Chapter 21
21
Holly was sitting up in bed, now wide awake. There was a good chance that there was only one wall between her and Jamie and, if they spoke loud enough, there would be no need for the phone at all, but shouting was a sure way to wake Hope and the other children up. Besides, it wasn’t exactly normal behaviour. So a telephone call seemed more appropriate.
Thankfully, Jamie had answered immediately.
‘Why do you think she wants to talk to me?’ Holly asked.
‘She probably wants to talk to you about wedding plans,’ she said. ‘You are Giles’s best woman or whatever he called you. That probably comes with a list of jobs to do. I can imagine Sienna is the type of person who likes lists.’
‘I thought that,’ Holly agreed. ‘But, if that was the case, wouldn’t she say, “I want to talk to you about the wedding”? Doesn’t the way she worded her message sound a bit creepy? And surely if anyone should have jobs for me to do, it will be Giles, right? She shouldn’t be asking me to do things. That’s what she has bridesmaids for, surely? Assuming she’s having bridesmaids. Unless she’s not, and that’s what she wants to talk to me about. But what if it’s not about the wedding at all? What if it’s about something different? What would that be? What could she possibly want to talk to me about?’
Holly could feel a panic rising in her chest. None of Giles’s girlfriends ever wanted to talk to her. In fact, they normally gave her a peculiarly wide berth. But then Sienna wasn’t a girlfriend any more. She was his fiancée.
‘I think you’re thinking too deeply about this,’ Jamie said, causing a momentary halt to Holly’s spiralling thoughts. ‘It was just a quick text message. And if you’re that desperate to find out what she wants, the easiest thing to do would be to message her back.’
Holly had thought the same herself. But then, it was late and Sienna wouldn’t be expecting a response at this time. In fact, sending a message this late felt tantamount to disastrous. Had she not been fully awake, Holly could have read the message in a groggy state, then fallen back asleep. She could even have forgotten about the message altogether. Maybe she should pretend that was what she’d done. Opened it half asleep, rolled back in her bed, then forgotten about it. That way, she’d never need to reply and hopefully, Sienna could find someone else to talk to. But then…
‘What if it’s something bad?’ she said, breaking the silence that had formed.
‘What could be so terrible?’ Jamie said. ‘What are you worried about?’
Holly pondered the question for a moment. What was she so worried that Sienna might say?
‘I’m not sure,’ she said, but the knot in the pit of her stomach confirmed that wasn’t true. She knew exactly what she was worried about. She was worried that Sienna was going to tell her it was time that her and Giles’s relationship changed. Now that they were engaged, Giles couldn’t be her go-to person any more, and she couldn’t be his. She was worried Sienna was going to say that she wanted to put some space between them.
That was what was scaring her.
‘You know what, you’re right. I’m just being ridiculous,’ Holly said, brushing the thoughts aside. ‘I’ll message her back in the morning. I’m sure everything is fine. Sleep well.’
‘You too.’
Holly hung up and lay back down on her bed before checking the time on her watch. It was late. Well past the normal time she went to bed. Yet she had a sneaking suspicion she wasn’t going to sleep well at all.