Chapter 38
38
Holly managed to survive the entire first full day on juice alone. They were undeniably delicious and came with an apéritif of a Manuka honey and ginger shot, followed by a single spoonful of fresh raspberry sorbet for dessert.
Breakfast was a similar setup, although rather than a dessert, they also received three orange segments, two strawberries, two raspberries and four blueberries.
Insanely, Sienna wasn’t a fan of strawberries and asked to swap.
‘How could you not like strawberries?’ Holly said on the Sunday morning. ‘What about strawberry picking? That’s literally the best thing in the world.’
‘I’ve never been strawberry picking,’ Sienna replied. ‘You do it in fields, don’t you?’
Holly’s jaw dropped. ‘What? That’s ridiculous. You have to go. They should be opening them up in a couple of weeks again. You can come with Hope and me. We’ll go plenty of times.’
‘Really?’ Sienna said, her eyes brightening. ‘Will I get muddy?’
‘We’ll pick a nice day,’ Holly said. ‘Honestly, I am quite horrified.’
‘I won’t bring my two,’ Faye said. ‘We tried last year and Harry ate hundreds. Literally hundreds without me noticing. I only realised when we went to the counter to pay for what we had in our punnets and he threw up all over the grass. It was bright red. Obviously I lied and said he’d had a can of cherry aid before we came because I was terrified she was going to charge me double. I don’t think I’ve ever been more mortified.’
‘See, this is why I’m going to tell Giles we can’t have children,’ Sienna said. ‘There is no way I could deal with that.’
Holly sucked back her response. She wasn’t going to ruin the last day of the trip by saying something. Not now they were finally getting on well.
With all due credit to Sienna, the weekend had been a relaxation in a way Holly hadn’t experienced for a long time. As well as spa treatments, the hotel also had a large range of board games, which the girls spent several hours playing together. Board games, Holly decided, were another great way to learn things about people. For example, she learned Faye was an absolutely terrible loser and would, if necessary, throw anybody under the bus to ensure she didn’t come in last place. Sienna, on the other hand, liked to play dumb and pretend she didn’t know what she was doing, even though she wiped the floor with them both several times.
But by the time Sunday morning came around, Holly was desperate for some proper food. Thankfully, so were Sienna and Faith.
‘I think these are the best chips I’ve ever had in my life,’ Faye said. They had been told surreptitiously by a member of staff that there was a local pub, a three-mile walk away. And it was a no-brainer for the lot of them.
‘Maybe that’s why these places are such hits,’ Holly said as she dunked one of her salt-laden fries into a tub of homemade mayonnaise. ‘Maybe they get you missing food so much that when you leave, everything in life feels better.’
Sienna raised her eyebrows. ‘I don’t know. I like the juices. Plus, those massages were amazing.’
Holly had to agree. ‘They really were. Or at least I think mine was. I fell asleep in the first fifteen minutes. But I felt good when I woke up, so that’s got to be something, hasn’t it?’
The group chuckled.
‘I’m not sure if I’m ready to go back to the real world tomorrow,’ Faye said. ‘It’s been really nice, this switching off. Getting to know you guys.’
‘It has,’ Holly said, ‘and I’m sorry again about the rocky start.’
Sienna waved a hand in the air nonchalantly. ‘Honestly, all water under the bridge. But I am going to be roping you two in for a lot of wedding planning. I hope you know that.’
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Holly said, in a way that sounded so convincing, she almost believed herself. She had got through a weekend with Sienna, and had got to know her so much better, just like she’d promised Jamie she would. But the more she had learned about Sienna, the more certain she was.
She and Giles were not right together, and somehow, he needed to see that.