Second Chance - Jane Green [25]
‘Why? Do you fancy me again?’
It had become a standing joke between them, this falling in and out of love with each other, but to Holly’s embarrassment she found herself lost for words, a deep blush spreading across her face.
‘Oh God,’ Tom was mortified, ‘I didn’t mean that.
Oh God, Holly. If you’d told me two months ago.’
‘Two months ago I was with Jake.’
‘I know.’ Tom smiled. ‘I was horribly jealous.’
‘Well, why didn’t you say anything?’
‘Because you were with Jake. What difference would it have made?’
‘I might have dumped him for you.’
‘Holly, Holly, Holly.’ Tom put his head in his hands. ‘We’re not destined to be together, you know that.’
Holly’s blush faded as quickly as it had come. ‘I know.’ She sighed. ‘But what about if we’re both still single at thirty? How about we make a pact that we get married if we’re both still single at thirty?’
‘Thirty?’ Tom sounded slightly alarmed. ‘That’s only five years away. Can we make it thirty-five?’
‘Okay.’ Holly extended her hand across the table and Tom shook it firmly. ‘Thirty-five and we get married.’
‘Done.’
‘So go on,’ Holly said after a few minutes, mouth full of pitta and tzatziki. ‘Who is she, then?’
And on it went.
Holly has not had the heart to cook, but has made a salad, has picked up a gourmet pasta dish, a couple of baguettes and a tiramisu from the Italian deli down the road. Several bottles of wine are chilling in the fridge.
Holly sets the table for four, everything taking five times as long as it usually does because she loses herself in a constant stream of memories about Tom.
She finishes getting the table ready, then goes to the bathroom to attempt to mask the pain her face has been carrying the last few weeks. Murine eyedrops to wash the redness from her eyes, tinted moisturizer to even out her skin, now blotchy from the streams of tears. Eyeshadow to make her eyes bigger, blusher to bring colour to her face, recently an unbecoming shade of grey.
Not gorgeous. Not now. But presentable. That’s the best she can hope for. As the doorbell rings, Holly sighs and smooths her hair behind her ears, then she walks down the stairs.
She has often thought about a school reunion, but never thought it would be under circumstances such as these.
Chapter Five
Olivia is first. Standing awkwardly on the doorstep proffering a bottle of wine, Olivia is surprised at how naturally she and Holly fall into each other’s arms, and when they pull apart, both wipe their eyes and smile, shaking their heads, too overcome with emotion to speak.
A Saab crawls slowly up the road, and they turn, Holly squinting at the car, a man and a woman peering out of the window. She waves furiously as they pull into a spot, and Paul and Saffron make their way up the path, all of them smiling sorrowfully at one another, before wrapping each other up, one by one, in huge tear-filled hugs, unable to believe they are together again after all these years, unable to believe what has brought them back together.
Holly is suddenly enormously relieved that the clattering group has made its way into her kitchen in her home. Olivia had suggested going out, didn’t want Holly to go to the trouble of cooking, preparing a meal, but Holly had known she couldn’t deal with this in a public space, needs intimate surroundings to talk about Tom, needs the warmth and comfort of a home.
‘How are you?’
‘You look fantastic!’
‘Look at you!’
‘Our friend the film star!’
‘Oh my God! How long has it been?’
Their voices echo around the kitchen as they smile at one another, Olivia grinning at Saffron, Paul squeezing Holly’s shoulders, Saffron feeling, for the first time in years, that she doesn’t have to be Saffron Armitage, movie star, that she can finally be Saff. Just Saff.
‘It’s good to be here.’ Paul