Page 53 of Coming Home to Wishington Bay
Shortly before my love life hit the proverbial fan, Paul had suggested we book a romantic holiday away together. In my naivety, I’d wondered if there might have been a surprise aspect to this holiday, little things he had said here and there, about how it was to be extra special, and ultra romantic. I did an eye roll so big that I could practically see the back of my skull. How could I have been so blind, not to mention stupid?
Anyway, the upshot of it was that obviously I never went on that holiday. I’d assumed that he’d cancelled it, although I knew my deposit was long gone, having forgotten to check the box on my travel insurance application for protection against low-life cheating boyfriends. Maybe they classed that as an act of God or something, although in truth it was just an act of arsehole. As was the fact that instead of cancelling the holiday, he’d just changed the passenger details and gone with his fiancée instead. Using a deposit I had paid. I’d thought about kicking off about that, demanding my money back but honestly, even the thought of that had brought on a panic attack so God knew what would happen if I’d gone through with the whole thing.
It made me mad as hell but I was lucky enough to be able to take the loss and not suffer financially. I’d moved on. I’d thought at the time that maybe I’d take myself on a holiday alone instead. Of course, I didn’t. I filled up my time with work instead and the holiday clothes I’d bought, including this cute little blue dress with its flippy skater-style skirt and tie ribbon straps had sat unworn in my wardrobe ever since. I pulled it on and stood in front of the mirror. It wasn’t the dress’s fault it had bad memories associated with it. In fact, it didn’t really have any memories associated with it apart from that it had been bought for a holiday that had never happened – for me, at least.
I gave a little twist to the right, and then to the left and smiled as the skirt moved. Grabbing two pairs of shoes, I put one of each on my feet and took turns standing in front of the mirror, first with one leg showing and then with the other. The flats looked cute, but were they a bit too casual? The heels brought me a little closer to Gabe’s height, but were they too much? Would they make me look as if I was trying too hard? Oh God, was it supposed to be this difficult?
My phone blipped with a message. Gabe.
Sending this just in case … Breathe …
Did he have a camera poking through the wall like they did in the movies? Some alien-looking spy camera that peered around and had now homed in on me hopping between two pairs of shoes and getting wound up about a date that wasn’t even real?
Peering through windows wasn’t enough, eh? Now you’ve had the place fitted with cameras?!
Gotta move with the times.He followed it up with a winky face and I smiled, looking back as the phone blipped again.
Seriously. It’s just a nice dinner. Promise.
I was hoping this was the case, although I knew we had to first pass the hurdle of my brother going along with our little ruse. After his comment about playing doctor with Gabe earlier, I could only imagine what fun he was going to have with the predicament we’d now managed to find ourselves in.
‘Hey, I was just coming to knock for you.’
‘No problem. All ready.’ I’d gone with the heels as I decided that, if this had been real, I’d have wanted to show Mr and Mrs McKinley some respect by making an effort. Not that the flats were tatty, but this just felt more … authentic to me. And yes, I knew what a positively ridiculous thought that was considering that nothing about this whole scenario was authentic but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try. Gabe had done a lot for my grandmother, and had meant a lot to her, and that meant a lot to me. I knew he didn’t want any payback for that as he hadn’t considered it a chore, and had, when I’d mentioned it, told me that she had done even more for him, but it still felt nice to be able to give something back.
Also, it wasn’t in my nature to do anything half-heartedly. Sometimes that was a good thing – as shown with how well I was getting on with the house renovation. But, now that I had a little distance, I could also see that sometimes this could be not such a great thing when I looked at the way I worked. Admittedly, the break-up with Paul and Gigi’s death coming so close together had sent me spinning and I’d tried to find solace in a work schedule that I knew was already too heavy. But I was away from it now, and at the moment, my task was to try and help Gabe keep his parents’ minds at rest. And, let’s face it, when all it took was sitting down to a nice dinner with a gorgeous man and his pleasant parents for the evening, it wasn’t exactly the worst task I’d ever been assigned.
‘Wow!’
My face fell. ‘Too much?’ I checked the clock. ‘I can change. It won’t—’
‘No! No, you look great. That’s what the wow was for.’
‘Oh. Right. OK, that’s good. I mean, thank you. Obviously.’
Good Lord, Holly.
‘You look very nice, too,’ I added, hastily.
He gave me a smile that told me he thought I was saying it in response, but I so wasn’t. Truthfully, he looked a whole lot better than nice. The light tan chinos contrasted perfectly with the slim-fit black shirt that did a rather wonderful job of showing off great shoulders and muscular, tanned arms, the short sleeves only half hiding his biceps.
‘Thanks. I thought we could walk through the village tonight? I don’t want to be traipsing sand into your brother’s restaurant, nor is the thought of a man faffing around with his socks all that romantic so that seemed like a better option.’
‘Don’t worry about that. Sock faff all you like. I promise not to dump you.’
He looked down at me and my smart-arse grin and shook his head. ‘Good to know.’
I grinned and sat down on the steps to put my sandals on, now that I knew we weren’t walking along the beach. ‘It’ll be nice to walk through the village anyway. I love all the little shops here.’
‘Have you seen Minnie’s? The one that sells all sorts – paintings, gifts, recycled furniture? I keep meaning to tell you about that one as I thought you might like it. She’s only been here about a year, but it seems to be going well.’
‘Oh I have! You’re right. I love it! I could spend hours, not to mention a fortune in there.’
‘You know, she’s always looking for talented local artists to work with.’
‘Is she really? That’s nice to hear. So many communities are disappearing, it’s wonderful to hear of people doing something to build on them instead like that.’
‘You should take some of your paintings.’
