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‘Do you mean the Manor House?’

‘Do I?’ Holly said, a little unsure. ‘Possibly.’

Kathy nodded emphatically, implying that was definitely the building Holly meant. The old woman’s face crinkled further as she chewed down on her bottom lip.

‘Now, I do know. Give me a sec. My memory’s not what it used to be. Some lord… Lord Canbury, I think.’

A lump formed in the pit of Holly’s stomach.

‘Any chance it’s Lord Caverty?’ she asked, a note of trepidation in her voice. Holly had known from their first meeting that Giles was from a wealthy background and if she remembered correctly, his uncle was the richest of them all. But she would have known if Giles was related to a lord, wouldn’t she? Then again, she hadn’t known he was her landlord until less than twelve hours ago.

‘That’s it! Lord Caverty,’ Kathy said excitedly. ‘He’s got a nephew who comes into the village now and then if I’m not mistaken. God, I’d love to own a place like that, wouldn’t you?’ Kathy said dreamily. ‘Imagine, all that space.’

‘Imagine,’ Holly said.

34

The bird park and baking were only half of the day’s adventures Holly had planned for her and Hope. Back at the cottage, they enjoyed a picnic lunch out in the back garden, before a session of finger painting. Afterwards, while a small part of Holly would have loved to sit on the sofa, Hope was still full of beans. As such, they left the house again, this time to feed the ducks with a bag of oats.

‘I thought you weren’t coming in today?’ Drey said, as Holly poked her head through the door.

‘I was just passing,’ Holly replied.

‘And so you thought you’d come and check we hadn’t run the place to the ground?’ Caroline smirked.

It wasn’t that Holly didn’t trust Drey and Caroline to manage the shop. She did. Completely. But it was a force of habit to check in whenever she passed.

‘Sorry.’

‘No need to apologise,’ Drey said, immediately moving away from the counter. ‘You can just let me have some cuddles with this one, and all will be forgiven.’

For over thirty minutes, Drey cuddled and cooed over Hope. Lifting her into the air and causing her to giggle with delight, while Holly and Caroline dealt with a deluge of customers. Secretly, Holly had been hoping she might have time to talk to Caroline about Giles and the wedding, but instead, there was barely a second to breathe as they criss-crossed one another on the shop floor hurrying to weigh out sweets and put them through the till.

So far, this summer had been even better than last year. If it carried on the same way, she would look at adding some extra shelving units, or at least updating the ones she had. Only when Hope started grizzling, from a mixture of tiredness and hunger, did Holly decide it was time to head back home.

That evening, the night-time routine consisted of four readings of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,followed by a quick read through ofThat’s Not My Fairy,both of which Holly had read so many times, she could recite them word for word. Still, Hope loved those books. A soft, sleepy smile curled on her lips as Holly gave Hope her final kiss of the day, and lay her down in her cot, only for Holly’s phone to ring downstairs.

As had become normal, Holly texted Evan a couple of times during the day just to check on him, but her messages had gone unread. She couldn’t blame him; when she was at work, she would leave her phone upstairs, often not seeing his messages until hours later. They were like ships passing in the night, and they needed to set more anchors to ensure they could spend time together.

She raced downstairs to answer.

‘How has it only been a day since I saw you? It makes no sense,’ Holly said with a sigh. ‘It feels like weeks.’

‘I know. But hopefully, I’ll get back soon. How are you doing?’

‘Honestly…’ Holly didn’t want to unburden herself to Evan. Not when they hadn’t spoken all day. But there were thoughts she just couldn’t shift. ‘I’m still mad. Really mad. The thing is, it’s just so… so Giles. Over-the-top gestures. The sweeping in when he thinks I need help.’

‘But from what you’ve said, you did kind of need a place of your own to live?’

‘That’s not the point.’ She huffed. Not for the first time, Holly wasn’t interested in any rational arguments or logical explanations. She just wanted to vent. ‘But I think it’s Mum I’m most mad at. Surely, her loyalty lies with me. Surely, I am the one she should be keeping secrets for, not from. I mean, I told her about seeing Giles in France. I told her about spending the night on his boat.’

‘Where nothing happened,’ Evan interjected.

‘Yes, I know. Nothing happened. But that’s not the point. What I’m saying is I told her all these things, about how we had seen each other, about how I said I didn’t want a relationship with him, and she didn’t think to tell me about the house. Surely there was a point when she thought, “Oh, maybe I should tell Holly about the fact that her mystery landlord isn’t really a mystery at all.” She could have done that, right?’

‘She could have, but maybe she wanted to talk to Giles about it first.’

Holly ponded the point a moment longer before letting out another long sigh.