Swimming Pool Sunday by Sophie Kinsella, Madeleine Wickham Page A

the air had seemed to resonate with shock. And Louise had slumped heavily into a chair, wanting to say, sorry, she didn’t mean it, but, somehow, unable to.
    ‘Mummy!’ Drops of water pattered onto Louise’s back, and a shadow fell over the sun. ‘Can I have a two-penny piece to throw?’
    ‘Can I have one, too? Can I have a pound coin?’ Louise reluctantly looked up. There were Amelia and Katie, standing over her in breathless excitement, dripping water onto her bathing-suit and leaving wet footprints on her towel.
    ‘Did you see me do a handstand?’ asked Katie. ‘Did you see when I did cycling in the air? Did you see when Amelia nearly did a backward somersault?’ She hopped up and down, so that her hair flew out and sprayed Louise with water.
    ‘Careful!’ said Louise, sitting up. ‘You’ll get people all wet. Now, where’s my purse?’
    ‘Here,’ said Amelia, promptly, holding it out. She watched carefully as Louise unzipped it. ‘A two-penny piece,’ she said. ‘Or a penny.’
    ‘And a pound coin for me,’ said Katie, doing a quick bunny jump on the grass.
    ‘Don’t be stupid, ’ said Amelia. ‘A pound coin will never show up. And what if you lost it?’
    ‘I wouldn’t lose it,’ said Katie, giving Amelia a disdainful look.
    ‘Here you are,’ said Louise. ‘A tuppenny piece each. Now go and play.’
    ‘Watch me dive,’ begged Amelia. ‘I’ve got a really good dive.’
    ‘Maybe later,’ said Louise. ‘After lunch I’ll come and watch.’
    Daisy stood at the edge of the grass and wondered where to sit. She had hastily changed into her swimming-suit as soon as Meredith had gone, then hurried down the stairs and out into the sunshine. Mrs Mold had been very welcoming at the entrance table, and had said, unfortunately, she was a bit tied up at the moment, but why didn’t Daisy introduce herself to a few people; she’d soon find that everybody was jolly friendly.
    And Daisy had smiled and nodded. Now she peeredanxiously around, trying to ignore the spasms of nerves in her stomach; trying to look confident, and wondering who she could approach. To the right was a group of women, all gaily laughing at something. But most of them seemed much older than Daisy. She wouldn’t know what to talk to them about. Only one looked anywhere near Daisy’s age, and she was busy with a baby.
    Dotted round the pool were more little groups of families and friends, as well as a few loners, stretched out on chairs or on towels. None of them looked up at Daisy, or smiled, or waved her over. In desperation, Daisy looked around for the American woman whose bedroom she’d walked into, but she was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the friendly owner of the house.
    Daisy took a hesitant step forward. She was going to have to sit down somewhere. People would start to stare at her if she stayed hovering on the edge of the lawn all afternoon. She would simply find her own spot now, she decided, and then perhaps talk to people a bit later on.
    Slowly, self-consciously, she wended her way through the chattering groups, stepping over beach-mats and bags, apologizing whenever she came within six inches of someone’s towel, until she reached a quiet patch of grass some way from the swimming-pool. Quickly she spread out her towel and lay down, trying to ignore the latent blush of embarrassment that was spreading over her cheeks.
    From his steamer chair at the side of the pool, Alexis Faraday watched Daisy’s progress with slow lazy amusement. His eyes followed her, swivelling under brown lizard lids, taking in her hair, her eyes, her pale skin and her gawky grace. She moved, with painful awkwardness, between the prone bodies on the grass, apologizing where there was no need, biting her soft pink underlip anxiously. When she reachedher destination, she looked around, hesitated, then abruptly spread out her towel and lay down, as though avoiding gunfire.
    Alexis stared at her for a few more seconds, and when it was