Chapter 4 #2
At the mention of Natalie, Owen sat up a little straighter. The movement made Holly happy - like he wanted to sit a bit taller because of her daughter.
‘Yeah? OK, I’ll drop by the pub and show her a few of my best tricks.’
As they’d been talking, Holly’s posture had relaxed and her thighs were now resting on the cool tiles. Subconsciously, she was also moving her legs through the water now, no longer only benefiting from Owen’s actions.
‘Thanks. And thank you for this, Owen,’ she said, gesturing to the pool.
‘Don’t mention it. Easiest lesson I’ve got scheduled for today,’ he gently nudged her shoulder, smiling at her warmly.
*
The bells on the door to The Book Nook jingled when Holly entered the shop an hour later to find Natalie cuddled up with Rose looking at a book together. Rose spotted her first, her daughter too engrossed in whatever book they were sharing.
‘Hey Holly. How did the lesson go?’ Rose’s question snapped Natalie out of the book, and she pushed up excitedly to get to her mum.
‘Mummy, did you get in the water with Ow-en?’ Natalie asked, struggling a bit with his name. Natalie’s language was great for a child her age, but that w sound would often cause her issues.
‘It was good,’ she gave Rose a knowing smile, and then focussed on her daughter as she added, ‘and yes, my feet and ankles got wet.’
Natalie screwed up her face. ‘Only your feet and ankles? That’s not swimming, Mummy,’ she tutted.
‘Go grab the biscuits, Natalie, you don’t want to leave them here, Uncle Luke will eat them all.’ Rose made a gobbling action as she pretended to stuff biscuits into her mouth.
Natalie jumped up and rushed towards Eleanor’s small living space at the back of the bookshop.
For years, Eleanor had lived above the bookshop - in the space Rose now called home.
When Rose had moved to the Bay to work in The Book Nook, Eleanor had already moved herself into a studio behind the shop.
Looking at it now, you’d have thought it had always been that way.
‘So?’ Rose rushed out as soon as they were alone. They wouldn’t have long, and they both knew it.
‘Yep, it was good. I sat on the edge, got my feet and ankles wet and we chatted.’
Rose nodded along, happy. ‘OK, good start. Nice foundations. I’m getting strong friends to lovers vibes. Maybe a bit of Alanna and George?’
Holly shook her head, and huffed out a gentle laugh. Rose was book obsessed, which made complete sense seeing as she’d moved hundreds of miles to work in a bookshop. But for Holly, who wasn’t a big reader, Rose’s references often went over her head.
‘You know I don’t know who you’re talking about right? Anyway, we’ll see. I’ll take him getting me to swim again over anything else to be honest.’
‘Anything else? Aim big, Holly. I think he can do more than just teach you to swim.’
Before Holly could form a pithy response, Natalie came crashing back into the shop floor, tripped over the edge of a rug and managed to catapult herself, hard, onto the exposed wooden floorboards.
The ensuing scream was instant and Holly rushed over to scoop her up.
There was a small cut to her knee, but otherwise she looked fine.
‘Come on, darling. You’re OK. Let’s get one of our special plasters on that knee.’
The mention of a special plaster appeased her enough so she could nod her head in agreement, although tears still streamed down her pale, blotchy face.
‘Thanks for having her,’ she turned to say to Rose, hoping she knew how much she meant it. ‘Sorry about the theatrics,’ she added as a whisper.
‘Any time. Next week, maybe we’ll make it to the cinema - yeah?
’ Rose directed the last part to Natalie, with a hopeful smile.
Holly knew that’s where her friend had wanted to take Natalie today, but when her daughter had declared she wanted to make biscuits this morning, Holly knew Rose would likely have changed her plans. It was easier that way.
In response to the question, Natalie nodded, but then started wailing again when she spotted the blood seeping out of the small cut. Holly hugged her a little tighter, and walked across the road to their pub.
As they made their way through to the kitchen, Natalie’s sobs had dimmed to a steady drone. The tears were still falling though, she was nothing if not committed.
‘What happened?’ Seb’s concerned voice called from where he stood near the larder when he spotted them.
‘She took a tumble in The Book Nook, can she have one of those blue plasters she likes please?’
‘Sure, one sec.’ Seb crossed the kitchen to the first aid cupboard, and found what Holly needed. He went to pass it to her, but Natalie grabbed his hand.
‘I want you to do it. Mummy’s hands are cold.’
Holly set Natalie down on the worksurface and stepped back with her hands up in mock surrender.
‘Way to make Mummy feel good, Natalie.’ But Holly smiled, relieved the droning sobbing had finally stopped.
Seb gently wiped over the cut with an antiseptic wipe, which made Natalie flinch and then he opened up the plaster and knelt down to gently press it to her knee.
Holly watched on in silence - his care and attention for her daughter made her heart feel heavy.
She knew she was enough for Natalie, but when he did things like this for her, that her biological dad could be doing, it pained Holly.
She swallowed the guilt she had no way of absolving.
‘Did you and your Mum have fun at the bookshop?’ Seb asked, still kneeling.
‘Mummy wasn’t there. She was with Ow-en.’
Seb’s hands stilled at her words for a second, before he rose to his feet.
‘He’s taken up the gauntlet of teaching me to swim,’ Holly explained, then reminded him, ‘you know with the lessons I won at the raffle to raise funds for the hospital bus transport?’
‘Oh, yeah. I didn’t realise those had started yet. How are the lessons going?’ he said somewhat dismissively as if he didn’t really want to know the answer.
‘She put her feet in the water today,’ Natalie told Seb, and then added, ‘but that’s not swimming, is it Seb?’
‘It’s a start,’ he said, ruffling her hair. ‘Right you two, out please, I’ve got food to prep.’
‘We can help, can’t we Mummy?’
But before Holly could say anything, Seb cut her off.
‘Not today, Tally.’ He ruffled her hair again, and sidled off back to the larder. Their conversation was clearly over.
*
As the afternoon went on, Holly worked at the bar with Natalie’s assistance.
Luke often had Natalie on Sunday afternoons, but she didn’t like monopolising his time - especially now he and Rose were so new together.
So today, her daughter was lapping up the attention of being an honorary barmaid.
Up until recently, Holly had Shane helping out at the weekends and a couple of evenings a week, but he’d been offered an apprenticeship that had been too good an opportunity to pass up.
Holly had decided not to replace him. It was getting harder to juggle everything, but not having the added expense of an additional member of staff was kind to her bank balance.
‘Hi, Holly,’ Lucy’s soft voice floated across the bar.
‘Lucy,’ Holly’s face brightened at seeing her, ‘how are you?’
Lucy blushed a little, ‘Better, thanks. Can I get a glass of pinot please?’
Holly nodded, and reached down to the fridge at her side finding the bottle she needed.
Lucy cleared her throat. ‘I’ve been meaning to catch up with you.’
‘Yeah?’ Holly said as she poured the wine.
‘Yes. Tony mentioned Shane left last month.’
‘He was offered an apprenticeship in Scarborough - I was pleased for him, although I will admit he was a real help at the weekends.’
‘But you haven’t replaced him?’
Holly’s heart sank at the question. She had only just been able to afford Shane on minimum wage as a 19 year old.
If Lucy was angling for a job, there was no way Holly would be able to pay her anything like what she’d be expecting.
She absolutely couldn’t afford her. This conversation had the potential to get awkward.
‘Things are tight, so I’ve made do with me and Seb. Luke and Rose help out now and again too.’
‘And me,’ Natalie called from her feet, ponies in hand.
‘And of course, I have Natalie’s help,’ Holly duly corrected herself.
‘I’m not sure if you heard what happened in Bristol?’ Lucy said, and Holly noticed she was digging her thumb into her hand again.
Holly shook her head instead of voicing an answer, as she slid the wine glass across the bar.
‘The investment firm I was working for was pretty toxic. I couldn’t face working there any longer so I handed my notice in. They put me on gardening leave.’
At Holly’s furrowed brow, Lucy explained, ‘They think I might sell on client data or maybe poach clients for myself. I can’t work for a competitor for six months.’
That sounded pretty good to Holly. ‘So you’re on paid leave for six months? Sweet.’
But the look on Lucy’s face told her this was anything but a positive result for her.
‘I’ve only been back a matter of weeks, and not working is driving me crazy. And you know things aren’t great with me and Tony right now. Say no if it wouldn’t be helpful, but can I do some shifts here?’
Holly went to answer but Lucy cut in, ‘No need to pay me. Getting out of the cafe and giving me and Tony some, much needed, space would be payment enough!’
It took Holly a few seconds to process what she was hearing, but once she’d got her head around it, her resulting smile was wide, creating deep dimples in her cheeks.
‘I’d be stupid to say no to that, Lucy. Are you sure though?’
‘One hundred percent sure.’
‘When do you want to start?’
‘Tomorrow?’ The hope in Lucy’s eyes was unmistakable.
Holly grabbed another wine glass and poured herself the rest of the pinot from the open bottle. Holding up the filled glass she held it up towards Lucy, ‘Cheers to the toxic investment firm for bringing you to me.’
As their glasses clinked, Holly noticed Lucy’s shoulders relax and the smile that graced her face was one of utter relief.