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Chapter Thirteen
Holly yawned as shetightened her scarf around her neck.
‘Are you tired already?’ Hugging her around the waist, Joe leaned into her, her back against his stomach.
‘I am.’ She tried and failed to stifle another yawn. ‘It’s been super busy at the bakery. Elsie and Teresa have been int he kitchen all day baking and getting ready for the lantern parade tomorrow and Brooke has been helping Molly as Wendy is still off with Connor so it’s just been me, Diane and Ian not he bakery floor and behind the coffee and cake counter.’
‘That does sound tiring.’ Joe placed his hand over his mouth.
‘Ha, you’re tired too!’
‘I am. Sorry.’ He kissed her cheek.
She smiled as she looked around the bus station. ‘What time did you say the bus was coming?’
‘Half past.’ He checked his watch. ‘It should be arriving any minute now, actually.’
‘And it’s an open topped one? Are our tickets for upstairs or downstairs?’
‘Upstairs.’ Joe squeezed her tighter. ‘It’ll be cold, but we should get the perfect view of the Christmas lights around Trestow.’
‘Yes.’ She nodded. When he’d suggested they go on a bus tour of Trestow’s Christmas lights, she’d felt sick and excited all at the same time. Her dad had always driven her and her mum around the centre of Manchester to see the Christmas lights, finishing the night off with the treat of dinner form the fish and chip shop. It was definitely going to stir up old memories, but they were good memories, ones she wanted to remember and ones she needed to try to face. She wanted to remember the happy times as well as making new ones.
‘Here we are. I think that’s our bus.’ Joe pointed to the green open topped bus turning into the station.
‘Great.’ Stepping forward, she took Joe’s hand as they joined the short queue before making their way through the bus and upstairs. ‘is here okay?’ She pointed to two seats halfway down the bus.
‘Perfect.’ Standing back, he let her sit on the outside before sitting down next to her.
As they waited for the other passengers to take their seats, Holly leaned into Joe. ‘Isn’t it strange that this doesn’t feel weird?’
Joe chuckled. ‘You’re right, it doesn’t.’ He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
‘It feels so natural between us, but yesterday we were just friends and today...’ She pulled him towards her, her lips touching his.
‘I know.’ He grinned. ‘You’re right, it does feel natural. It feels as though we’ve been together forever.’
‘Yep.’ Settling back against the seat, holly grinned. they’d spent years searching for the right partner, suffered numerous heartbreaks between them and yet their perfect match and been beside them the whole time. She turned and looked at him. ‘How long have you wanted to tell me how you felt?’
He ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Now that’s a question. Umm, I guess I started to realise I wanted us to be more than friends at the beginning of the year.’
‘At the beginning of the year? Really? You’ve felt like this for that long?’ Holly widened her eyes.
‘Yes, yes, I have.’ He shifted in his seat.
‘Why didn’t you tell me? And why did you go on a date with your neighbour?’ She frowned. ‘And Lucy. You had a relationship with a woman called Lucy, your old colleague during the summer.’
‘Like I said yesterday, I dint want to jeopardise what we had. It was my chat with Ian which changed the way I thought, which helped me realise that it would be better to take the plunge, to be honest with you, than to always wonder what if.’
‘But you dated other women?’ Surely he couldn’t have liked her that much if he’d been happy to date other people?
‘I did. I guess I was just trying to surprise my feelings for you. I was trying to play it safe.’ He looked off into the distance, thinking, before meeting her gaze again. ‘I don’t want you to think that I was stringing them along or anything. I wasn’t. I just didn’t think we’d actually end up both feeling the same way towards each other. I was getting on with life, still coming to terms with how my feelings had changed. Doe that make sense?’
She scrunched up her nose. ‘I’m not sure. I think so. But what...?’
