The Girl Who Came Back

by Susan Lewis

  Off went Daisy’s phone with another text. “Ah, it’s about the charity walk next Sunday,” she announced. “Did you register yet?”

  “I did, and I need to pick up our T-shirts on Monday. I ordered thirty, is that enough?”

  “I think so, but I’ll check to make sure. Everyone wants to do it. Can we increase if we have to?”

  “I’m sure we can.”

  “Great. And our group’s supporting Granny Marsha and the Alzheimer’s Society. Do you think she’ll be able to manage the walk herself? When I asked her she said right away that she wanted to, but half an hour later she’d forgotten all about it. Anyway, I think ten miles is too far for her,” Daisy added, reading another text. “Right, Amelia’s saying she’d love to have you as a mother.”

  Rolling her eyes, Jules looked up as Kian came in.

  “Aha, everything that’s Bright and beautiful in my world,” he declared, going to plant a kiss on Daisy’s head. “What are you up to?” Though he was looking at Jules, he didn’t approach her, and because she wasn’t sure what to do either, she ended up turning away.

  “Just stuff,” Daisy answered. “Are you coming on the charity walk with us next Sunday?”

  “Sure, if I’m invited.”

  “Did you register him, Mum?”

  “No,” Jules replied guiltily, “but I will. How come you’re back so early?” she asked Kian. “We weren’t expecting you until five.”

  “Blasted Land Rover broke down,” he grumbled, going to put the kettle on. “Can’t do a safari without one, so mapping the new routes will have to wait. What news from Joe? Is he still arriving next Friday, as planned?”

  “No, he’s got a football game, so he’ll be here on the Monday or Tuesday. You know he can drive now, don’t you? He’s even got his own car.”

  “Which means can he borrow one while he’s here?” Kian stated. “We’ll see, because it’s a bit different driving in England than driving in the States. For a start, can he handle a stick shift?”

  Daisy shrugged.

  “OK, I’ll give him a couple of lessons and take it from there. Anyone else want tea?”

  “Not for me. I’m going to take a shower,” Daisy replied, still reading from her phone as she got to her feet. “Great, Misty deffo wants Stephie and Dean to come in tonight. Oh, and Amelia’s asking what we’re all doing. I guess I should invite her?”

  “Tell her you’re working, so it won’t be much fun for her,” Jules advised.

  “I don’t think she’ll mind about that. The alternative is probably being at home on her own.”

  “Is her dad ever there?” Kian wondered.

  “I guess, sometimes.”

  “But otherwise she stays in that great big house all on her own?”

  Daisy shrugged. “There’s a housekeeper and other staff around, although I don’t think they live in. It sounds like an amazing place, with its own indoor pool and stables and everything. I don’t think she’s short of things to do. I’ll warn her that we’re all working, but say that she’s welcome to come over anyway. Actually, I don’t think I invited her on the charity walk. I should probably do that. Oh, and we’ll be able to see her new hair.”

  “New hair?” Kian echoed.

  Since Daisy had already gone, Jules said, “She’s had it cut short, curled, and dyed blond. Guess who that makes her look like?”

  Kian’s eyebrows rose. Then, dismissing it, he said, “Girls that age are always copying each other.”

  Unable to deny that, Jules said, “You really don’t have a problem with Amelia, do you?”

  He seemed baffled as he threw out his hands. “Like Daisy, I feel sorry for her. You can see how lonely she is.”

  Yes, Jules could see that. Nevertheless, she still couldn’t summon the same sort of compassion for the girl that Kian and Daisy so easily managed. Nor could Aileen, who was at the pub later when Amelia turned up, looking so much like Daisy from the back that Aileen had already embraced her before realizing her mistake.

  “What’s that all about?” she murmured to Jules as Amelia, apparently thrilled with the success of her new look, went to perch on a stool at the end of the bar.

  “I’ve no idea,” Jules murmured back as Stephie came to join them.

  “You’ll never guess what she just said to me,” Stephie whispered furiously. “She only said that Joe asked her to cut her hair like Daisy’s.”

  Jules’s eyes widened in shock.

  “That is such bullshit,” Stephie seethed. “He’d never do that, not in a million years. She is in such a fantasy world. I mean, apart from anything else, there’s no way he’d even have her number to get in touch and ask…Unless,” she added accusingly as Dean turned up beside her, “you gave her Joe’s number. I heard her asking you for it the other day.”

  “Yeah, and I really gave it to her,” Dean retorted sarcastically. “What the hell do you take me for?”

  “Well, we all know that you’d love it if the weirdo managed to split up Joe and Daisy so you could get a look-in.”

  With a derisive sneer, Dean said, “You don’t know anything, Stephie, least of all what goes on between me and Daisy.”

  “That’s what you think,” Stephie muttered as he walked away.

  Used to their spats, Jules said, “I thought he was over his crush on Daisy, and he and Joe always seem to get on so well.”

  Stephie shrugged. “I guess they do, on the surface, but that doesn’t mean Dean’s given up hope. Anyway, I hear Daisy’s invited the weirdo to join us for the walk next Sunday?”

  Aileen groaned. “Just please don’t leave her with me,” she implored. “I never know what to say to her.”

  “She’s not interested in us,” Stephie told her. “She’s only interested in Daisy. And Joe, apparently, but he won’t be here in time.”

  “I’m not sure Amelia’s coming either,” Jules informed them. “The last I heard, she’s going to be in London next weekend.”

  —

  “But of course she wasn’t,” Jules said to Andee as they strolled along the promenade on the way to their cars. “She turned up on the day of the walk, along with the rest of our group, bright and breezy, raring to go, with a T-shirt she’d had made up specially. Can you imagine my shock when I saw what she’d had printed on the back? In Memory of Jules Bright, in great big black letters.”

  Andee glanced at her sideways. “So what did you do?”

  “I guess we made ourselves accept that there had been some confusion somewhere along the line and got on with the walk. You know, she didn’t apologize or even seem particularly embarrassed about it, nor did she take the T-shirt off or cover it up. She just marched along there in front of me, making sure I could see it, until in the end Kian got so annoyed that he took off his own T-shirt and insisted she put it on.”

  “Did she mind?”

  “If she did, she never said so. She just carried on walking with Daisy, arms linked as though trying to keep out the rest of Daisy’s friends, while I followed with Aileen and the others. There were quite a lot of women from the refuge with us that day, raising money for their own cause, and here’s what Amelia said to Daisy about them after the walk…”

  —

  “They’re such a bunch of losers, those women, don’t you think? They ought to learn to stand up for themselves.”

  Overhearing, Jules spun round in a fury, cutting right across Daisy as she said, “Amelia, you have no idea what most of those women have been through, and I hope you never find out.” Even as she spoke the words she wondered how wrong she might be. After all, given what she remembered about Amelia’s parents, it was quite possible the girl knew more about domestic abuse than most.

  Flushing as she shrugged, Amelia said, “I was just saying, that’s all. I didn’t mean to cause any offense.”

  Softening her tone, Jules said, “Well, it would have if any of them had heard you.”

  Coming to join them, and apparently unaware of the tension, Stephie said, “H
ey, Daze, what time will you and Joe be getting back from the airport tomorrow?”

  Relaxing, Daisy said, “I’ll check with Dad, but it should be around midday.”

  Amelia turned accusingly to her. “You didn’t tell me Joe was coming tomorrow. I thought he was coming on Tuesday.”

  Daisy and Stephie glanced at each other. “He managed to get an earlier flight,” Daisy informed her.

  “And what’s it to you anyway?” Stephie wanted to know.

  Looking as though she’d been slapped, Amelia said to Daisy, “Sorry, but I didn’t think we had any secrets from each other.”

  As Stephie gasped, Daisy shrugged uncomfortably. “It wasn’t a secret. I guess the subject just didn’t come up.”

  “What is she on?” Stephie muttered as Amelia turned back to the car park, where bottles of water were disappearing fast and blisters were being exposed to the air.

  “Why on earth would she be so hurt that you didn’t tell her Joe was coming?” Jules asked a few minutes later as Amelia drove off in her swanky sports car without saying goodbye.

  Daisy shook her head. “I’ve no idea.”

  Stephie said, “I wonder what he’ll think of her new hair when he sees it. You know what she’s hoping for, don’t you, Daze? She’s hoping he’ll take one look at her and think, ‘Wow, what the hell am I doing with the genuine article when I can have a full-on fruitcake fake?’ ”

  As they laughed, Jules took out her phone to read a text. Sorry for what I said about the women. Didn’t mean to upset you. Axxx

  “She can only have got around the corner by now,” Daisy remarked when Jules showed her the message. “She must be feeling really bad, poor thing. I’ll text and ask if she’d like to get together while Joe’s here so she’ll know I’m not trying to keep secrets, or whatever she’s thinking, and frankly that’s anyone’s guess.”

  As it turned out, Amelia spent the following two weeks in London, and no one heard a word from her until she returned, three days after Joe had gone back to the States.

  —

  “So do you think she was deliberately avoiding him?” Andee asked.

  “Who knows, but if she was, it definitely wasn’t the case when Joe came back at Christmas with Em and her family. Amelia joined us that year while her father went skiing. She hated skiing, she said; she’d rather spend the whole time on her own in the house than have to go and be with all his boring friends.”

  “Knowing what we do now,” Andee commented, “it was no doubt a relief to them all that she decided not to go.”

  “You mean because of the way she would make mischief and try to cause arguments? I’m sure you’re right.”

  “So what happened when she came to you?” Andee prompted.

  “Well, to begin with, she was quite helpful and seemed really glad to be with us, but then she started flirting with Joe so outrageously that none of us quite knew how to handle it. If it had been a regular sort of flirting, it might have been easier, but she didn’t seem to know the meaning of subtlety or modesty.”

  —

  “Do you fancy me now?” Amelia teased Joe, fluffing out her pretty blond curls and batting her eyelids. “Don’t I look just like Daisy?” In truth, with her pale skin and freckles, plump cheeks, and close-set eyes, she was a sad, even pathetic caricature of Daisy.

  “It’s cool,” Joe mumbled awkwardly. “Where is Daisy, does anyone know?”

  “She was downstairs playing pool with Mattie, Oscar, and Dean the last time I saw her,” Jules replied.

  “I’ll come and look for her with you,” Amelia offered, linking arms with him as he started to leave the kitchen. “We could always go via one of the bedrooms.”

  As Jules turned round in shock, Joe quickly tried to detach himself.

  “It’s OK, I’m good,” he told Amelia, obviously seriously annoyed by the suggestion.

  “But I want to come too,” Amelia pouted. “Please let me come, Joe.”

  Joe’s confused dark eyes went desperately to Jules.

  “Amelia, can you give me a hand here,” Jules said, not making it a question.

  “Oh, no, it’s fine,” Amelia responded. “I’m sure you can manage, and I need to help Joe find Daisy. Of course,” she said to Joe, “I know I’m not as pretty as she is, but I promise you I have other things going for me.”

  Before Jules could step in again Joe said, “Daisy and I have things we need to discuss. We’ll catch up with you later, OK?”

  Amelia looked crushed. “But Daisy doesn’t have any secrets from me,” she protested, “so she really won’t mind if I’m there too, and I love listening to you talk. The American accent really does it for me.”

  “Amelia,” Jules said firmly, “please let go of Joe and come and give me a hand.”

  With a curious little shrug, as though suddenly fine about doing as she was told, Amelia breezed back to the table and sank down on a chair. “So what do you want me to do?” she enquired, picking up the salt and pepper pots.

  As Jules started to answer, her mother and Em came in from their walk on the beach.

  “Oh, God, not her,” Amelia sighed under her breath.

  Jules glared at her, shock robbing her of an immediate response. “Please tell me I didn’t just hear you correctly,” she finally demanded.

  Amelia’s expression was bland. “I didn’t say anything,” she insisted. “Hi, Em. Hi, Marsha. Did you have a good walk?”

  Ignoring her, Em said to Jules, “Does Amelia have a problem with someone?”

  “No, not at all,” Amelia assured her. “I think Marsha’s really sweet. I was just repeating the sort of thing Stephie says when she sees Marsha coming.”

  Stunned as much by the outrageousness of the lie as its clumsiness, Jules’s eyes went to Em, who was clearly equally shocked. However, Jules really didn’t want to get into a scene with the girl while her mother was there, so, deciding to let it go, she turned to Marsha, whose wind-reddened cheeks were shining as brightly as her watery eyes.

  “Em and I are going for a walk,” Marsha informed her.

  Jules smiled sadly, though she was relieved that her mother seemed to know who Em was now, which hadn’t been the case when Em had first arrived.

  “You’ve got a friend called Em,” she’d told Jules as Em had embraced her warmly. “Lovely girl, she is. Just like a sister to you.”

  “This is her, Mum, but she’s all grown up now.”

  Marsha had simply smiled and patted Em’s hand.

  Now Jules said gently, “You’ve just come back from a walk, so would you like a cup of tea?”

  Marsha blinked.

  “I’ll make it,” Amelia offered, springing to her feet.

  “It’s OK,” Jules said, putting a hand out to stop her. “Why don’t you go downstairs now and find the others?”

  “Aha, so I’m dismissed?”

  Jules’s eyes narrowed.

  “Daisy,” Marsha murmured, but to Jules’s relief she wasn’t looking at Amelia, she was looking at Jules.

  “Sit down, Mum,” Jules urged. “I’ll put the kettle on, and Amelia, perhaps you could go and ask someone in the kitchen if they have some cakes or scones to go with our tea?”

  “On my way,” Amelia trilled, and with a little wave she took herself off, presumably to do as she was told.

  Going to close the door behind her, Em said, “What’s the matter with the girl? Is she always like that?”

  Jules shrugged and shook her head. “We’ve never had her to stay for this long before. If I’d known she was going to behave like this…You should have heard her with Joe just now. I guess you realize the hair is all about trying to look like Daisy.”

  “Obviously. And Daisy enjoys having her as a friend?”

  “I’m not sure enjoy is the right word. She puts up with her because no one else will, including her family, apparently.”

  Sighing, Em sank down at the table and gently eased a knife from Marsha’s hand.

  With a smile Jul
es said, “If you’d seen Joe’s face…He looked petrified, poor guy, and I don’t imagine there’s much that scares him these days.”

  Em grudgingly smiled too. “He’s a great guy. I’ve grown very fond of him over the years.”

  Thinking of the many vacations they’d all spent together, Jules said, “I actually feel he’s a member of the family now, and apparently his father and stepmother say the same about Daisy.”

  “I can confirm that. They adore her. It’s just a shame you never get to see her with them. OK, we won’t go there, but I just need to know: are things any better with Kian these days?”

  Jules’s lips flattened. “They’re not any worse,” she admitted, “but even after all this time we’re still not back to the way we were before.”

  “So no chance of another baby?”

  Jules’s heart contracted as she glanced at her mother. Since it was clear that Marsha was in a world of her own, she said, “We’re still making love, if that’s what you mean. Maybe not as often as we used to, but when you’ve been married as long as we have…Is it the same for you?” She really needed Em to say yes, and when Em nodded she felt a huge rush of relief.

  “Jules, are we going for a walk?” Marsha asked, getting to her feet.

  “You’ve just come back,” Jules told her, “and we’re about to have a cup of tea.”

  Marsha blinked and sat down again. “Where’s Aileen?”

  “She went to pick up some things from the farm store with Kian and Don,” Em told her. “In fact, they’re probably back by now, so they’ll be down in the bar.”

  Marsha looked at her hands, and as a fat tear plopped onto them Jules suddenly felt like crying too. “What is it, Mum?” she asked, going to put her arms around her.

  “I’m a silly old fool,” Marsha whispered brokenly. “I don’t ever seem to know what I’m doing or what’s going on, and I’m such a burden for you….”

  “No, you’re not a burden,” Jules protested. “We love you and we’ll always be here for you, so you mustn’t worry about anything.”

  “No, mustn’t worry,” Marsha echoed distantly. “That’s what Daddy always says, mustn’t worry. Will he be here soon?”