Coming Home to Ottercombe Bay: The laugh out loud romantic comedy of the year. Bella Osborne

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       Chapter Six

      The next morning Aunt Coral was still thrilled to have Bugsy back and was fussing over him, the fact that his escape had caused her ankle strain seemed not to have registered with her. Daisy, on the other hand, was well aware and was watching the dog closely. He wasn’t as daft as he looked, and to her mind he did look daft. The pug was just about as far removed from the origins of the wolf as any dog breed could possibly be. He reminded her of a cork piglet she’d made at school, which still sat on the kitchen windowsill. The squashed face and the curly tail made it a good likeness. The only difference was the piglet was painted pink and had tiny eyes whereas Bugsy was completely black with disproportionally huge eyes like two eight balls stuck in his face. He gave her a smug look when Aunt Coral gave him another small piece of bacon.

      Yeah, I’ve got the measure of you, thought Daisy, she wasn’t going to be outsmarted by a tiny bug-eyed dog.

      ‘Jason says you can get some money for the railway memorabilia you brought home. He knows some specialist who can get you the best price, if that’s what you want.’

      Daisy munched on her toast. ‘Sounds good. The place is just a shell. I don’t know what Reg expected me to do with it.’

      ‘You’ve got a whole year to work that out; you don’t need to trouble yourself right now. And of course you’re welcome to stay with me. I’d be glad of the company but if you wanted to get your own place I’d understand.’ Coral patted her hand.

      ‘Thanks.’ Daisy knew now probably wasn’t a good juncture to explain her imminent departure. She couldn’t walk out now Aunt Coral was laid up with her ankle. Daisy was lots of things but she wasn’t unkind or callous. She was still set on leaving but she couldn’t dispel the mixed feelings she seemed to be experiencing. Daisy blamed it on Great Uncle Reg’s letter and what Tamsyn had said about her mother – both were playing on her mind. She’d stay for just a couple more days, which would give Aunt Coral’s ankle a chance to recover and her an opportunity to speak to Tamsyn’s mum, Min, and lay that particular ghost to rest, then she could leave.

      Seeing as she was here a bit longer than planned she decided she’d call it a holiday. Holidays were what people came to Ottercombe Bay for. She would write it off as a vacation and then at the end she would depart just like all the other tourists. She took a deep breath; she knew leaving also meant walking away from a share of Reg’s money, and money was something she was lacking. But, no, her mind was made up. No amount of cash was worth being trapped for, especially not for a whole year. Daisy finished her toast, ignoring the dog’s whiny pleas for her to share.

      Daisy’s bedroom was currently doing a good impression of a bombsite. She amazed herself at how quickly she could turn an ordered space into a chaotic jumble – perhaps it was a skill. She didn’t know anyone else as talented at being untidy as she was. She only had the one rucksack but it was enormous and when she’d left Canterbury she’d had to ram everything in to get it all to fit. She had since had to pull everything out to get to the things at the bottom and now the contents were strewn about the room. Luckily Aunt Coral wasn’t the nosey sort, so Daisy could shut the door and know it would be fine. Well, nobody was perfect after all.

      It was mid-afternoon when Daisy found herself lying on the pebble part of the beach on a rather thin towel while she waited for Tamsyn to finish her shift at the beach café. Every summer the council tipped a few tons of sand onto the top half of the bay making it perfect for the holiday crowd, but unless you were there super early you got relegated to the pebbles further down. Despite her bumpy bed she was enjoying herself. The sun was warming her body gently whilst she listened to the sound of the sea washing the shore and parents arguing with small children over sun cream and ice-lollies.

      On a summer’s day Ottercombe Bay was a hive of activity, all the rental properties would be full and all the second homers would be maximising their investment, and days like this were ideal for making you feel good about yourself and your decisions. A couple of days of sun and relaxation was going to do Daisy good. She hadn’t had a proper break for months, let alone the chance of a holiday so an opportunity to do nothing was one not to be missed because soon she would be back on the road hunting down her next job.

      ‘You’ll get a well weird tan line if you leave your necklace on,’ said a voice above her, throwing her into shadow.

      ‘If СКАЧАТЬ