by Maria Duffy
‘Oh, Steph,’ he said, rolling in towards her and wrapping his arms around her. ‘You are the love of my life and I plan to spend the rest of my days with you. You and bubs here.’ He bent down and gently kissed her stomach. ‘So stop worrying. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.’
She reached over and switched off the light. ‘Okay. I’m going to sleep now.’
And just like that, the conversation was over. He stayed still for the next few minutes until the room was filled with her soft snores. But sleep wasn’t so easy for Josh. Thoughts whirred around and around in his mind, driving him crazy. He’d been surprised by Stephanie’s questions. She didn’t often show her vulnerability and, in a way, it was nice. He’d assured her as best he could but he knew that what she really wanted was a ring on her finger.
He couldn’t get comfortable so, careful not to wake Stephanie, he gently pushed back the duvet and stepped out of bed. He went to the window and looked across at number forty. There was just enough light from the street lamp for him to see the curtains of the upstairs bedroom twitch just a fraction. He instinctively knew it was Holly. She was there looking over at his house, just as he was looking at hers. He had the strangest feeling that they were staring at each other, even though they were too far apart to tell. For a moment, he couldn’t move. Nor did he want to. He felt as though somebody had cast a spell on him. Eventually, her curtains were dropped and Josh reluctantly moved away from the window. He suddenly felt terrified. But also very, very excited.
Chapter 13
‘Bye now, Mr O’Grady,’ said Holly, waving at the old man and his beloved cat. ‘I hope Tinker feels better soon.’
‘Thanks, love. A few days of the medicine and Fintan says she’ll be as right as rain.’
Holly smiled as the bell tinkled on the door closing behind him. She was happy when there was an easy resolution to a problem. Worried owners came into the clinic every day with their sick pets and Holly loved to see them leaving with smiles on their faces. She’d often watch the treatment room with trepidation to see the looks on their faces as they’d come out. Sometimes there’d be bad news and she’d have to comfort the customer with tea and sympathy. But more often than not, Fintan or Milly would have been able to work their magic and there’d be smiles all around.
She glanced at her watch and saw it was a quarter to two. Wednesday was her early finish day and usually she loved having the afternoon free. But not today. Today she’d promised to go looking at churches with David and his mother and she was absolutely dreading it. She’d rather poke her own eyes out with a blunt instrument but David had reassured her they wouldn’t spend too long looking around and they didn’t have to commit to anything. It was just to keep his mother happy. Again.
‘Holly, can I have a word please?’ Fintan’s voice broke into her thoughts and she looked up to see him standing right in front of her.
‘Sorry, I was miles away.’ There was something in his eyes. Sadness. Worry. ‘Is there something wrong?’
‘Please,’ he said. ‘Just step in here. I want to talk to you.’
She suddenly felt worried but followed him into the little room where he indicated for her to sit down. She took a seat and looked around her. It was where they usually brought customers to tell them bad news about their pets or to discuss treatments. She’d cleaned in there a thousand times but it was the first time she’d been asked to sit. Fintan sat down in front of her and she could see he looked distressed.
‘Fintan, what is it? You’re worrying me now.’
He coughed and cleared his throat. ‘Holly, I …’ He coughed again.
Holly froze but said nothing – she just waited.
‘Holly, I’m really sorry about this but … but I’m going to have to let you go.’
‘Go? Go where?’
He sighed and looked at her. ‘I can’t keep you on here any more, Holly. I’d love to, I really would. It’s not a reflection on your work or your dedication. It’s just I can’t keep on paying a receptionist when business is so slow. I’m really sorry.’
Holly opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. He was firing her. She couldn’t believe it. Tears sprang to her eyes and before she knew it they were falling down her face.
‘Oh God, Holly, I’m so, so sorry.’ He jumped up and grabbed a box of tissues from a shelf behind him and handed them to her. ‘You know I wouldn’t do this unless I had to. And if – when – business picks up, I’ll definitely take you back. All the customers love you. You’re a huge asset to this place. But you’re a luxury I can’t afford at the moment.’
She blew her nose and finally found her voice. ‘It’s okay, Fintan. I understand. It’s just a shock, you know?’
He nodded. ‘I know. And I wish I could say something to make it better. But you know I’ll write a glowing reference for you and I’ll keep an eye out for anyone else who’s looking for a brilliant receptionist.’
‘Thanks,’ she said, twisting the tissue around in her hands. ‘When … when do you want me to leave?’
‘Let’s say two weeks. I know it’s close to Christmas and I’m sorry for that too. But I think you know how quiet we’ve been of late.’
She nodded. ‘I’m going to miss this place.’
‘We’ll miss you too,’ he said, standing up.
Holly stood up too and they looked at each other awkwardly for a moment. She didn’t know whether she should shake his hand or give him a hug but the decision was made for her as he wrapped his arms around her. She was sure she saw tears in Fintan’s eyes too as she exited the room and grabbed her coat from behind the reception desk. She couldn’t believe her days there were numbered. She’d somehow thought she’d stay for the rest of her working career. She felt desperately sad as she walked the short distance home, and when she saw David’s car there, she remembered their plans for the afternoon. But she wasn’t in the mood. She’d just tell David what had happened and he’d understand. There was no way she could concentrate on wedding plans today.
Bloody churches. When Holly had told David earlier what had happened, he’d been sympathetic but had insisted they keep to their plans. His mother would be waiting and of course they couldn’t let her down. At that moment, they were having a look around the Church of the Holy Ghost. Honestly! It sounded like something from a scary movie and not somewhere Holly could picture being full of love and romance. Doreen was giving it a thorough once over, including running a finger along the top of the holy-water font to check for dust and even dead-heading some of the flowers on the altar.
‘This could be the one,’ she said, before lowering her voice, lest God himself might hear. ‘A little dirty but it’s definitely the best we’ve seen.’
‘It’s nice all right,’ said David, as they trailed along behind her. ‘What do you think, Holly?’
You know what I bloody well think, is what she wanted to say, but instead she smiled sweetly. ‘Lovely.’
David shot her a look of gratitude. ‘Okay, Mum. I think we’ve seen enough for today. Why don’t we drop you home and you can go through those notes of yours and give us your thoughts later.’
Holly breathed a sigh of relief but she sensed Mammy Wood wasn’t ready to go home yet. ‘David,’ said Doreen, glaring at her son. ‘We’ve only seen three churches and it’s still early. No, I think we’ll continue for the next hour or so.’ She checked her list. ‘I want to see St Paul’s and The Sacred Cross at the very least today.’
Holly wanted to grab her list and rip it to bits but she managed to restrain herself. ‘Maybe we can do those another day, Doreen. Both David and I came straight from work so I wouldn’t mind getting home for some dinner.’
‘Dinner!’ she declared, as though she’d had a revelation. ‘That’s a great idea. Why don’t we all go and get something to eat in that nice deli on the corner? Then we’ll be fuelled up for another few hours.’
Holly didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t in the mood for any of this and just wanted to
go home. She looked at David pleadingly, hoping he’d object, but he seemed to think his mother’s idea was a great one.
‘Holly, what do you think?’ They were both staring at her, waiting for her response, and again she cursed David for not manning up and just telling her that they wanted to go home.
‘Fine,’ she said, and barely had the words left her mouth before Doreen high-tailed it out the church door and towards the deli.
‘You should have said no,’ she hissed at David. ‘What were you thinking?’
He looked at her in confusion. ‘Why? We need to eat anyway so why not here?’
‘Don’t you have any cop-on, David? I’ve just had my world shattered and I still came out on this silly jaunt. The least you could do is support me.’
He was about to say something when Doreen stuck her head back in and asked them what was keeping them. ‘Coming now, Mum,’ he said, looking at Holly pleadingly.
Holly sighed but relented. She’d be as civil as she could during the meal and then she’d cry off sick and say she needed to go home. David could do the holy tour of the city with his mother if he liked. It was all irrelevant anyway, since she wouldn’t be getting married in a church. She gritted her teeth and followed David and his mother outside.
‘David, I’ve had enough.’ Holly spat the words out as soon as they walked in the front door. None of them had spoken in the car on the journey home, Doreen obviously put out that her day had been cut short and David annoyed at Holly because he knew damn well she was faking her headache. After they’d dropped Doreen home, they’d both silently fumed until Holly couldn’t take the tension any more.
‘You’ve had enough,’ he said, taking off his suit jacket and neatly folding it over the bannister. Holly had a sudden urge to throw it on the floor but refrained.
‘How do you think I feel?’ he continued. ‘I’m trying to keep two women happy and all I get is grief. From both of you.’
‘That’s the problem, David. Why do you need to keep us both happy? Surely at this stage of your life you don’t need to pander to your mother’s every whim. You’re thirty-six years old, for God’s sake!’
‘What am I supposed to do?’ he said, gesturing wildly with his arms. ‘Tell her to get lost? Cast her aside because there’s a new woman in my life? Cop on, would you, Holly. She’s my mother and that’s not going to change, even when we get married.’
She was slightly taken aback by his fieriness. David was usually the peacemaker and she wasn’t used to him standing his ground. But she wasn’t backing down. She was sick of going along with things to please Mammy Wood. They were still standing in the hallway, glaring at each other, so Holly stormed into the kitchen and David followed.
‘David, I’m happy for your mum to be part of our lives,’ she said, leaning against the counter. ‘I wouldn’t want it any other way. But the way it is now – it’s just too much.’ She waited for him to object, but instead he came to her and folded his arms around her.
‘I’m sorry, Holly. I’m trying to keep Mum happy by getting her involved but maybe you’re right. I’m sorry you feel neglected and I’m sorry about your job.’
She nodded, and leaned her head against his shoulder.
‘And there’s no need for you to worry,’ he continued. ‘We’re doing fine financially. I earn more than enough for both of us.’
She pulled away from him. ‘I know you mean well, David, but I want to earn my own money.’
‘But we’re getting married, Holly. My money is your money.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, David. It’s not all about the money!’
‘Well, what is it about?’ he said. ‘Is there something else going on with you?’
She bristled. ‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, filling the kettle with water. ‘You seem on edge since the weekend. Snappy. Not yourself.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, sitting down at the kitchen table. ‘I’m perfectly fine.’
‘Is it something to do with him? Josh? You’ve been acting strangely since you saw him at the weekend.’
‘No, I have not.’ The words came out too quickly. Too defensively.
‘I’ve seen you look across at their house every time we get in or out of the car. Was there more to your friendship than just a childhood thing? Do you two have history I should know about?’
How could she tell him? How could she reveal the depth of her relationship with Josh when they had to live across the road from him? David wasn’t really the jealous type but surely it would make things uncomfortable. For her, at the very least.
‘So was there?’
He wasn’t going to leave it alone so she’d have to give him something. ‘We went out for a while, that’s all. But as he said, we were kids. It was more friendship really.’
David nodded. ‘I hate arguing with you, Holly,’ he said, looking at her with sad eyes. ‘And I’m sorry again if you think I’m pandering too much to Mum. It’s just difficult, you know?’
‘I know. And I should be more tolerant. But I want our wedding to be special, David. I want a day that represents us – not something fabricated or forced. We haven’t even sat down and discussed what we want for the day. It’s all been about your mother picking dates and churches and hotels – none of which I particularly want.’
He sighed. ‘Well, why don’t we discuss it now? It’s still early and we have the whole night to ourselves. Let’s start to make some plans of our own.’
Holly suddenly didn’t want to talk weddings any more. ‘I’m tired, David. And I honestly do have a headache. I might just go for a shower and maybe we can order some food and watch a DVD later?’
‘Fine,’ he said, standing up. ‘But there’s no point in ordering in food. It’s only Wednesday and there are some pork chops in the fridge that are almost at their use-by date – it would be a shame to waste them. I’ll peel some potatoes while you’re in the shower and get dinner going.’
There was nothing left to say so she headed upstairs. That’s what drove her crazy about David. His sensible side. Milly would call it boring but Holly liked to think of it as sensible. He’d seldom break out of the norm. She wanted him to go mad and order a curry. On a Wednesday. Dump the chops in the bin. Fly in the face of good sense and throw caution to the wind. But even as she’d suggested it, she’d known he wouldn’t. He was David, not Josh.
She gave herself a mental shake as she stood under the warm jets of water. She really needed to put Josh out of her mind and concentrate on David. Her family thought he was the perfect man for her, and they couldn’t all be wrong. Her parents weren’t the interfering types but they’d made it known that David, with his clean living, his dedication to her and his good, pensionable job, was a wonderful catch and they couldn’t wait until she was Mrs Wood. Although taking his name was still under negotiation.
She heard David clattering about in the kitchen as she stepped out of the shower and she could smell the dinner cooking on the stove. Her parents were right. She was lucky and it was about time she started to realise it. She might be losing her job, but she still had her man. And that was more important than anything.
Chapter 14
Josh thanked God for the sunshine because he was determined to make the front of the house look like Santa’s grotto. Stephanie had been out late again the previous night so he’d crept out of bed early, leaving her to sleep, and headed for a newly opened Christmas shop just outside the village. Although he was worried about the state of their finances, he reckoned a little splurge to cheer them up would be a good investment. He’d been like a child in a sweetshop, picking out various lights and decorations, and he couldn’t wait to get them all up.
He secured the ladder, which he’d borrowed from a guy in number seven when he’d spotted him cleaning his windows earlier, and headed up with his string of lights over his shoulder. He’d gone for single strings of clear, twinkly ones for the sides of the house and icicle ones f
or over the windows and door. He’d decided to keep to the white theme and had gotten a set of bell lights for the gable and a reindeer made of twisted white lights for outside the front door. He worked like a Trojan for the next couple of hours until he finally had everything set up properly. When he stood back to admire his work, he knew it had been worth the bother. It looked amazing. And now he was excited for it to get dark so he could see the lights in their full glory.
‘That’s a lot of lights,’ said Stephanie, arriving out to have a look. She was wrapped up in Josh’s leather jacket with a big woolly scarf and gloves. ‘You really meant it when you said you wanted to brighten up the house, didn’t you?’
He laughed. ‘Yep. It’s worth it, though, isn’t it? Doesn’t it make you feel all Christmassy?’
She shrugged. ‘A little. But I’d still prefer to be celebrating it somewhere hot and sunny.’
‘Christmas and sun do not go together.’ He laughed. ‘The colder the better for me.’
‘One day I’ll drag you off to a warmer clime for Christmas. But for now I’d better go and get ready.’
Josh followed her inside. ‘Are you going somewhere?’
‘I told you, Josh. The shampoo ad. They’re shooting it today so I’ll be gone for a few hours at least.’
‘Oh, right.’ He couldn’t remember her mentioning it before and he tried to stop suspicion creeping into his mind. But if she was genuinely going to a job, he was delighted – she’d barely worked these last few months.
‘And tonight?’ he said, hoping she wouldn’t have plans to go out with her friends again.
She thought for a moment. ‘Why don’t you ask the new neighbours over since we didn’t make it over to theirs last week?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Why?’ She glared at him. Testing.
‘I just thought we could go out or something. Just the two of us. But if you want to ask them over, that’s fine.’ He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to have Holly sit across the table from him in his own house, talking about her wedding to another man.