Second Chance - Jane Green [27]
The others laugh.
‘You know what I loved best about Tom? That he didn’t change. That he was never impressed by people or things. He knew me for so long that he refused to be impressed by my acting or the films I was in. Used to piss me off enormously,’ Saffron admitted with a shrug. ‘After I was in that film with Dennis Quaid, I thought he’d finally treat me with a bit more respect, but he didn’t give a damn. Actually I think he even told me to get off my high horse once upon a time.’
‘Did you?’ Paul looks at her with an amused grin.
‘What do you think?’ She raises an eyebrow as she turns her head slowly to look at him.
‘Thought not.’
‘I know this sounds terrible,’ Holly says quietly, ‘but don’t they always say you never appreciate what you have until it’s gone? I spent years falling in and out of love with Tom, and then I met Marcus, and then obviously Tom and I were just friends, but I wish I’d spoken to him more, wish I’d shown him how much I loved him. I mean, how can you know something like this is going to happen?’
‘Of course you can’t,’ Saffron says, ‘and he would have known. He knew how much we all loved him. That’s why he insisted on staying in all our lives.’
‘Let’s toast,’ says Olivia. ‘To Tom,’ she raises her eyes upwards, ‘wherever you are.’
‘To Tom,’ they all echo. ‘We wish you were here.’
‘More coffee?’ Holly sighs as she pulls her legs out from under her and hoists herself up from the sofa, knowing that there was a difference in her relationship with Tom but not wanting to share it with the others. Not yet.
‘I think more wine,’ Paul says, as he drains the dregs of his fourth glass.
It was not long after the dinner in Bayswater. Before her trip to Australia where Marcus had swept Holly off her feet, before a time when she would look at Tom and see nothing more than a best friend.
Another dinner. This time in Holland Park. Not for any reason other than to catch up with each other. Holly had been to the huge Ghost warehouse sale that morning – had pushed her way through hundreds of desperate west London women to grab anything that looked vaguely her size, had thought nothing of stripping down to bra and knickers to try on her pickings in the middle of a room filled with clothes racks.
She had found a beautiful diaphanous lilac coat. Sheer, flowing, it wafted out behind her as she walked. It was tied around the neck with a delicate beaded string, and worn with sheer flared lilac pants and a camisole vest.
She looked beautiful that night. The afternoon had been a hot one. She’d met a group of girlfriends on Primrose Hill. One had brought an oversized blanket, another baguettes, another cheese. Holly had brought wine, and they’d all taken off their T-shirts, rolled up their peasant skirts as far as they dared, and basked in the sun as Frisbees and balls whizzed over their heads, dogs running up and trying to pinch some of their food.
Holly had the kind of skin that looked at the sun and bronzed. That night she tipped her head upside down and shook her hair out to achieve that slightly wild, sexy look, swept Ultraglow on her cheeks, and popped silver hoops into her ears. She wasn’t doing it for Tom but for herself, although she knew Tom would appreciate it.
He pulled up outside the flat at seven, beeped the horn, and Holly ran down the stairs and tumbled into his car.
‘You look gorgeous!’ he said in surprise as she leant over and kissed him on the cheek.
‘I know!’ she said. ‘Ghost sale. Dirt cheap. Isn’t it fantastic?’
‘Yes, and how come you’re so brown?’
‘Mixture of Primrose Hill and make-up. You like?’
‘You look the very picture of health. Come on. I’ve booked Julie’s.’
‘Oh I say,’ Holly settled back in the car seat. ‘How romantic