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‘Oh sure. I mean, some of the scenery is the best in the world. But it’s so vast. So massive. I love that. I do. But I love the smallscale of things here too. How life feels so much slower. Not to mention you have great pubs you can walk to.’

‘We do have great pubs,’ Holly said, thinking that perhaps a pub lunch would be in order after the walk.

With her right hand holding Evan’s left, they continued their way down the path to where it reached a thicket of trees. Only a short walk later, they were in the village.

‘There is no way this is real,’ Evan said, as he slowly took in the scene. ‘It looks like a film set.’

‘Oh, it’s definitely real. And there’s a man who makes the most amazing homemade ice cream in one of those cottages there,’ Holly said, pointing at the house Ben had taken her to over a year ago.

‘Could you imagine waking up to this view every day?’ Evan said, as he reached the river. ‘I mean, it feels like you’ve stepped back in time, right? That you could be two hundred years in the past. It’s insane.’

It was true, some of the houses in the village dated all the way back to the sixteenth century, the golden-yellow limestone still glinting after all those years.

‘Look, there’s one for sale there.’ Evan pointed to a cottage a little way down the path where a largeFor Salesign was fixed in the small garden outside. Without another word, Evan picked up his pace, marching him and Hope towards it. As fast as she could, Holly followed suit.

‘This would be perfect for us,’ Evan said, standing back and surveying the building. The traditional Cotswold stone home was three storeys high, with dormer windows on the roof and large bay windows on the ground floor. It was perfect, Holly wanted to say. But there was also a definite issue.

‘I think something like that would be way out of my budget,’ she responded. ‘And that was if I actually had a budget. Which I don’t.’

‘I think we should book an appointment. Just to look around. You never know, we might have completely different tastes in houses. And then how would we ever live together?’

‘If it has a bath in it, I’m happy,’ Holly said simply.

‘In that case, I’m pretty sure it’ll fit the bill. And if not, we could put one in it.’

For another half an hour, they walked around the village before heading to the Country Inn for the pub lunch Evan had been so desperate for. The large establishment had to have one of the best pub locations, right by the edge of the path, with the river running through the grounds and an expansive beer garden which Hope met with delight, crawling on the grass to her heart’s content.

Thankfully, getting Hope out of the baby carrier was easier than putting her in it.

As they ate, Holly noticed the other families around them. Some children were eating meals with their parents, others were riding bicycles on the path beside the garden and one pair of siblings were in the water, with fishing nets in their hand, as they swept them back and forth, much the same way Holly had done when she was a child.

Is that what she and Evan looked like with Hope? she wondered. Just a normal family, enjoying a day out? And wasn’t that what they were? Somehow, after so little time, that was what it felt like. They were a family.

Even with Ben, Holly couldn’t remember feeling the sense of ease. The sense of ‘this was how it should be’. This family. But she did now, as she realised what had been missing in all her other relationships. It wasn’t about the attention, or the gestures; it was about that feeling of security. That feeling that even if you messed up and trashed the most beautiful gift anyone had ever given you, they would forgive you, because they knew you. Because you were a team. She and Evan were a team.Suddenly, Ben wanting to introduce Hope to Georgia also made sense. Of course, he wanted her to be part of Hope’s life. He’d wanted them to be a family as soon as they could, just like she did with Evan.

‘I know it’s only been one day, but I like having you in the house,’ Holly said, verbalising her thoughts. ‘I think, even when my arm is healed, we need to do it more. We need to do this more often, the three of us.’

‘Is that right? How often are you thinking?’ he said, his glance momentarily shifting from where Hope was crawling on the grass to look at her.

‘I don’t know. But very often.’

She couldn’t ask him to move in with her, could she? No, he lived in London. That was where his life was. Besides, it would be a ridiculous thing to suggest this early on. Yet she wanted to. Just like she wanted to ask whether his comment about looking around the house together was a joke, or if he was serious. Not that she had any idea how she could afford another mortgage on top of the shop’s, but still she should probably know if she was going to have to start saving even harder soon.

Taking a deep breath in, she opened her mouth, hoping the right words might just spill from her lips, when she glanced at her watch. Somehow, the morning had raced away with her.

‘Mum and Dad’s train is going to get in soon. We should probably leave now, if we’re going to pick them up,’ Holly said.

The knots that had escaped her whilst they were walking returned with a sudden ferocity.

‘Don’t worry,’ Evan said. ‘Let’s get Hope back to Ben’s. You’ve got this.’

52

On the one hand, Holly couldn’t believe how fast the morning had gone. The walk back had been slightly slower than the way there, although Hope had simply slept all the way on Evan’s chest. After checking that Ben was going to be home, they detoured and dropped Hope at his en route.

With that done, she and Evan had just enough time for a cup of tea before they headed off to fetch her parents from the station.

‘How are you feeling?’ Evan asked, as he opened the passenger door for her.