Chapter 16
Absolutely Certain
Before those monumental events though, she had another of Rose’s dates to contend with.
Nikolai looked good on paper - Holly had triple checked, so Rose had been given the green light to swipe right on him.
She’d also been messaging him on Holly’s behalf and had reported back he’d been a perfect gentleman - no dick pics or lude suggestions.
And most importantly, no Elvis connections, or aspirations to assist her in toilet cubicles.
The decision for Rose to be in charge of the messages hadn’t been Holly’s idea.
But after her brief interaction with Brian had torpedoed the date before it had even properly started, Rose had insisted on doing the ground work.
And from everything she’d heard, Nikolai sounded good.
Scratch that. He sounded great. But she’d been burnt by two of Rose’s dates and the odds weren’t in her friend’s favour.
‘Ooh, you look nice,’ Rose catcalled as she stepped into Holly’s makeshift bedroom.
‘Yeah? I call this look boot chic. You like?’
‘You can pull it off,’ she dodged the obvious lie.
Holly was wearing a yellow cotton dress that sat above her knees - the delicate floral patterns made her smile when she’d seen it on ASOS last week and she ordered it on impulse.
On one foot she wore her Dr Marten sandals, and the other was sporting the ugly supportive boot she needed to wear to support her left ankle.
She knew it was a brutal clash of aesthetics, but early on in her recovery she’d come to terms with the fashion disaster that the boot was.
‘Remind me of the cliff notes for Nikolai?’ she asked as she reached for her crutches.
‘35. Web designer. Likes dogs - particularly basset hounds - he has two. Lives just outside Scarborough. Oh, and the pièce de résistance - he loves Jurassic Park.’
‘And the catch?’
‘No catch.’
‘There’s always a catch. Why is he single?’
‘Bit rich, Holly.’ Rose rolled her eyes, somewhat theatrically.
‘My catch is I’m a single mum.’ Holly emphasised her point with open palms and a smile on her face, owning her catch, happily.
‘Holly–’
‘Save it Rose. I love Natalie with all my heart. But she’s a pretty prominent catch for some people.’
Rose blew her breath out with a flutter of her lips. Holly’s attention was drawn to the damp beer mat Rose had picked up and was now absent-mindedly ripping up.
Narrowing her eyes, she snatched what remained of it from her hands, ‘You’re holding out on me, Rose. Come on, spit it out.’
Rose caved immediately.
‘So there might be a teeny, weeny, catch,’ she whispered, pinching her thumb and index finger together to make her point. Holly noted she wouldn’t meet her gaze.
‘Rose,’ she drew out her name, the warning lilt to her tone unmistakable.
‘Have you told her yet?’ Luke called out, his voice reaching them before his face appeared behind Rose.
‘I was building up to it,’ she hissed out, playfully lashing out behind her to elbow Luke in the stomach.
He laughed and spun her to face him, ‘You’ll have to try harder than that if you’re trying to hurt me, Rose.’
‘Jeez, can you two knock it off for 30 seconds so I can hear what’s wrong with Nikolai?’
Rose struggled to spin herself back to face Holly, her face flushed. ‘There’s nothing wrong with him. He just doesn’t…’ she winced, ‘he doesn’t speak English,’ she rushed out, like ripping off a plaster in one quick move.
‘I’m sorry - what?’ Holly spluttered out, praying she’d misheard.
‘He’s Russian.’
‘Russian?’ Holly repeated, eyes wide at why on earth Rose had kept this from her.
‘Yes. But he’s gorgeous Holly, so who cares what language he speaks?’
‘Well, it will make our date a bit quiet for one,’ she groaned, suddenly feeling deflated.
She’d expected an odd hobby, or maybe a nervous habit.
She’d been waiting for something to go wrong, but it delivered a punch when she was proved right and it felt more insurmountable than whatever she’d been imagining.
‘Oh, don’t worry. She’s planned for that,’ Luke laughed, dodging another elbow, this time aimed a little lower.
‘You’re not helping.’ Rose turned again, this time to glare at him.
‘Tell her, go on. Tell her the plan,’ he said with a waggle of his thick eye brows.
Rose pushed away from Luke and brushed down her dress from where he’d creased it with all the hugging and spinning.
‘So you know Mrs Becker?’ Rose winced at the end of her question, revealing her nerves at this solution to the language barrier Holly was about to face.
The question hit Holly out of left field.
Mrs Becker was the last person Holly expected to come up in relation to a date.
She was a nice enough old lady, but that’s what she was.
When Holly used to pop in to check on Eleanor at The Book Nook, before Rose moved in to work there, she’d sometimes interrupt the scrabble group.
That was the only time she really saw Mrs Becker.
‘Eleanor’s scrabble buddy?’
‘Yes, her. So, she used to work in Russia and is fluent in the language.’
‘And she’s going to sit in and translate for us?’ Holly laughed. The sound died when she saw Rose’s earnest expression. ‘Absolutely not, Rose.’
‘It’s the perfect solution,’ Rose countered, reaching out towards Holly who had managed to manoeuvre herself back towards her camp bed.
‘It. Is. Not,’ she enunciated each word with wide, disbelieving, eyes.
‘She has loved helping out.’
‘Wait. Why did you say she has loved helping out? The date hasn’t happened yet?’ Holly was confused.
‘Oh. Well, you see, I knew I needed help when his first message came through in Russian, so I got Mrs Becker to help. Apparently, he’d been let down by internet translations in the past, so doesn’t trust them.’
‘I can’t believe you’ve dragged Mrs Becker into this, Rose.’
‘But she’s loved it - and she is really looking forward to tonight.’
‘I bet she is,’ Holly groaned again, her face in her hands now as she sank down onto the bed. ‘I can’t believe you thought any of this was acceptable, Rose.’
‘Everything else about him is perfect, though. Jurassic Park - your favourite.’ On that Rose was right. Holly loved Jurassic Park. Especially the third one - she had a soft spot for Alessandro Nivola.
‘But we can’t communicate with each other unless we’ve got an eighty year old scrabble player with us!’ Holly couldn’t believe she was having to justify her reluctance to go along with this ridiculous plan.
‘Who needs words?’
‘Me. Most people,’ Holly deadpanned.
Rose rolled her eyes before attempting a different tactic, ‘Honestly, Holly. I think you’re just sabotaging this now.’
‘Really? That’s what you’re taking from this?’
‘Nikolai has arrived,’ Luke announced from where he’d sidled off back into the pub.
‘Might as well give it a try?’ Rose nudged Holly’s good foot with her toe. A hopeful smile on her face.
‘Half an hour - not a minute more.’
‘Totally fair.’ Rose nodded seriously, but as Holly hobbled out of the room she caught sight of her doing a comical victory dance in the mirror.
*
‘А чем ты занимаешься в свободное время?’ Nikolai asked, then looked to Mrs Becker to translate.
‘He has asked what you like to do in your spare time,’ Mrs Becker relayed dutifully.
Holly fought the urge to sigh. It had only been ten minutes, but each second that ticked by had been excruciating.
‘Tell him I enjoy dancing naked on the beach in the early hours of the morning.’
Mrs Becker blushed, then leant forward to whisper, ‘I will not say that to him, Holly Loxley. Now answer the nice man, properly.’
‘Fine. Tell him about the brewery.’
Mrs Becker nodded, and launched into a careful explanation. Nikolai listened carefully and then followed up with another question.
‘Как твоя нога сегодня?’ He looked at Holly, and then down at her ankle whilst Mrs Becker worked out the translation.
‘He says, how is your leg doing today?’
‘Why is he asking about that, when you were telling him about the brewery?’ The random question had caught Holly off guard.
‘I added you’ve been a bit tied up, due to your injury, so haven’t been able to work there as much as you usually would.’
Holly shook her head a little, surprised Mrs Becker, knew this about her.
She hadn’t been to the micro brewery as much as she would usually.
Mainly due to her ankle, yes, but also because that is where Seb was now spending his time instead of being in the kitchen here.
Images of him gatecrashed her thoughts and she had to will herself to think of something, anything else.
She was thinking about him more and more these days.
When she’d told him to stay away, it had been in the hope if she didn’t see him, she’d be able to forget about him.
But it hadn’t worked. Just like it hadn’t worked when he’d left the Bay all those years ago.
Thoughts of him flashed up, unbidden, all the time it seemed.
And then there was Natalie. She kept asking about him.
And each time Holly answered that she didn’t know when he’d be visiting, or what he was up to, Natalie’s face would drop.
Holly forced herself to stop thinking about him now though.
She gave herself a mental shake, and focussed her attention fully on Mrs. Becker.
‘Tell him it’s felt OK today and the ankle is improving.’
Mrs Becker nodded and started her translation. Nikolai was listening carefully, and then his gaze darted to her, choking on the beer he’d sipped.
‘Mrs Becker,’ Holly said, cautiously, ‘what did you just say to him?’
‘Well. I mean, my Russian is a little rusty.’
Nikolai had composed himself, but he was now assessing her with wide eyes.
‘Mrs Becker, he looks horrified.’
Mrs Becker snatched a phrase book out of her bag and started flicking through it. She pulled up short when she reached the page she’d been looking for.
‘Oh dear.’
‘Oh dear? What does he think I said?’
‘Instead of saying you felt well today, I might have suggested that you felt yourself well today.’ Mrs Becker had mumbled out the last few words.
‘Oh great,’ Holly cupped her face in her hands, ‘Mrs Becker, can you please explain I haven’t spent the day pleasuring myself?’ she hissed the last words out, in case her brother was in ear shot.
‘I’ll try.’ Mrs Becker blushed and then stumbled over her words as she attempted to correct her mistranslation.
When Nikolai finally laughed, Holly buried her face in her hands, and laughed as well. She laughed so much, tears sprung free.
‘Are you alright, dear?’ asked Mrs Becker as she gently stroked Holly’s back.
‘Do you know what? I needed that. Please apologise to Nikolai, but I’m calling it. This,’ she gestured between the three of them, ‘is not going to work.’
Without waiting to hear Mrs Becker’s attempt at that translation, Holly pushed up from the table, grabbed her crutches, and made her slow escape.
‘Looks like it’s going well?’ Rose called out cheerfully from the bar, as Holly approached.
‘Don’t. Just don’t. You are so lucky my brother is infatuated with you, and that I need you behind the bar until Lucy is feeling better, because otherwise…’
‘Otherwise?’
‘Otherwise, you’d be barred.’
‘That bad?’ Rose’s face paled.
‘Well, let’s see shall we. Your translator,’ she emphasised her scepticism at the moniker with air tags, ‘told Nikolai I’d spent the day pleasuring myself.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yes. Oh.’
‘I mean, could that be turned into a positive?’
At Holly’s hard stare, Rose nodded, ‘No, no it cannot. Sorry?’ She winced.
‘That’s three for three, Rose. You’re out.’
‘Out?’
‘No more dates, blind or otherwise. I’m officially done.’
Rose started to protest, but with another hard stare from Holly, any arguments died in her throat. She closed her mouth and let her hobble back to her downstairs bedroom.
*
‘You might need to cut your losses. You tried, Rose.’ Luke’s words made their way into her room, as Holly settled herself on her bed.
Whatever Rose said next, didn’t make it to Holly’s ears as it was Luke’s voice she heard again next. ‘Is it really that important?’
Rose must have said yes, or nodded, because Holly then heard Luke say, ‘Right, then let her lick her wounds and maybe try again next month.’
Holly covered her head with her pillow and tried to block out Luke’s voice too.
On instinct she reached for her phone and opened up the app.
Her physical talisman was behind the bar, and she couldn’t face heading back out there, so she made do with this version again.
Swirling colours looked back at her from the screen.
‘Will Rose keep fussing over me?’ she asked the screen.
Absolutely Certain appeared. Holly wasn’t sure whether she was disappointed or comforted by the answer.
*
With the pub emptying just before last orders, Holly persuaded Rose and Luke to call it an early night. She was more than capable of locking up now, and they’d left with the last customer.
‘Sorry, we’re closing a little early tonight,’ Holly called as the door swung open, without looking up to see who it was.
‘I wanted to check on Lucy. I heard she’s not been feeling well,’ Tony’s voice stilled Holly’s hands as she cashed up the till.
‘Oh, hi Tony. Lucy has been a bit under the weather this week. But she’ll be asleep now. Maybe call in tomorrow?’
‘Can’t I just head on up and see her?’
‘I really think it’s best to leave her be.’
Holly hated to see the hurt her words were causing.
In the past, he’d have been looking after her at home if she was unwell.
And now, he had Holly acting as a bouncer keeping him from his wife.
But Lucy wasn’t really his wife any more - not in her mind anyway.
And from what Lucy had been saying, she knew she wouldn’t want him visiting her this late at night.
‘You’re right. I know you are. But I miss her.’
Holly shut the till, leaving the cashing up for now. ‘I know you do.’
‘When she moved back, I assumed it was because she wanted us to be together again.’
‘I think she thought that too,’ Holly offered kindly, ‘sometimes people change though. It’s no-one’s fault - just life, I guess.’
‘She’s filed for divorce.’
When Holly didn’t say or act surprised, Tony realised. ‘She told you.’
Holly nodded.
‘I haven’t signed the papers yet.’
‘Are you going to?’
Tony wiped a hand down his face and cupped his mouth tightly. ‘I don’t know,’ he finally said, ‘I’m not sure I can.’
As Holly struggled to think of what to say to him, he turned and left without another word.