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‘Why the hell did he do that?’

Holly could feel a heat rising to her cheeks. She had hoped that she might manage to keep control of the situation and stop her parents from getting too upset or angry. So far, she hadn’t managed either of those things.

‘A Vespa?’ Wendy interjected, before Holly had a chance to respond. ‘You don’t know how to drive one of those! What were you thinking?’

‘It was a lovely gift, Mum. And I do know how to drive… Well, sort of. I’ve driven with Evan before in France. I just got a bit carried away, that’s all. I had a bit of bad news. It’s not Evan’s fault for this.’

Apparently, her explanation did not have them convinced, and it was a sign of her mother’s anger that she didn’t even bother to ask what the bad news was.

‘It’s just irresponsible, Holly. What were you thinking? Getting on one of those things. You can’t mess around like a child now. You’re a parent.’

The guilt Holly had been feeling was replaced by a sudden spurt of anger.

‘I know I’m a parent, thank you. Like I said, it wasn’t a big accident. This is the exact reason I didn’t tell you – because I knew you were going to react like this.’

Her mother opened her mouth, ready to protest, but Holly wasn’t having any of it. She had already heard enough.

‘Look, it’s done now. And Evan is waiting in the car for us. So either you can stay here yelling at me, or we can drive you home and you can tell me about your holiday.’

She turned around, ready to move, only to find her parents’ gaze locked on one another, their expressions still thunderous.

‘Evan?’ her mum said. ‘Well, we’re not getting in a car withhim.’

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Holly tilted her head, sure she couldn’t have heard her mother correctly.

‘You won’t get into the car with him? That’s ridiculous? He wasn’t even driving the Vespa. He was in London when it happened.’

Her mother’s face remained just as hard and fixed.

‘He’s obviously irresponsible. The fact he would think so little of your own life, when he apparently cares about you, makes me wonder how reckless he would be with us in his car.’

That was all Holly could take. She snapped.

‘Apparently cares about me?Really? You know, he was meant to be in New York right now. He has meetings there for ten days and he cancelled them all on the spot, so that he could come to Bourton and help me with Hope.’

‘Quite frankly, I think that’s the least he could do, given how he’s practically left you immobile.’

Holly gritted her teeth. She would not get into a fight with her mum here. She couldn’t. She had already gone over the exact things she wanted to say, time and time again in her head,and if she mentioned Giles and Maud now, she would likely say something she regretted.

Taking a deep breath in, she looked her mother squarely in the face.

‘I’m sure you’re very tired from travelling, and from the exciting couple of days you’ve had. And I understand seeing me like this is probably quite a shock, but we – Evan and I – have taken time out of our day to come and pick you up, so we could see you. Now, get in the car.’

Holly couldn’t remember a single time in her life when she had told her parents what to do – other than when her father had got lost in one of his long conversations with a customer in the sweet shop and was completely oblivious to the queue forming behind them. For a split second, Holly had no idea how they were going to react. For a second, silence filled the platform around them, before her mum turned to her dad and let out an audible sniff.

‘Fine then,’ she said, picking up her suitcase and rolling it towards the car park. ‘But don’t expect me to be happy about it.’

The journey back to Northleach felt impossibly slow. Holly remained in the front, still seething from the earlier conversation, and no matter how much Evan tried to make conversation with Wendy and Arthur, they only responded in grunts.

‘Holly tells me you did a chocolate-making course?’ he said, still trying to sound upbeat, despite all his questions about the travel and the hotel falling flat only minutes beforehand. ‘Are we going to get to try some of those soon?’

‘Doubt it.’ Her father’s response was as blunt as it was brutal and made Holly wince almost as much as someone touching her head.

Evan looked at her quizzically, his eyes asking the simple question of what he’d done wrong. After all, they’d been fine the last time they met.

‘The Vespa,’ Holly mouthed, only to grind her back teeth together in frustration. Of course, she’d known her parents would have a go at her for taking the Vespa out when she wasn’t ready. But to have a go at Evan for it was ridiculous. He hadn’t made her go out. And she could have just as easily crashed her car in the mood she’d been in after learning about Maud. It hardly seemed right to blame Evan. But she wouldn’t have that conversation with them now. After all, she and her mother needed other words first.