Aidan and I each took a headset, but Daisy didn’t even make a move to take one.
‘You could call Dad and ask him?’ suggested Daisy.
‘How old are you, Daisy?’ asked Aidan, who already had his headset on.
‘Fourteen, nearly fifteen.’
‘Wow. So you like fashion, do you?’
‘Yes,’ she said, as though she was sussing him out. ‘I want to be a fashion designer, actually.’
‘Really?’ said Aidan. ‘Florence must be heaven for you,then, with all these shops. Have you checked out the Gucci Garden, I hear it’s very good?’
‘We went there the day before yesterday. It was amazing. I got this bag,’ she said, showing Aidan the leather shoulder bag that Nick had treated her to.
‘Beautiful,’ he said. ‘Can I touch it?’
Daisy shrugged. ‘Sure.’
Aidan stroked his hand across the bright yellow leather. ‘So soft!’ he said.
I smiled, despite myself. Aidan did have a way of making people feel noticed.
‘I didn’t know bags were your thing,’ I said.
Aidan shrugged. ‘I appreciate fine goods when I see them, that’s all.’
Only then did I realise that I’d been overfamiliar. If Aidan and I were the strangers we were supposed to be, it would have been a very odd thing to say. How would I know what he was or wasn’t into?
Luckily, Daisy didn’t seem to have noticed. She just appeared to be over the moon that somebody was actually listening to her. Aidan had a knack for doing that. When he spoke to you, you had his full attention.
‘Fine, I’ll call your dad,’ I said, taking my phone out of my bag and getting in a massive tangle with the earphones.
I dialled Nick’s number, mouthing a ‘sorry’ at Francesca, who thankfully was good-natured about it, waving away my apology with a wry smile.
Nick didn’t pick up, of course. He never seemed to, lately. I left him a message.
‘Nick it’s me. I’m with Daisy at the Uffizi. She really doesn’t want to go in and says she’d prefer to go for a walk around the shops instead. Is that all right? She says she’sallowed to go off on her own in London? Call me back asap because this is holding everybody up.’
I ended the call.
Daisy looked at me expectantly. ‘Well? Can I go?’
‘I haven’t got permission from your dad yet, have I?’
‘I can call my mum, let her know,’ said Daisy. She twirled her own phone around in her hand. ‘She won’t mind, honestly.’
I didn’t know what to do. Making decisions about what other people’s children were allowed to do was not my forte.
‘Florence is a very safe city,’ said Aidan. ‘There’s hardly any crime, isn’t that right, Francesca?’
‘Yes,’ Francesca agreed enthusiastically. ‘I have teenagers myself and they come here alone and sit at a café or meet their friends.’
‘They do?’ I said, feeling better about it all.
‘Of course,’ said Francesca.
I looked at Daisy.