AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Why did you ask me to come and see you?’ Holly said. ‘Why did you say you wanted to talk if you already had someone?’
She pressed her thumbs into her temples, trying to push away the throbbing that was building.
‘Cecile is not my girlfriend. It’s not that serious. It’s just a casual thing.’
‘It looked like you have fun together.’
‘We do. We have fun. And then we stop having fun and I stop seeing her, and then I get lonely and she comes back, and it starts up again. It’s easy. Predictable. But sometimes… sometimes I want more than that.’
He was looking at her with those eyes again. The ones that could melt her inside. And she hated it. She hated that he could do that. But what she hated even more was that she didn’t have the strength to look away from him.
‘I should get going.’ She stood up – this time without knocking the table – and held out her hand to Giles, as if they were parting after some formal business meeting. But he didn’t take it.
‘Holly, we should talk.’
‘There’s nothing more to talk about. Really. It was nice to catch up. To see you doing well. I need to get back now.’
His lips pursed as he sucked them inwards. ‘How are you getting back? You’re not planning on driving the Vespa, are you?’
‘No, I was going to get a taxi.’
‘And leave the Vespa here?’
‘I thought I’d get it in the morning.’
‘But you’re leaving in the morning.’ His questioning was starting to irritate her.
‘I know I am. It’ll be fine. I’ll get someone to give me a lift down early.’
‘Okay, just give me your keys.’
‘What? No, I don’t need to give you the keys.’
‘You do. I don’t trust you when you’re drunk like this.’
‘You don’t trust me? That’s rich.’ She could feel her volume rising, but she didn’t care. ‘You’re the one who keeps messing with my life. Who comes back into it the moment I feel like I’ve got my head straight. Who keeps filling up my damn thoughts.’
She hadn’t wanted to say these things. She hadn’t even known she was going to. But now she had started, she couldn’t stop.
‘You know, it broke my heart. I wanted to choose you. My heart wanted to choose you, but my head couldn’t.’ She was crying now. Tears rolling down her cheeks. And people from the table next to her were looking over too. ‘And then when you left, I lost you, and I lost Ben. I lost my two best friends. And I’ve been so lonely. And seeing you… it just reminded me how damn lonely I’ve been feeling.’
The tears burned down the back of her throat. There was no stopping them now.
Giles reached across the table and took her hand.
‘Come back to the boat with me, Holly.’
45
Walking was far harder than Holly remembered it being. For some reason, it didn’t matter how much she concentrated; her feet wouldn’t go where she wanted them to. On the rare occasion they went in the right direction, then her arms and torso would start flailing, and she would wobble to the side, or backwards. Maybe all the wine had shifted her centre of gravity. Or maybe it had been the bike. Maybe she was now such a seasoned Vespa driver that her body preferred it to walking, though that seemed unlikely.
‘Come on. Slowly does it.’ Giles hooked his arm around her waist, the same way Evan had when they walked together.
Holly’s mind locked onto the image of Evan and his Vespa. She had told him she would bring it back and now he was probably going to be mad at her. As soon as the thought formed, it switched again. Evan didn’t really do mad. He did charming and sophisticated and unfeasibly mature.
‘Watch it. You were nearly in the water there.’ Giles’s grip around her tightened as she stared at the water. Not that she could see much. Other than a few glimmers of reflected light, the sea was entirely black.
‘Can I drink this? I’m thirsty.’ She bent her knees, only for Giles to tug at her arm and pull her back upright.
