Chapter 57
57
Holly didn’t move. She wasn’t sure if she could. Her entire chest was continuing to pound, although she didn’t know whether that was to do with the closeness she and Giles had just shared, or the loud bang that had sent every bird fleeing. Either way, her hands were trembling.
‘Giles, what do you think that was?’
His face had darkened. ‘Honestly? I think they crashed the golf buggy.’
‘What?’ Holly looked in the direction she had seen the buggies disappear. ‘Do you think they’re okay? We need to go check.’
She moved to follow the rest of the crowd, who had now changed direction and, rather than heading back into the building as they had been requested to do, were scurrying around the side of it. But as she took a step, Giles grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him.
‘Holly, I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘They might be hurt. They might need help.’
‘I know, which is?—’
‘Then they might need someone with first-aid training,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t matter how horrible they are – I can’t not help. And I might not be a doctor, but I’ve still done a lot of training. What was the point of all of that if I’m not going to help someone when they actually need it? Now, are you coming or not?’
All her questions were rhetorical. With a shake of her hand, she freed herself from Giles’s grip before racing away from him and towards the source of the bang.
A thousand thoughts whirred through her head as she ran, trying to remember everything she’d learned from all those first-aid courses she had taken. Every year, she did the refreshers, and she had put various skills to use. Only last summer, she’d cleaned and bandaged the wound of a small child who had slipped in the river and cut their leg. She had also been moments away from using the village defibrillator when a customer at the bakery suffered a suspected heart attack – only someone had managed to grab a local doctor before she was required to put her skills to the test. But she had surprised herself with her calmness in those moments. The measured way in which her mind had slowed. She’d assessed the situation, knew what she needed to do. It would be the same here; she was sure of it. There had been no screaming. Was that good or not? She probably wouldn’t know until she saw them.
‘Holly, wait. Wait for me.’
As she turned the corner of the building, Giles was right by her side. He slipped his hand in hers, but she knew it wasn’t to slow her down this time. It was just to make sure he stayed with her.
‘Excuse me.’ Holly raised her voice to the large crowd that had gathered. ‘I need to get past. I need to get through.’
‘People! Move!’ Giles added.
Finally, they pushed their way through to the front of the group and to the source of the commotion. It was indeed the drunk men from earlier, and they had indeed crashed the buggy, but they were all standing behind the vehicle and none of them seemed to have a drop of blood on them.
One, however, was crying while muttering, ‘My wife is going to kill me. She’s going to kill me.’
Holly stepped forwards and was still trying to work out what exactly had happened when Giles spoke.
‘You have to be joking,’ he said. ‘You have got to be joking.’