Free Three Words: A Novella Collection by Lindy Dale Page A

absolutely done the right thing by leaving when she did last
night. It would only have ended in tears. Well, more tears.
    An elderly
lady approached the stall and stopped to examine a china dog. She
picked it up, turning it over and over in her bony wrinkled
fingers. “How much is this, dear?” she asked, handing it to
Daisy.
    Daisy looked
at the dog. It had rather evil looking eyes for a china thing. It
was enough to give you the creeps. Heavens knows why anyone would
want to buy it. She turned it upside down to find the price tag.
That was even scarier.
    “ Uh, it’s two hundred and sixty dollars,” she told the old
lady, feeling almost embarrassed at having to say it. She wouldn’t
have taken the thing for free.
    “ Can you do a better price? I’d really like to have it on my
mantle. It would complete my set but I don’t quite have that much
in my purse.”
    Daisy
considered giving it to the lady but knew Mrs. Hanson would throw a
fit. Quickly, she calculated the discount Mrs. Hanson had told her
was acceptable. “I could probably do two twenty.”
    The old lady
bit her lip. “Two hundred?”
    Just take the
damn thing, Daisy thought. I don’t care.
    “ Let me check.”
    She walked
over to Mrs. Hanson, who had finished talking to the other customer
and was now holding up a small cracked compact and reapplying her
lipstick. “Is two hundred okay for the ugly dog?” she
whispered.
    Mrs. Hanson
almost missed her mouth with the lipstick. “It’s not an ugly dog,
Daisy. It’s a limited edition Royal Dalton figurine designed by
Frederick Daws in 1935.” She stopped and looked over her shoulder
at the elderly lady. “And tell her we’ll take two ten and nothing
less. That old biddy has more money than the whole of the South
West put together.”
    Well, looks
really could be deceiving. Or maybe that threadbare coat the old
lady was wearing was some sort of disguise?
    Daisy walked
back to her customer. “I can’t go any lower than two ten.”
    The lady
grumbled and opened her handbag. She began to rummage around in it,
bringing out a selection of very large notes, one of which Daisy
had never seen in real life. Then she handed the correct money to
Daisy. “Can you wrap it please?”
    Daisy gave her
a smile. “Sure. Wouldn’t like to think it’d get broken on the way
home, would we? Not after you’ve spent all that money.”
    Bending under
the stall Daisy fished around for the roll of bubble wrap, scissors
and tape. She glanced at her watch. Another hour before she could
get out of this place and go home to some peace and quiet. What
with the cold of being in a tin shed and standing on a concrete
floor all morning, she was looking forward to a nice hot cup of tea
and a chat on the phone with Avery. She’d already uploaded her
photos of the concert to her computer and sent a few through to
Avery’s email. She wouldn’t mention anything about the proceedings
after. No need to dampen Avery’s little crush by telling her the
truth about Henry being only after a ‘little fling’.
    Daisy put the
roll down on the stall and picked up the dog, turning back to the
old lady to ask her if she wanted to buy anything else but the
woman had tottered further along the stall and standing in her
place was….
    Henry.
    The two
hundred dollar dog fell from Daisy’s hands and landed with a
shattering crash on the concrete floor. From behind her and beside
her she heard the horrified shrieks of Mrs. Hanson ~ who was
thinking about her lost revenue ~ and the old lady who had begun to
wobble on her walking stick like she was having a stroke. Daisy
couldn’t move. Her feet were stuck to the floor in a puddle of
china.
    “ Henry.”
    God, he looked
gorgeous.
    No, she chided
herself. She mustn’t think that. He was a shallow, egocentric rock
star who had no place in her life. Yes. That was more like it. Now,
if only she was convinced.
    “ Hi Daisy.”
    “ What are you doing here? I … I thought…. Aren’t you meant