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‘Is there anything keeping us back home?’
She shrugged. ‘Lara, Susie.’
‘Yes, but they both have cars. They can travel to see us and we can travel to see them.’
‘But...’ She couldn’t think of another thing keeping her back home. Yes, she had her parents’ house there, but it hadn’t felt the same since her parents had passed away, and although she was now living there, she barely felt as though she was saying for the night. She hadn’t changed one thing about the house and how long could she continue sleeping beneath posters of bands which had split up decades ago? ‘I guess we don’t.’
‘It might be something to think about?’
‘Yes, you’re right. In fact, maybe we don’t have to think about it at all. In the short time we’ve been down here, we’ve been welcomed into friendship groups, into Elsie’s bakery family and we’ve both found each other. I mean, as in we’ve both discovered and admired how we feel about each other. I don’t even think there’s anything to think about.’ She grinned. ‘Let’s do it. Let’s extend this holiday and see how we feel in a few weeks or months.’
‘Are we really going to do this?’ Joe smiled, his eyes glistening with happiness.
‘Yes.’ Holly nodded decisively. ‘Yes, we are.’
Leaning forward, Joe touched his lips against Hollys.
Kissing him back, she laughed against his lips before pulling away and taking his hands in hers. ‘We’re doing this, right? A fresh start at life.’
‘And a new job for you.’
‘Yes. Eek, I’m going to be my own boss!’
‘You sure are.’
Chapter Seventeen
With one hand grippingthe stick leading to her paper lantern and the other holding Joe’s hand, Holly felt herself surge forward with the crowd around her as Penworth Bay’s brass band began to play and people began singing the first carol of the night. Ever since her and Joe’s conversation about extending their stay down here, she’d been looking at the bay with fresh eyes, picking up on details she hadn’t noticed before, like the A4 poster in the corner of the I’s window assuring the customers that if they were short on money that day, Penny, the owner would accept a small donation instead of charging the full amount and the dog water bowls placed strategically outside each shop front, providing peoples’ pets with a much needed drink after an afternoon running around on the beach.
She’d spent the rest of the time at the bakery assuring Diane and Elsie that she was fine before them, insisting that she took off early to decorate a lantern with Joe. People cared. Elsie cared, the people she was working with cared, the whole community cared about each other. Penworth Bay certainly wasn’t the anonymous town she’d lived in with Mick, and it wasn’t the village she’d grown up in, either. That had been lovely, too. Her parents had chosen the perfect place to bring her up in, but even around that village there were the curtain twitchers, the gossips, whereas here, she didn’t get the feeling there were.
She joined in the chorus to ‘Little Donkey’. She knew she was looking at the bay with rose-tinted glasses. She knew she was only focusing on the good. And she was aware that the longer they stayed she’d probably get to know who the gossips of the village were, who not to accidentally walk into down the street, but that was part and parcel of life and she was ready for it. She was ready to stay and immerse herself into real bay life. And with Joe beside her, she knew it was going to be perfect.
Diane swapped places with Harry, so she was walking beside Holly. ‘I forgot to tell you that little Evie popped in when you were out with her mum, Hannah?’
Holly frowned. She recognised the names. Oh yes, from the Christmas artery she’d helped out Elsie with. Evie had come over looking for Lauren. ‘Oh yes? I remember them.’
