Staying at Daisy's Read Free Page B

be fun to have someone like Hector as a dad.
    Daisy gave her father a ‘behave yourself ’ look. His loud voice and stupendous lack of tact were going to get him into big trouble one day.
    ‘Fine, but you have to stop calling them that.’
    ‘Darling, I know, but they deserve it. These people are starting to get on my nerves,’ Hector declared. ‘Why can’t they just decide on a menu and stick with the bloody thing? For the life of me I can’t imagine why anyone would want to invite a vegan to a wedding in the first place.’
    This time Tara and Daisy exchanged glances, and Daisy heaved a sigh. Discretion wasn’t Hector’s forte. Luckily there were no guests currently within earshot. Reaching across the reception desk for her pile of unopened mail, Daisy said, ‘Dad, I’ll deal with them. We’ll charge double for vegans. And they aren’t the Cross-Dressers or the Cross-Pollinators or the Hot Cross Buns, OK? They’re the Cross-Calverts and you’re jolly well going to be nice to them.’
    Tara, who was vacuuming the staircase, promptly dropped her nozzle.
    ‘ Who? ’ Her heart thumping, she switched off the machine and anchored it with her foot before it could tumble down the stairs and kill someone. Maybe she’d misheard. ‘What did you say their name was?’
    ‘Mr and Mrs Cross-Your-Heart-Bra,’ Hector replied gravely. ‘And she needs a good-sized one, I can tell you. Sturdy straps, reinforced elastic, all that palaver.’ Hector wasn’t much of a one for political correctness either.
    ‘My father, the dinosaur.’ Daisy rolled her eyes. ‘Funny how he’s never remarried.’
    Tara tried again. ‘Did you say Cross-Calvert?’
    ‘That’s right.’ Daisy was nodding absently, her attention on the letter she had just opened.
    ‘Dominic Cross-Calvert?’ This time she heard her voice as if the words hadn’t come from her own mouth.
    ‘Dominic, that’s it, that’s the fellow.’ Intrigued, Hector straightened up. ‘Know him, do you?’
    ‘I do.’ Idiotically, Tara realized that she sounded as if she were making her wedding vows. That was what you said, wasn’t it, when you promised to cherish your husband for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death did you part? Or was it ‘I will’? Never having made that particular pledge, she wasn’t actually sure. Men thought she was pretty and a great laugh, and they were especially fond of her oversized chest, but none of them had ever offered to marry her.
    ‘Ha! Look at your face,’ Hector exclaimed. ‘He’s one of your exes, isn’t he? Some long-lost soul from your sordid past. Come on then, you can tell us. Who dumped who?’
    As loftily as she could manage, Tara announced, ‘I do not have a sordid past.’ Which was, obviously, a big lie. Worse still, Hector knew it.
    ‘Which means he dumped you.’ Hector was triumphant. ‘My darling, I’m riveted. Right, that’s it, put that silly vacuum cleaner away and come and tell us all about it.’
    She wavered. ‘I’m supposed to finish the stairs.’
    This was both the good and the bad thing about Hector. His irreverent approach to owning and running a hotel meant he was wonderful to work for. On the other hand, the job still had to be done. On the other other hand, she was longing to find out more about Dominic.
    Hector gestured dismissively at the staircase. ‘Bugger the cleaning, let’s have a drink! Daisy, are you coming to hear this?’
    Daisy was engrossed in the contents of her letter. She wasn’t listening. Honestly, and she called herself a friend.
    Tara said, ‘When’s he getting married?’
    ‘Two weeks’ time. January the tenth. Ninety-six guests, three wheat allergies, two lactose intolerants, seventeen vegetarians, and,’ Hector’s lip curled in disgust, ‘a vegan.’
    ‘And this girl he’s… um, marrying?’ Tara did her level best to sound casual.
    Hector, not fooled for a moment, spoilt it all by throwing back his head and roaring with laughter.