Chapter 33
33
It was only now she’d stopped walking that Holly realised how far she had gone during her little chat with Giles. She was all the way downstairs again, but rather than heading towards the foyer, she seemed to have gone in the other direction. By the looks of things, there was a dining room to the left of her, the thought of which was enough to make her stomach grumble. Straight in front was a corridor, with a long window at the end. For a moment, she stood there, trying to get her bearings, whilst thinking through the conversation she’d just had.
Was it strange that Giles had rung her, telling her to be nice? Probably not. Not if he guessed she would see the ring and start getting all judgy about it. But then, he had obviously changed it some time ago, and he could’ve easily spoken to her about it before now. Why wait until the minute she and Sienna were alone, or near enough? Was that odd? It felt odd.
With a deep breath in, she released a sound somewhere between a sigh and a groan. She had promised Giles, in the sweet shop, that their relationship wouldn’t change now that he was engaged. That things would stay the same between them. But maybe Sienna was right. Maybe things couldn’t stay the same. Maybe things had already changed. She’d certainly never doubted the truthfulness during her and Giles’s conversations before.
Fingers crossed Faye had brought a couple more of those mini bottles of Prosecco with her. Although they’d probably have to ration them out. Even a small glass of bubbles on a stomach filled only with juice was a recipe for disaster.
Recalling what Sienna had said about wanting to have a dip in the pool before their dinner of mildly flavoured, probably green water, Holly turned around, ready to head back upstairs and get changed, when a series of squeals from outside caught her attention. Lots of squeals, followed by lots of laughter.
Intrigued as to what could cause such a reaction, Holly walked forward towards the window. With each step, the squealing got louder, although it was only when she was standing right there, by the pane of glass, that she saw exactly why the people were making so much noise. Her stomach sank.
‘You have to be freaking joking,’ she said.