The usual morning knock came at the back door of the shop and Linda went to open it as Bonnie hung her coat and bag on the peg.
‘God, Max,’ Linda said as she stepped aside to let him in, ‘did you go to the same beauty salon as Bonnie? I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to look more knackered than her but you’ve managed it.’
Max flashed a weary grin. ‘Thanks, you really know how to flatter a man.’
‘Hey, Max,’ Bonnie said as she came through into the stockroom.
‘So, what’s ailing you?’ he asked her.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Linda says you’re not well this morning.’
‘Oh, I’m ok, just didn’t sleep much.’
‘Something on your mind?’
‘Something like that,’ Bonnie said. She looked him over critically. ‘How about you? Something on your mind?’
‘Something like that,’ Max smiled faintly.
‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Linda cut in, ‘and then you two miserable sods can spill the beans.’
Bonnie exchanged a concerned look with Max. Whatever it was that was on their minds, it didn’t seem like either of them wanted to share it.
Fred poked his head around the door of the stockroom. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ he said, giving Max a brusque nod. He switched his attention to Bonnie. ‘Are you coming to restock these apples or what?’
Bonnie sighed. ‘I’m on my way, give me a minute to get in the door, will you?’
Fred disappeared back into the main shop and Bonnie shrugged apologetically at Max, who was frowning as he watched Fred go.
‘Bonnie,’ Max began slowly, ‘is it me or has Fred got more hair these days?’
Bonnie chuckled softly as she fastened her tabard and went to stack the apples.
Linda came back through from the kitchen with two mugs of tea. She handed one to Max. ‘Where’s Bon?’ she asked.
Max angled his head at the shop doorway. ‘The Hair Bear Bunch called her in to fill up the apples.’
‘Right,’ she said briskly. ‘Are you going to tell me what’s up with you?’
‘Nothing,’ Max replied, taking a sip of his tea.
‘Yeah, that’s what Bonnie says when I ask her.’
He laughed. ‘Well, her misery is definitely nothing to do with me, that’s the one thing I know for certain.’
‘Ok. So what is it you don’t know for certain?’
He sighed. ‘Whether I’ve done the right thing,’ he said simply.
***
‘He’s dumped her?’ Bonnie asked as she and Linda walked side by side to the Bounty for their daily deli fix.
‘I think the word dumped is a bit harsh, but yeah, they’re not together any more,’ Linda said.
‘Why?’
Linda shrugged. ‘He says he doesn’t even know why. It just didn’t feel right.’
‘I thought they were love’s young dream.’
‘So did I. But it seems not.’
‘I’ll never understand men as long as I live,’ Bonnie said wearily.
Linda threw her a sideways glance. ‘I can think of one who might say that exact thing about you.’
‘Not that again.’
‘It’s obvious to anyone who has eyes why he’s dumped Sarah.’
‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘He’s mad about you, always has been.’
‘He’s Max.’
‘And he’s lovely. Why don’t you just go on one date with him, see how it goes?’
Bonnie mulled over the idea for a moment as she walked. ‘No,’ she said finally. ‘And before you say anything, I can think of a million reasons why not. He’s only just finished with Sarah, and I’m nobody’s rebound. It’s also Max – he’s my mate. Not only that but we have to see him every day. Can you imagine the atmosphere every time he walked in here if it didn’t work out between us? We have a laugh now, and I’m not about to ruin things. Besides, Paige has made it quite clear what she thinks of him.’
‘Paige wouldn’t be going out with him; it’s none of her business.’
‘Of course it is. Paige has to like anyone I bring home or it’s doomed before it’s begun.’
‘She hasn’t had to do much rejection then because you never take anyone home, as far as I can tell,’ Linda replied tartly.
‘I appreciate your concern, Lind, I really do, but this has nothing to do with you either.’
‘You’re my mate, and so is Max. Neither of you seems to be happy separately so why not give it a go with each other?’
‘I can’t understand why he would just finish it with her,’ Bonnie mused, ignoring Linda’s last question. ‘They were practically engaged last week.’
Linda shrugged. ‘Who knows? It’s kinder than stringing the poor girl along if his heart wasn’t in it, though, so good for him.’
‘But his heart did seem in it,’ Bonnie insisted. ‘He seemed so keen on her.’
‘Maybe he was trying to convince himself that he she was Miss Right and now he’s come to his senses.’
‘Maybe I should start to look around for him. If he really wants to settle down, perhaps we should find Miss Right for him? We know loads of the girls who work in the shops nearby; we could try to fix him up.’
Linda burst into a hearty laugh. ‘You are mental! Stav’s mama is single; perhaps we should fix him up with her!’
Bonnie frowned. ‘I’m serious. We know him really well – what sorts of things he likes and what he doesn’t, where he likes to go, his sense of humour. We could match him up and do a really good job.’
Linda stopped laughing and fixed her friend with a warning look. ‘You can try, but you’re playing with fire, honey.’
***
When Bonnie arrived at work the following day, she had a huge grin on her face. ‘You look a lot happier than you did yesterday,’ Linda commented as Bonnie took her coat off. ‘You won the lottery or something?’
Bonnie rolled her eyes. ‘Do you think I’d be in here lugging spuds if I had?’ She hung her bag on her peg and turned to Linda, barely able to contain her excitement. ‘I think I’ve just got Max a date.’
‘What!’
‘Kerry, in the shoe shop. She just split with her boyfriend. She says she’s seen Max come in and out and she thinks he’s really cute. I asked her what she thought about going on a date with him and she said she was willing to give anything a whirl.’
Linda folded her arms and gave Bonnie a stern look. ‘I’m telling you, this will end badly.’
‘It won’t, Lind. I’m going to sort Max out. I hate to see him miserable.’
‘Then you go out with him.’
‘Kerry is perfect. She’s pretty, down-to-earth and a good laugh. She doesn’t have kids either, so no baggage.’
‘Max isn’t the sort of bloke to be worried by baggage.’
‘Still makes things easier, though,’ Bonnie called as she went through to the kitchen to put the kettle on.
Linda followed, shaking her head. ‘I’m having nothing to do with this, Bon.’
‘Oh?’ Bonnie turned around, drying the mug she had just rinsed. ‘You’re normally the first one to pitch in with a fun scheme.’
‘This is not a fun scheme. I’ve told you what I think.’
‘It’ll be fine. My life is complicated enough, so I can at least sort one of my mates out.’
‘I don’t see what’s so complicated about your life, other than the fact that you sit on your own night after night while Paige goes out with her friends.’
Bonnie bit back a wry smile. She hated that there were some things – massive things – going on in her life that she had to keep from her friend. But right now she wasn’t in a place in her head where she could share them. While she was thinking about a tactful reply, the morning knock came at the door. Linda went to get it and a moment later, Max came in.
‘You still look terrible,’ Linda said.
Max didn’t even bother with his usual witty response. He
just shrugged. ‘Another bad night,’ he replied carefully, glancing at Bonnie.
‘It’s ok, I told Bonnie about Sarah,’ Linda reassured him.
Max heaved a sigh of relief. ‘Not that I wouldn’t have told you, Bonnie,’ he said.
‘It’s ok.’
‘Anyway,’ Max continued, ‘Sarah turned up at mine last night. She wasn’t very happy and we had a long talk.’
‘Please tell me you didn’t get back with her,’ Linda cut in.
‘No. I was tempted, though. I just felt like I’d been such a bastard to her. But there’s no point, it would only make things worse, and they’re bad enough already,’ he concluded miserably.
‘Maybe my news will make things seem better?’ Bonnie offered.
Max seemed to perk up suddenly. ‘Oh?’
Linda threw her hands into the air and blew out a puff of exasperation. ‘I’m going to make that brew,’ she said as she stalked off into the kitchenette.
‘I got you a date,’ Bonnie said, proud of her handiwork.
‘You did what!’
‘I got you a date,’ Bonnie repeated patiently. ‘With a girl who works in the shoe shop down the road. Her name is Kerry, she’s twenty-six, she’s –’
‘Whoa, whoa…’ Max held up a hand to silence Bonnie. ‘You’re fixing me up on a blind date?’
‘Well… yeah... I mean, no. You can go and talk to her first if you like, she’s only a few shops away.’
‘You think I should just walk into her shop and announce myself as her new boyfriend?’ Max asked, his voice rising with incredulity.
‘Of course not. Just go and talk to her.’
‘I can’t do that.’
‘Yes you can, it’s easy.’
Max was silent for a moment. ‘If it’s so easy,’ he said slowly, ‘then how come you’re still single?’
Bonnie’s forehead wrinkled into a frown. ‘It’s not the same.’
‘Sorry, Bonnie, I know you mean well but I’m not going to do that.’
‘But I fixed it up with her now!’
‘Then you’ll have to unfix it.’
‘But…’
Max folded his arms resolutely. He didn’t look angry, but he did seem determined to stand his ground. Bonnie pouted at him.
‘Look, Bon. I’ve just finished with Sarah. It was messy and I’m not sure I want to get into another situation like that, at least, not yet. You understand, don’t you?’
‘You wouldn’t get into a situation like that with Kerry; she’s much more suited to you than Sarah was.’
‘I can only take your word for that. But I’m not going to find out.’
Linda came back through to the stockroom balancing four teas on a tray. Max and Bonnie both took one.
‘You told him your little scheme?’ Linda asked, looking at Bonnie, whose expression could leave her in no doubt what Max’s answer had been. ‘And you said no,’ Linda added, looking at Max, who simply nodded. ‘Good. I told her it was a stupid idea. Now that’s sorted, I’d better take this tea into Fred and get the stock out before the stress makes what little of his own hair he has left come out.’
Linda left Bonnie and Max, eyeing each other awkwardly. Bonnie was suddenly aware that he looked hurt, a hurt so deep that it ran right through the whole of him.
‘Your break up with Sarah really got to you?’ Bonnie asked gently.
He shook his head. ‘It was tough, but I can deal with it.’
‘There’s something else bothering you then?’
He paused, appeared poised to say something meaningful as he gazed at her, but then seemed to change his mind. ‘I’m old Bounce-Back-Max. You know me, I’m always fine.’
Bonnie took a sip of her tea. She was about to reply when Max put his cup down on the bench and, without another word, headed out of the back door to his delivery van.
***
Dear Bonnie,
I know our last meeting didn’t go well. Maybe I didn’t explain myself properly, or kissed you when I shouldn’t have done, but give me another chance. I forget my dance moves, or the words to songs, and the others are wondering what the hell is wrong with me. It’s you that’s doing it, Bonnie; I can’t stop thinking about how much I want you. I’m stuck in Scotland right now with the tour and I feel so far away from you. Call my PA, she can arrange flights to Glasgow and I’ll meet you.
Please do it.
Holden. x
It was the fourth time she had read the note since it arrived in the Saturday post. The boy was clearly in need of help. What on earth could she offer him that was so good he’d go to these lengths? She was beginning to wonder whether it wasn’t Bonnie that he was pining for, but the victory of winning her. It seemed a far more likely explanation.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the shuffling of socked feet. Bonnie glanced up at the kitchen door with a guilty look as Paige came in yawning and scraping her hair straight with her fingers.
‘What have you got there?’ Paige asked, nodding at the letter, written on thick cream paper, which Bonnie was screwing up.
‘It’s nothing. A stupid hairdresser gimmick,’ Bonnie replied dropping it in the bin. She stared as it sat on top of the rubbish for a moment, then hastily covered it with some old potato peelings before closing the lid on it.
Paige dropped into a chair at the table. ‘So what’s the plan for today?’
‘I thought we might go shopping. It’s Linda’s fiftieth birthday party next week and I need to get her a present. I could do with a dress too, if I can find one cheap enough.’
‘You want to go into Manchester?’
‘There’s enough open on the retail park here for what I need,’ Bonnie replied, getting up to drop some bread in the toaster.
‘Do I have to come to Linda’s party?’
Bonnie turned to Paige, hands on hips. ‘It would be polite. Linda never misses your birthday.’
‘Yeah, she gets me a card and stuff, but I don’t make her come to my parties.’
‘That’s completely different and you know it.’
‘She won’t care if I’m there or not. It’s only in her house anyway.’
The toaster popped and Bonnie pulled the slices from it, sliding them onto a plate, which she dumped in front of Paige with the butter dish. ‘We’ll see. Don’t think it’ll be your cue to fill our flat full of teenagers for a party of your own if I do go to Linda’s without you.’
Paige grinned up at her mum as she reached for her toast. ‘As if!’
‘In fact…’ Bonnie continued thoughtfully, ‘you should probably sleep over at your nan’s.’
Paige’s grin faded. ‘Do I have to?’ Can I go and stay with Annabel?’
‘Your nan’s not going to be in England for much longer. Perhaps you ought to make the most of the time you have left before she’s hundreds of miles and an airplane ride away?’
‘I suppose so,’ Paige conceded, slumping in her chair.
‘You’ll miss her when she’s gone, even though you don’t think so now.’
‘I know that.’
‘Then make the most of her while you still have her.’
***
By the time Bonnie had arrived at the double gates of Linda’s house, the noise from the party could be heard from the street. It had taken her a frustrating half hour to find Paige’s phone and Paige had stubbornly refused to go anywhere without it. Eventually, it turned up in the laundry basket, and then the taxi had arrived late, so that far from being relaxed and ready to celebrate when she arrived at her friend’s house, Bonnie was feeling distinctly stressed and a little bit sweaty. She looked up at the house as she tottered down the drive in heels that were far too high for her, yanking at the hem of a midnight blue dress that clung deliciously to her curves – at least, she had thought that when she tried it on in the shop. Now it felt far too short and far too tight and Bonnie feared that if she had to suck her stomach in all night the way she was right now, she was in serious danger of passing out.
Bonnie had always thought that Linda’s house was gorgeous – it was a mock Tudor detached and set in a sweeping corner plot with impressive looking double gates leading onto a long gravel driveway. It was one of the best houses on the estate. Linda was on the same pay as Bonnie, but her husband, John certainly wasn’t. Bonnie often wondered why Linda worked at all, especially putting up with Fred’s moody demands as she did, when John could comfortably keep her. But that was Linda all over; she would never be dependent on someone else for her upkeep, no matter how much money he earned.
Bonnie paused at the door and held a hand to the bell, but it was opened before she had a chance to press, Linda pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.
‘I didn’t think you were coming,’ she squealed, already sounding distinctly tipsy despite the fact that it was only just after nine o’clock.
‘Yeah, sorry about that. The usual trouble with Paige.’
‘Never mind, I’m just glad you’re here.’ Linda pulled Bonnie into the house and dragged her wrap from around her shoulders, slinging it into a pile of coats behind a doorway in the hall, and then leading her down to the kitchen where most of the noise seemed to be coming from.
In the kitchen there were about twenty people. Many of them Bonnie had met before at previous parties at Linda’s house, two she had never seen before and were introduced as work colleagues of John’s. They were so unremarkable that almost immediately after they had been introduced, Bonnie had forgotten their names. John bounded forward and gave Bonnie a hug, and then shoved a glass of wine into her hand, making Bonnie giggle.
‘Not trying to get me drunk, I hope?’ she asked.
‘Absolutely. If I don’t succeed, Linda will kill me.’
Bonnie laughed. She had always liked John. He and Linda were cut from the same cloth – down-to-earth, good-humoured, generous and kind. Ten years older than Linda, he had been handsome once, though a heart attack at forty-five followed by a subsequent battle with throat cancer had taken their toll on his looks. He made the most of life, though, and his eyes were permanently crinkled into a smile.
Bonnie scanned the small crowd, nodding recognition and greeting people as she did, and then her gaze settled on Max, propped up against the kitchen counter with a bottle of beer. He had been watching her, it seemed, for some time. He smiled warmly as he caught her attention and she made a beeline straight for him.
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn Page 13