Page 4

Holly was running late. After the excitement of Hope’s first definitive waves, Ben had come inside for a cup of tea, solely so that he could keep walking out the house and saying goodbye repeatedly so that Hope would laugh and wave again. When he finally left, Jamie arrived to collect the flowers.

‘You weren’t joking when you said they were massive,’ she said, as she went to move the bouquet. ‘I’ve seen florists with fewer flowers in.’

‘I know.’ Holly sighed.

The last time a man had bought her flowers, it had been Ben, and those had been flours, as in almond, spelt, wholegrain and a whole heap of other one-kilogram bags. It would have been a rather random gift if she hadn’t loved baking so much. As for the fresh, garden variety, she could probably count on one hand the number of times she’d been bought those in her life and three times were in the last three weeks.

‘I don’t think I should take the entire bunch,’ Jamie said, having picked them up only to put them back down again. ‘Imean, what if Evan notices? He’s coming here, after all. And he must know what he sent you?’

It was a good point, which Holly pondered for a moment before she spoke.

‘You’re right. There’s a measuring jug above the sink. Can you grab it? We’ll put a bunch in it for me to keep, and then you can take the rest with you.’

‘A measuring jug? Do you not have a vase?’

Holly pointed to where a vase on the windowsill contained half of the first bouquet Evan had sent her when she’d arrived back in the UK. There was another on her bedroom windowsill and the bathroom, too.

‘Yes, but I’ve run out,’ she said. ‘Now, are you going to get me that jug or not?’

4

When Jamie left, Holly finally had Hope to herself. Unfortunately, all the delays meant that there wasn’t time to sit and play. Instead, she had to try to force her daughter into one of the beautiful – if wholly impractical – dress and bloomer sets her mother had bought only a few weeks ago. Once it was on, Holly ensured she had several much more comfortable shorts and baby grow options packed in her bag. As long as her mother saw Hope wearing the outfit, it would be fine. They would get a couple of nice photos with her dad to remember the day, and then she could get her changed into something far more suitable for crawling around the garden.

According to her mother, they were expecting around thirty people to attend the party. Thirty people felt like a reasonable number for such an event. What Holly couldn’t work out was how they were going to fit them all in her parents’ back garden. The answer, she discovered shortly after arriving at their house, was that they weren’t.

‘Here you are. I’d started to wonder what had happened to you,’ her mother said, as she opened the door and swept Hopeout of Holly’s arms. ‘Now you leave her here with me. I need you to go out and help your dad. He’s still struggling with the fence.’

‘The fence?’ Holly asked, confused. ‘What are you doing to the fence?’

‘Removing it. How else did you think we were going to fit that many people in the garden?’

Realising that it was easier just to head outside and help her dad, rather than try to get any coherent answer from her mother – who was now cooing over Hope’s outfit – Holly kissed Hope before heading through the kitchen and into the garden.

The small patio opened onto a reasonably sized lawn area at the back of which was a small, wooden arbour seat surrounded by a succulent-filled rock garden. The seat and succulents were both recent editions to the outdoor space. After her father’s heart attack, the doctor had suggested he needed to slow down, and tending to succulents was something he had been keen to try for many years. Apparently, it offered him a way to be outside while taking it easy – though at that moment, he was doing anything but. Instead, he was red-faced, holding the entire weight of a fence panel while their neighbour June stood by, shouting such helpful comments as, ‘Mind my begonias!’

‘Dad. Hold on for a second. Let me help you with that.’ Holly sidled up beside him and placed a hand under the end of the panel to take some of the weight. Her father sighed audibly at her help.

‘Thanks, love. We just need to move it to the side a bit. Prop it up against that other part of the fence. Yes, that’s it. Slowly does it.’

Within a couple of minutes, the removed fence panel was securely placed further down the garden and her father was wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

‘Thanks for that, love,’ he said. ‘Was trickier than I’d expected.’

‘You should have waited. You shouldn’t be moving things on your own like that. What would the doctor say?’

Whatever her father did or didn’t think the doctor would say, he clearly had no intention of telling Holly, as rather than responding to her, he ambled over to the hole in the fence where the neighbour was standing. Judging by the relieved smile on her face, all the begonias had survived.

‘Thanks for that, June, love. I’ll put it back tonight, when everyone goes.’

‘Oh, there’s no rush,’ June replied. ‘Besides, my Lenny will be back from work then. He’ll be able to give you a hand.’

‘That would be grand. Thank you. Well, I’d better have a shower. Don’t want all the guests turning up and me looking like this, do I?’ he said. He looked at Holly as if he expected her to make her excuses and come into the house with him, too. But there was something she wanted to do first.

‘I’ll just be a minute, Dad,’ she said. ‘Oh and say “bye” to Hope when you go upstairs. You might be in for a surprise.’

As her dad left, Holly approached the gap in the fence. June and Lenny were at least ten years younger than her parents, yet they’d always had the air of much older people. June’s hair, which was dyed a brassy blonde, was often held back with metal clips and Holly was sure the only type of shoes she owned were plastic gardening ones. Still, she was a friendly neighbour and a good person. Not to mention someone that Holly owed a lot to.

‘June, do you have a minute?’ she asked.