Page 7 of Only Ever Yours

Chapter Six

Hollis

All too soon, a week in Maplebrook had flown by.

I’d done a couple of shifts at the coffee place at the gym, hung out with Ella in the shop, and spent chilled evenings with my brother and Jase.

I’d thoroughly enjoyed every moment of my stay.

For the past two days, I’d successfully fended off Alissa’s increasingly more firmly worded voicemails.

Apparently, it seemed she thought that ‘compassionate leave’ meant she didn’t have to be compassionate towards me.

By Friday, I knew I had to get back to her.

The week had me questioning whether I wanted to go back to London at all.

Her latest had been the most passive-aggressive yet.

“Hi, Hollis. I haven’t heard from you recently. Can you let me know what your plans are?” The tone seemed light, but I could sense the underlying tension.

I didn’t reply straight away, the guilt eating away at me.

Usually, I’d respond immediately with something upbeat and breezy.

I knew she’d be concerned; I didn’t know what to tell her.

It wasn’t only being home and around family and friends that I’d enjoyed.

It was the fact there had been no Gil. I’d had no communication from him at all in several days, and the freedom that came with it overwhelmed me.

No looking over my shoulder to see if he was there.

No coming out of a bar to find him waiting for me.

The whole experience had been nothing short of freeing.

Something else I’d tried to ignore over the course of the week was how nice Jase had been to me.

He’d looked out for me and not in the weird stalker way Gil might have done.

Not everyone would watch on while someone threw up in front of them.

The corner of my mouth twitched up at the memory of Jase’s hand massaging my neck.

Thoughts of how his touch might feel elsewhere suddenly invaded my mind, and I quickly shook them away.

Now wasn’t the time to be fantasising about him even though I did see him differently after these past few days.

I had more important things to think about, like what the hell I was going to do.

The lure of breakfast made me go downstairs.

The house was empty; Finn and Jase had left for work over an hour ago.

I made myself coffee and granola with fruit and yoghurt, trying to ignore the ingredients for a bacon and egg sandwich in the fridge.

Just because I considered myself on holiday didn’t mean I had to stuff my face at every opportunity.

Curling up on the sofa, I flicked on the television, landing on a morning magazine programme, where a chef talked through how to save money on groceries by bulk-cooking meals.

The next segment caught my attention. A life coach described being brave enough to turn your life around by making big changes that initially seemed too huge to overcome.

Not that my life was awful. I hadn’t suffered half of the things she spoke about although I knew deep down, I wasn’t happy with the way things were.

Something had to change. I rewound the programme and watched the piece again and then a third time to be sure .

Before I changed my mind, I messaged Finn.

Where are you? I need to talk to you about something.

While I waited for his reply, I went into my emails and found a copy of my contract. If any of this was going to happen, I had to make sure I had all the facts at hand.

Finn

I’m at the garage this morning. Planning to go to the gym later. What’s up?

Can I come and see you?

Finn

Yeah, but I’m in month-end accounts hell. I don’t know how much use I’ll be.

Well, I might be able to help with that. I’ll be there soon.

An hour later, I entered the garage. I could see Jase working on a car, his head bowed in concentration as he fiddled with an engine.

He wore a pair of thick-looking cargo trousers and a navy T-shirt that clung to his muscular physique.

My gaze rested on his arse, and I swallowed. I really shouldn’t ogle him at work.

I shouldn’t ogle him at all.

“Is my brother here?”

In a carbon copy of what had happened when I’d arrived the previous Thursday, Jase moved too quickly and hit his head on the open bonnet of the car.

“What the fuck?” he hissed as he turned to see me, rubbing the back of his head. “This is getting to be a habit. You need a fucking warning bell or something.”

“Sorry. Finn said he was here.” I stepped towards Jase .

He jerked his chin to the office space at the back of the building. “He’s in there. Doing paperwork or admin if the cursing is anything to go by.” He rolled his eyes. “Happens every month.”

“Thanks.” I started walking to the office, then looked over my shoulder. “Oh, Jase? I’ll have a peppermint tea if you’re putting the kettle on.”

I swear he growled as I walked away.

Knocking on the door, I leaned against the frame and watched Finn as he rubbed his hand over his face, the laptop on the desk surrounded by paper.

“Everything okay?”

Finn’s gaze flipped up, eyes tired. “Yeah, it’s just… I can’t get this to add up.” He leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath. “Any chance you could take a look? You were always much better with figures than me.”

“Actually, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I think Jase is bringing us some drinks, so I’ll wait until he comes in.” I dropped my bag on the floor and sank into the chair on the other side of the desk.

“Jase is what?” Finn looked even more confused.

As if on cue, Jase appeared with a mug in each hand.

“Coffee for you, mate.” He placed one close to Finn and the other near me. “And the princess’s peppermint tea. Don’t think I’m going to be making a habit of it, though.” Gently, he slapped my jean-clad thigh, his touch making me jump and wriggle in my seat.

“Right. Thanks, Jase.” Finn looked more confused than ever as Jase left the room. “What is going on?”

Taking a small sip of the too-hot tea, followed by a steadying breath, I started to talk. “I don’t think I’m going back to London.”

“I’m sorry, what? I thought I heard you say you weren’t going back to London.”

I sucked in my lips. “That’s if you agree with what I’m about to propose.” Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the violet-coloured notebook I’d been writing bullet points in after I’d watched the TV programme.

“Uh-oh, there’s a notebook involved. It must be serious.” Finn grinned.

“Shut up. I made a few notes, so I had the killer points to convince you with.” I shook the notebook at him, trying to cover up my shaking hands. I didn’t know why I was so nervous; this was my brother, and he was hardly likely to say no to me.

Ha, who am I kidding? If he hates the idea, I’m back to square one.

“You’re running two businesses instead of one, and you’ve pretty much admitted that the back end isn’t your strong suit.

” Finn opened his mouth as if to speak, but I held up my hand.

“You know I’ve been doing a lot of this kind of financial stuff, project budgets, expenses, accounting, project planning.

So, I could take over running that side of things while you concentrate on the operational side of things.

When was the last time you did a PT session? Or got your hands dirty fixing a car?”

Finn tilted his head to one side as if considering my last points.

“I honestly can’t remember. Jase and Rod have been doing everything here with an apprentice from Maplebrook Academy for the past nine months.

And I haven’t run my own sessions in I don’t know how long.

Once I got everything set up at the unit, I let everyone else take classes and clients.

” He reached for his coffee. “I miss the hands-on side of things.”

“What do you think, then?”

“You’d really be prepared to give up a well-paid job for a tech firm to run the family business? I can’t exactly afford to pay you much, if anything.”

“You heard yourself, right? The family business. I’m family and I want to help run it.

I don’t care about the money. I have some savings, and you’re not exactly going to be charging me rent, are you?

” I crossed my fingers out of Finn’s sight.

For this to work, he actually did have to let me live in the house rent-free.

“Ha, you know as well as I do there’s no mortgage on the house, and all we have to contribute is running costs.

As long as you can do that, I’m not going to charge you any rent.

” He steepled his fingers in front of him.

“It’s all a bit sudden, Hollis. Are you sure about this?

I mean, you’ve been here for a week, and suddenly, you want to be back in Maplebrook permanently. ”

“You know what happened with Gil,” I said quietly. “I don’t want to run the risk of seeing him again, and being in London increases the chance. Being this far away lessens the risk.”

“He really messed you up, didn’t he? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have questioned you.” Finn softened. “You’ve always been so sure of yourself and what you want out of life. To hear you make what seems like a backwards step is a bit of a surprise.”

I smiled. “I hardly think being Chief Operations and Finance Director of two businesses is a step backwards.”

“Oh, is that what you want to call yourself?” Finn laughed.

“I’ll even get the business cards printed up. ”

Finn leaned across the desk and extended his hand. “Welcome on board, Sis. In all honesty, I’m glad you’re going to be involved. With me at the helm, I could run both businesses into the ground before we’ve even started.”

I shook his hand. “I don’t think it would have happened. And I certainly won’t let it. There’s one more thing.”

Finn released me. “Oh, God. What now?”

“Are you okay with me decorating Barney’s room?”

“It’s yours again. You can do whatever you want with it.” Finn’s phone rang. He showed me the screen. “It’s Tia. Don’t suppose you’d also consider the odd shift at the coffee shop?”

“If I can keep all the tips, you’re on.”

He waved his hand, shooing me out of the office. I grabbed my bag and left the office, feeling a lot more alive and motivated than I had when I’d woken up that morning. It was funny how a seemingly light entertainment programme had the potential to totally change your life.

“You seem happy,” commented Jase. He perched on the edge of the bonnet of the car he’d been working on when I’d arrived. “Headed back to London?”

“Nope. Quite the opposite in fact. You’re going to have to get used to having me around on a permanent basis.” I smiled at him. “So, you’d better up your tea-making game.”

“You’re staying?”

“Sure am. I’ll see you at home later.” With a spring in my step, I exited the garage and started the walk home.

As soon as I got into the house, I knew I couldn’t put this phone call off any longer.

Preparing myself, I sat on the couch and opened the purple notebook in front of me with the bullet points I wanted to make during the conversation.

Picking up my phone, I ignored all the messages on the screen and went to my contacts.

Scrolling through until I found Alissa’s number, I hit the call button.

As expected, she answered within a few rings.

“Hi, Alissa. It’s Hollis. I wanted to talk to you about when I’m coming back. And, well, the short answer is, I’m not. I’m giving my notice as of today.”