‘Your milk is boiling over.’ He poured the milk into the mug filled with the drinking chocolate and gave it a good stir, then pushed the mug into her hands. ‘Now drink this and get back to bed.’
He flashed her a devastating smile and walked out without a look back.
Penny woke to the smell of bacon cooking the next morning and she smiled. Bright winter sunshine was already filtering through the crack in the curtains, indicating that it was a lot later in the day than she would have liked. She had barely slept at all after Henry had left, as she tried to work out whether the looks, comments, little touches amounted to anything or nothing. She had finally fallen asleep at six in the morning when the darkness of her room had turned to a muted grey.
She climbed out of bed, her hand hovering over Henry’s robe for a moment before she decided against wearing it for a whole host of reasons and settled on her own robe.
She padded downstairs and smiled at her friend Jill standing in the kitchen frying bacon.
Penny walked up behind her and wrapped her arms round Jill’s waist, leaning her head on her back. Jill jolted with shock for a second, before squeezing Penny’s hand and then resuming her cooking.
‘That’s a lovely greeting for this time in the morning,’ Jill said.
‘It’s lovely to be woken with the smell of bacon, but you know you don’t have to cook for me any more.’
‘And you know I like to. Tea is in the pot. You can pour me a mug too.’
Penny smiled with love for her. She had known Jill Stratton her whole life as she had been the housekeeper, cook and unofficial nanny to her and her brother growing up. She wasn’t sure why Jill still came round once or twice a week to clean for her when Jill blatantly didn’t need the money and Penny didn’t need the help, but it was an arrangement that just seemed to have stuck over the years. Penny was beyond grateful for the company and the unwavering friendship so she wasn’t going to stop her coming any time soon.
Penny poured out two mugs of tea and sat down to watch Jill finish off the bacon. She was one of the most glamorous people that Penny knew. Even today, faced with a load of dusting and vacuuming, Jill was dressed in a pale blue trouser suit that would be more suitable for a high society wedding than a spot of cleaning. She had a deep blue satin scarf tied round her neck and a pair of diamond and sapphire earrings that Penny knew to be real. She was wearing an apron over her clothes but this did nothing to detract from her effortless grace and beauty. With her brown hair cut into a sleek bob, she hadn’t aged a single day in all the time Penny had known her.
Jill placed a bacon sandwich in front of Penny and sat down opposite her to eat her own.
‘How are the new neighbours? Henry and Daisy, was it?’
‘Fine, they seem nice, but Daisy is Henry’s daughter not his wife…’
‘Oh.’ Jill took a bite of her sandwich and chewed it thoughtfully, staring at Penny the whole time. She swallowed. ‘And what is Henry like?’
Penny blushed. ‘He’s… very big and, erm…’ Hot as hell, grumpy but kind and very, very flirty. She couldn’t say any of those things but it didn’t seem she needed to as Jill was smiling into her mug of tea. ‘Daisy is very sweet, I really like her.’
There was a knock at the connecting door behind Penny and she heard it open. Jill’s eyes lit up, indicating that it was most likely Henry standing there and not Daisy.
Penny turned around and eyed Henry standing in the doorway. He’d at least had the decency to put on a t-shirt since the night before, which covered his tight boxer shorts, but he hadn’t put on any jeans to cover up his fabulous muscular thighs.
‘Hi, sorry to bother you ladies. Penny, I was wondering if I could have my robe back?’
‘Yes of course, it’s in my room, I’ll just get it.’
She ignored the look of surprise from Jill that Henry’s robe was in her bedroom as she stood up and quickly ran upstairs. When she returned a moment later, Henry was sitting down at the table talking to Jill as if he had known her for years. Jill had even made him a mug of tea.
Penny held out Henry’s robe and he took it but didn’t get up. He was sitting right next to where Penny had been sitting moments before so when she sat down to resume eating, her thigh brushed against his momentarily. His touch zapped through her before she shuffled a few inches away.
‘I see you two have met,’ Penny said, half frowning at the new cosy family breakfast and half loving it too.
‘Yes, Jill was just asking me if I was single,’ Henry smirked and then in a theatrical whisper, ‘I think she fancies me.’
Jill laughed. ‘Maybe if I was twenty years younger, but I have been very happily married to my Thomas for nearly twenty-five years now, so I don’t think I’ll be running off to have an illicit affair any time soon, despite how gorgeous you are.’
Henry smiled at Jill then transferred his smile to Penny. ‘Besides, I don’t think we can see each other anyway, Jill. I’ve got a date with Penny on Tuesday.’
Penny glanced over at Jill to see her smile widen into a full-blown grin.
‘It’s not a proper date,’ Penny explained.
‘Isn’t it?’ Henry asked, his eyes alight with amusement.
‘No, you’re just doing it to piss Jade off.’
‘That’s one of the reasons but it’s not the only reason.’
She stared at him, his eyes not wavering from her face.
There was a movement behind them and, as they both turned round to see Daisy, Henry purposefully moved away from Penny.
‘Can I smell bacon?’ Daisy said, hopefully.
‘Here, I’ll make you a sandwich,’ Jill said, standing up.
Henry frowned. ‘No, Jill, it’s OK. We have bacon next door. The lazy little tyke can make some for herself.’
‘Or, if you were any kind of dad, you could make it for me rather than leaving me to starve.’ Daisy grinned sweetly at her dad and Henry smirked.
Jill was already at the oven. ‘It’s no bother. Henry, would you like some too?’
‘Well, if you’re making some for lazy bum here, then sure.’
Penny patted the bench next to her and Daisy dropped onto it in between her and Henry. Henry nudged her playfully and she nudged him right back. They had such a lovely way between them. Penny wondered whether Henry would bring up the subject of Daisy sleeping in Penny’s lounge the night before but he didn’t, so she decided not to mention it either.
‘Daisy, this is my lovely friend Jill,’ Penny said.
‘I love your name,’ Jill said, laying bacon in the pan. ‘It’s very pretty.’
‘I hate it. I think Daisy is a cute name for little girls but I don’t think people will take me seriously as an adult.’
‘Daisy’s a lovely name,’ Penny said. ‘I could think of much worse names. I saw an article on weird baby names the other day, there was a Frodo, Bilbo, Hashtag and Goldilocks.’
Daisy laughed. ‘No one would call their kid Goldilocks.’
‘I wish I was lying but I’m not. And do you want to know what Penny is short for?’
‘I’m guessing Penelope.’
Penny shook her head. ‘Tuppence.’
Daisy’s eyes lit up and Henry gave a loud bark of a laugh.
‘You’re called Tuppence. That’s your real name?’ Daisy was clearly delighted by this turn of events.
‘Yes. My brother got the worst deal though. His name is Rainbow Sky.’
‘Seriously?’ Daisy giggled.
‘What can I say, our parents were hippies. Everyone just calls him Sky now. I think he had it officially changed by deed poll a few years ago. Although if you ever meet him don’t tell him you know. He never tells anyone his real name.’
Daisy laughed. ‘Thank god you didn’t call me Rainbow or Moonshine.’
‘You see, Daisy is actually quite a normal name,’ Henry said.
Daisy nodded. Her phone beeped in her pocket and Daisy pulled it out. ‘Oh sorry, the battery is dying, I’ll just turn it off.’ She pressed a few buttons and slipped it back into her pocket. ‘That’s what I wanted to ask: the phone reception isn’t great here, are there any places that get better reception?’