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Holly didn’t know why Ben was saying all this, but if it was to make her feel better, then it wasn’t working. What was he trying to tell her? That even when she thought she had a relationship figured out, she was wrong, so she should probably give up trying?

‘So, you think Evan and I…’

‘I think he’s all in, Holly. He knows you. He gets you. He might not have spent that much time with you yet, comparatively, but he sees you. He gets what you’re like. And he was really open about the whole situation with Hope. He wanted me to know that our relationship matters, too.’

‘Yours and his?’ Holly was even more confused by this statement.

‘No, you idiot. Yours and mine. He was just saying how he wanted what was best for you and best for Hope, because he wasn’t always going to get things right, but hopefully I’d be there to kick him in the right direction.’

‘He really said that to you?’

‘He really did.’

Holly’s heart swelled. She hadn’t even texted Evan that evening. Not since the incident with the bunny. But she would ring him later that night. She wouldn’t mention this conversation, but just remind him again how lucky she felt to have him in her life.

She went in to hug Ben, only to notice the work van pulling onto the drive. A logo with a large water drop and a wrench was on the side.

‘Looks like this is me,’ she said, with a nod to the van. ‘Let’s hope this doesn’t take all night.’

‘Do you want me to stay? I can stay if you need?’

‘No, I’m fine. I’m an independent woman, you know.’

‘An independent woman with a stuffed rabbit down her toilet?’

30

‘Explain to me again what happened, love.’

Holly and the plumber stood together in the bathroom, staring at the still-full toilet bowl. Hope had pulled herself up onto the side of her cot and was looking in from the bedroom, although Holly thought she should probably be in there with them; after all, it was all her fault there were there.

‘My daughter flushed her bunnies down the toilet,’ she said, grimacing as she spoke.

‘Bunnies? As in rabbits?’

‘Not real bunnies,’ Holly clarified as the plumber paled. ‘My daughter’s cuddly bunnies. I think there are two of them. I wasn’t watching, and she flushed them down the toilet.’

Relief washed visibly over the plumber’s face as he nodded and leaned in closer to look at the bowl.

‘And have you used it since?’

‘The toilet? No. I assumed it would flood.’

‘You’re right. It doesn’t stop some people, though. Well, it should be a fairly clean job then. If you don’t mind?’ He waved his hand a little, gesturing for Holly to leave. And although themotion of being shooed out of the bathroom in her own house annoyed her, she realised he needed the space to work.

‘You’re not gonna make too much damage to fix it, are you?’ she said, walking back into the bathroom, only moments after stepping out of it. ‘My landlord recently redid it all for me when I moved in. And he did everything I asked for, so I’d really like to not cause loads of hassle by chipping tiles, and that kind of thing?’

‘Your landlord’s a good man, don’t worry. I’ll do a good job.’

Holly nodded, leaving the room, realising she hadn’t been given any assurances as to what a ‘good job’ meant at all. Given how small the upstairs of the cottage was, Holly knew any banging or hammering was bound to stop Hope from sleeping. Even white noise, which was her go-to during nap time, wasn’t likely to cancel out this level of sound, so after a brief consideration, she decided it wasn’t worth trying to get Hope to sleep when she didn’t know how long the banging might go on for.

Gone were the days when Hope would lie on her back for hours at a time, flicking at the toys and smiling with delight. Now, she seemed to get pleasure only in crawling around chaotically. But it was a sign of how exhausted Hope was that she curled up on Holly’s chest, without even a wriggle to get down.

‘I haven’t been very good about your bedtime these last few days, have I?’ Holly said, as if Hope was going to respond like an adult, or a far older child. ‘We’ll get back into a routine tomorrow. Okay? But it’s not all bad with Mummy, is it? We have a lot of fun. I thought tomorrow, we could go to the bird park. What do you think?’

Hope may not have understood everything, but she knew the meaning of the words ‘bird park.’ Her eyes lit up.

‘Yes, we’ll go to the bird park. And we’ll see the penguins. Does that sound fun?’ Hope went to smile, only for her mouth toopen wider into a yawn. Her eyes scrunched shut as she dropped her head back down onto Holly’s chest.