Page 9 of The Secret Holiday Kiss

Daisy chewed her lip, which often took the brunt of her indecision. ‘Can you answer my question, then? The house – I assumed it had been knocked back to the skeleton, that it’s an original, and you’re renovating it.’

Avery shook his head, and there was something in his expression – pride, perhaps. ‘No, this is a new build with specific parameters. The reason you don’t remember it is because this whole area was scrubland until recently. It was behind a gate, too. Blocked off from wanderers and hikers, nosy teenagers.’

‘Wow.’ Daisy turned to reassess the house. The part of her brain that was attuned to new possibilities, to turning a space into something beautiful, was coming alive. ‘Are you doing the whole project?’

He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Yeah. It’s actually bigger than I’m used to, starting from the ground up. But I’ve got a good team working with me.’

‘What are you used to?’

‘Part renovations. New kitchens and bathrooms, sheds. I’ve done a couple of extensions, but this is my first time crewing a team of eight, engaging the subcontractors.’

‘And how is it going?’

He frowned. ‘You ask a lot of questions for someone who has only told me her name is Daisy and that she doesn’t remember a house on this plot.’

‘I like asking questions,’ she said. ‘I like finding stuff out.’

‘So do I.’ He stared at her, raising his eyebrows when she didn’t respond.

‘You didn’t ask me anything. You just made a statement.’

‘An observation. Are you saying that if I ask you something, you’ll answer?’

‘I’m more likely to answer a question than a statement.’

‘Are you always this infuriating?’

‘Great question.’ She tried to suppress her smile and found that she couldn’t. It was a long time since she’d had this much … fun. Was that what was happening here? The last two years had felt like such a slog. One blow after the next, each one coming just as she’d started to pick herself up again.

‘You said,’ Avery announced, with obvious forced patience, ‘that you would answer my questions.’

‘I did, didn’t I?’ Daisy tapped her lips. ‘No. I’m not always this infuriating. Or, maybe I am, but I don’t always get this response. Are you always this infuriated?’

‘Hardly ever.’ He ran a hand through his already unkempt hair. His cheeks were tanned, his jaw stubbled, a stereotypical builder who made the most of his rugged good looks. Except Daisy’s job meant she was always around tradesmen, and didn’t think of them as having a particular look, because each one she’d encountered was different. It was as if Avery had watched every Diet Coke advert on YouTube and modelled himself on the stars.

‘Who owns the house?’ Daisy asked.

‘Telling you that constitutes a GDPR breach.’

‘What about if I look at that planning notice, secured to the wall of the hotel?’ Daisy pointed. She had only just noticed it, but she felt triumphant.

Avery dropped his head, hands bunched into fists on his hips. ‘Go ahead,’ he murmured. ‘It’s on your way.’

Daisy laughed, but she felt a pang of sympathy for this man who had been getting on with his job, singing along to Jimmy Nail, until she’d come along and wound him up without meaning to.

‘My name is Daisy Anderly, but only because I got divorced two years ago and reclaimed my maiden name as soon as possible. I live in London, but my flat is flooded out, maybe in the process of being repaired – I don’t know because I haven’t checked in with the project team for a few hours. My brother lives in the manor down the road with his wife, and he’s letting me stay with them until I can move back home.’

Avery nodded. ‘I knew you were Daisy Anderly a few minutes into our conversation.’

‘What? How?’

‘I’m May’s brother. I was just seeing if you’d recognize me.’

Daisy’s eyes widened. ‘May’s brother? May as in Harry’s friend? Avery? But I …’

‘If it’s any consolation, it took me a little while to work it out. When I hung out with Harry, I remember you as being blonde, aloof, not interested in talking a whole lot.’ He shook his head. ‘In fact, you avoided us wherever possible.’

‘I was avoiding Harry,’ Daisy said. And the whole village. ‘You were collateral because when I was growing up my big brother was the most annoying human on the planet. But I don’t … it’s over twenty years since I lived here.’