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“Can’t. I’m off to a board meeting and then off to the airport. Just wanted to ring and warn you before you went shopping for a new dress that Reece said there’s going to be lots of dancing at the party.”
“What makes you so sure I’ll be buying a new dress?” she retorted in a teasing tone. She’d become a bit of a flirt on the phone as well.
“I’m thirty-eight years old, Holly. I know women. You wouldn’t be seen dead next Saturday night in any old dress. Just don’t buy a long one. I have a hankering to see you in something sexy and short, with a swishy skirt.”
“Swishy?” she repeated, though her mind was still on sexy.
“Yes, swishy. Look, I won’t keep you and I won’t go bothering you with late-night phone calls for the rest of the week. I, for one, need some sleep before next weekend if we’re going to be dancing the night away. See you next Saturday night, beautiful. At eight.”
“Don’t you dare be late,” she blurted out before he could hang up on her.
“I won’t be,” he returned with a dry laugh. “Don’t worry.”
Holly gripped the phone for a few seconds after he hung up, then slowly, and with a ragged sigh, placed the receiver back on its cradle.
When she turned back to Mrs Crawford, the woman was staring at her with a very thoughtful look on her face.
“That was Richard, wasn’t it?” she said.
“Yes,” Holly admitted. “Why? What’s wrong? Oh, I get it. You don’t really approve of my going out with him, do you?”
“You’re going out with him again?”
“He’s taking me to a party next Saturday night.”
“I see,” the other woman said, then frowned some more.
“So can I. You don’t think I’m good enough for him, do you?” Holly threw at her.
Mrs Crawford shook her head, her expression anguished. “It’s not that, dear. Please don’t think that. You’re a lovely girl. It’s just that you’re not long over Dave and I…well…I wouldn’t want you getting hurt again.”
“You think Richard will hurt me?”
“I don’t know what to think. All I know is that Richard has never gotten over his wife’s death. It shattered him totally. You are the first girl he’s taken out in any way, shape or form since Joanna’s death.”
“Forgive me for saying this, Mrs Crawford, but how do you know that? He doesn’t live with you. He could be picking up a different woman every weekend and you’d be none the wiser. He’s still a young man. You don’t honestly think he’s been celibate all this time, do you?”
Holly watched the cold, hard logic of her words sink in.
But the woman still shook her head. “I know my son. He has not been with any other woman since Joanna died and I can tell you why. He’s still in love with her. He was crazy about her. You went to her funeral, Holly. You saw his grief. Don’t go there, love. She spoilt him for any other woman.”
“I don’t believe that,” Holly argued, thinking of the way Richard had kissed her. There’d been passion in that kiss and with passion came the possibility of love. Holly had been able to think of nothing else but Richard Crawford since the moment his lips had met hers.
“Your son genuinely likes me, Mrs Crawford, and I like him back. I fully intend going out with him next Saturday night and nothing you say will stop me.”
The older woman’s blue eyes softened on her. “I wouldn’t dream of trying to stop you. You’re one of the nicest girls I’ve ever met, Holly. Frankly, I like you much more than I ever liked Joanna. If by some miracle you and Richard find a future together, I would be the happiest mother in the world. But be careful. Promise me not to rush into anything. Will you promise me that?”
“Are you talking about sex?” Holly retorted, flustered and angry by the woman’s interference. The last thing she wanted to hear was how much Richard had loved his wife. Or that he was still in love with her. “Are you asking me not to go to bed with your son?”
“No. No, I’m not asking you that. It might do Richard the world of good to go to bed with a girl like you.”
“What do you mean, a girl like me?”
“I mean a girl who’s a giver instead of a taker.”
“His wife was a taker?”
Mrs Crawford shrugged. “Joanna was…greedy. Greedy for life and greedy for Richard.”
But I’m greedy for him, too, Holly wanted to cry out.
She had to go out with him next Saturday night. Had to feel his lips on hers again. Had to let fate take her where it willed. Or wherever Richard willed.
