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Holly Berry lifted Hope out of the crib rested her on her hip as she unclipped the stairgate and headed down the narrow stairs of the cottage. Her cottage. Sometimes she had to pinch herself to believe it was real. Holly and Hope had a home of their own.
During the first four months of Hope’s life, the pair had lived at Jamie’s. While living with a friend and her fiancé with a newborn baby was definitely not ideal, it came with the advantage of having Ben next door.
Holly and Ben had called it quits for good while Holly lay in a hospital bed with Hope in her arms. She had felt in her heart it was the right thing to do, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified. After all, she had no idea how to raise a baby, let alone do it on her own. Though, as it turned out, most of her fears were unwarranted.
The set-up had been miraculously easy. On nights when Hope stayed at Ben’s, Holly was only a door away and one ring on her phone was all it took for her to run downstairs, out the front door and be there, ready to take Hope and help Ben with whatever he needed.
There was the midnight feeding advantage, too. Holly had never realised the walls between Ben’s and Jamie’s houses were so thin until now, when Hope would stay next door. Holly’s newly acquired sense of hearing meant the moment Hope’s throat crackled with a cry, her dressing gown was on and she was ready to give Hope her night-time feed. Despite all their flaws, and the tempestuous end to their relationship, Holly and Ben were pretty fantastic at co-parenting. They could have probably hosted a podcast, given how smoothly everything had gone between them, and Holly could have probably stayed like that forever. But there was only so long they could live in Jamie and Fin’s pocket.
‘We don’t mind,’ they said every time Holly had broached the subject of moving. Holly was sure they’d meant it, but they were going to be married soon. It just wasn’t fair on them to have her and Hope taking up so much space and not to mention waking them up in the night when she wanted feeding.
‘I think it might do some good to put a little more distance between you and Ben, too.’ Her mother, Wendy, was quick to jump onboard with the idea. ‘You know, there’s always room at your dad’s and mine.’
‘Thanks, Mum, but if I do this, then I want to be on my own. And I know Northleach isn’t that far, but I don’t want to take Hope out of the village. It wouldn’t be fair to Ben. Not when he’s been used to having her right next door all this time.’
‘I understand. I’ll keep my ear to the ground. Let you know if I hear of anything.’
As it happened, she was true to her word, and rather than finding out about the cottage through an estate agent, or even an online advert, news of the rental property came through her mother, via a neighbour who was friends with the landlord.
‘They want to get it let as quickly as possible, apparently.’
‘I doubt a semi-detached cottage in one of the most desirable villages in the Cotswolds is going to be in my budget,’ Holly replied.
Bourton really was somewhere special. With its shallow river running parallel to the high street and its attractive, yellow-bricked buildings, it was a firm favourite with tourists year-round. At Christmas time, the village was alive with twinkling, white lights and a grand Christmas tree which sat slap in the middle of the river, while in spring, it was a cacophony of colour, with cherry blossom and daffodils blooming left, right, and centre.
Unfortunately, the village’s desirability was reflected in the house prices.
‘We should still see it,’ her mother encouraged. ‘If they want to rent it out quickly, maybe they’ll let it go low. You know what these old cottages are like. It’s better to have someone in them, making sure the heating doesn’t play up, or that damp doesn’t set in, that sort of thing.’
And so Holly agreed to see the place.
‘What did you say the price was?’ Holly said, as she turned up at the front door of the picture-perfect cottage, only three minutes’ walk from the shop and less still to Ben and Jamie. Her mother had come with her to give an opinion, but also to help with Hope so Holly could have a proper nose around the place.
‘Nora’s friend thinks you can probably get it for seven-fifty if you’re quick.’
‘That can’t be right.’ Holly stepped back, trying to spot any obvious flaws in the place, but her mother was already unlocking the door.
‘Oh Holly, come and look. It’s perfect.’
Perfectwas a word Holly didn’t take lightly, but it was hard to think of a synonym to better describe the inside of the cottage. As she moved to join her mother in the doorway, she couldn’t help but gasp. Downstairs, the small hallway opened into an open-plan living-dining room. The kitchen was also knocked through, meaning they had a clear view of everything downstairs.
‘This would be perfect. You could cook in the kitchen and still watch Hope playing in the living area.’
Holly’s heart soared as she took in the marble worktops and the clean, white walls. Deep down, she’d hoped she wouldn’t like the place. That it would be unliveable, cramped or mouldy. Any fault that meant she wouldn’t have to deal with the disappointment of not being able to afford it. But upstairs was even more perfect.
‘There’s only a shower, not a bath.’ Holly had tried to find some negatives. ‘And the second room is really small.’
‘What are you on about? It’s no smaller than the room you had as a teenager. Plenty big enough for a single bed and a chest of drawers. What more is Hope going to need for the next few years?’
Her mother was right, of course. It was exactly what Holly needed, but moving was a big step. In less than a year, she would have shifted from being young and carefree, living next to her boyfriend in a room rented from her friend to this: a single mum with her name on a lease.
When they left the cottage, her mother locked up and turned to Holly.
‘So, am I getting Nora’s friend to ring the landlord?’
Holly could still recall how in that moment, she had looked down at her daughter in the baby carrier and Hope had looked back up at her, her dark-blue eyes staring straight into her as if they held every answer Holly would ever need.
