‘What’s the problem with me?’ Henry asked.

She stared at him, realising he wasn’t the problem, she was.

‘I can’t do a relationship. I go into them with everything I have. I’m sure that’s not the kind of thing you’re looking for.’

He didn’t argue against it but finally he spoke. ‘You’re right, I’m not looking for anything serious right now.’

‘And I’m not looking for anything casual. I haven’t been in a relationship since the last one ended in the most heartbreaking way possible. If I go into a relationship again, it has to be with someone I can trust not to hurt me. You seem lovely and kind and Daisy adores you, but you also seem the sort that can get any woman he wants and I certainly don’t think you want to put up with all my insecurities and baggage and crap. So can we please put a stop to all of this flirting, because it’s killing me.’

Penny was suddenly aware of Daisy standing in the door again, she quickly turned to face her.

‘Sorry, Penny, Josh says he’s in a bit of a rush.’

Penny nodded and with one more glance at Henry’s dumbfounded face she hurried out. Well, if she wanted to put Henry off her for good, she’d certainly done that with all her crazy. The men of the town really were right. She was damaged goods.

Henry watched her go, confused by how quickly and disastrously that conversation had gone. He didn’t know why he was so drawn to Penny; only a few hours before he had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t pursue things with her but he couldn’t seem to stay away from her. He looked back at Daisy, who fixed him with a glare as she folded her arms across her chest.

‘What?’

‘You said you weren’t going to get involved with her.’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘We agreed that she was an all-or-nothing kind of girl. You’re not capable of anything serious. You’re going to hurt her and I really like her. She’s said she’s happy to teach me about carving and that I can work with her part time around school and she will pay me to carve. You have no idea how much I want to work with her. My first proper job doing something I absolutely love and you’re going to screw it all up for me.’

‘I won’t screw it up. I have no intention of hurting her, that’s the last thing I want.’

‘But you will. Look at Rosie. You broke her heart.’

‘Rosie was never anything serious.’

‘It was for her.’

He knew he had hurt Rosie when he broke up with her and he felt bad for that, but the worst thing was how upset Daisy had been by the break-up too. He shook his head. Why was he trying to justify his relationships to his sixteen-year-old daughter? Surely it should be the other way round.

‘She was never going to be a good fit for us.’

‘She doesn’t need to be a fit for us, she needs to be a fit for you. You finished it with her because she was getting too close.’

It was true that he found it hard to imagine ever trusting or loving someone enough to have them in his and Daisy’s life permanently. He always kept women at a distance. But Daisy had lectured him about his commitment issues after he had split with Rosie and he had tried to prove he didn’t have these issues by bringing Emily into their life, which had resulted in the very thing he had tried for years to protect Daisy from. Daisy feared rejection, he knew that, that she was scared that one day he would leave her just as her mum had. But what Henry feared was any woman he was with rejecting Daisy, making her feel for one second unloved and unwanted, and Emily had done just that. It would be a long time before he could trust someone enough to let them into his life again.

‘Look, I like Penny and the ice carving is important to me. If you break her heart she is hardly likely to want me around any more. Be nice to her, be friends with her, but please don’t sleep with her,’ Daisy said.

‘Hang on, you don’t get to dictate who I do or don’t go out with. I would never presume to tell you who you can or can’t date.’

‘Oh, if that’s the case, you’ll be OK with me dating the huge tattooed guy who was just flirting with me in the kitchen.’

Henry let out an involuntary growl. ‘That’s different and you know it.’

‘I have never asked you not to date anyone before, not even bitches like Emily.’

‘Watch your language.’

‘The point being I hope you can see how important this job is to me. I like living here. I know it’s small but the views are incredible and I really like living next door to Penny and Bernard. I think she’s lovely.’

‘I do too.’

‘So do you really want to ruin what could be a fantastic friendship for you two and ruin my first job just for a few weeks of fun?’

Henry couldn’t help feeling like the naughty child called in front of the headmaster.

Daisy walked back towards the house and Henry rubbed his head with the sudden complications. But if it really was that important to Daisy, he would have to forget about being with Penny once and for all.

Daisy was right, he didn’t want anything serious and Penny didn’t want to get hurt. It was better all round if he stayed away from her.

Henry knocked softly on the connecting door later that night as Daisy tucked into the Italian with great relish. The girl was like a gannet, eating everything and anything in sight, and she still stayed stick-thin.

‘Save some for the rest of us, greedy guts.’

Daisy grinned up at him with her winning smile and carried on eating at full speed.

There was no answer from Penny so Henry tentatively let himself in.

He didn’t want to call out if she was working in the cool room; if he scared her whilst she was working with some of those tools she could end up cutting off one of her fingers. He opened the cool room door but the room was empty. He closed it and that was when he saw her lying on the sofa in the darkness of the front room.

He moved closer and noticed she had evidently fallen asleep reading some romance book. He carefully took the book out of her hands, marked the place with a piece of paper and put it on the coffee table. She was sleeping peacefully, her mouth parted slightly, her long eyelashes dusting her cheeks. He sat down on the coffee table feeling mildly creepy watching her sleep, but finding her peaceful slumber incredibly alluring too.

He ran his hand up her arm, giving her a gentle shake and her eyes fluttered open.

‘Hey,’ he said softly. ‘Dinner is ready and if we don’t get in there soon, the hungry caterpillar in there will eat it all.’

She looked around in confusion. ‘Did I fall asleep?’

‘Evidently.’

She sat up and swung her legs off the sofa, but he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her getting up. ‘Give yourself a moment to wake up.’

‘I never fall asleep during the day.’ She rubbed her face and looked up at him. Her hair was sticking out at all angles and there was something just so achingly endearing about her.

She stood up and shivered. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped it round her and with his hand on her back he guided her towards the connecting door.

As they walked into the kitchen, Daisy looked up at them in horror at Penny’s appearance. With the bright red blanket, pale face and hair everywhere she did look like she’d just been rescued from a hurricane or plane crash. Henry made frantic gestures behind Penny’s back so Daisy didn’t say anything to make Penny feel self-conscious. Thankfully, after sixteen years of living together, she knew him well enough to understand him.

‘Here, sit down,’ Daisy said gently, as if Penny had just received some bad news and needed tender loving care.

Daisy patted the seat next to her and Penny sat down, obviously still waking up.

Penny started helping herself to some of the food and Daisy mouthed over her head, asking if she was OK. Henry nodded and mimed that she had been sleeping. Daisy sighed with relief.