THREE - Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 76 - Unicorn

AMY

Daniel's hand slipped into mine as we walked through the high street of my small home town. I wanted to show him each sight of this town, as much as he had given me a tour of Perth when I was last there.

"It's so small and quaint." Daniel commented as he wrapped himself up in his jacket and looked over the old buildings.

The weather was not matching the time we were last in Perth, it was considerably cooler and I even missed the hot temperatures of Australia.

"I have more appreciation for it now, but when we were teenagers, we hated it here." I told Daniel and he looked at me, swinging our hands together as we walked hand-in-hand.

"Why?" He questioned as he made room for some people to pass by on the pavement. The walkers greeted Daniel and moved on. "Why does everyone here say 'good morning'?"

"Because it's polite." I laughed as we started to walk again. "And we hated it here because we always thought there was nothing to do and it was boring. I guess when you are 16, a small town doesn't have everything you need."

Daniel smiled as we passed the bakery at the end of the high street. Scents of freshly made bread and pastry filled the air outside, almost palpable in the air if you stuck your tongue out for long enough.

"Ah cool, a bake shop." Daniel eyed up the food in the window. "This is like a Bakers Delight, right?" He asked whilst turning around to face me.

It was a good job that I'd lived in Sydney for eight years prior to meeting Daniel as I wouldn't understand half of the things he spoke about, but luckily on this occasion, I did.

Bakers Delight is a chain bakery found across Australia, kind of like a Pret A Manger or Greggs in the UK. A chain bakery never competed with the in-house, traditional ones. These recipes were passed down from generations with each time being authentic.

"A bakery, my love. Nobody here calls them bake shops." I smiled as we entered.

Daniel headed straight towards the counter as he continued to scan over the plethora of sweet treats.

"Morning Debbie." I smiled at the lady over the counter as she stepped away from cutting up a loaf of bread to finally notice who was talking to her. As soon as she saw me, she smiled brightly and greeted me the same.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your nan. She was a valued customer here." Debbie laughed as we continued to chat about my grandmother. She loved the bakery and would often spend so much money in here that she'd struggle to carry all the items back to the car where either mom or dad would be sat waiting for her.

"I remember the once she demanded for every single viennese whirl we had on the counter. I had to empty the tray!" Debbie laughed as Daniel looked between us, trying his best not to be awkward.

"Dan, I'm sorry." I said and placed my hand onto Daniel's shoulder. "Debbie, this is Daniel, my fiancé." I informed the lady as she smiled and held her hand out for a brief handshake.

"Fiancé, huh?" She question and smiled lightly. "Well at least your getting married and having a baby. You know what the oldies are like around here, Ames. If they knew that you had no intentions of getting married, they'd hang you out to dry!" Debbie laughed whilst leaning against the counter.

"Oh god, I know. Some of the locals here have the oldest mindsets." I shook my head as I now looked in the shop counter, making a choice in my brain of what I wanted, or more importantly, what my daughter wanted.

"Right, Ames, help me choose." Daniel spoke as I pointed towards each individual item and described what it was and what it could taste like, comparing items he didn't realise to particular foods he may have tried elsewhere.