Page 66 of The Only Way Is Up

‘What?’

‘After dinner. Don’t go home,’ said Daisy, twiddling her hair awkwardly. ‘Come next door. We should talk.’

Tom nodded, giving Daisy a smile of such tenderness that she had to force herself not to kiss him right there and then. Now wasn’t the time. Maybe at some point, but not now. She just needed to help him understand.

‘So, let me get this straight,’ Justin repeated to Will. ‘You want to put videos of me and Stella cooking on the internet.’

‘Yep,’ Will nodded. ‘On YouTube.’

‘And why would we do that?’ asked Stella politely.

‘Because I think lots of people will watch it.’ Daisy had to admire Will’s patience; it was like he was trying to explain the functioning of NATO to a class of six-year-olds. ‘And if you make lots of videos and lots of people watch them, you could start making money out of it.’

‘How much money?’ asked Justin, perking up.

‘It’s hard to say. You need to build up a following, which could take a bit of time. But Daisy could help, probably.’ He looked at Daisy, who nodded. ‘Some people who do YouTube videos make a LOT of money.’

‘And how much does it cost?’ asked Stella. ‘The Tube thing?’

‘It doesn’t cost anything,’ Will explained. ‘I can edit the first video and upload it tomorrow. Then Daisy can give it a nudge on social media and we’ll see what happens.’

Stella and Justin looked at each other, then at Daisy and Tom. ‘Do you really think it’s good?’ Stella asked, seeming uncharacteristically unsure.

‘You’re both amazing,’ Daisy reassured. ‘I think people are going to love you.’

Tom nodded in agreement. ‘You’ll probably have your own TV show by Easter.’

‘Really?’ Justin’s face lit up.

‘You might not want a TV show though,’ said Will. ‘A lot of YouTubers make more money online.’

Stella looked even more confused, so Daisy stepped in. ‘OK, let’s focus on one thing at a time. I think Will should put this first video on YouTube and we’ll see if people like it. I can give it a push too, as he said. Then later we can add more stuff from the classes. It might work; it might not. But if you’re both up for it, Will is offering to help. So am I.’

‘Well, I don’t really know how any of this works but it sounds fun,’ Stella grinned. ‘So count me in.’

‘Me too,’ Justin agreed, looking at Stella with a smile. ‘Looks like you might be stuck with me for a while.’

‘I want ten per cent,’ blurted out Will, prompting everyone to stop and look at him. ‘I’ll do all your video editing, manage your YouTube channel, look after your social.’ He swallowed and ploughed on. ‘If you don’t make any money, you don’t have to pay me anything. But if you do, I want ten per cent. As your manager.’

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Daisy spoke. ‘That seems fair. You can’t do this without Will – and it was all his idea.’

Justin shrugged. ‘Fine by me.’ And Stella nodded.

‘Cool,’ said Will, his face breaking into a big smile.

Good for you, thought Daisy proudly. You’ve just landed yourself one hell of a gig.

‘Come in,’ whispered Daisy as she opened the door for Tom and Henry. He’d hung around at Justin’s for a little while after Will offered to walk Stella back to the pub and Daisy had returned to Willow Cottage. No doubt he’d done a lap of the stables in case Justin was watching out of the window.

Daisy poured Tom a glass of wine, a welcome relief from the gut-stripping qualities of Justin’s homemade cider. He sat on the sofa with Henry at his feet and looked up at her, clearly anxious at what she was about to say. She sat on the sofa opposite, making room for Hank.

Daisy straightened her shoulders. This was long overdue. ‘Look, I need to explain something. It might not make sense at first, so I’m asking you to trust me.’

‘OK,’ Tom said. ‘I trust you.’ He smiled nervously, and Daisy realised in that moment that she was a little bit in love with Tom Clark. She pushed the thought aside, focusing on not messing this up.

‘Two things,’ Daisy murmured. ‘First, I really like you—’ she blushed and took a deep breath, ‘—a lot, actually. And,’ she held up her hand when Tom looked like he might speak, ‘Christian and I have split up. A while back.’

Tom’s eyes widened as he processed this information. ‘Well, that’s a good thing. A great thing. I really like you a lot too, so—’