Game Setter Match – Daniel 35

 

For back story go here: Story so far, and definitely this one.]

[Relevant back story links also within text.]

Nadia was on video call and chatting to both of them while Daisy haphazardly decorated the tree. There was tinsel everywhere and baubles and plastic holly sprayed generously across the floor. Every now and then Daniel would warn her not to tread on something but at least he no longer had to check she wasn't trying to eat anything she shouldn't. Nadia, with a hot chocolate in front of her and a Christmas hat on her head, was enjoying the mayhem slowly morphing into Christmas on her screen.

"So what made you become a dog walker?" asked Daniel, as it seemed an entirely reasonable question to ask.

"Well to begin with," said Nadia, "I got a dog."

"Dog!" shouted Daisy. "Doggie dog dog-dog! – Daddy can I have a dog for Christmas?"

"Not this time, no," said Daniel in a calm, reassuring voice, and then immediately distracting her with a particularly long piece of tinsel.

"Look it's the Sparkle Unicorn's tail," he said.

This almost worked – after Daniel reassured her that Sparkle Unicorn liked her tail being a Christmas decoration.

Nadia promised to show her the dog later but the pup was currently asleep in the kitchen downstairs and she wanted to make sure the animal would learn that this was where he should be.

To be honest, Daniel was a little worried about reconnecting with Nadia. This was the person who he'd been in love with and cared about for some time after his split with his wife Chrissy. She had been a shoulder to cry on and then something more and at one point, he had thought he wouldn't get through the next part of his life without her. His feelings towards her had made the end of his family life almost make sense. Why had he been trying to preserve something else when she was there?

Now he was almost embarrassed by what had happened. Just the fact that she had seen him become obsessed with trying to get Daisy back into his life over the weeks of the pandemic made him worry that he'd negated those feelings of affection. On the one hand he was glad to be talking to her again and they were enjoying each other's banter. On the other hand he hoped with all his might that there wouldn't be anything special between them at all.

"It's interesting," said Daniel, "I never had you down as a dog person."

"Me neither to be honest," said Nadia, "But then this Red Setter pup came along and the rest, as they say, is history."

Or not quite. It was all fairly current. Nadia’s new dog had put her in contact with many other dog lovers and fairly soon she found that the spare time she had could be used to create a new kind of business.

"It's quite simple really," she said. "Even though people have been at home more, they need time to work. So they're still happy for me to turn up and take the dog off their hands for a while. A few of them would rather I took the dog for longer – they can get pretty jealous if their master is paying too much attention to a computer or people on a zoom call."

Dan explained his situation with regard to the app, although he skilfully skated over his faux pas as an innovation officer. "I realised it just wasn't me really," he said, and they discussed dog walking networks and possible angles to follow up for possible promotions. It wasn't a big market, but it could be a faithful one – as long as the cats thing never came back.

"What will you be doing for Christmas?" asked Nadia eventually.

"I'll be here," said Daniel, "That much is for sure. With Daisy."

"Well, if you're around I could always bring Alfred over. Sure Daisy will like to meet him and he'd certainly like to meet her. Might manage to convert you to the way of the canine too,” she smiled.

Daniel wasn’t a hundred percent how he felt about dogs, but said they could certainly all do a walk together sometime. They made a pact to discuss it further.

By this time Daisy had submerged nearly all the greenery of the tree in sparkly bits and pieces. There was just the fairy to put on the top. Nadia was only a little surprised when Daniel picked up Daisy to place the figurine on the apex, which she did with a little too much enthusiasm, resulting in the entire structure coming crashing down.

Nadia enjoyed the resulting image of Christmas though – a child being held high by her father, fairy in one hand and tears rolling down her cheeks.