"Wow mum, you look ace."

Tess smiled and frowned. "Ace?"

"Brill?"

She snorted.

Daisy plopped down on the edge of the bed. "I know that you know what it means."

"Well, I'm a copper, baby girl. Gotta know the lingo." She sat near her daughter and looked at their reflection in the closet mirror. The slanting sunlight filtered through the curtains, making Daisy's hair almost blond and her skin golden.

"You have grown up so much lately. When did I tell you it was ok to stop being my little girl?"

"Mum, you are getting almost as soppy as dad."

Tess scrunched her nose. "Yuck!"

They both smiled.

"He'll hate Nando's, won't he?" Asked Daisy.

"Of course. 'I bet this chicken tastes exactly the same in Quatar.'" She mocked his rolled R. "Which is probably true, but we won't tell him."

"Never. Mum, why is he here?"

Tess put an arm around the girl's shoulders. The familiar tugging she was used to identify as guilt started to pool at the pit of her stomach.

"I told you, he thinks he found new leads on the case of the two missing girls." Balancing truth and lies was exhausting. She had to force herself to keep eye contact with the reflected image of her daughter.

"And are you helping him?"

'No, actually I'm not. He asked but I won't because you know what, sweetheart? Mum is a pro at sweeping the dirty stuff under the carpet. And for her the fear of facing the dirty stuff comes before the need to find out who murdered two innocent girls.'

Tess had to close her eyes. "Yeah, sort of."

"I know that you and dad lied to me."

The tugging at the pit of her stomach turned into a dull throbbing. She felt lightheaded and dizzy.

"You told me dad had been transferred to Dorset, but I checked and found that a detective cannot be transferred against his will. So he asked to leave." In classic interrogation style, she had left the final question untold. Hanging in the air, but inescapable.

"Who's the detective now?" Tess tried to joke, but Daisy didn't smile.

'Tell her the truth and get it over with', her inner voice screamed at her. But then what? Their dinner would be spoiled, and probably the playful complicity she and Daisy had shared just a few moments ago would be lost forever.

So once again she lied without really lying. No matter how exhausting it felt afterwards, Tess knew she had gotten pretty good at finding the narrow paths between truth and lies.

"Dais a divorce is a rough process for all the parts involved. Dad and I just thought that we all needed a break from all the stress, and ... "

"So you hate each other now?"

"No. I could never hate dad, because he gave me you and because... well, he's dad. But parents sometimes fuck things up and... And they swear when they shouldn't." She smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind Daisy's ear. "Sorry, sweetheart."

Daisy's eyes were fixed on her knees, and Tess knew she was trying to process what she had just told her. She kissed the top of her head. "You can do and say wrong things but still love someone. I know this wasn't in any of the parenting textbooks I read before you were born, but that's how life works sometimes. Maybe dad and I disappointed you lately, but we both love you very very much. And this isn't going to change anytime soon, ok?" Her voice quivered.

Her daughter knitted her brow. "Ok, but I already knew that. I mean, even if you're annoying and all, I know you care for me. I just wanted to know if you now hate dad, if he's ever coming back here for good and..."

"And?"

"If you're seeing someone else."

Tess's jaw dropped, but this time she didn't have to lie. Her relationship with Dave was struggling, to say the least. He kept accusing her of wanting to keep him out of her life, and he might have a point. She didn't think Daisy was ready to have a stepdad, and the thought made her uncomfortable too. Giving up on him had been easier than expected, and Tess felt she had mistreated him too.

"I don't hate dad and I think that we could try to lure him back around here, but he and I cannot live together. We just need to find a new Normal, Dais. And no, I'm not seeing anyone else." She elbowed her. "Am I free to go now? I still need to do something with this hair."

"Please, keep it down!"

"Oh?"

"I don't know why you keep pulling it up lately. Makes you look old."

"Well, thank you!"

She shrugged. "I like it much better when it's down."

Tess ran both hands through her curly hair, dishevelling it on purpose. "Because it's a mess?"

Her daughter chuckled. "Well, it's more you than the granny bun."

Tess blew a whiff of air to lift a strand of hair from her brow, and they both smiled at the mirror.

She had to tell her. Soon, but not today.