s like, you get talking to people in there. It’s hard to remain incognito.’ She turned to face her youngest sister again. ‘The kiss, however, is another thing entirely. Quite unexpected,’ she said, sharing a look with Fern.
And there it was. Two sisters against the youngest, the one who didn’t know what she was doing, who supposedly didn’t have a clue. They’d both been in the villagefor less than a day and already Daisy was feeling as though she was about to be squished back into the mould she’d fought so hard to escape. No matter how hard Daisy had tried over the years she felt sure her sisters had never shaken off their opinion that Daisy’s middle name was Irresponsible.
Daisy ignored the jibe and hugged Fern hello. ‘Good to have you home.’ And it was, if only for Grandadand the family Christmas he’d treasure.
As they began to walk in the direction of home Daisy looked across at Fern, the tallest of the three siblings. Fern might well be on holiday but she looked far from relaxed. Her hair was in that same severe ponytail it always was, the dark brown tresses tamed by straighteners, never covered by a hat and likely too scared to fly about in the wind tonight.Her dark brown, expressive eyes their dad had always likened to a colour of fine whisky seemed mistrusting, and most of that was directed at Daisy right now as she asked her again what might be going on with Joshua.
‘Joshua has been keen on Daisy for ages,’ Ginny put in as they walked. ‘And I’d say the feeling is mutual.’
Daisy didn’t say a word, just kept on walking. She wasn’t going to riseto any teasing.
‘He’s gorgeous, I’ll give him that,’ Fern concluded. ‘And you looked pretty interested from where I was standing, Daisy.’
