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‘Dinner with you would be nice if that’s okay,’ Holly asked. ‘I’m sure she’s missed you guys as much as she’s missed me.’

‘Probably not. The kids and I went for a picnic with Georgia and the girls yesterday.’

Holly laughed. That was just the way their group was.

‘Why don’t I see what Hope wants to do, then? Is that okay?’

‘Sure, just give me a message. I can always bung extra in the air-fryer if she wants to come over. Oh, and you know I’m going to need more actual details about the weekend, right?’

Holly rolled her eyes. ‘Of course.’

Ten minutes later, Holly had all her washing in the machine when there was another knock on the door. This time, it was Hope.

‘You don’t mind if I— Do you?’ Georgia said, still standing by the car. ‘I’ve left Ben with the twins. It’s been a pretty hectic weekend.’

‘No, of course not. I’ll see you soon,’ Holly replied, but before she had even finished her sentence, Georgia was back in the car and reversing out of the driveway and Hope had her arms up, ready for a cuddle. There was no two ways about it. Hope gave the best cuddles in the world and even when Holly finally let her go, they continued to hold hands as they walked into the house.

‘How was your weekend, sweetheart?’ Holly asked.

‘Good, better than Daddy’s. Ivy was sick all over him.’

‘Oh no, that doesn’t sound good.’

‘No, and it was just after Grace got chocolate all over the sofa too. That’s why Georgia took us out to see Aunty Jamie.’

‘Ahh, that makes sense. Now, Aunty Jamie said we could go round for dinner there if you want to,’ she said. ‘Or we can just stay in and watch a film together.’

‘A film together sounds good,’ Hope said and Holly felt a familiar warmth fill her heart. It was her strongest wish that Hope always loved spending time with her the way she did now. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if they drifted apart as she grew up and would do whatever it took to stop that happening. ‘Do I get to pick? Can we watchEncantoagain? Actually, no.Descendants Three. No,Descendants Four. Can we watch all theDescendants?’

‘Just go and find a film, all right?’ Holly laughed. ‘I’m going to make omelettes for dinner. Is that okay?’

Hope didn’t reply. She had already disappeared into the living room, probably to put on the same film they had watched hundreds of times before. Holly was about to head into the kitchen when there was another knock at the door. She suspected that Jamie had seen Georgia drop off Hope and wanted to confirm the dinner plans, but when she opened the door, it wasn’t Jamie there at all – it was Giles.

‘Hey,’ she said, ‘is everything okay?’

‘No,’ he said, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Everything is not okay. Not okay at all.’

40

Holly stepped back to look at Giles. It wasn’t just that his arms were folded across his chest. His jaw was locked, his eyes were blazing and there was even a little vein pulsing on his forehead; he was absolutely fuming.

‘Giles—’

‘Uncle Giles!’ Before Holly could get a word out, Hope was out of the living room, her arms tight around Giles’s waist. For a split second, he allowed his anger to drop as he looked down at her.

‘Hopey bear, could you do me a massive favour and go into Aunty Jamie’s? I just need to have a word with your mum.’

‘I’m watchingDescendants. I think we’re going to watchDescendants Three. You can watch with Mum and me if you want. Mum really likes it, don’t you?’

Giles smiled at her, but Holly could see the way his lips were twitching, the tightness trembling in the expression.

‘That sounds good. Maybe another night, but right now, your mum and I need to have some grown-up talk. And it really would be a massive favour to me if you could just pop next door. I know that Jamie was saying she wanted your help too.’

Hope shifted her gaze between Giles and Holly several times, but she didn’t move.

‘How much do you want me to go next door?’ she asked. ‘Enough to pay me?’

‘Hope!’ Holly said in shock. ‘Your Uncle Giles just said he needed you to go next door, so do it, please. Or there’ll be no film.’