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Holly went to reply, only to change her mind. The last thing she wanted was for Maud to rush. She had already inconvenienced her enough.

‘No, it’s fine. I’ll just wait.’

The man offered her yet another gruff response, and Holly smiled as sweetly as she could. How was it when she was in the sweet shop, she spent all her time smiling at every single customer, then you would go into other places, and the people serving would do nothing but scowl? It was a miracle they got any service at all.

A few minutes later, Holly was sitting in the dining area, checking through the delivery schedules and orders for the shop on her phone. It really was a wonder of modern technology that she could work like this wherever she was. Still, when fifteen minutes became thirty, Holly considered asking the man if he could ring Maud’s room, only to change her mind, and ring the shop instead, to tell Caroline she was going to be longer than expected. She had just hung up when she spotted Maud hobbling down the staircase, holding on to the banister gingerly.

Holly rushed across to help her and took her arm at the bottom of the stairs.

‘Holly? What are you doing here? We didn’t arrange to meet this morning, did we?’

‘No, no, we didn’t.’ Holly shook her head as she led Maud over to the table. ‘But I felt so bad about rushing out the other day, and then I completely forgot I wasn’t at the shop yesterday for you to phone. And I was worried you might be leaving soon.’

A look of gratitude washed over the old woman’s face.

‘Thank… Thank you, Holly, love. That means a lot.’

Holly smiled in response, and Maud tried to reciprocate the gesture, but it seemed an effort to even raise her lips.

When Holly had met Maud the other night, her hair had been done, while blush had added a bit of colour to her cheeks. She’d even had a slight slick of lipstick. But there was none of that now. Maud’s face was drawn and tired. Her skin was translucent, with a web of blue-green veins crisscrossing beneath.

When they reached the dining area, Holly pulled out a chair for her to sit down on.

‘Let me fetch you a cup of tea,’ she said.

Maud nodded, not even managing a word of thanks.

Even after all these years, Holly recalled how Maud had liked her tea: White, but with no sugar, ‘because she was sweet enough’. At least, that was what Agnes used to say.

Checking that the grumpy waiter’s back was turned, and she wouldn’t be chastised for stealing, Holly grabbed another cup for herself and filled it with coffee from the percolator. Deciding that Maud also looked like she could do with feeding up a bit too, Holly grab a croissant and a pain au chocolat before heading back to the table and placing them down in front of her friend.

Given how chatty Maud had been at the shop the other day, and while meeting Hope, Holly expected her to start asking her questions about her life, or perhaps tell her about her trips abroad. Instead, she remained completely still, staring into the teacup. More people were coming and going into the dining room now. Plates were clattering, and children chattering, yet all Holly could do was look at Maud.

Finally, she found her voice, along with a deep sinking feeling which filled her stomach.

‘Maud?’ There was a tremble in Holly’s voice. She didn’t want to hear the answer to the question she was about to ask, but she knew she had to ask it. ‘Maud, are you okay?’

The old woman lifted her head. Her eyes met Holly’s and for a single second, Holly felt as though her heart was about to stop beating, when a small smile rose at the corner of Maud’s lips. The first smile Holly had seen since she arrived.

‘Actually, Holly dear, I hope you don’t mind, but while I was here, I was hoping I could ask you for a favour.’

Holly didn’t need to ask what the favour was. The answer was immediate, regardless.

‘Of course you can. Anything. What do you need?’

The twinkle that had been missing from Maud’s eyes all morning returned with a sparkle.

‘It’s more of a want than a need,’ she said.

37

The last time Holly had seen Maud working in the shop, the old woman had been frail and defeated, no longer able to bear the weight of Agnes’s memory, which the building held so keenly. She had let the shop fall into disrepair. Neglecting orders and bills left, right and centre. But the woman who donned the blue and white striped apron that morning made the old, frail woman from the past appear a figment of Holly’s imagination. And it made her heart fit to burst.

This was the Maud Holly remembered from the old days, full of vitality, chatting away with the customers. She knew instinctively where all the various jars should be on the shelves and didn’t think twice about chastising Holly for having moved something around.

‘You can’t just have a quarter of acid drops,’ she said to one of the old regulars. ‘You need to get at least a half. And don’t forget the cough candy. You always used to love the cough candy.’

Holly had expected Maud to recognise the local customers, but she hadn’t expected her to remember all their orders so accurately, or for it to have such an impact on their profits –Maud had persuaded them all to up their bag weight, or the number of purchases.