It Started With A Tweet(94)

‘Woah, woah, woah, you’ll do no such thing. You drank as much of that punch as I did.’

‘But I’ve got to get back to the farm, I mean, maybe he regrets what was said and he went back there.’

‘I’ll drive you,’ says Jack.

‘Oh, of course, you will,’ I snap. ‘Anything to play the knight in shining armour. We’ll be fine, we’ll get a taxi.’

‘What are you doing?’ says Rosie, looking at me as if I’m suddenly speaking Dothraki. ‘Why can’t Jack give us a lift? It’s practically on his doorstep. Besides, I don’t think we’ll be able to get a taxi.’

‘You’d have a long wait at this time of night, almost pub chucking-out time. Of course, you’re welcome to walk, Daisy.’

‘Oh, you’d love that. So you could drive back afterwards like a white knight and pick me up? No, I’ll come now and save you the gloating.’

We march silently to his four-by-four, Rosie sniffling through the tears as she tries to get them under control, and me silently fuming and replaying the argument with Jack over and over in my mind.

It feels like being back in that tube compartment with Dickhead Dominic, the tension equally as palpable.

Jack doesn’t seem any more enamoured with being in the car with me than I am with him, and we seem to make it back to the farm in record time. He barely gives us time to get out before he’s pulled off again and gone screeching up the drive.

‘Come on, Rosie,’ I say tugging at her sleeve. I think she genuinely thought Rupert’s car would be here in the courtyard. ‘Let’s get you a nice cup of tea, yeah? I’m sure he’ll come back to speak to you.’

I practically drag Rosie into the kitchen, which is surprisingly difficult as she’s digging her heels in like a stubborn mule.

I open the kitchen door and almost break my neck on the large backpack lying on the floor.

‘I’m sorry, I was going to move them,’ says Alexis. ‘I’m getting my stuff together as I’ll go at sunrise tomorrow. I was going to see if the pub ’ad a room, but I rang and it is full because of the dance.’

‘You’re leaving too?’ says Rosie, ‘I’m going to be all alone.’

‘Hey, I can stay if you want, for a bit,’ I say, wondering if I could move my interview to later in the week. I’m sure the MD wouldn’t mind, and Rupert’s bound to have come to his senses by then.

‘You’d stay for me?’ she asks looking at me hopefully.

‘Of course I would.’

I might want nothing more than to put as many miles between me and Jack right now, but my sister needs me.

‘I could stay too,’ says Alexis, and as I take Rosie into my arms for a hug, I give him a stare that lets him know he’s about as welcome as a case of herpes.

He slopes off upstairs, presumably to pack some more.

‘Thanks for staying, Daisy, you have no idea how much it means to me. I know I conned you into coming, and we probably weren’t each other’s first choices of housemates, but it’s been so great having you here. I know you can’t stay forever .?.?.’ the word seems to catch in her throat and she stops.

‘I’ll stay for as long as you need me. I’m sure I could arrange for Erica to come up here. She’ll probably want to get away anyway.’

‘We could run Heartbroken Hotel,’ she says, half snorting a laugh.

I release her from the hug, and go over to fill the kettle from the sink when I start to hear a buzzing sound. I bat my head, thinking that there must be a midge around me, but then I realise it’s coming from the cupboard under the sink.

‘What’s that noise?’ I say, straining my ears to hear it better.

‘What noise?’ says Rosie blowing her nose.

‘That one.’

It sounds awfully like a mobile phone, and I bloody hope she can hear it as otherwise I’m going a bit nuts and I’m imagining phone noises again. I thought I’d got over hearing that in the first few days of my detox.

‘I don’t hear anything,’ she says.

Probably because she’s still doing that thing when you’ve been crying and you keep half hiccupping and half sniffing involuntarily.

‘It’s coming from in here,’ I say, opening the cupboard, and the buzzing gets louder.

‘Where’s my cup of tea? Why don’t you make that now?’ she says, in the most diva-like way I’ve ever heard from my sister. ‘I’ll find the noise.’

‘It’s OK. I’m here now.’

The yellow bucket at the back appears to be vibrating on its own and I stuff my hand in the dish cloths, trying to find what’s causing it.

‘It’s probably a mouse,’ says Rosie coming up behind me and causing me to snap my fingers out immediately.

‘It sounds too mechanical to be a mouse,’ I say, dubiously.

I put my hand in again and Rosie practically rugby tackles me to the ground, but I’ve managed to capture the source of the noise in my hand.

A mobile phone.

‘What’s this?’ I say staring at it, even though it’s blatantly obvious. ‘Do you recognise it, Rosie?’

‘No, I’ve never seen it before in my life. It must be Alexis’s phone.’