Chapter 51
51
If Holly had thought the awkward silence in the car journey was bad, it was nothing compared to the tension that surrounded them as they walked into the restaurant. With light streaming in through the tall windows, the phenomenal view out over the sea and the exposed brickwork crawling with ivy and passionfruit flowers, it was the type of place that would look romantic under any circumstances, but today, it seemed to be filled only with couples – all of them truly, madly in love.
‘Let me guess – looking for wedding centrepieces?’ the waitress asked as she placed the menus down in front of them. ‘They’re amazing. I keep finding myself tempted to pinch a couple. Didn’t you find that?’
‘We haven’t actually been into the exhibition yet,’ Holly said.
‘No? Well, you’re in for a treat. You’ll love it. I tried to bring my fiancé to have a look at them too,’ she said, flashing the ring on her finger. ‘Not that we can afford any of it, mind. I just wanted to have a look, but he wouldn’t come.’ She looked at Holly and grinned. ‘Guess you’ve got yours better trained than mine.’
‘Oh, he’s not mine. We’re not together,’ Holly said.
‘Oh! I just thought you said?—’
‘Can we get a bottle of water, please?’ Giles cut her off mid-sentence. ‘Sparkling.’
The waitress’s cheeks reddened. ‘Of course. Yes, sorry. I’ll get that for you now.’
As she scurried away, Holly glowered at Giles.
‘Well, that was incredibly rude,’ she said.
‘She was waffling on, and we don’t have time for that. It’s already three o’clock. I doubt the traffic will be any better on the way home.’
‘Remind me that next time I’m stuck on a long car journey with you, I need to take snacks. You’re worse than Hope when you’re hangry.’
Giles huffed, folding his arms, but a second later, he unfolded them again and stood up.
‘What are you doing now?’ Holly asked.
‘I need to go to the bathroom. Is that okay? When did you become so damn nagging?’
Holly felt her annoyance mingle with guilt as Giles walked away. She’d been right to call him out for being rude, but then, he had been the one to drive all the way here with no breaks. He was probably tired as well as hungry. And she hadn’t needed to question him about where he was going.
She glanced around the room but was surprised to find that Giles hadn’t walked towards the bathroom door. Instead, he was standing at the bar next to the waitress he had snapped at. Holly tried to work out what they were talking about – they were definitely talking – but the restaurant was far too busy to hear anything and a moment later, Giles was walking away, towards the bathroom, while the waitress was coming towards Holly with a bottle of sparkling water.
‘Thank you,’ Holly said as she took the glass. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to be nosy, but what did he just say to you? The man I’m with?’
‘Oh, he just apologised, that’s all. Said he’d had a bad couple of days and shouldn’t have taken it out on me. Also, he said I could look forward to a nice tip to make up for it, and I wasn’t to share it with the rest of the staff, as I was the only one he’d been rude to. To be honest, I’ve had people at this place say worse and not apologise, so… Anyway, I’ll come back in a minute to take your order.’
‘Thank you. Thank you very much.’
When Giles returned to the table, Holly didn’t say anything about the waitress. It was difficult to know what to say. They couldn’t possibly have moved to the stage in their friendship where they could only speak about the weather and the drive up, could they? Actually, speaking about the drive up would hardly be positive either, so that didn’t leave much.
Holly cleared her throat, deciding it was probably a safe bet to talk about Jamie and the others, when she noticed how the restaurant seemed to be getting quieter. She looked around, wondering if there was some reason, like someone bringing a cake out for a birthday, or perhaps a person on their knee proposing, when a voice rose above everyone else.
‘For crying out loud, is it really that difficult? Are you an idiot or something?’