Chapter 1 #2
At the sound of an approaching car, Holly turned to see Rose and Luke arriving in what Holly assumed was the car he’d been working on for Rose for weeks.
She was still getting her head around the current new normal of her best friend dating her widowed, brooding, brother.
Although she knew it wasn’t fair to call him brooding anymore.
At one point, he could have given Aragon a run for his money.
His angst-ridden existence appeared to be in homage to Viggo Mortensen’s portrayal in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
But that wasn’t him anymore. Ever since Hannah’s death, Luke had been a shell of himself.
When he wasn’t doting on Natalie, he’d shut himself away to work on his cars.
In the days and weeks after Rose had arrived in the Bay though, he’d slowly been coming back to life.
To look at him now, sitting next to Rose, it was like she was seeing her brother again for the first time in six years.
He wasn’t exactly the same, losing Hannah had broken part of him, but Rose had pieced him back together and filled the cracks with gold.
He was the human embodiment of Kintsugi.
He was a beautiful, altered, version of himself.
Her spiralling thoughts stilled for a split second as she took him in.
Her panic about Owen and the swimming lessons came into focus properly.
She knew, deep down, she was overreacting - that there were worse things she could be freaking out about.
But her lizard brain was there on the sidelines, and even though she wanted to process her concerns calmly, she couldn’t.
Her panic took control again, making her irrationally irritated with her brother.
‘Thank God you’re back. I needed to speak to you, like two hours ago,’ she barked at Rose as soon as they got out of the car.
Luke brushed a kiss to Rose’s temple and smiled at Holly in that smug way he knew riled her up, choosing a path that would annoy her rather than even attempt to placate her panic.
‘Everything OK, Sis?’ he teased.
‘No. Everything is not OK, you git. You stole my friend for the morning and I needed her.’
Pulling Rose to his chest he went to kiss her again, ‘I’m not sorry in the slightest. You need to learn to share.’
She could have said something back, but she didn’t want to waste time arguing with her brother. Knowing she needed Rose to ground her, she grabbed her friend by the elbow and pulled her away from Luke. His laughter floated around her, needling her like the tiny purple thistles in the moorland.
‘Where are we going?’ Rose called out as she was hauled away from the bookshop and Luke’s irritating laughter that followed them down the cobbled street.
‘Somewhere quiet where I can have my meltdown in peace,’ she hissed, pointedly looking away from Luke.
Hearing the deep rumble of Luke’s mirth was bad enough, but if she had to see his face, she might storm back to him which would waste more time.
Her panic was now a tangible force swarming inside her, and she needed it gone.
Within minutes, they’d haphazardly traversed the cobbled street that led down to the beach.
‘Holly, I know you’re in the midst of some kind of breakdown, but can we please not have this chat here? I’m freezing,’ she groaned out, shivering to add to the effect of her plea. But it fell on deaf ears.
‘You’ll just have to deal with it, Rose. This can’t wait. I’m seriously freaking out here.’
Tugging her cardigan in as close as possible to fend off the bitter chill from the sea, Rose rubbed her hands together to try and work up a little more body heat.
‘OK, hit me with it.’
‘So this morning was my swimming lesson. And it–’
‘Went brilliantly. Great! Good chat,’ Rose interrupted as she went to move away, but Holly tugged her back down to the cold, damp rocks.
‘It was fine, I guess. We didn’t get in the water yet thankfully. That’s not the issue. The issue is Owen.’
‘What’s the issue with Owen? Because if he was inappropriate, then not to put back the feminist movement in any way, but you’ve got a big, burly brother back up there who will probably do a much better job than me, at reminding him how to behave.’
Holly buried her face in her hands, which muffled whatever she said next so much Rose couldn’t make out any of the words. Prying Holly’s hands away, she gently asked, ‘What happened?’
‘He asked me out,’ she squeaked, before covering her face with her hands almost immediately.
‘He asked you out? And that’s the DEFCON 1 emergency?’
‘I thought DEFCON 5 was the really bad emergency level?’
‘No DEFCON 5 is when we’re just chilling normally, and everything is fine.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes I’m sure. Wait, what are you doing?’ Rose was confused as Holly stood up and grabbed her phone from her pocket.
‘I’m checking.’
‘You’re checking? OK I retract what I said, if you’re able to pause your breakdown to fact check DEFCON levels, we aren’t at level 1. We’re more like level 3.’
‘Hmm…’
‘What now?’
‘No it’s just you’re right. I could have sworn the numerical system went the other way. I’ve been using it wrong all this time.’ Holly sighed and sat down as she shoved her phone back into her pocket.
‘Right well now we’ve got that sorted,’ Rose rolled her eyes before continuing, ‘why is Owen asking you out a problem?’
‘Because he is gorgeous, completely out of my league and I’m all flustered whenever I’m near him and there is no way I’d be able to get through a date with him without looking like a colossal idiot and then I’d have to go through with the other nine swimming lessons feeling more awkward than usual.
’ She rushed out her explanation before gulping in a much needed breath.
‘There are a few things there we need to unpack. But first off, you are in no way out of his league. I hate that analogy. Who puts together this ‘league’? Who dictates which one you’re in? And second, you would 100% get through a date being totally awesome.’
‘I really don’t think I would. You didn’t see me out there today with him. It was painful.’
‘No, I didn’t. But whatever you did also made him ask you out. So that has to count for something?’ Rose offered, and her words struck a chord with Holly. This was why she’d been so desperate to speak to her after the lesson.
‘I guess.’
‘But…’ Rose emphasised the word with pursed lips and a slight wince.
‘But?’ Holly parroted back, the momentary calm from a few seconds ago dissipating with that simple world. It was replaced with a fresh wave of panic that swamped her.
‘Well you do have a minor point about getting through the rest of the lessons.’
Holly hid her face in her hands again. ‘See, I knew you thought I’d mess things up!’
‘That’s not what I meant. It’s just dating him could make the lessons a bit awkward. I’m guessing he has professional standards he should probably try to meet when he’s giving people lessons. So why not suggest you go on a date after the tenth lesson?’
‘Give him time to change his mind, you mean?’
‘No, you idiot. It gives you time to calm your raging hormones so you can enjoy the date and not freak out about it.’
‘So I’ll just have the next nine weeks to freak out instead?’
‘Holly. I say this from a place of love and affection.’ Rose paused and waited for Holly to look at her.
‘You’re being a little crazy about this.
You’re a grown woman, with two businesses and a beautiful daughter.
Who is pretty amazing by the way. We’re now cinema buddies - I’ll be taking her every Sunday to the special showing at Whitby Pavilion.
You’ve got this. This is good. This will be good. ’
‘Do you promise?’
‘I promise. Now can we get the hell off this beach. It’s freezing!’
As they walked back up to The Book Nook, Holly’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She stopped to check it.
Luke:
Are you finished with my girlfriend yet?
Holly showed Rose the screen with a roll of her eyes.
‘Please don’t go into any salacious details, but things look like they are going well with my brother?’ Holly used her shoulder to playfully nudge Rose as they carried on back up the hill to the bookshop.
Rose smiled in a way Holly had forgotten how to. That dreamy kind of smile when you’re falling in love.
‘I took him to visit my mum today.’
‘Your mum? Did you take him to a séance or something?’ Holly asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. Rose, like Holly and Luke, had lost both her parents.
Rose laughed. ‘You and Luke may look nothing alike, but there are definitely signs you’re related.’
‘Did Luke take you to a séance then? I really wouldn’t have said that was his kind of scene…’
Rose took pity on Holly’s continued confusion and explained, ‘When I told him we were visiting my mum, he thought I meant her ghost in Flamborough Lighthouse. I took him to her memorial bench,’ she explained with a gentle laugh.
‘Ah. That makes much more sense.’ Holly nodded.
‘Susie had the bench installed for her near the lighthouse. She had a memorial plaque added, with one of my mum’s favourite quotes.’ Rose stopped walking and reached out to take Holly’s hand. ‘She’d have loved him. Luke,’ Rose clarified.
Holly smiled. ‘I’ll never admit it to his face, but he is pretty special. I’m glad you found him.’
Instead of continuing their walk, Rose pulled Holly into a tight hug. ‘I’m glad I found both of you.’ She let her go, and made to carry on up the slope, but paused. Her face was now lit with a wave of excitement that flitted across her face.
‘And Owen could be the answer to me completing my challenge to find you a boyfriend before Natalie turns four.’
Holly scoffed, ‘I love your optimism, Rose, but something tells me Owen is not interested in a happily ever after with me.’
‘Someone has made you think so little of yourself, Holly, and if I ever meet them, I can’t be held responsible for my actions.’
Holly laughed off Rose’s declaration, but something about her words squirrelled their way in. She’d missed having someone in her corner.