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‘Do you want some water?’ He reached around to his back pocket and pulled out a bottle of Evian.
Holly frowned. ‘Yeah, thank you.’
‘It’s OK.’ He unscrewed the cap and took a sip.
When she tried to give it back, he waved it away as if she should keep it. Putting the bottle down on the bonnet of the van, Holly cleared her throat and said, to all of them, ‘Look, I don’t want to hang around and listen to all of this. I can go on my own. Wilf, you clearly don’t want to drive there with me and, to be honest, I think it would be all a bit weird, so I’m just going to go on my own and that’ll give us some time to…you know, calm down a bit. OK? Good.’ She turned and headed towards the driver’s side door. Anything to get her away from here, away from the heat and scent and closeness of Wilf standing next to her.
The more she thought about it, the more the idea of going on her own felt like it could be a good thing. Get her to bond with the baby. She’d tried talking to it last week and had felt ridiculous so stopped. A couple of days’ journey on her own might force them into conversation.
‘Codswallop,’ she heard Emily say. ‘Can you imagine what Annie would say if I let you drive, pregnant and alone, to France in a bloody ice cream van. No way.’ Emily shook her head, ‘No, Wilf, you’ve got to go with her.’
Holly paused as she opened the van door, just to check what his reaction was going to be.
Wilf’s top lip tilted up in a half-sneer. ‘I can’t just go now.’
Holly huffed a laugh. Emily raised her eyebrows and did a slight shake of her head. Wilf looked away, scraped his hand through his hair again, then wiped sweat off his forehead with his wrist. ‘It’s just. No. We can’t go together.’
Holly got in the van, slammed the door and started the engine.
Emily ran her finger along her bottom lip, drew her eyebrows together in a frown. The window of the van was open and Holly heard her say, ‘So you’d be happy to let Holly drive, pregnant ‒ with your baby I hasten to add ‒ and alone, all the way to the South of France. Go Wilfred. Very gentlemanly. Nice one.’
As Holly was reversing out of the space, she saw Emily backing away towards the clubhouse with Alfonso, her expression one of disappointment, shaking her head at Wilf. Alfonso was looking at the grass.
Holly was halfway down the rubbly path, passing the spectators having picnics from wicker baskets and lounging in deckchairs. She was contemplating their freedom when suddenly the passenger door swung open and Wilf jumped in. She slammed on the brakes. He was out of breath from his sprint but still frowning when he said, ‘Why are you stopping? There’s a ferry to catch.’
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