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‘I don’t know what you’re on about,’ Holly replied. ‘I’m not running away; I’m thinking of myself and my career. Moritz has offered me an amazing consulting fee, and all I have to do is fly to the States every couple of months to check how the new branches are opening up. It sounds perfect.’

‘It sounds like an excuse to ignore your feelings,’ she said. ‘Which we all know you’re very good at.’

Holly shot her a sharp look. ‘What do you want me to do?’ she said, looking at her. ‘I told him. I told him how I feel. He doesn’t feel the same.’

‘That’s not true, and you know it’s not.’

‘Okay, well, he’s not willing to take that risk, and I understand that.’ Holly just wanted to drop the subject, but Jamie was hanging on tooth and nail.

‘You should fight for him,’ she said.

‘I did, three times. I sent an email, I told him in person, and I wrote a letter. I’m not doing any more than that, Jamie. That’s not how this works. I know people say you should fight for the one you love, but maybe if they’re the ones for you, you shouldn’t be put in a position where you have to.’ She paused. ‘Who knows? Maybe I’ll find another dashing American.’

Jamie smiled, fleetingly. ‘As long as you’re sure.’

‘I am. Thank you.’

Half an hour later, Jamie pulled into a car parking space and cut the engine. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you? You’re really early, you know. I don’t mind hanging around for a bit.’

‘It’s fine,’ Holly said. ‘I’ve got a good book. I’ll just read.’

‘Stay in touch, right? When you board, when you land. When you get to Moritz’s?’

‘It’s three days, Jamie, that’s all. I’m gone for three days.’

Jamie shrugged as she grinned. ‘What can I say? I like having a neighbour.’

71

Holly had only been planning on taking hand luggage, but then Moritz had asked her to bring samples of sweets so that they could do taste comparisons to ones he could get Stateside. So instead, she was lugging a massive suitcase towards the check-in desk. None of which were open, despite the sizeable queue that had already formed.

This trip wasn’t only about sweet tasting, though they were hoping to narrow down suppliers. They were also looking at interior design, uniform and general product branding, so they were ready with a hard launch across country. It was a far cry from just hoping to get through the day and selling enough sugar mice to be approved for a mortgage, the way Holly had done when she started her business, but the fact that Moritz was paying for all expenses, along with a consultancy fee, was a sure sign of how much he valued her knowledge.

She was also hopefully going to fit in a meet-up with Catherine, one of Evan’s sisters, while she was there too, as long as she could get the day off work.

Talking of dates, she couldn’t help but wonder if Giles and Sienna had settled on one yet. It had been less than a week since he had unequivocally put to rest any idea of him and Holly in a relationship. Since then, she’d heard nothing from, or about, him. Jamie, Caroline and Ben had obviously decided amongst themselves that Giles’s name was not to be raised in front of her, and the only person who had mentioned him at all was Hope asking when he was next coming around. Holly had brushed off the comment, saying he was busy with work, then helped Holly set up a cat-training rink for Rhubarb to keep her occupied. Thankfully, it worked, although any chance of Rhubarb appearing on the silver screen in the near future felt unlikely.

As Holly stood in the queue, she fired off another quick message to Jamie. Thanking her for the lift, and also for looking after Rhubarb. Again. Then she made a video for Ben to show Hope when she got home from school, given that Holly would be in the air by then and unable to speak to her until the morning.

Holly groaned. The queue didn’t appear to be moving at all. She had hoped to do a bit of duty-free browsing on the other side of departures, but it was looking less and less likely.

Finally, two air stewardess appeared. Although rather than heading behind the counter and taking people’s luggage, as Holly had expected, the pair moved into the centre of the queue, where the woman cleared her throat several times, trying to get everyone’s attention.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is an announcement for those who are booked on the Miami flight.’

Holly’s ears pricked as her stomach churned. She really didn’t want the flight to be cancelled. It would mean another day of rejigging the sweet-shop rotas, not to mention getting in late for Moritz. It would be a hassle she didn’t want to deal with, yet she knew there was no positive reason for an air hostess to be addressing them in this manner.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, we want to inform you that this flight has been overbooked.’

‘Overbooked?’ a man in front of Holly said. ‘What’s that meant to mean? Surely you know how many seats are on the plane?’

Similar rumbles rattled throughout the queue.

Before Evan, Holly had never realised that airlines frequently overbooked their flights, on the assumption that a couple of people wouldn’t come, and they would make a few extra quid. She also knew that if you volunteered to get bumped onto the next flight, they would normally give you a nice chunk of money for it, and had it been another time in her life, she would’ve probably jumped at that option. But right now, it just wasn’t feasible. She wanted to get on that plane, to see Moritz and to feel like she was doing something productive. So, when the air stewardess asked if any passengers would mind moving to the next day’s flight, Holly stayed silent. As, it appeared, did everybody else.

‘Unfortunately, if we do not get some volunteers, some people will have no choice but to be reassigned to a later flight,’ she said. ‘If you do change your mind, please let myself or another member of staff know.’

From the volume of grumbling, Holly didn’t think the air stewardess was going to get her wish as she and her partner slipped behind the counter and finally began taking people’s baggage.