Chapter 39
39
Holly slept most of the journey back. It had been a long time since she had fallen asleep during a train journey, probably because she normally had Hope with her, but this time, she was out like a light. Her body was so relaxed, it was understandable she had difficulty staying awake, but there was another reason she closed her eyes in the first place. Sienna. The final few hours at the spa had been similar to the rest of the trip, with Sienna occasionally, and yet consistently, dropping in the odd lines here and there that made Holly see just how mismatched she and Giles were. Like when she said she’d probably give up work after they were married, even though she didn’t want children, because Giles had more than enough money for both of them. Giles had one of the strongest work ethics Holly had seen. How did that match with Sienna’s desire not to work at all? Still, she bit her tongue, only occasionally sharing a look with Faye, although she sometimes thought Giles’s sister didn’t hear half of the things Sienna said. She was too lost in her books, or swimming or occasionally worrying about home.
It would be up to Holly to raise the issues with Giles. She was sure of that. But she needed to tread carefully. Perhaps get Jamie’s advice before she said anything.
As expected, Giles was there at the station to meet them.
As Holly stepped off the train, she picked up the pace to walk towards him, only to be overtaken by Sienna in a sprint. When she reached her fiancé, she jumped up into his arms and kissed him long and hard on the lips, while Holly stood awkwardly close behind.
‘I can’t believe how long the last couple of days have felt without you,’ Sienna said.
‘But I take it you had fun?’ he asked.
‘We had a wonderful time,’ Sienna replied. ‘Didn’t we, girls?’
‘We did,’ they answered.
‘It was a really special place,’ Holly said, although Giles met her eyes for a split second longer than felt comfortable. She would need to tell him about the issue at the beginning of the weekend at some point, too, when Sienna had told her to leave, but that didn’t feel like the moment to do it. It would be better to put it in context with other things Sienna had done, or rather said.
As soon as Holly got home, she texted Ben asking him to drop Hope off whenever worked. It didn’t matter how many weekends she spent away from her daughter; there was always something special about coming home and seeing her.
So, when there was a knock on the door fifteen minutes later, she assumed it was the pair of them, but when she opened the door, Jamie was standing there with Rhubarb. The kitten had spent the weekend with Jamie’s family and Holly was surprised to realise how much she had missed the small, furry addition to the family.
‘Come here, you. Were you a good girl?’ Holly said, as she took hold of her.
‘Of course she was. Now, how did it go? I have to say, your text messages were amazing. Juicing. I mean, it would be funny for anyone, but with you and the sweet shop, it’s absolutely hysterical.’ Holly stood to the side, giving Jamie room to walk into the house. ‘Let me guess, you had to sneak out and buy yourself a massive packet of custard creams to get you through.’
Holly chuckled. ‘No custard creams, but we did go to the pub. We were very restrained, though – just a bowl of chips each. No burgers. No desserts.’
Jamie laughed. ‘So, are you best buddies now?’
Holly offered her a look. ‘No. Honestly, I don’t know what I think of her. Except…’
‘Except?’
Holly wanted to tell Jamie all the things Sienna had said over the weekend. All the ways she implied that money and a lavish lifestyle were her only requirements for a happy life, but she hesitated. Was Jamie just going to read into it? Assume Holly was saying this because of her latent feelings for Giles? Latent feelings that didn’t exist. After all, Faye hadn’t heard everything, and she was Giles’s sister. She should have been studying and scrutinising Sienna even more than Holly. Besides, Hope was about to come home and she didn’t want to get into a long discussion now.
‘Nothing. She isn’t entirely terrible,’ she said eventually.
‘Not entirely terrible, well that’s better than it was,’ Jamie said. ‘I’m just gonna put on some food for the kids. Do you want me to put on Hope’s too? Or are you having a night in, just the two of you?’
Holly breathed an internal sigh of relief that the conversation had moved so swiftly on from Sienna; she wasn’t sure how long she would have managed to keep up the lying to Jamie.
‘Dinner with you would be nice if that’s okay,’ Holly asked. ‘I’m sure she’s missed you guys as much as she’s missed me.’
‘Probably not. The kids and I went for a picnic with Georgia and the girls yesterday.’
Holly laughed. That was just the way their group was.
‘Why don’t I see what Hope wants to do, then? Is that okay?’
‘Sure, just give me a message. I can always bung extra in the air-fryer if she wants to come over. Oh, and you know I’m going to need more actual details about the weekend, right?’
Holly rolled her eyes. ‘Of course.’
Ten minutes later, Holly had all her washing in the machine when there was another knock on the door. This time, it was Hope.
‘You don’t mind if I— Do you?’ Georgia said, still standing by the car. ‘I’ve left Ben with the twins. It’s been a pretty hectic weekend.’
‘No, of course not. I’ll see you soon,’ Holly replied, but before she had even finished her sentence, Georgia was back in the car and reversing out of the driveway and Hope had her arms up, ready for a cuddle. There was no two ways about it. Hope gave the best cuddles in the world and even when Holly finally let her go, they continued to hold hands as they walked into the house.
‘How was your weekend, sweetheart?’ Holly asked.
‘Good, better than Daddy’s. Ivy was sick all over him.’
‘Oh no, that doesn’t sound good.’
‘No, and it was just after Grace got chocolate all over the sofa too. That’s why Georgia took us out to see Aunty Jamie.’
‘Ahh, that makes sense. Now, Aunty Jamie said we could go round for dinner there if you want to,’ she said. ‘Or we can just stay in and watch a film together.’
‘A film together sounds good,’ Hope said and Holly felt a familiar warmth fill her heart. It was her strongest wish that Hope always loved spending time with her the way she did now. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if they drifted apart as she grew up and would do whatever it took to stop that happening. ‘Do I get to pick? Can we watch Encanto again? Actually, no. Descendants Three . No, Descendants Four . Can we watch all the Descendants ?’
‘Just go and find a film, all right?’ Holly laughed. ‘I’m going to make omelettes for dinner. Is that okay?’
Hope didn’t reply. She had already disappeared into the living room, probably to put on the same film they had watched hundreds of times before. Holly was about to head into the kitchen when there was another knock at the door. She suspected that Jamie had seen Georgia drop off Hope and wanted to confirm the dinner plans, but when she opened the door, it wasn’t Jamie there at all – it was Giles.
‘Hey,’ she said, ‘is everything okay?’
‘No,’ he said, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Everything is not okay. Not okay at all.’