‘He ripped his trousers,’ Ginny told her. ‘I’ll grab the red cotton.’
‘You might need to take them off,’ Fern suggested, the corners of her mouth tugging in amusement.
‘What cotton do you think is best, Daisy?’ Ginny called over from the rotating stand she was looking on. Daisy suspected she knew full well which would be best.
‘What’s the material?’ Daisy asked him.
He risked pulling his beard down but only after checking for any kids in the vicinity. ‘You expect me to know? It’s costume material … thick, hot.’
Daisy put a hand to the sleeve of the jacket– she assumed the trousers were made of the same – and decided they’d need a heavier-duty thread than the cotton Ginny had her eye on if they wanted it to work best with the thicker fabric. ‘That won’t be strong enough,’ she called over to her sister who had a few reels in her hand ready to colour match. Daisy swore she was being dim on purpose.
Daisy went over to the section with stronger threadand after holding up three different reels against the red of his suit, all the while avoiding the looks her sisters were casting her way, she stayed professional and found the best match.
‘Where is the repair anyway?’ She couldn’t see it. But then she realised he’d had one hand behind him all this time.
The awkward grimace when she looked up at him told her it was in a place he didn’t wantto be seen, at least not in public. He turned around and when he lifted the red coat he revealed the big tear in the back of his trousers. She got a good view of the black, fitted jockey shorts beneath, the tight gluteal muscle and the dark hair where they met the back of his thigh as he told her, ‘I caught them on a nail in the tree barn on my way out to talk to Lucas and I’m going to disappointa lot of kids if I don’t hurry up and get it fixed and get back.’
Daisy tried not to think too deeply about the body beneath his suit and the bare skin of his toned butt he likely wasn’t aware she’d caught a glimpse of too when she told him, ‘You’ve torn your jockey shorts as well.’
‘Seriously?’ He began to laugh. ‘Let’s just fix the trousers today. I can throw the underwear out later.’
Daisylooked around for Ginny in the hope she could leave her sister with the job while she did the tea but Ginny had already darted off to help the next customer through the door and Fern was watching Daisy and Joshua as though they were part of a Christmas window display, a little gleam in her eye as if this were a fairy tale in the making. But then Fern had always had a different way of thinking toDaisy. Marriage and family to Fern were something she never doubted. Perhaps if she’d known the truth, what happened to even the strongest of marriages, she might think a little differently. Then again, maybe part of the reason she’d come to Butterbury so readily meant that not everything was as perfect in Fern’s world as Daisy assumed it was, something Loretta had hinted at but something Fern hadn’tshared with anyone, least of all her little sister.
Daisy went over to the counter with the thread. ‘It’ll be a better repair and quicker if I can whizz the trousers through a sewing machine,’ she told Joshua.
‘Then I’d better get them off or that could be painful,’ he agreed.
She called over to Ginny, ‘I’ll be upstairs for fifteen minutes or so.’
‘Take your time!’ Ginny hollered back.
‘Takeno notice of them,’ she said as he followed her up the stairs out at the back and it was impossible to ignore the giggling between Ginny and Fern as they went. As irritating as it was, Daisy felt a tiny flicker of warmth at the teasing, fun and harmless, with no hidden meanings. ‘Ignore them,’ she said. ‘My sisters love nothing more than to wind me up.’
‘Hey, I get it.’ His black-buckled bootsclumped up the stairs to the very top. ‘Lucas does it to me all the time, doesn’t matter how old we get.’
She was nervous, she couldn’t help it, especially when he trained his eyes on her again as they stopped on the landing. ‘You can get changed in there.’ She pointed to the first store room.
He pulled off his beard and quirked an eyebrow. ‘I could, except I don’t have anything to wear.’
Her lips twisted awkwardly. ‘Hadn’t thought of that.’ She went into the store room and looked around for anything suitable. There wasn’t much but when she spotted a folded-up towel in the corner she grabbed it and handed it to him.
‘A hand towel?’
She squirmed. ‘Fair enough. Forget the towel. And you’ll be fine without it, it’s warm up here, and I’ll be quick.’
While Joshua took off the FatherChristmas trousers and moved around making sure he didn’t turn his back to her, protecting his dignity as much as possible, Daisy set up the sewing machine. ‘This shouldn’t take too long.’
He’d slumped into one of the chairs. ‘To be honest, even though it’s winter it gets way too hot in this kind of get-up. The beard is scratchy and you’ve no idea how nice it feels to get some air to my bodyat last.’
She’d positioned the fabric correctly and did her best not to let her mind think of how good he looked in the black underwear or the strong thighs she could see in her peripheral vision. ‘You’ll scare the kids if you take them off to get air again. Probably get arrested too.’ And she pushed the foot pedal down so the needle did its job.
‘You and your sisters seem to be getting alongwell enough,’ he ventured.
Daisy looked up from what she was doing. ‘It’s getting better.’
‘Glad to hear it.’
She paused. ‘You helped me, you know.’
