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If she wasn’t going to expose herself to her own aze elsewhere She needed to find a subject and lose herself in it

Daisy stared mindlessly out of the windscreen She had other caht now, felt like a retreat Worse, it felt like an admission of failure

But she had failed, hadn’t she?

She’d tried to change the rules

They hadn’t even e part before she had started interfering Deether PowerPoint presentations Daisy leaned forward until her forehead knocked against the steering wheel

She was a fool

And yet

Slowly Daisy straightened, her hands pressing tighter on the wheel And yet she had felttime As if she had finally burst out of her chrysalis

She didn’t know if she could willingly shut herself back in She’d enjoyed the research, enjoyed finding conclusions—she’d even enjoyed figuring out PowerPoint in the end after she had eed victorious after the first few scuffles She’d never put together any kind of business plan before, never pushed herself

Never allowed herself to broaden her horizons, to think shemore Hidden behind her camera just as Seb hid behind his qualifications

She’d wanted to help hi, torn between his career and his home, the expectations of his past and the worries of the present

But he didn’t want her help Didn’t need her

Without conscious thought, just following her instinct, Daisy began to drive, following the road signs on autopilot until she turned down the long lane that led to her childhood hoine, relief seeping through her bones This here she needed to be, right now