AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Our land, Holly. Our marriage, our history.’
‘You’ve been hideous to me. I can't pretend none of this has happened and just go back to how we were.’
Tom walked back to the seating area, and sat down with his head in his hands as his shoulders quivered. Holly stared up to the ceiling. She could not even feel sorry for him. She wanted the court case to disappear and if there was a way out, she would take it. But stringing Tom along and pretending they would get back together was not an option.
She softened her voice as he wept. ‘I don’t want us to be enemies, Tom, and I’d like the court case to go away. But you and me – it’s not going to happen.’
Tom stood up and wiped the wet from his eyes on his sleeve. ‘You bitch.’ He pushed the mug off the table, spilling the coffee, which dripped onto Holly’s rug.
Holly pointed at the door. ‘I think you should leave.’
‘You’re gonna regret this. Get ready to say goodbye to your nursery. It’s gone.’ Tom rushed out of the caravan. He slammed the door, and it smashed with shattered glass flying everywhere.
Holly turned and shielded her face shaking all over. She wanted to run out, run down to Mitch’s place and ask him to hold her, to tell her everything was going to be alright. But that was not an option, she had ruined it.
* * *
Holly wanderedup Wells High Street. She had arranged an appointment with Jill to give a full account of Tom’s visit. She also wanted to see if the divorce could be rushed through. Holly had taken pictures of the caravan door and left Joe back at the nursery repairing the damage. Any ammunition against Tom was a positive as far as she was concerned. Holly felt hardened, devoid of emotion, as if she’d wept her last reserve of tears the night before. Trixy trotted at her side, she was unsettled after Tom’s visit and Holly did not want to leave her there with the noise of the door being fixed. She was surprised that Mitch had not asked for her back and realised that she should really return her.
She was twenty minutes early, so took a walk around the grounds of the Cathedral. The world seemed to be full of couples walking along holding hands, and kids swinging off the arms of their smiling parents. Why was her life not that simple? Someone to hold hands with, a nice little nine-to-five job, a family, a baby to hold, a blood relative to be close to. Family holidays to the coast? Croyde Bay popped into her mind and she pushed it aside. Deciding to shrug off her ‘poor me’ mood and get on with it.
Holly sat on a bench. Summer had definitely arrived. She loved this time of year, the relaxing feel of it. But she knew this summer would be full of tension. Maybe she should sell up and make her problems disappear ? never to be seen again.
Back on the High Street, Holly considered enquiring with the estate agent the value of her land. She would have to do that anyway if she was going to make a settlement with Tom, no matter how small. As she neared the estate agent, she saw Mitch stride out. Moving back into a shop doorway she was thankful that Trixy, sniffing at something on the floor, had not noticed him. Waiting until he had gone quite a distance, she entered the estate agent’s office.
‘How can I help?’ the woman sales assistant asked.
‘I’m enquiring about selling my land. How quickly does land change hands these days?’
‘Depends where it is and whether you put it up at a realistic price. Where is it?’
‘Eversley.’
‘That’s odd, I was asked to value some land that way just now. Is something going on? There’s not planning permission agreed for a new housing estate is there?’
Holly bit her lip –so Mitch’s selling up?she thought. ‘No. I own the nursery. There was a fire.’
‘Oh, you must be from Lovelands. I was sorry to hear about that, I used to go over as a child with my parents.’ Her voice softened.
Holly heard Trixy barking from outside, she hated being tied up.
‘I can get someone to visit you tomorrow if you like?’
‘I’ll let you know.’
‘Take my contact details.’ She passed her a business card.
Holly put the card into her back pocket as she left the shop. She felt empty. That was that then, no point in even contemplating a reconciliation. Mitch was leaving and it would only ever have been Croyde, just Croyde.
