Miles paused, staring in undisguised anger at Holly and Charlie, for a moment longer, before nodding briskly and exiting the shop.
‘Christ,’ Charlie muttered.
Holly looked up at him and her heart flipped in concern. His face had drained of all colour, and, still clasped in hers, his hand had begun to shake. ‘Are you OK?’ she said gently. She moved closer to him, to hold him in her arms. ‘I can’t quite believe what you just said to that idiot.’
Charlie buried his head in her shoulder and his voice was muffled. ‘Just between us, neither can I.’ He began to laugh shakily. ‘The constituency accountant’s going to string me up when she finds out I didn’t try to talk Miles back into funding us. He wasn’t joking when he said he was basically financing the local party, you know.’
‘Then it’s about time you found a new generation of donors,’ Holly said stoutly. ‘I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who’ll cough up if you ask them nicely enough.’
‘Says the confirmed Green Party voter!’ Charlie laughed a little more strongly.
‘I think I can lend my support in other ways,’ Holly replied. ‘Now, get back to the table and finish that speech – you said you’d send a draft to Tom, today, remember, before you see him tomorrow.’
‘Absolutely,’ Charlie replied but stopped to kiss her. ‘Screw Miles,’ he said as they parted. ‘I’ve worked out what’s most important, and he definitely doesn’t come close. Not even with that party donation.’
Holly smiled. Charlie’s idealistic streak was something she was beginning to love about him; she just prayed that his inner pragmatist was right on this one, too.
52
A nail-biting few days were to follow. Charlie knew that the Speaker wouldn’t be announcing debates until Wednesday, which would give him, at worst, twenty-four hours to put the finishing touches on his opening speech, should his Adjournment Debate be the first to be timetabled, literally for the next day. With ten days left until the summer recess, time was unnervingly short. If he wasn’t successful this time around, it would have to wait until September when the House sat again. Charlie wasn’t sure he could take a summer of suspense, and all the time he was aware that, for Harry, literally every day without a decision was a ticking time bomb.
Charlie, who’d decided to spend the time until Wednesday in Willowbury, rather than shooting back to London as he usually did on a Sunday night or Monday morning, had, with Holly’s tacit blessing, virtually moved into her flat while they waited for a decision on the Adjournment Debate. He had a lot of constituency casework to catch up on, and when he wasn’t using Holly’s place as a base, he’d been out and about on constituency visits, which managed to take his mind off the agonising wait for Wednesday’s news, as had spending his spare time with Holly. He’d even managed to catch up, informally, with Mrs Garner, she of the noisy neighbours, and was relieved to discover that the council had acted swiftly and that the situation had been resolved amicably on all sides. He allowed himself a small glow of satisfaction for that particular case. It wouldn’t change the world, but it had made a pretty significant difference to Mrs Garner’s life.
Nevertheless, Charlie was still climbing the walls by the time Wednesday afternoon rolled around. The refresh button on his webmail had been pushed so many times, he was surprised he hadn’t single-handedly crashed the system. Holly kept popping up from the shop floor when she could to offer a word of encouragement or reassurance, but even she was feeling the strain. Tom, knowing the decision was imminent, had brought some work from the office and was also using Holly’s kitchen table as a de-facto hot desk.
Eventually, the much-longed-for email came through, and Charlie’s heart, as well as his stomach, fell through the floor. ‘Oh Christ,’ he breathed.
‘What is it?’ Tom, lost in a world of paperwork of his own, was, nevertheless, instantly alert.
‘You’re not going to believe this, but it’s scheduled for tomorrow.’
‘Christ, indeed,’ Tom replied. ‘You’d better start looking up trains.’
‘Am I going to be ready?’ Charlie looked down at the speech and it seemed to swim before his eyes.
‘Well, that’s the question,’ Tom said. He let the pause hang in the air as Charlie and Holly, who’d dashed up between customers, mindful of the time, and that there could be an email any minute, looked expectantly at him.
‘And?’ Charlie leaned forward eagerly in his seat, like a schoolboy expecting praise.
Tom let the pause linger a little longer while he took a long pull of his coffee. ‘You’re a lover of rhetoric, that’s clear. And your turns of phrase definitely veer to the wrong side of melodramatic from time to time.’ Tom took another sip, clearly enjoying watching Charlie squirm. ‘However…’ he smiled. ‘You manage, just, to walk the fine line between the emotional and the informative. You’ve scattered just the right amount of statistics throughout to counteract the utter frustration and heartbreak of your – and I hesitate, with respect, to use this phrase, Holly, knowing your links to Harry – but your case studies. I think it’ll go down very well.’
‘If he remembers not to flap his hands around too much,’ Holly quipped.
‘Ah, the curse of the modern politician,’ Tom sighed. ‘You wouldn’t have seen Douglas Hurd or John Smith using those tactics.’
‘Got to play to the crowd,’ Charlie said but made a note to tone it down a little, if he could. Although at this stage, he was more preoccupied with remembering the words of the speech; the hand gestures might just have to remain.
‘And, of course, you’d better do your best to keep your eye on the benches, too. There’s bound to be at least one of your colleagues who’ll want to interject on such an emotive issue, and probably quite a few on the other side who’ll use it as an excuse to castigate the Department of Health for not acting quickly enough up to now.’
‘Which will undoubtedly piss off Cora Mellish and her team,’ Charlie reflected ruefully.
‘Well, yes, but since she’s been playing fast and loose with you over this whole issue, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. I suspect the PM has had a quiet word and reminded her about bringing on talent rather than alienating it.’
‘You think so?’ Charlie’s heart leapt for a different reason.
‘You know what Westminster’s like,’ Tom said. ‘They’re talent-spotting constantly, and you know the PM was impressed when you stood up the first time. This is your chance to really make an impression.’
Charlie shook his head. ‘That’s what I thought I wanted, Tom, but, to be honest, I just want to do right by Harry and his family, and the rest of the CF patients in the country. As best as I can, anyway.’
‘Careful,’ Holly quipped, although her voice trembled a little. ‘You’re beginning to sound like a human being, rather than a politician.’
‘Thanks,’ Charlie said dryly. He stood up from the kitchen table and wandered over to where Holly was leaning against the door frame of her living room, so she could hear if the shop bell signalled a customer. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked softly, seeing the conflicted look on her face.