AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Take care of yourself.’
‘I’ll try. Love you loads, Hope. And Ben?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thank you.’
Then, before the tears could start, Holly hung up the phone.
It was ridiculous. She had had one of the most fun times she could remember in years, and was, by all accounts, in paradise, but it didn’t change the fact that whenever she was away from Hope, she felt like something was missing.
‘Are you all right?’ Sandra stood in front of her, two glasses of wine in her hand, one of which she held out to Holly.
‘I shouldn’t. I need to take some painkillers.’
‘More for me then.’ Sandra took a seat next to her. ‘The first time being away is the hardest, but she’s completely fine.’
‘I know, I know.’
‘You just need a distraction, that’s all.’
Changing her mind, Holly reached out, took the spare glass, and took a long draw. French wine, she discovered, really was as good as they said.
She was nearly half a glass in when Evan appeared.
‘How’s the patient doing?’
Having gone straight from the villa to fetch painkillers, Evan hadn’t got changed, or even dried himself properly, and so his hair was tousled. Holly couldn’t help but notice how he looked even better like this.
‘I’m doing just fine,’ she said.
‘Sure. Do you mind if I have a look at it?’
‘Go ahead.’
He moved straight to her ankle, where, with the gentlest of fingers, he pressed lightly against the swollen flesh of her foot.
‘Looks like you’ve got a perfect distraction just there,’ Sandra whispered into her ear.
19
As naturally talented as Holly had been at waterskiing, the same could not be said for her skills at beer pong. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the game had been suggested by Tyler and Spencer, confirming their frat-boy status in Holly’s mind.
‘I don’t get how they bounce it in so accurately.’ Naomi crossed her arms in a sulk as Tyler landed his eighth shot in a row.
‘An extremely misspent youth – and adulthood,’ Fin replied. ‘Right, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m gonna call it a day. I still want to be able to do this hike in the morning.’
‘What’s wrong with you, old man?’ Spencer yelled, then landed yet another shot without even looking at it. ‘You can’t go soft on us. It’s your stag do.’
Maybe if she’d been in a different frame of mind, Holly would’ve joined in the games more, or at least added some supportive cheering, but as she could barely put any weight on her left foot, she had quickly given up spectating. So instead, while the rest of them continued to play, she had skulked back to the sofa and sighed in relief as she lifted her foot onto the coffee table. Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep lungful of fresh sea air and allowed herself to relax.
‘You don’t mind if I disturb you, do you?’
Evan stood beside her, a glass of water in his hand.
‘It’s your house,’ she replied, only to realise that probably sounded ruder than she intended. ‘No, of course I don’t mind.’
Placing his drink of the table, he slid in next to Holly on the sofa, and she couldn’t help but pick up on a sense of nervousness rising from him – though what a man like Evan could ever have to be nervous about was beyond her.
