Page 6

Holly bit down on her lip. Snapping wasn’t something her mother did ever, really. Even when she was under stress. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t organised parties before this. Bigger ones too, for which she had done all the catering. Whatever the situation was with the landlord and the neighbour, the last thing Holly wanted was to upset her mother before her father’s big party. As such, she was about to apologise when Wendy let out a deep sigh.

‘I’m sorry, love. I’m just on edge, that’s all.’

‘I can tell. What is it? Is there anything I can do?’

Her mother took a long inhale, throwing a glance at Hope before looking back at Holly. ‘It’s your father’s present, you know,’ she said quietly. ‘I’m starting to worry that we’ve made a mistake.’

6

The joint present had been Holly’s idea. Together, she and her mother had clubbed together to get Arthur and Wendy a last-minute city break to Brussels. Like Holly, her parents had experienced very little in the way of travelling. But when she came back from the south of France, unable to stop talking about all her escapades with Evan and the girls, she couldn’t help but feel how much her parents had missed out on that side of life. Then, by chance, as she was browsing the internet one evening while Hope was at Ben’s, a last-minute deal for Eurostar tickets to Brussels serendipitously pinged up on her phone. The next day, she mentioned it to her mum.

‘I don’t know if he’ll like it. You know he’s funny about things he doesn’t know.’ Her mother’s initial response had been less than enthusiastic.

‘But this is Brussels. Brussels as in Belgium. As in Belgian chocolate!’ Holly emphasised the word chocolate with large gesticulations. ‘He’ll love it. Besides, I always thought it was flying that made him anxious? There’s no flying on this. You’ll be on the train the entire way there. And he does love trains.’

She watched as her mother mulled the idea over.

‘Well, we both have our passports. We got them done five years ago when his cousin Emily decided she was going to get married in Italy. What a whole kerfuffle that was. Thankfully, the only thing we lost was the money on getting our passports renewed. I’m not sure we’ll do that again,’ she said rather sadly.

‘Then don’t you see this is the perfect reason?’ Holly continued to press. ‘Otherwise, your passports would’ve been renewed for nothing. I think you should do it. I’ve already rung them up, and there’s only six places left on this deal, so we’ll need to book it fast. And I can split the costs. Or pay two-thirds if that helps.’

Her muscles clenched as she’d said those words. Holly had lots of happiness and love in her life. She had found joy in so many things she had never expected, from Hope to the girls and the shop. What she didn’t have was lots of money. She’d come back from Jamie’s hen do expecting to have dug a substantial chunk out of her savings, but instead everything had been paid for by Fin or Evan. Even when she had tried to make Jamie take some of the money to put towards her honeymoon or wedding, she’d outright refused. At least this, giving the money to her mum for a trip, would help ease some of the guilt she felt still having that money in her account.

‘Fine.’ An apprehensive grin flitted across her mother’s face as she spoke. ‘You’re sure he’ll like it, though?’

‘There’s a chocolate-making course he can do, Mum. He’ll love it.’

Finally, her mother allowed herself a more fully formed smile.

‘Okay. Let’s do it. Let’s book it.’

Forty minutes later, and her parents had been booked on the Eurostar, with three nights in Brussels, and her father was none the wiser. That was two weeks ago now, and Holly and Wendy had been keeping it a secret ever since. Now, they finally had totell him. But Holly understood her mother’s nerves. She knew it might take a bit of time for her dad to let the idea sink in, and if that was the case, there was no saying how he might react in the moment. So, they had agreed to wait until the end of the night.

Holly was still going through the reactions he might give to the surprise when her mum spoke again.

‘Right, I think it’s time we both got changed,’ she said.

‘Changed? Why do I need to get changed?’

When her mum scanned her up and down and didn’t speak, she pursed her lips in a manner that meant no words were necessary.

‘What’s wrong with this?’ Holly was wearing a newish pair of jeans, paired with a top that had no baby milk or sick-up stains on it at all. As far as current clothing went, it was as good as it was going to get. ‘Dad’s not going to care.’

‘It’s not about your dad,’ her mother said, straightening her back. ‘What about Evan? It’s the first time he’s seen you in England. The first time we’ve met him. You don’t want him to turn up and… and…’ She struggled to find the words to finish her sentence, so Holly stepped in for her.

‘Regret his decision to go out with me?’ she said, raising her eyebrows.

‘I’m not saying he would do that. It’s just, you do want to look nice for him, don’t you?’

‘Mother, listen to me very carefully. If Evan arrives and decides he doesn’t want to date me because I’m not wearing some girly dress or strappy sandals, then I’m fine with that. I’d rather not date him, either.’

Her mother’s pursed lips tightened.

‘Fine, but I’m going to go upstairs and get dressed nicely.’ She bent down and picked up Hope from her highchair. ‘Come on, Hope, you can help choose a pretty dress for Grandma, can’t you?’

With one last look at Holly, Wendy disappeared out of the kitchen. It was only when the footsteps rattled on the stairs that Holly remembered she had something else she wanted to say to her mother.

‘Oh, and don’t think I’ve let you off the hook about inviting Ben and Georgia either! We’re going to talk about this when you get back down here. You need to be taught boundaries. Do you hear me? Boundaries!’