Daisy woke up with a huge smile on her face. It was the day of Freya and Charlie’s wedding and she’d arranged to meet Noah for breakfast. She couldn’t wait. Last night had been the most fun she’d had in a long, long time and she was ready for a repeat. She stretched over to get her cell from the table beside the bed. It was a daily habit where she’d check her emails and any other messages she’d received while she’d been sleeping and answer the important ones before getting up. As she’d switched off her cell during the rehearsal dinner she was bombarded with one ‘ping’ after another. Groaning, she wondered if she should just have kept it switched off.
There was a voice message left from Mark Fredrickson. Mark was the company Chief Financial Officer and brother to Julian, the CEO. She got on with both brothers, although over the past few months they’d come under a lot of pressure from competitors who’d poached a few of their biggest customers. Mark knew she was at the wedding this weekend and she couldn’t believe he had called her. This was the first time off she’d taken in months, she even worked weekends. She swiped to listen with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was not going to be good.
“Daisy, this is Mark. I’m so sorry to interrupt your weekend.” Sure you are. “Something has come up and we need the marketing report now. Can you sent it to me as soon as you get this message. I know you and you’ve probably already done it,” he chuckled. She felt her blood pressure rising. Yes, she’d done it because she didn’t have a life outside of the office and everyone, Mark especially, took advantage of that. When David, a marketing executive, had left the company Mark had asked her to cover his tasks until they’d found a replacement … eighteen months ago. She was still doing both jobs, with no extra pay and definitely no thanks.
She let her head fall back on the pillow and groaned. Is this really what she wanted out of life? Is this where she thought her plan would lead her all those years ago? It was her own fault, she let this happen. She’d built up a nice nest egg from her salary as apart from rent, utilities and food she didn’t have many expenses. Also, she’d made some really good investments so why did she continue to put up with the life she’d created when it was now glaringly obvious she wasn’t happy? She was determined to find answers this weekend.
Daisy got ready for breakfast and before leaving she fired up her laptop and sent Mark the report he’d requested. She was going to send it before getting ready but the rebel in her made her wait until after. Waiting until she came back from breakfast was maybe a step too far and besides she didn’t want the report hanging over her while she enjoyed her breakfast date with Noah.
She skipped down the stairs to breakfast instead of waiting for the elevator. Yes, this weekend she was going to let her fun side out and enjoy everything the weekend had to offer. The wedding wasn’t until three pm and she wasn’t meeting Freya and the rest of the bridesmaids until noon which meant she could spend the morning with Noah … if he offered.
Walking towards the main dining room she saw Noah laughing with the waitress. He noticed her and motioned her over. “Daisy, this is my sister Ashleigh. Ashleigh, this is Daisy my date for the wedding.”
Sister? Date?
Ashleigh gave her a huge grin and pulled her into a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you Daisy. Noah has told me absolutely nothing about you so we need to change all that.” She turned to Noah and asked with a raised eyebrow, “Is she?”
He nodded and pulled Daisy out of his sister’s arms. “I’ve not told Daisy yet about our family and I’m sure she’d appreciate being fed first, not rapid fire questions from my sister.”
“Your favorite sister,” she replied with a wink. “Daisy, it was so nice to meet you but duty calls. We’ll catch up soon.”
“Nice to meet you Ashleigh,” she called after her then turned to Noah,“Your sister works here?”
“My family owns the hotel, has done for generations. My parents, brother and sisters all work here. I’m the only one that doesn’t. I’m just going to warn you, now you’ve met my sister it won’t be long until the rest of the family make an appearance, so fair warning.”
They made their way into the dining room and sure enough an older man and woman made their way to their table. “Noah, Ashleigh has just told us you’ve brought a date to the wedding and you forgot to tell us.”
He let out a laugh and stood up to hug, Daisy assumed his mom. “Mom, Dad, this is Daisy and I didn’t bring her, we just met yesterday. She’s Freya’s best friend.”
She noticed her mom and dad having a silent conversation that seemed to be getting them all excited and she couldn’t work out why. Surely they’d met Noah’s past girlfriends? She knew he’d had plenty of them if the rumors were true.
“So nice to meet you Daisy. Noah you need to bring Daisy to meet us properly, after the wedding of course. I’m sure Jake and Emily would love to meet you too.”
“That would be nice, thanks Mrs …” Daisy realized she didn’t even know his last name and felt embarassed. “I’m sorry I don’t even know your last name.”
“Carpenter, but please call me Isabel and this is my husband, Tom.”
“Nice to meet you Isabel, Tom. I’m Daisy Yorke.”