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‘Can we get some cheese?’ Holly was bouncing as she spoke.
‘You get whatever you want.’
‘What about wine? Do we need more wine?’
‘There’s plenty of wine at the villa,’ Evan replied, before seeing her face and changing his mind. ‘But sure, why not? Let’s grab a few more bottles.’
Holly pushed the trolley excitedly as she dropped in one item, then another. Only when she had selected half a dozen cheeses, three different types of crackers, and some strange crispbreads to add to Evan’s selection, did she realise one important fact.
‘I didn’t bring any money with me,’ she said, looking at the items piling up.
‘It’s not a problem. I was going to pay.’
‘I’ll pay you back.’
‘You could. Or you could just pay for the first dinner when we’re back in England?’
There was something about the way he spoke, the complete certainty that they would go for dinner in England, that made the tension fix in her muscles. All this insinuating that they were going to carry on seeing each other could get tiresome. Or worse still, she could start to believe it.
‘I’ll get the first dinner,’ she agreed for the main reason of not knowing when she was ever going to make it to a cashpoint.
‘Great. I’m just gonna head over to the deli counter. I want to pick up a couple of meats while I’m here. Are you okay with the cheese?’
‘I am always okay with cheese,’ Holly replied and immediately continued her browsing of the dairy items.
Letting her eyes wander, Holly thought about how they only had one more night in the villa. In one sense, she was desperate to get home so she could see Hope. Ben had messaged her to say she’d got up crazily early yet again, so he’d put her down for an early first nap. He said he’d ring Holly later in the day. And of course, she wanted to see her mum and dad, too. And check in on the shop. But she wasn’t ready to leave Evan. Not yet. Not so soon.
After grabbing a packet of exceptionally blue cheese and two different types of goat fromage, Holly turned around to put them in her trolley, only to find it was gone. A second later, she spotted it, being pushed away by a short woman in a burgundy overcoat.
‘Excuse me? I think you have picked up my trolley.’
The woman squinted, implying she’d not understood what Holly had just said.
‘My trolley. This is my trolley.’
When repeating herself didn’t work, Holly slowed her speech, and talked louder while pointing.
‘This. Trolley. Mine.’ She jabbed her finger in the air while she pointed at herself and attempted to take the handle, but the woman batted her away.
‘Non, c’est à moi.C’est à moi.’
‘Let go.’ Holly tried to grab the handle again, but the woman swung the trolly away. Evan had put his favourite things in there. Things he wanted her to try. There was no way Holly was going to let this woman just walk off with them when they would have to spend another ten minutes gathering it all up again. No, she wanted her trolley back.
‘This is mine!’ Holly wasn’t even bothering with the pointing now, but the woman was getting angrier and angrier.
‘Quel est votre problème? Vous ne voyez pas que c’est mien?’
She attempted to push the trolley out of Holly’s way, but Holly was ready. She jumped to the other end and made it impossible for the woman to move.
Back-and-forth pushing and tugging ensued, with both Holly and the woman continuing to shout at one another. As such, it didn’t take long to attract a crowd.
‘Fine!’ Holly said, finally letting go. ‘If you won’t let me take my trolley, I’ll just take the food instead.’ Lunging forward, she plunged her hands in and grabbed out several packets of cheese, not even looking at what they were as she bundled them up. Crisps, crackers… her arms were almost completely full, but she’d just reached in for another item, when a voice called from behind.
‘Holly?’
‘This woman has taken our—’ Holly spun around, trying to balance one of the blue cheeses on top of a jar of honey Evan must have picked out, expecting to see him there, equally cross at the theft of their soon-to-be-purchased items. But it wasn’t Evan. It was Giles.
33
