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Holly wasn’t sure how she was supposed to reply, so she didn’t. Instead, she stared at the conveyer belt, praying her suitcase would come soon, while wishing Evan would go join the others so the silence didn’t feel so awkward.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long.
‘That’s mine,’ she said, as the familiar, plain suitcase appeared on the belt.
Now that so many people had already collected their luggage, no pushing or shoving was required. Still, Holly dashed towards the bag and the moment it was in reach, grabbed the handle.
‘Jeez.’ She yanked it off the conveyer belt and onto the ground. The way it had been moving when she went to pick it up made the suitcase feel substantially heavier than when she had packed it. She let go of the bag to reconsider her angle, only to change her mind and immediately grab the handle again. The last thing she wanted was for Evan to think she was unable to pick her own bag up. That would truly cement her as the hopeless female, and there was no way she was having that. With a sharp intake of breath, she hoisted it up, then, refusing to show even a hint of the effort she was exerting, dragged it towards the trolley. Only when she lifted it up did she notice the large new dent on the bottom corner. A flicker of annoyance flitted within her. It was a good job she hadn’t bought that new suitcase after all, if it was going to get bashed about like this.
‘Let me help you with that.’ Holly had barely wheeled the suitcase two feet when Evan swept in. ‘I don’t want anyone leaving here with broken toes.’
Holly was forced to grit her teeth. This role he played – the handsome, humorous, overly helpful saviour – could wear thin. At some point, she was certain his facade would crack. Still, she was surprised to see him flinch as he lifted the suitcase onto the trolley.
‘Wow, what did you pack in here? It’s heavy.’
‘To be honest, I thought I’d packed light. I guess swimsuits and flip-flops were heavier than I thought.’
With a light grunt, he hauled it upon to the trolly.
‘Is that it? Has everyone got everything?’ Jamie said as she and Finn approached, her sitting on top of the trolley Fin was pushing. The appearance of her sunglasses implied she was more than ready for the holiday.
‘I think so,’ Holly replied, not wanting to speak for everyone else.
‘Great, because we need to head outside and wait for the others. They should be arriving soon. And I can’t wait for you to meet them all.’
11
Thankfully, the suitcase was a lot easier to push on the trolley, as Holly walked through the airport, still trying to take everything in. Though she didn’t get a lot of time to do so. Once they were through into the departure hall, Holly had barely figured out where they needed to go next when the scream shot out from the other side of the hall.
‘Jimjam!’ Holly turned her head to see two women of a similar age to her, racing straight towards them, dragging their suitcases. ‘Happy hen do!’
One woman was short with pale skin, the other was tall and dark skinned, but both were dressed entirely in hot pink. Under their pink dresses, they wore bright pink leggings, accented with pink legwarmers, pink trainers, and even pink headbands. And around their middles they sported bright pink sashes with the wordsHen Partyin bold letters across them.
Jimjam was, evidently, Jamie.
‘Nay! Zai!’ Jamie embraced her old school friends. ‘When did your flight arrive? You told me you didn’t get in until later than us.’
‘We told you that because we wanted to be here before you.’ The shorter of the two lifted Jamie up in a massive bear hug before letting go so her friend could take her place.
‘Obviously Fin was in on it,’ the second said. ‘Considering we’ve never met the guy, he did pretty good at keeping shtum, although less good at making sure you were ready for your hen do.’ After exchanging a brief glance, the pair stepped back. Their eyes scanned Jamie up and down before they looked at one another.
‘This will not do at all.’
‘Nope, we are ashamed to be with you in this state. You call this a send-off?’
Holly didn’t need to know anything about the women to know that the grins spreading across their faces were a sign of complete and utter mischief.
Jamie saw it too.
‘Whatever you have planned, you should know this is an entirely respectable weekend. My mother is here.’
‘Sandra!’ Another barrage of hugs and kisses followed, this time as the girls descended on Jamie’s mother, before they turned their attention back to the hen.
‘Now where were we? Of course, we were talking about how utterly terrible you looked. At least, in hen terms.’
Although Holly wouldn’t have thought it was previously possible, their grins widened further, as they delved into a plastic bag one was holding and pulled out a fistful of pink headbands.
‘What is on those?’ Caroline whispered in Holly’s ear.
