Page 19

‘So you’re ready at last,’ she said.

Hope was standing in the doorway, a large rucksack on her back, the zip not yet done up as it overspilled with teddies. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘I haven’t got all day!’

And as he stood up, Ben’s eyes remained solely on Holly.

‘Are you going to be all right?’ he said. ‘Not just about this, about last night too. Are you all right with everything?’

‘Of course,’ Holly said, throwing back her head and smiling far too energetically to be believable. ‘I’m absolutely fine. With everything. Now, you two need to get going. I’ve got a sweet shop to run, you know.’

18

Holly couldn’t remember the last time her mind had felt so full. How could she have gone half a decade and not known about Ben and Georgia? Though now she knew, it made perfect sense. They had been dating longer than she and Evan and had just moved into his house only a couple of months before. She should have seen the signs, only she was too wrapped up in her own life.

And then there was the way everyone kept asking her if she was okay about Giles and Sienna, like being the only single person left in the group would somehow push her over a ledge, even though she’d been the only single person in the group for years. If you could consider Giles’s constant string of flings.

Thankfully, the sweet shop was having one of its busiest days of the year, meaning she had little time to focus on it all.

By the time it got to five o’clock, she turned the sign on the door toClosedand let out a deep sigh.

It had been a fudge day. Some days were just like that, where one item sold substantially more than any other. There had been days where she’d sold out of sherbet lemons, or chocolate-covered honeycomb. And she recalled one summer where she had to order three times the number of marzipan teacakes because they just kept selling out. But today it was fudges of all flavours: white chocolate meringue, dark chocolate orange, crumbly Scottish-style tablet and even the little coconut-covered fudge rolls. It felt like every customer had purchased several bags of the sweet, and she knew she was going to have to place another order earlier than normal.

Wanting to get the job done as soon as possible, she returned to the counter and pulled out her laptop, when there was a knock on the door.

Her muscles clenched slightly; she hated turning customers away, but she really needed to get on with all the tasks she had to do. So plastering her best smile on her face, she moved back to the door, ready to apologise and say they were closed. Only it wasn’t a customer standing there, wanting to come in. Although as a sinking feeling formed in Holly’s stomach, she wished it had been.

‘Any chance we can talk for two minutes?’ Giles said.

Even as her throat turned inexplicably dry, Holly knew there was no way she could say no. Giles regularly turned up after work like this, just to sit and chat, and while away the time. Sometimes, he gave Holly a lift home afterwards, or they’d go for a walk around the village too. If she was busy, he normally just waited, responding to emails on his phone, or sometimes helping her restock the shelves so she could finish a little quicker. Not once had she told him to get lost, meaning there was no way she could do so now without appearing like something was wrong. And nothing was wrong. Was it?

‘Hey, of course,’ she said. He quickly stepped inside before she closed the door and locked it behind him. ‘Do you need something? Only I need to get a fudge order sent off before I go. The busloads of tourists practically wiped me out.’

‘No, everything is good,’ Giles said. ‘Everything is good. Only, I wanted to apologise again. For the way I sprung that on you. I didn’t mean it to be such a surprise.’

‘I think that’s the point of proposals,’ Holly said, as she went back to the counter and opened her laptop. ‘They’re meant to be a surprise.’

For some reason, she was finding it harder than normal to meet Giles’s gaze, but it was probably because she still had so much to do before she could head home. If he’d just comes to repeat what he said to her out by the river last night, then it didn’t feel like it was the most productive use of either of their time.

‘I know it was meant to be a surprise for Sienna, but people usually talk through these things with their friends first, don’t they?’

‘Do they? I don’t think so. It was your proposal. You got to do it however you wanted to.’

‘Oh, okay then.’ He paused and shifted his position a couple of times. It was like his feet couldn’t get comfortable on the floor. Either that, or he was nervous. But Giles didn’t do nervous. ‘So, we’re all right, aren’t we? You and I, this doesn’t change anything between us? We’re fine, right?’

The word ‘yes’ filled Holly’s mind. That was the word she was meant to say. Yes, they were fine. She was fine, she was better than fine. She was happy that Giles had found someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She was excited for the future he’d obviously mapped out in his mind and looking forward to helping him plan for those days. Those were the words she knew she was supposed to say to him, just like she’d said out by the river only minutes after he’d popped the question, but instead of that simple, single-syllable word she knew she was meant to say, what actually came out of her mouth was a question.

‘Why her?’ she said. ‘Why Sienna?’

19

The moment the question left her mouth, she regretted it. To start with, Giles had expected an answer, not another question. Second, it was none of her business. But as he tilted his head to the side, and a frown crinkled his forehead, she knew she was going to get a response. Whether she liked it would be another matter.

‘What do you mean?’ he said. ‘Sienna and I have been together for eight months now.’

‘Exactly, and you were with Joanna for fourteen. You were with Kaylee for ten. Why Sienna? Why is she the one you’re choosing to spend the rest of your life with? What’s different about her? What’s special?’

Giles bit down on his bottom lip before he spoke.

‘You’re saying you don’t like her? Is that what you’re saying?’