SHE SHOULD HAVE said goodbye to him back at the pub.
Then there might have been a hope that, should they meet up in the future, all they would be were ex-colleagues who had flirted a little on occasion.
Back at the pub she could have wished him well for his trip and, yes, of course she could do the same when he pulled up at her flat.
Holly didn’t want to, though.
How did it even work? Holly thought. She was way too far out of her comfort zone. Did she offer him a drink, or did she leave it to him to suggest coming in?
And what about the morning?
Holly wished that she didn’t overthink things, she wished she could be more like Anna and just worry about the day, or rather the night, at hand.
She wanted the traffic lights to turn red, for a pause, to turn and tell him that the flirty version of Holly he had met at times wasn’t the real one. That the woman who had laughed at the suggestive tone in his voice when he’d told her she’d be in discreet hands, did not, prior to his arrival on her part of the planet, exist.
Yet the lights all stayed green and afforded swift passage.
And anyway, Daniel knew all that.
While he was driving he was trying to convince himself that this wasn’t any different from what he was used to and that Holly could more than handle a hook-up. And he was also trying to convince himself that he didn’t care in the way he actually did.
He couldn’t afford to care. It wasn’t an emotion he sought, and he was leaving after all.
His phone told him that the destination was on his left and he slid the car into a parking space outside her flat and his conscience won—Daniel didn’t want to risk hurting her.
‘You’d better go in,’ Daniel said.
And so this was it.
‘Thanks for the lift.’
‘No problem.’
‘It’s been nice working with you,’ Holly said. ‘I’m going to miss your sulking face.’
‘I’ll miss your smiling one.’
And this really was it.
There was a charge in the air that should signal thunder but instead Daniel turned and looked ahead.
Holly reached to open the door and he did nothing to halt her so she got out.
They were both congratulating themselves on how adult and sensible they had been.
Now she could breathe, except, despite the cool and the drizzle, the night felt as humid as if it was summer.
Holly looked at the path to her door and she was six, maybe seven steps away from saving herself from a rather big mistake, except she wanted so badly to turn around and to follow desire rather than walk away.
Just once.
It was her choice as to what happened next, Holly knew.
Could she keep it light, without revealing how deeply she felt?
Daniel was just about to hit ‘Home’ as his destination when she tapped on the window.
‘What?’ he asked as it slid down. His voice was surly. He didn’t want to do this a second time, especially as now that she was bending down there was the pearly white of her breasts at eye level.
And she looked at him and, no, she would not be so cheesy as to ask him in for a drink and then somehow, whoops, they’d up in bed.
She wanted a kiss, Daniel knew, but he was also rather certain she wanted a whole lot more than that. Not just sex, but the part of himself he refused to give.
‘What?’ he said again, and then his face broke into a smile, as, very unexpectedly, Holly, sweet Holly, showed another side of her.
‘Are you going to make me invite you in?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’re not even going to try and persuade me with a kiss?’ Holly checked.
‘You want me or you don’t.’ Daniel shrugged. ‘There’s no question that I want you. But, Holly, do you get that—?’
She knew what was coming and she didn’t need the warning—he had made his position perfectly clear—so she interrupted him. ‘I don’t need the speech.’
She just needed this.
Holly had thought his hand was moving to open the door but instead it came out of the window and to her head and pulled her face down to his.
He kissed her hard, even though she was the one standing. The stubble of his unshaven jaw was rough on her face and his tongue was straight in.
He pulled her in tight so that her upper abdomen hurt from the pressure of the open window and it was a warning, she knew, of the passion to come.
Even now she could pull back and straighten, say goodnight and walk off, but Holly was through with being cautious.
In a second she would be falling through the open window for all the neighbours to see and sucked into the dark vacuum of his car.
Holly simply didn’t care.
Her bag dropped to the pavement and he then released her.
Holly stared back at him, breathless, her lipstick smeared across her face, and all it made him want to do was to kiss her again.
But this was a street.
Holly bent and retrieved her bag and then walked off towards her flat. There was a roaring sound in her ears and her heart seemed to be leaping up near her throat.
Daniel closed up the car and was soon following her to the flats.
She turned the key in the main door to the flats and clipped up the concrete steps.
She could hear his heavy footsteps coming up the steps behind her as she turned and Holly almost broke into a run.
Daniel actually did!
He had thought her cute, sweet and gorgeous these past months and had done all he could not to think of her outright as sexy.
Except she was, and seriously so.
Those heavy footsteps chasing her were thrilling and caught up with her just as she was getting her key into the door of her own flat. Holly was breathless with excitement and the rush and power of him grabbing for her almost toppled Holly as they burst in through the door.
The hall was in darkness; he could just make out some Christmas-tree lights in a room down the hall but there was no time to get to the lounge.
Daniel had no patience now.
Holly had never known anything like it. Never, in her almost twenty-nine years, had she had that simply-have-to-have-you feeling.
And Daniel had to have her.
Every obstacle he dealt with.
He hitched her lovely raven dress up.
Stockings?
No problem, he expertly removed them and then her knickers too.
And when he wanted a better view of her breasts he lowered her zipper at the back, just enough to free them.
Holly looked down at her exposed breasts, and then at her stockings and knickers lying on the hallway floor—she felt slutty and sexy. She liked it. So much so that she was pulling at his thin jumper just to reveal his stomach, and then running a hand up the heavy jeans-clad thighs, getting closer to the lovely bit in the middle. She dealt with the brass button deftly, though she broke a nail on the zipper, and then freed him. He was clearly as keen and eager as she, and Holly was so utterly ready for him she nearly forgot about condoms.
To Holly’s mind there was nothing sexy about condoms, but he changed that in an instant, for he pulled out his wallet, found one, tossed the wallet to the floor and tore the foil with his teeth.
‘Put it on,’ Daniel told her, and he started to squeeze and play with her breasts as she did just that.
She rolled it down slowly, which was quite a feat, given the way his fingers were exploring her, and she felt the jerk of impatience in her hand.
Then he said the two little words that tonight she was desperate to hear.
‘Get on.’
Gladly she did.
He bent his knees just enough that he could thrust into her and Holly’s shoulders hit the wall. She arched back at the consuming pleasure as he stabbed inside her.
Totally consumed and controlled by him, Holly was close to coming as Daniel lifted her legs even further; she wrapped them around his hips.
‘I’ve been wanting you all night.’ He told her as she wrapped her legs tighter, wiggling herself down further so he could push deeper. ‘I wanted you on sight.’
They stared at each other as he banged her into wall, kissing her with raw passion and digging his fingers into her bottom, holding her firm. Heat flooded her centre and she moved her mouth away. ‘I’m going to come...’
Her voice divulged her own surprise. Not just because she usually took for ever, more because of the intensity that hit.
Daniel felt her gather and pull tight around him as he plunged one last time before letting go deep inside her.
He lowered her down and she stood a moment on legs that felt she was getting over a bout of the flu they were so weak.
They followed the Christmas-tree lights to what he assumed was the lounge.
Maybe he’d get that Scotch after all, Daniel thought.
Instead, they collapsed onto her bed.
* * *
‘Holly?’
The room had stopped spinning and they lay on their backs on the bed when Daniel started to take in his surroundings. ‘Why is there a Christmas tree in your bedroom?’
‘My neighbours are a bit noisy,’ Holly explained. ‘And so I tend to spend more time in here.’
‘Oh.’
‘And it seemed a shame to have a Christmas tree in a room that I don’t spend much time in.’
They were half-undressed already so it took only a moment to throw off the rest of their clothes and to get into bed.
They lay talking, about nothing much as well as a lot.
And it turned out their paths had almost crossed.
‘I went for an interview at the Royal when I was looking at moving to London.’ She thought back to that time and her nervousness as she’d entered the huge Victorian building.
It was funny to think now that he might have been inside.
‘How long ago?’
‘I was twenty-one,’ Holly said. ‘So eight, nearly nine years ago. Were you there then?’
He nodded. ‘Did you get the job?’
‘Yes,’ Holly said. ‘But I got offered the job at The Primary in the same week and I chose to go there. I didn’t like how they rotated the staff at the Royal. Too many night shifts.’
‘Don’t you like nights?’
‘Not really,’ Holly said. ‘I don’t sleep very well during the day.’
‘I could have had you when you were twenty-one.’ Daniel mused, liking that idea.
‘No, you couldn’t have.’ Holly smiled at his arrogant assumption. ‘I was seeing someone then. I nearly got engaged.’
And he lay there, not liking that idea.
‘We might have ended up having an affair,’ Daniel said, determined to have had her at twenty-one in his head.
‘No,’ she said. ‘We wouldn’t have.’
And he lay there wondering why the hell he was sulking over an event that had never even taken place some eight or nine years ago!
‘Why did you break up?’
‘He got offered a job in America,’ Holly said. ‘I didn’t want to go and he did. We were too young, I guess.’
They were heading into territory that Daniel generally avoided so they started chatting about work.
‘I don’t do well with grieving relatives,’ Holly announced.
‘Yes, you do.’ He frowned because the few times he’d been with Holly while breaking bad news she’d always been fine.
If a little quiet.
‘Oh, I’m better than I was,’ Holly agreed. ‘I have this nervous smile...’
And Daniel found that he was smiling as she spoke.
‘I didn’t know that I had it, well, I sort of did but then Kay had to take me to one side...’
‘You smile at bad news?’ Daniel checked.
‘No, but I smile when I’m nervous. You should see me in my school photos and when I go for an interview and things...’
And there it was again.
This wanting to look at old photos.
To hear more.
To know more.
It was everything he was trying to resist.
* * *
Freezing.
Daniel woke to the cold air and warm bed and rolled into Holly.
God, she felt good.
Her soft bottom was against him and as his hand went over hers he kissed her bare shoulder and then his mouth moved up her neck.
Last night had been amazing.
Now he wanted more.
And so did Holly.
His hand lifted her hair and his kiss was heavy on her neck as light fingers circled her stomach.
But then he stopped.
Daniel actually stopped in mid-kiss because fast sexy sex was one thing, but the way he wanted her now could only serve to confuse Holly.
Arrogant assumption perhaps but he knew she liked him, seriously liked him, and he liked her enough not to want to give mixed messages.
And so how did you end things nicely?
Usually he didn’t give it too much thought, for he generally played to a far tougher crowd.
Holly closed her eyes at the abrupt end to his kiss on her shoulder. They were both in that lovely turned-on morning feeling and she wanted to turn her face to his mouth, to kiss him slowly and make love.
Yes, that.
She wanted the hand that had been slowly stroking her stomach to resume its perusal and move lower yet it didn’t.
Too intimate for you, Daniel? she wanted to say, though didn’t, but she did get her own back a little because she slowly stretched and yawned, just so he could feel what he was missing, and then rolled over to face him and smiled.
Yes, she was nice but, oh, she could be wicked.
‘It’s so nice to have a weekend off.’ Holly smiled and chatted as if she hadn’t even noticed his erection.
‘I’ve got every weekend off now.’ Daniel smiled back as she gave him a small kick to let him know how unfair that was.
She was back to looking into those amazing eyes but from her pillow this time. ‘Are you registering to practise overseas?’ Holly asked.
‘It’s an option, I guess.’ He couldn’t tell her his plans because the truth was he didn’t really have any. ‘I just want to take a year and work things out.’
‘Fair enough,’ Holly said, but her slight frown told him that she didn’t really get it. They truly were opposites, not just that he had made so few plans but also that he could afford to take a year off. Shouldn’t he have worked this all out some time ago?
‘I’ll make coffee...’ Daniel offered.
‘I’ll go,’ Holly said. ‘The machine’s tricky.’
‘I’m sure I can work it out.’
She lay there and wondered how this would end. Awkwardness was creeping in and she didn’t know how to put on a brave smile when he left.
And then she heard her front door open and then quietly close.
‘Bastard,’ Holly breathed.
But then a moment or so later she heard the door open again and lay back on the pillows, recanting her curse as she realised he must have left the door on the latch so he could get back in.
Holly knew she was way out of her comfort zone here, so much so that she had actually thought he might just walk off without so much as a goodbye. Instead, though, he walked in with two mugs of coffee and two Advent calendars that he must have retrieved from the car. He put the drinks on the bedside tables and dropped the calendars on the bed.
‘Holly, why don’t you have any food in your fridge?’
‘There are eggs.’
‘But no bread,’ he pointed out. ‘I heard the neighbours, or rather I could hear breakfast television and her shouting for him to get up...’
‘I told you,’ Holly said. ‘It’s worse during the week. She must call to him about fifteen times before he surfaces. Sometimes I want to go round there and pull the duvet off him myself!’
And he would rather like to pull the duvet from her but instead he just climbed in.
She reached for the floor and handed out cushions so that they could sit up in comfort.
Her bedroom really was rather lovely. Even aside from the Christmas tree! There were books and a pile of DVDs lining shelves and a television on a chest of drawers. There was her computer and phone and, really, apart from the occasional trip to the bathroom or kitchen he could absolutely see why she might not want to leave. ‘You could bring the coffee maker in here,’ Daniel suggested.
‘I did think of that...’ Holly nodded ‘...but then I’d need a little fridge too...’
‘And then you’d get bedsores,’ Daniel said, and was about to make a little joke about having to roll her every couple of hours, but he knew where that would lead.
‘I’d better go soon.’
‘Good,’ Holly said, ‘because I’ve got a lot to do.’
She picked up her Advent calendar and started to peel off the Cellophane as Daniel tackled his.
‘I can’t believe you’ve never had one of these.’
‘I might have when I was really little,’ Daniel said. ‘I honestly can’t remember.’
For all his inexperience he found the number one before Holly did and was soon pulling out a small circle of dark chocolate from behind the little cardboard window.
‘I doubt it’s very good,’ Holly warned as she too found hers. ‘Given that Kay bought a job lot. Still, it’s the thought...’ Her voice trailed off as she popped it in her mouth. It was the darkest, sweetest and most melt-in-the-mouth chocolate she had ever tasted, and Daniel clearly felt the same since he was already opening door number two.
‘Oh, my!’ Holly said.
‘Wait till you taste December the second,’ Daniel warned. ‘It’s some orange liqueur...’
‘I think I’m going to come!’ Holly said as she rolled it around her tongue.
‘Well, lucky for you, it’s December the third now, so you can have another.’
The third was behind a little door with a gingerbread man on it and the chocolate was a coffee and cream.
‘They get better and better,’ Daniel said.
The chocolate was so seriously superb that Holly was very much considering breaking her own rule and just eating all twenty-five in one go.
‘If that’s the beginning of the month,’ Daniel said, ‘then what’s behind those double doors...?’ He turned the calendar over and read the fine print. ‘It’s from Belgium.’
‘So what’s it doing in the discount store?’
‘We should go and buy up all that’s left.’ Daniel suggested.
‘I’ll have to find out which one she went to.’
Hot coffee soon washed down the chocolate but instead of Daniel heading for home and Holly to the shops they were back on their sides and facing each other.
‘I’m starving,’ Daniel said.
‘There’s a baker’s across the street, they do really nice pastries.’
‘Go on, then,’ he said, but she shook her head.
‘You go.’
And for someone who had been about to leave, Daniel was considering not just heading to the bakers on his way home but returning to her bed with a box of pastries.
‘We could just go and get breakfast.’ Daniel suggested the name of a very nice department store and as she licked her lips at the suggestion he waited for that ping of regret for prolonging things to descend in his chest, but it wasn’t there. His only regret was that he might be leading her on, and yet, he reasoned, it was just breakfast.
‘Sounds good,’ Holly said. ‘It has to be a quick breakfast, though...’ She glanced at the time. ‘I want to do some Christmas shopping.’
‘And me.’
Daniel did, as he hadn’t got anything for Maddie. She was already terribly disappointed that he wouldn’t be there for Christmas and he hoped that it might be tempered by a lovely gift.
But what to get a five-year-old who has everything?
And whatever it was he would have to have it delivered. There was no way he was rocking up for Christmas dinner after the disaster of last year.
As he borrowed Holly’s shower, Daniel told himself that the expedition he’d suggested was a terrible idea.
From sex to shopping?
And Holly was thinking the same, though along different lines, because as Daniel showered his phone rang and she looked at the screen and saw the name ‘Maddie’.
Whoever Maddie was she was impatient, because she rang three times in the space of five minutes.
Holly tried not to mind.
Yet she did.
When he came out of the shower it was to the sight of Holly sitting on the bed and pulling on boots.
‘I wish I’d done this before I put on my jeans,’ Holly said and to Daniel it seemed there was nothing more on her mind than breakfast.
He picked up the phone and gave a small eye roll when he saw that there were a few missed calls from Maddie.
There often were!
He had a listen to check there wasn’t a problem.
There wasn’t.
‘Hello, I’ve got your ticket for the nativity play.’
Next message. ‘I’m an angel.’
And so on.
What on earth should he get her for Christmas?
‘Let’s go,’ Holly said, trying to keep the edge from her voice as he blatantly listened to his messages. ‘I think the café opens at ten.’
They arrived at a quarter past, which, as it turned out, was perfect timing because everyone who had been queuing for the café to open were pretty much served.
‘I’ll have the full English breakfast...’ Daniel didn’t even need to look at the menu.
‘Well, I’m going to have mince pies and cream and a strong coffee.’
The fruit mix in the pie was warm and spicy and the cream sweet and it was the perfect breakfast really, although it had little to do with the food.
Despite their brief misgivings about their breakfast date, conversation was surprisingly easy.
Usually for Daniel the conversation ran out at first kiss, or certainly by the time his head had hit the pillow, but Holly’s company was just as pleasant this morning as it had been last night.
‘Who do you have to buy for?’ Holly asked as Daniel slathered brown sauce on his mushrooms.
‘My sister.’
‘Who else?’
‘No one else. You?’
‘Everyone!’ Holly sighed and then took out her phone. ‘But first I’m going to call work.’
‘About Paul or the Christmas roster?’
‘Stop!’ Holly blushed. ‘Don’t you dare repeat that to anyone.’
‘I never repeat pillow talk.’
‘It was said in your car.’
‘Yes, but by then you’d already made up your mind that you’d be hauling me into your lair.’
‘No,’ Holly said as she made the call, and having asked the switchboard operator to put her through to Kay she smiled at him. ‘That was a last-minute decision.’
‘I’m glad you made it.’
So too was she, Holly thought as she returned to her phone call.
‘Kay, it’s Holly.’
‘He’s stable, no real change, but that’s good.’ Kay got straight to it. ‘No arrhythmias overnight but they’ll keep him intubated for a couple of days.’
‘How’s Nora?’
‘Exhausted. She’s just gone home for a sleep. How was the party?’
‘It was good,’ Holly said. ‘Everyone was concerned about Paul, of course, but I think it went well.’
‘I heard that you left early.’
‘Well, I wasn’t exactly in the mood...you know that.’
‘I also heard Daniel didn’t just drop you girls off but came in for a drink.’
‘He did.’
‘Hold on a moment.’ Holly sat there and she heard Kay closing her office door and Holly sat holding her breath, wondering if their leaving together had been noted.
She didn’t have to worry, Holly soon realised as Kay spoke on. ‘Anna was all over him, apparently?’
‘I didn’t notice.’
‘Get out of here,’ Kay scoffed. She knew Holly was always up to date with goings-on, although Kay prided herself on being The One Who Knew. ‘So, who did he leave with?’
Holly sat there, watching as Daniel mopped up the egg with a thick bit of buttery toast, and she should be relieved, really, that Kay didn’t for a second think it might be with her.
‘I don’t think he was with anyone,’ Holly said, and her voice came out a little too high.
Daniel looked up when he heard her strained voice and saw her very red cheeks and he could guess what was being asked so he mouthed a suggestion.
‘Do you want me to speak to her?’
Holly laughed at the thought of Kay’s shocked expression if she handed Daniel the phone but shook her head and looked away, hunching her shoulders so she could talk without seeing the object of her sins.
‘Oh.’ Kay sounded deflated at the lack of gossip but when Kay spoke on so too did Holly. ‘I’m going to have to take a long hard look at the roster, Holly.’
‘I know.’
‘And you know that I’ll try to accommodate everyone but I do have to be fair. There are mums with little ones who need their mum to be there at Christmas, but you know that I’ll try to do my best for all my staff.’
‘I do appreciate it.’
Holly hung up and as she did so Daniel gave her a thin smile. ‘Off duty?’
She nodded.
‘See, I told you it wouldn’t take long. The real world always surfaces.’
And it was surfacing now because as she glanced at the time Holly knew if she had wanted to do her shopping and get to her parents’ by dinnertime, then she needed to get going.
They finished up their food and wandered out, but instead of parting ways they looked at the floor plan.
‘What does your sister like?’ Holly asked.
‘Elephants.’
‘Oh.’
He didn’t explain that Maddie was five.
In truth, Daniel was very touchy about the fact his sister could very well be his daughter. In fact, when they were out together they were always mistaken as such.
They joined the swarms of people all looking for the perfect gift that would make another happy.
There was no such thing, Daniel knew.
Holly swallowed when he held up a necklace with an ugly-looking elephant hanging on the chain, Of course she assumed Daniel’s sister was close to his age, and she found that she was wearing her nervous smile, which she quickly righted and then made a suggestion.
‘Why don’t you adopt an elephant for her?’
Daniel rolled his eyes.
‘If I loved elephants,’ Holly said, ‘it would be the perfect gift.’
And then she found her perfect gift!
It was beach glass, all wired and knotted together into the most fantastic necklace and earrings.
‘I should get this for Adam,’ Holly said, ‘though it’s a bit pricey.’
‘Adam?’
‘My brother.’
‘Right,’ Daniel said, to show he had no problem with all of that. ‘Right! It’s very nice.’
‘The necklace would be for me, Daniel.’ Holly smiled at his attempt to be PC. ‘After too many disasters we now buy what we really want for ourselves and wrap it, though it’s from the other.’
‘I see.’
He didn’t.
Daniel knew very little of family traditions and the little things that others seemed to do so seamlessly to make Christmas Day special.
But then, in the middle of a department store and completely out of the blue, he remembered something. He had woken up and there was this lumpy sock at the end of his bed and there was some fruit in it but also a tiny miniature of a castle. A castle he knew because they had been on holiday there that summer.
The holiday wasn’t really a memory, more that the castle he had held in his palm that morning was, for he had looked at it in the gift shop.
His mum must have done that, Daniel realised. She must have bought it then and saved it for Christmas. Certainly it wouldn’t have been his father.
He just stood in the busy department store, remembering something from a long time ago.
Something precious.
‘Why are they queuing?’ Holly nudged him and pulled him from introspection.
She had put down the necklace and looked up to see a long line forming towards the back of the store.
‘Because they’ve got nothing better to do.’ Daniel shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s to see Santa.’
‘But they’re mainly adults,’ Holly pointed out.
‘Maybe it’s an adult-rated Santa,’ he suggested, but Holly didn’t smile at his joke. ‘You don’t approve?’
‘I refuse to buy into your constant downgrading of the magic of Christmas. I want to know what they’re queuing for,’ Holly said, and they made their way over to see what was going on.
No, it wasn’t Santa and neither was it an adult Santa. It was really rather amazing. They clearly weren’t the only ones who thought so because and if the queue was big, so too was the crowd gathered at the end of the line, watching what was being made.
A little elf, okay, a person dressed up as a little elf, was typing on a miniature keyboard. Further down the line a tiny stamp-sized letter was printed. There another elf was placing the tiny letters in equally small envelopes.
It took a moment to work out that the letters were being placed within hand-blown Christmas-tree decorations.
They both stood and watched the glassblower and time really did run away that morning because it was simply fascinating to watch.
Once made and cooled another group of elves then decorated the glass bauble and added a silver chain to hang it from the tree and then it was placed in a gorgeous box that was tied with a heavy silver bow.
‘What a beautiful gift,’ Holly said, although Daniel, though interested, was too practical to be convinced.
‘I don’t get it,’ Daniel admitted. ‘You’d have to break the glass to read the letter.’
‘That’s the whole point,’ Holly said. ‘You don’t break the glass. Or maybe you do...’
They were debating this when someone called his name.
‘Daniel!’
They both turned and walking towards them was a rather beautiful woman around Holly’s age but light years ahead in style. She had long straight honey-brown hair that fell immaculately and she looked as if she had just stepped out of a make-up salon, though it was subtly done, of course. She wore neat grey trousers and boots and had on a thin coat and she was one of those people who couldn’t spill something on themselves if they tried.
Her cheeks were pink, though, and starting to fire up like a sunset as Daniel said her name.
‘Hi, Amelia.’ He responded to her greeting with a rather terse nod. ‘How are you?’
‘Busy,’ she admitted, and held up a couple of shopping bags. ‘I’m just trying to get a few things...’
‘I see.’
It was all rather tense and uncomfortable and when Amelia looked over at Holly, clearly expecting to be introduced, Daniel said nothing.
How did you? Daniel wondered. Did he turn to Holly and say, Oh, Holly this is my stepmother.
He hadn’t seen her in almost a year.
Not since last Christmas Day, when Amelia had had rather too much drink and had told Daniel that, though the money was nice, the marriage wasn’t great. He had woken from a doze on the sofa to be told by Amelia that she was tired of sleeping with an older man and wanted the younger version—his son, namely Daniel.
And no one would ever have to know.
Daniel had got up, got his jacket and gone home, and hadn’t seen Mommy Dearest since.
‘So what are you up to?’ Amelia asked.
‘Not much.’
Those two words crushed Holly.
He could have said Christmas shopping, Holly thought, or that they had just been and had breakfast. No, she didn’t want him to go into detail but to stand beside her and tell this woman ‘Not much’ had Holly’s confidence shrink as if salt had been poured over it.
She stood there, wearing that stupid, nervous smile as they carried on talking while she was, at best, ignored.
‘So what are you doing over Christmas?’ Amelia asked him.
Avoiding you and my father, Daniel was tempted to answer, but his voice was its usual mixture of boredom and disinterest.
‘I’m not sure,’ Daniel said. ‘Working or skiing.’
‘I could have guessed it would be one of the two.’ She gave a tight smile. ‘I’d better get on.’
‘Sure,’ Daniel said.
Amelia walked off and now it was Holly and Daniel who stood in strained silence but the fun of watching the glassblower do his work had now left them.
Daniel glanced over his shoulder to make sure Amelia had gone.
Holly saw that he did and misinterpreted it as Daniel craning his neck for one lingering look and suddenly she didn’t want to be here any more. She just did not want to stand beside a man whose mind was elsewhere. A man who couldn’t even be bothered to introduce her and described their morning as ‘Not much’. A man who listened to his voice messages from another woman straight after getting out of her bed.
He had come with a warning and, a little late perhaps, Holly chose to heed it.
It was time to put her big girl’s blouse on and remember just what it was that she had agreed to—a one-night stand and then they parted ways.
This wasn’t a date, no matter how much Holly wanted to convince herself of that. Neither was it the start of something. She’d agreed to abide by Daniel Chandler’s standards last night, which meant they should have been over with several hours ago.
She made it now.
‘I’m going to head off,’ Holly said. ‘I’ve got a lot to get and then I’m heading off to my parents’.’
‘Sure.’
‘Thanks for breakfast.’ Holly smiled.
‘You’re welcome.’
There was a very good chance that she’d never see him again, Holly knew that. And so how did you end it? she wondered. Did you say, Have a nice life? Did you kiss the other on the cheek when you went your separate ways? Or did you just give a sort of half-wave and then walk off?
Holly chose the latter.