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‘You saw the downstairs already, remember?’
‘I did?’
‘You did. It’s where the toilet is.’
‘There’s a toilet on the boat?’
It was safe to say she sounded drunk, though it had hit her so quickly, she was still having trouble admitting it.
‘Come on, you need to sit down,’ Giles took her by the hand.
‘No, I don’t. I’m fine.’
‘You’re wobbling everywhere.’
‘That’s because I’m on a boat. Boats are wobbly.’
To reinforce her point, Holly swayed back and forth, only to overestimate her ability to stay standing. A moment later, she toppled into Giles’s arms.
‘Here, it’s okay, I’ve got you. Now please, sit down. Jamie hates me enough as it is. She would never forgive me if you cracked your head open.’
‘She doesn’t hate you as much as she used to,’ Holly said, flopping down onto what felt like the comfiest sofa in all existence. ‘She still hates you, but not as much. I think she realised you couldn’t be completely horrible. Not when I missed you so much.’
‘You missed me that much?’ Giles’s voice was quiet and low, his eyes looking straight at her. Unfortunately, it was hard to meet them, because they kept shifting from side to side, and a lot of the time it looked as if he had an extra third eye in the middle of his forehead too. Closing her eyes, Holly tried to battle all the thoughts that were competing in her head.
‘Of course I missed you. I loved you,’ she whispered.
A moment later, she was snoring.
46
Holly blinked. A flash of light burst through the crack in her eyelids. Blindingly fierce, it sent a bolt of pain shooting to the back of her skull.
‘What the hell!’ She squeezed her eyes tightly closed again.
Her head was on fire. And something was hammering behind her temples. It felt like thousands of nails were piercing the back of her skull. This was not good. Not good at all.
She sat up, still, with her eyes closed, hoping that a vertical position might abate some of the swaying and nausea. It didn’t. If anything, it was even worse.
‘Good afternoon, sleepy head. I was getting worried there. I thought you weren’t going to wake up.’
The sound of Giles’s voice was all it took for Holly to drop back down again.
‘Do you need to speak so loud?’ She clutched her head. ‘How much did I drink?’
‘I have no idea. Too much, I would say. Definitely too much.’
She groaned again. It wasn’t just her head that was the problem. Every muscle ached, as if she’d just run two marathons back-to-back. Not that she’d ever even ran one. And what was that taste in her mouth? It felt like she’d been chewing on a dry flannel.
‘I need another ten minutes.’ Vaguely aware of the fact that she was now on a bed, she sank further into the mattress, only to bolt upright. ‘Did you say afternoon?’
Giles smirked. ‘Thought that might wake you up. I might have exaggerated a little. It’s quarter past ten.’
‘What? No!’ She scrambled onto her hands and knees. The white sheets tangled around her feet and legs. It was only one sheet, and yet the more she tried to pull it off, the tighter the knots became. ‘I need to get up. We’re leaving the villa at eleven for the airport.’
‘Here, let me help.’ Giles sat on the end of the bed and untwisted the fabric. When her first leg was free, Holly noticed she was no longer wearing her own clothes, but an oversized white shirt. The nausea swept through her again, but she didn’t have time to think about it.
‘Where’s my phone?’ She dove for her bag on the floor. ‘I need to ring Hope. I’m meant to speak to Hope in the morning.’ Her hands were in her bag, tossing out her wallet and packs of tissues and sanitary towels, but there was no sign of her phone. ‘I must have left it in the restaurant. We need to go and get it. I have to have it.’
