Chapter Two
A few days went by before Anna returned to the cafe. It was a grey, drizzly afternoon and the high street was quiet. The last few remaining tourists in Broachchurch had made the wise call to stay indoors today. The cup of tea warmed up Anna's cold hands and was a welcome relief after having spent the best part of the morning flitting around the town, setting things in order at the bank and buying a few small items to decorate her modestly furnished rental flat. A few more jobs she could tick off her to-do list.
Afterwards as she stepped out of the cafe and hoisted up her umbrella, cursing herself for walking instead of driving the new secondhand car she'd picked up the day before, she spotted Daisy standing against a wall next to the cafe. Her phone was pressed against her ear.
"Dad, can you please come and pick me up? Yeah, I've just finished now." Daisy paused, listening to the voice on the other end of the line before sighing. "No, I don't want to wait that long. Fine. I'll just walk in the rain. Yep, okay, bye." She ended the phone call quickly, clearly annoyed at the person on the other end of the line.
"Do you have an umbrella?" asked Anna, looking over at Daisy.
Daisy shook her head no.
Anna walked over and held her umbrella above both their heads as fat raindrops began to tumble from the sky onto the street.
"Where do you live?" she asked, hoping Daisy would say somewhere in her general direction, otherwise she was going to have to give the poor girl her umbrella and go home soaking wet.
"I'm up on the hill. On Station Road."
"Huh, me too," replied Anna with a smile. That couldn't have worked out any better. Together they hurried in unison down the street and up the hill to Daisy's house, chatting along the way about school and life in Broadchurch. For Daisy it felt good to talk to someone new, someone ever more unfamiliar to Broadchurch than herself. She told Anna about how she lived here with her dad, how she had moved not long ago. Anna got a sense from the way Daisy spoke about her dad that she was proud of him, even though it sounded like he worked too much. When they arrived at the little house on Station Road, Daisy was disappointed to have to end the conversation.
"Wow, you wouldn't believe it Daisy, but my house is right across the road from yours" said Anna, looking across the road at the little house that had had a "For Lease" sign out the front until a short while ago.
Daisy smiled at the coincidence. They said their farewells and parted ways, Anna eager to get home and have a hot shower. She was going to have to buy herself a raincoat. She mentally added it to her list.