Loosening his bow tie and shrugging off his dinner jacket, he placed both over the chair in his bedroom and then shed the rest of his clothes. His body was buzzing as much as his mind was, and when he glanced in the mirror to take out his contact lenses, he was struck by how flushed his face was – and he’d not even been drinking. Holly had really got under his skin. Should he text her? Or should he let things calm down between them and try to speak to her when they’d both had a bit of breathing space? Perhaps he should calm down too.
Sighing, he decided on a cold shower and a good night’s sleep. Perhaps then he’d be able to face Holly tomorrow.
23
‘I can’t believe you let that twat wind you up,’ Rachel chided the next morning when she popped round for a post-mortem of the grisly night before. ‘Miles has always had it in for you, ever since you bought this place. Why on earth would you let him get to you so badly last night?’
‘I suppose I was wound up already at the thought of going to the thing, and I’d held my tongue so much all night, that Miles just pushed me over the edge.’ Holly shook her head. The remnants of a Prosecco-induced hangover were pounding at her temples and the matcha tea was making her feel nauseated rather than improving things. She cast around the shop for her supply of milk thistle leaves, which made the best hangover cure, since the matcha wasn’t cutting it.
‘Why don’t you get your head down for an hour?’ Rachel said. ‘I can mind this place for a bit longer – I don’t have to pick Harry up from nursery until twelve thirty.’
‘How’s he settling in?’ Holly asked.
‘Loving it,’ Rachel said. ‘Can’t wait to get there in the mornings. Makes me feel quite redundant, actually!’
‘As if,’ Holly snorted. ‘But I’m glad he’s getting on well.’
Harry was a lively and outgoing little boy, who seemed to take everything in his stride, and the nursery school had been more than reassuring about making sure he took his Creon at snack times, and alerting Rachel if any of the other children had particularly bad coughs or colds. A simple cold, if Harry was to catch it, could rapidly turn into an infection, which meant, at the very least, a round of antibiotics, or, worse, a hospital stay.
‘Fingers crossed it stays that way,’ Rachel replied. ‘But stop changing the subject. Are you going to lie down or what?’
Holly shook her head, then wished she hadn’t as it gave a resounding thump. ‘I’m fine.’
‘You’re stubborn,’ Rachel chided but fell silent as the shop door opened with a tinkle of the bell.
Holly, who had her eyes on her coffee mug, caught a familiar scent in the air that made her senses tingle and, stomach fluttering not just from the hangover, she slowly raised her eyes and cursed inwardly. There, in the doorway, looking as delicious as he had last night, even dressed down in jeans and a casual shirt and, because he’d been driving, not hungover in the slightest, was Charlie.
‘Hello, you!’ Rachel said brightly. ‘What can we do for you on this fine day?’
‘Hi,’ Charlie smiled. ‘I was just wondering if you had anything I could burn to relax me? I had a bit of a night of it last night.’ He glanced at Holly, who was busying herself with removing the coffee cups.
‘So I hear,’ Rachel said wryly. She turned to Holly. ‘Why don’t you and Charlie escape into the sunshine for a bit? I’ll keep an eye on things here.’
Holly grimaced; sunlight would do nothing for her headache, but she realised she wasn’t going to get out of this one. ‘OK,’ she said ungraciously. ‘Let me just grab my sunglasses from upstairs.’
‘Here, have mine,’ Rachel rummaged in her handbag. ‘Wouldn’t want you making a break for it out of your own back door,’ she muttered.
‘Thanks, sis,’ Holly said dryly. Taking a sip of the glass of water she’d also brought down to the shop counter, she stepped out from behind it and looked up at Charlie. ‘Shall we go then?’
As she turned towards the door, she was sure she saw Rachel and Charlie exchanging a significant look, which did precisely nothing for her already embattled mood.
‘I’m surprised to see you,’ she said as they headed up the High Street and away from ComIncense. She was glad of Rachel’s oversized shades, as the sun was warm on her face and she could feel herself breaking out into a not entirely sunshine-induced sweat.
‘Well, I thought I’d better come over and clear the air, as we didn’t part on the best of terms last night.’
Charlie had a long stride and Holly found herself struggling to keep up. They were heading towards Willowbury Priory, a glamorous-looking ruin that the National Trust was restoring and saving for future generations. On a sunny day like this, the stonework glinted in the light, and it was easy to fill in the visual gaps to see, in your mind’s eye, the dreaming arches of the complete building. Jokes and stories had endured through the ages about nuns and monks commuting between Willowbury and Buckfast to share worship and mead recipes, and the aching romanticism of the Priory seemed at odds with the devout purpose of the building. It seemed a bit incongruous to have such a high church icon smack in the middle of such a spiritually diverse town as Willowbury, too, but perhaps that was just another example of its all-welcoming ethos.
‘That’s very gallant of you,’ Holly’s mood was not improving as she remembered the exchange with Miles last night, and Charlie’s subsequent dismissal of it. ‘Were you worried I was going to trash your reputation even further?’
‘Holly, stop.’ They’d reached the Priory gardens now, and Charlie paused in his walk. He reached out a hand to her, and reluctantly Holly allowed hers to be taken in his warm, dry grip.
They were standing under one of the few intact archways on the site, the drop of the chapel nave, shielded by a glass wall, strikingly close. Holly swallowed as the sight of it made her dizzy. She stared steadfastly at her feet.
‘I came to say I’m sorry. About Miles, about putting you in that situation, expecting you to just suck up your own opinions for my sake, everything. It was wrong of me to expect you to do that.’ He glanced up at the archway above his head. ‘When we were on that dance floor, surrounded by all the party faithful, all I could think about was being alone with you. None of that stuff mattered. And yet when I saw you and Miles arguing, the politician in me kicked in.’ He ran his free hand through his hair. ‘I have to be a diplomat with people like Miles. I don’t like it, but he’s part of the backbone of the local party, and the local economy.’
‘What, do they teach you that stuff in politician school?’ Holly’s tone was rather more withering than even she’d intended, and Charlie looked stung. ‘I mean, do you have to suck up to everyone for the sake of the party?’
‘Well, I’d draw the line at bolshy well-being shop owners,’ Charlie teased. ‘It seems they’re unsuckupable to.’
‘Touché,’ Holly said. She looked up at him and couldn’t help smiling. ‘And I’m sorry I let him get to me. I’m so cross that I allowed him to get under my skin in such a public place.’