Chapter 12
12
‘Holly, you must look at this ring. It’s absolutely stunning, isn’t it?’
The moment Holly arrived back at the table with the bottle of champagne, Caroline was there holding Sienna’s hand in hers, twisting it up at the wrist, so the diamond that sat on Sienna’s ring finger was now facing Holly.
A slight prickling came from behind her eyes, which may or may not have been due to the light shining off said diamond and directly into her eye.
‘Wow, yes, that’s beautiful,’ she said, choking back the feeling that was once again writhing in her stomach.
‘It’s very cute, that’s what it is,’ Sienna said. Her smile was unbelievably wide, and she kept wiping her hand against her cheeks, as if she was still having to brush away tears, although it didn’t look to Holly like she was crying any more. And somehow, even though the initial bout of tears had been more than a little dramatic, her makeup had stayed perfectly in place. If it had been anyone else, Holly would have asked her what brand of mascara she used, but it didn’t feel quite right to say such a thing during what was clearly meant to be an emotional moment. ‘I mean, it’s really delicate, isn’t it? Understated.’
‘Absolutely,’ Holly said, though Sienna didn’t respond. Instead, she held her hand slightly higher before turning her wrist and allowing the light to fall on the stone from all directions.
It was only when Sienna cleared her throat that Holly realised she had been standing there for several minutes more without saying something. But what could she say? She still had dozens of questions rolling through her head. Like when had Giles gone shopping for it? He had said he was staying in last week, to rest up, the way the doctors had told him he needed to do, but did that mean he had bought it before or had he lied to Holly about how he was spending the week? He hadn’t mentioned to her that he was planning on buying a ring or even looking at them. Wasn’t that the type of thing you’d normally take a best friend with you to do? Especially when that best friend was female?
‘You are very, very lucky,’ she said as Caroline continued to gush away about things like insurance and checking the setting prongs. ‘I hope you don’t mind. I’m just gonna go outside to ring the house and check on Hope.’
‘Check on Hope?’ Caroline asked in surprise as she finally looked away from Sienna. ‘Why are you going to do that? She’ll be fine. It’s not like we haven’t been out for dinner before.’
‘No, it’s just, she was just feeling a little bit unwell when we left,’ Holly lied. ‘Nothing serious. I think it’s nerves about the school performance, so I just want to check in quickly.’
‘Oh, well, I do hope she’s okay,’ Sienna said. ‘And don’t worry, I’ll make sure there’s plenty of champagne left.’
‘Great. Wonderful,’ Holly said.
A moment later, she was walking outside the pub towards the river, unsure why the temperature had suddenly got so hot.