The Holiday Swap. Zara Stoneley
the big lolloping dog already, they’d never been apart since she’d got her as a gangly out-of-proportion eight week old pup.
‘Stop thinking about Mabel.’
‘I’m not.’
‘You are, so.’ Anna stuck her tongue out.
‘It’s amazing.’ Changing the subject was always a good idea when Anna got into uber-bossy mode.
‘This is just the start, welcome to the big wide world, Daisy Fischer. Fancy a beer?’
‘I thought we were going to Flo’s? You do know where she lives?’
‘Kind of.’ Anna grinned. ‘Chill, who needs maps? I’ll sort it out, it just looks different to last time I came. Or maybe I’m thinking of Madrid.’ The grin slipped into a frown.
‘Anna!’
Anna laughed.
‘Maybe we should ask somebody?’
‘Rubbish, that’s cheating. Maps are for wimps. Come on, it’s this way I think.’ And before Daisy could object, Anna had straightened her rucksack on her shoulders and was marching back the way they’d just come.
It was only when they got to another square – this time with a large cathedral at one side – that Anna’s confident march slowed down. Which was actually quite a good thing, as Daisy felt she was in a fast-forward film.
‘That isn’t supposed to be there.’
‘Well it doesn’t look like anybody’s moved it for a few hundred years. What do you mean, isn’t supposed to be there? Can we go in?’
Anna frowned. ‘I think we’re going in the wrong direction. We’ll have a beer here while I work it out.’
‘So we can’t go in?’
‘Tomorrow. Beer. Beer and tapas, then my brain will work better.’’
Daisy raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you sure you should have binned the map?’
‘I’m just popping to the ladies, then we’ll go and find Flo’s place.’
‘Fine.’ Daisy was only half listening – there was a map on the next table, left by a couple who’d been too busy arguing to remember it, and any second now it was going to get whisked away by a waiter.
Anna turned her back and Daisy made a grab for it.
‘I can’t believe you came without a map!’
Daisy jumped guiltily, in very much the same way that Mabel did when she’d stolen a chicken leg off the table and still had the evidence in her mouth, then looked up. Straight into a pair of grey-blue smiling eyes.
A tall blonde girl, with the kind of tousled beach-babe look that on Daisy would be more ‘I need to wash my hair’ than ‘I need sex’, was looking down at her quizzically, one eyebrow raised. Which was exactly the look she gave Mabel when she caught her in the act, as it were.
‘Wow, Flo, is it really you?’ She scrambled to her feet. ‘What are you doing here? I didn’t think you were meeting us. Gosh, you look fabulous. That hair colour really suits you.’ It did; it looked sophisticated and casual all at once. But it only partly detracted from the dark circles under her eyes, and the slightly haunted look. ‘Are you okay? I can’t believe—’
‘I’m good,’ Flo swatted away the concern, so Daisy bit back all the questions. There was plenty of time to talk later, when she was ready. ‘All the better for seeing you. I reckoned I should come and meet you half way.’
Daisy raised an eyebrow. There were coincidences and…
‘Well actually, Anna just text me from the loo and said you were lost.’
‘We were lost?’ Daisy grinned. ‘She’s terrible. She threw my map away.’
‘I thought it was weird, you’re usually the organised one.’ She grinned. ‘The one with the tidiest pencil case, and you never forgot your homework.’
‘She convinced me she knew where she was going. You know Anna.’
Flo laughed. ‘I know Anna.’
Daisy pulled a chair out. ‘Sit down. Are we having another drink, or heading to yours?’
Flo shrugged and sat down. ‘I’m easy, this is your weekend away. I didn’t know Anna had been before.’
‘Years ago I think, her family went all over. I’m the clueless one. I’m so glad you came to meet us, she hasn’t got any idea where we are. I thought we’d end up turning the rest of the day into a bar crawl, and I really need to shower and get out of these smelly clothes. And to be honest, I’m dying to get these shoes off.’ And ring Jimmy – just to check Mabel was okay and Barney hadn’t escaped.
Flo laughed, it was the same laugh Daisy remembered, but now she had perfect, sophisticated honey-streaked blonde hair to flick back. ‘Ahh. I’m so glad you’re here though, you’re a lifesaver. We can plan loads of exciting stuff, you’ve never been to Barcelona before?’
‘I’ve never left the UK.’
‘Never?’
‘Nope, never. And I’ve got three days to discover my wild side.’
Flo’s smiled broadened. ‘You’re kidding, Daisy? I never realised! You should have come before.’
It hung between them, the unspoken force that was Oli. Flo had always been too busy to see old friends, or so it had seemed. Daisy shrugged. ‘To be honest, I never thought I was that bothered until now.’ She hadn’t, not until Jimmy had changed everything.
‘A bit of a tall order to uncover your wild side in a long weekend, although you have got Anna and me to help.’
‘Anna said I’d find it in Ravel, she said that’s the plan for this afternoon.’
‘She did, did she?’
‘She was winding me up?’
‘Well I don’t want to be funny, but it wouldn’t be my first choice, some areas of El Raval are still like the worst part of the city. You know, one of those places where you double-lock the doors and put your spare money in your bra.’
‘You’re kidding? But the bit she showed me in my book looked nice, and,’ Daisy’s stomach was started to do a shimmy, so much for the big adventure, she was getting the wobbles before she’d started, ‘it can’t be that bad. Can it?’
‘Well,’ Flo frowned, ‘it isn’t terrible, terrible, if you know what I mean?’
So not double-terrible, just one.
‘But honestly? It really isn’t a place for a travel virgin. I think we’ll re-plan Anna’s itinerary.’
‘Please, or I’m going to be getting the next bus back to the airport, maybe I never was meant to travel outside Cheshire.’
‘More like you were never meant to let Anna make the decisions. You’ll love it here, I promise.’
‘What’s this about not letting me do things? I’m fab at decisions, wow it is so good to see you again, we’ve missed you.’ Anna wrapped Flo in a bear hug and then plopped down in her chair. ‘So what’s up, and where,’ she glared at the map that Daisy was clutching to her chest like a firstborn, ‘did you get that from?’
‘I found it.’ She glared back, sending a ‘don’t mess with my map’ message. ‘Flo says El Raval is a dump, it’s pants.’
‘I didn’t exactly—’
‘Terrible, but not terrible, terrible.’ That was probably like Barney getting out of the field, but not invading Hugo’s food store. Or was Flo’s ‘terrible’ these days more on the scale of chipped