Forced Restart – Daniel 16

[For back story go here: Story so far at 12 June 2020 and more recent Daniel episodes]

It was a time of comings and goings. This week Joe Wicks – the live version – had finally gone from Daniel's life. In a blaze of children, dancing (too much dancing Daniel thought so he did burpees and planks during those times instead) and chaos, Wicks had closed his PE sessions down. It would be a difficult void to fill and Daniel felt that while repeating some of the early morning exercise programmes pre-recorded on YouTube would keep him going, he knew it would never be the same again.

It was a shame Daisy hadn’t been around to help him do that final session, but Daisy was the coming which would more than offset Wick’s going. He’d managed to talk Chrissy round into letting him look after Daisy for the majority of the weeks ahead. He was honest with her – he and Daisy had developed a relationship which he’d not experienced before. Sure the house might be suffering physically as a result but Daniel felt bereft when she wasn’t there.

Chrissy had played it hard to start off with, but even if she tried to put up a fight when she did change her mind, Daniel thought there was an edge to suggest she was just saving face at a time when being without her daughter would actually be quite handy. Daniel didn’t ask questions or try to score points, he just wanted Daisy.

Nadia had sounded positive but also guarded about Daisy’s coming. Apparently wanting to keep her distance at first she then relented and agreed to come over on the day Daisy arrived and to become part of this ‘family’ – the word sent a slight chill down Nadia’s spine. However she chose to ignore this and concentrate on the bit when Daniel said reassuring things about them being together alone sometimes as if Daisy wasn’t there (although obviously she would be in the spare bedroom, but she slept through quite peacefully most nights).

Nadia had never been a Wicks fan, so she helped herself to coffee while Daniel leapt about in the front room, and then together the two prepared the house for the youngest one’s arrival. There were sparkly banners, new sparkly toys, sparkly DVDs, a CD player with the latest sparkly tunes ready to go and a brand new sparkly tablet for her to play on. The duo had been through the local listings and located the best and safest outdoor activities, from open spaces to parks and zoos, whatever was possible they’d planned to do it and make the summer one to remember – just in case Daisy was in any danger of forgetting it for some reason.

Sparkly cup cakes started being mixed in the kitchen and having got these in the oven Daniel set about a work phonecall to settle everything so his head would be clear for the weekend. 

And that, of course, was his great mistake.

Alarm bells started to ring when Wendy, the CEO, didn’t immediately pick up and didn’t immediately return his call either. Wendy’s PA said she was on a call to America and would be through in half an hour, but even that was enough to unsettle Daniel. 

The half hour stretched to an hour and then to ninety minutes. Nadia told him no news was good news and maybe they were just discussing some part of the app or marketing or…. something. Daniel was jittery and the amount of coffee he’d consumed made him even more so when finally the phone went.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush,” said Wendy. “I can’t afford to. And I can’t afford to keep you either. We have to make tough decisions right now and I’m afraid I have to let you go. If things change you’ll be first back, but that’s how it is.”

Daniel put down the phone and sat dejected on the sofa. He was pretty certain the line about being let back in first was being said to everyone – or rather to the half dozen being cut at the moment. Never mind, he thought. He had talent and a reputation. He had fire and enthusiasm and knowledge and all kinds of things and he’d done well to stay on board to this point. No one would hold this against him and now he could really get into sorting his life out exactly as he wanted it.

And then Chrissy rang to say she’d had a change of plan and she would not be bringing Daisy over today. They were going to go and see her parents for the weekend.

“How dare you?” roared Daniel down the phone. “How dare you do this to me? Do you have any idea? I’ll come and get her. I don’t care – she’s coming to live with me and you can’t stop that…”

“Daniel calm down,” said Chrissy, “Although I expected no less from you. The opportunity has literally just come up and I can’t turn it down. I don’t know when else they would see Daisy and…”

“You did this on purpose. On purpose!” continued Daniel. “You had no intention of bringing her over, did you? Hey? Did you?”

Chrissy hung up having said she’d be in touch again on Sunday when they were back and hopefully Daniel would be being reasonable again by then.

Daniel put down his phone and looked up at Nadia. She offered him a sparkly cup cake and a smile. And that's when he started to cry.