Love Redesigned (9 page)

Holly had a fitful night’s sleep. She woke up early the next morning feeling like she’d gone several rounds with Mike Tyson, from a mental point of view. On the plus side, her tiredness helped to dull her surface emotions, although she still felt her old friends—humiliation, betrayal, and hurt—lingering somewhere not too far away. In the night, she’d come to realise that she’d made a massive cock-up in that she’d monumentally misread the signals Daniel had been giving off. Whether he’d done it deliberately or not, he’d made her think that maybe they had a chance of getting back together, and a future as a family. Now it was clear that he hadn’t wanted any of that. He’d just wanted to get his own back on her, get his divorce, and, if he was to be believed, begin a relationship with Harry.

All Holly really wanted to do now was get up, head home, and lick her wounds in private. Harry, on the other hand, woke up bouncing off the walls, thrilled at the prospect of playing football with his father. It was the last thing Holly wanted to do, but she slapped on a smile, extra don’t-give-a-shit eyeliner, packed up their stuff, and headed downstairs. It was still early, and the coward in her hoped Daniel wouldn’t be around and they could just sneak off. The party must have gone on late, so the odds of not seeing him were in her favour, she thought.

She was wrong. She’d forgotten that Daniel was something of a machine in the not-needing-much-sleep department. They’d just got to the bottom of the stairs when Daniel came striding down the hall. He looked all fresh and well rested. No doubt he hadn’t lost a single second of sleep over what happened, not like she had, Holly thought sadly to herself.

‘Morning, guys,’ Daniel said cheerfully.

‘Hi, Daddy,’ Harry said, giving him a big smile. ‘Are you coming to play?’

‘Soon, Harry. How about we all get some breakfast first? A growing young footballer like yourself needs a good breakfast,’ Daniel said easily.

‘Good idea, Daddy. I don’t want you to faint when I beat you,’ Harry said cheekily, heading off towards the kitchen. Daniel gave Holly an awkward smile before following Harry. Poor Holly was left in the hallway holding all the bags, feeling completely and utterly out of control. She dropped their bags noisily and huffed off after them.

Holly plonked herself down at the breakfast table as inelegantly as possible, and immediately got stuck into the amazing spread that she presumed Stephanie had laid out. She wasn’t particularly hungry, but she thought she may as well get her fill of some good food. The rest of the weekend had been a complete write-off, so her stomach could at least be satisfied. Holly was just tucking into her second slice of toast when Miranda floated into the kitchen wearing a skimpy black negligée and nothing else.

‘Good morning, Harry,’ Miranda said. She came and planted a kiss on his head before draping herself around Daniel, who was making coffee. Holly didn’t know where to look. She willed herself not to feel embarrassed at the display, but she couldn’t help herself. To his credit, Daniel wasn’t joining in with Miranda’s public display of affection. He just sort of got on with making the coffee as best he could until he finally managed to escape her clutches and sit down next to Harry.

‘Did you sleep well, Holly?’ Miranda called out from the fridge.

‘Yes thanks,’ Holly replied, shoveling in more toast to stop herself from saying something nasty.

‘Did you stay over too?’ Harry asked Miranda innocently, eyes going wide.

‘Why, yes,’ said a smiling Miranda, as she wiggled over to the table and stood by Daniel’s side. ‘You see, Harry,’ she began, stroking Daniel’s neck, ‘I’m your daddy’s…’

‘Friend,’ Daniel cut in firmly, giving Miranda a stern look. ‘Later,’ he growled at her under his breath. Miranda started to pout before she thought better of it.

‘Of course,’ she said quietly, and sat down on Daniel’s other side. ‘Oh, what was I thinking!’ Miranda exclaimed to herself as she got up again, ‘I must get my muesli.’ Miranda walked over to the huge wall of kitchen cabinets and immediately pulled out what she was looking for. It was a blatant message to Holly that she’d had many breakfasts here already.

Once they were all settled and chomping away on their respective breakfasts—healthy fruit and muesli for Miranda whilst Daniel, Harry and Holly all worked their way through the various parts of a calorific English breakfast—Miranda tried to broach a conversation with Holly.

‘Isn’t this grown up? Daniel, his new fiancée, his son, and his soon-to-be ex-wife all sitting down to breakfast together. Aren’t we a dysfunctional, yet civilised family?’ Miranda said, laughing at her observation. Holly fought the urge to vomit on the woman.

‘You’re very quiet today, Holly,’ Miranda said gently, her voice full of concern.

‘I’m just tired, I guess. Must be the change of air,’ Holly replied wearily. She wanted to ignore this silly woman who was going to catch a cold in her barely-there nightie, but she had to set a good example in front of Harry.

‘I must say, it’s very good of you to come and chaperone Harry. We could have managed by ourselves, as I’m sure you’ll agree. But I suppose you wanted to see the house?’ Miranda went on with another leading question.

‘Oh yes, you’re absolutely right. I’ve heard so much about the place and couldn’t wait to clap eyes on it,’ Holly lied, telling Miranda exactly what she wanted to hear. Daniel had been chatting away quietly with Harry until this point, but Holly noticed that he had surreptitiously diverted a portion of his attention to their conversation now. No doubt ready to jump in and put out any fires.

‘And seeing as you’re here, it’ll give Daniel the opportunity to go through the papers with you,’ Miranda said quietly, casting an eye in Daniel’s direction. Holly could have been wrong, but she sensed Miranda was goading—or, at the least, testing the patience of—her husband-to-be.

‘That’s enough, Miranda,’ Daniel said, not even looking up from cutting up a piece of bacon for Harry.

‘And what papers would those be, Miranda?’ Holly asked with wide-eyed innocence, ignoring Daniel.

‘Why, your divorce papers of course,’ Miranda whispered and looked across at Harry. Holly wanted to tell her that her discretion was coming a bit late. She knew Miranda’s semi-naked appearance that morning was going to result in a barrage of questions from her little man on the journey home.

‘I must say, these sorts of things are usually handled by the lawyers via courier, but hey ho,’ Miranda went on, sighing as though she had made a great sacrifice. ‘We must start as we mean to go on. Once we’re married, we both hope to see Harry for many more breakfasts. And you’ll be welcome too, Holly.’ Holly made a mental picture of Daniel, Miranda, and Harry sitting down for breakfast together. Like a real family. It hurt. Holly couldn’t even deign to imagine her own presence in the scene. It was a phony invitation anyway, and a repeat of the breakfast scene that was currently playing out would be excruciating.

‘I said
enough,
Miranda,’ Daniel said in a quiet but stern voice. He got up quickly, turning his back on the table as he rinsed out his mug in the sink. Holly wondered if he actually did that himself everyday, or if it was just to get him away from the table on this particular day. She had a feeling Stephanie was normally responsible for all mug-rinsing duties.

Holly’s fight-or-flight instincts suddenly kicked into overdrive. Unsurprisingly, flight was leading the way by a big margin.

‘Right, Harry. I think you’d better eat up quick. We’ve got a long drive ahead and you’ve got school tomorrow,’ Holly said, switching into assertive mummy mode.

‘But Mum,’ Harry moaned. ‘What about my football game?’

‘It’ll have to be next time,’ Holly replied wearily, massaging her temples.

‘But—’ Harry began again.

‘Harry!’ Holly scolded, giving him a look. Harry stopped moaning, but folded his arms and huffed loudly.

‘You’re going so soon, but you live so close,’ Miranda said with a pout and oodles of mock sincerity. She was clearly trying to drop Holly in it even more so with Harry.

‘That may be so. But as it’s me doing the driving, I’ll decide when we go,’ Holly said flatly, giving Miranda an icy look. She was tired of fake-smiling at the woman.

‘I’ll see you out,’ Daniel said, seemingly in agreement with Holly’s plans for once in his life.

Holly was fuming as she strapped a stroppy Harry into his car seat. She was so cross, it took her three attempts to do the buckles properly. She wanted to end the crappy crapness of this weekend and go home. To her small, cosy home, surrounded by her things. That was her sanctuary, and she longed to teleport herself and Harry away that instant.

‘Can I have a word?’ Daniel called over to her from the doorstep as soon as she’d slammed Harry’s car door.

‘What do you want, Daniel?’ Holly said impatiently, taking a couple of steps towards him, then stopping a few metres away.

‘I really am sorry,’ he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking at her with a boyish smile.

‘I don’t find any of this funny,’ Holly lectured. ‘In fact, I don’t believe you’re at
all
sorry. They’re just empty words. The truth is you must really hate me, Daniel. To let me find out about you marrying
her
like I did, and then to put me through that ordeal in there,’ she said, gesturing to the house. ‘Yes, I left you and ran away. But you seem to have forgotten that I left you because you didn’t want children—and there was no way in this lifetime that I was going to get rid of Harry. It’s a decision I’ve never once regretted making, however hard it’s been. I didn’t deserve
any
of that bullshit this morning. How long am I going to be punished for leaving the great Daniel Madison?’

‘Are you finished? Have you gotten everything off your chest now?’ Daniel said, hopping off the step and taking a couple of steps towards her.

‘No. You can tell Miranda to put some bloody clothes on in front of my son, when she’s flouncing round my house,’ Holly snapped without thinking.

‘It’s your house, is it now?’ Daniel said, smiling at her slip as he took another step towards her.

‘You know what I mean,’ Holly replied dismissively, feeling the colour rush to her cheeks. She knew it wasn’t
her
house, and she was cross she’d gotten her words mixed up. Daniel was within touching distance now. Something Holly was only too aware of.

‘Anything else?’ Daniel enquired, raising his eyebrows.

‘Hmm, let’s see, hurt, humiliation, betrayal.’ Holly ticked them off on her fingers. ‘I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.’

‘My turn. I don’t want to punish you. And I don’t hate you. Far from it. Since I came to your house, met Harry, and saw you again, my head’s been all over the place. Holly, I’ve never been so out of control in my life,’ Daniel said, his eyes watching her carefully for a reaction.

‘So you didn’t deliberately go to all this trouble in order to make a fool out me?’ Holly asked, studying him closely now.

‘Of course I didn’t,’ he said quickly, then he seemed to think on his words. ‘I didn’t orchestrate any of what happened this weekend,’ he continued slowly. ‘But if I’m completely honest, I did come to see you with the intention of ruffling your feathers by turning up unannounced and demanding divorce papers and access to Harry. If you’ll remember, that plan went quickly out the window.’ He smiled at the recollection of how events actually played out that day.

‘What about Miranda? She obviously choreographed the whole engagement announcement last night. Do you really expect me to believe that you didn’t know?’ Holly asked, folding her arms.

‘I swear, I didn’t have a clue about any of that. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to you,’ he said earnestly. ‘Okay, maybe not quite so much of a surprise as it was to you,’ he added when he clocked Holly’s rolling eyes. ‘Miranda and I, we haven’t really ever advertised our relationship.’

‘You could have fooled me,’ Holly scoffed.

‘She’s a good woman, Holly. She’s just a little threatened at the moment. Hence her performance this morning.’

‘Why on earth would she feel threatened? She’s
engaged
to you,’ Holly said.

‘Because you’re still my wife. It isn’t easy for her,’ Daniel said, defending his fiancée.

‘I’d better go,’ Holly said, not wanting to continue any conversation that revolved around Miranda. As she turned to walk back to the car, Daniel caught her wrist, catching her mid-turn. Holly looked down to see his hand tethered around her; her attraction was undeniable. It trilled through her alive and well. She was practically certain her own desire would be written all over her face.

‘We can’t do this,’ Holly said, raising her eyes to meet his. She was sorely tempted to scour the windows past Daniel’s shoulder and see if Miranda was there, spying on her loving future husband.

‘I don’t know what I’m doing,’ he whispered, pulling her close to him and inhaling her scent.

‘No,’ Holly said, placing her hands on his chest and pushing him away. ‘I will not be your bit on the side. I have to go,’ she said, looking him in the eye. After a moment of reluctance, he let her take a half-step back.

‘Oh, and I’m sorry about your mum,’ Holly said, suddenly remembering that he’d lost his mother a matter of weeks ago. Other stuff had seemed to get in the way since she’d found out yesterday at the party. A pained look crossed his features, and Holly fought the urge to cradle his face. It was the same way Harry looked when he was trying to be brave.

‘Oh, screw it,’ Holly said, giving in to her sympathy and desire to touch him. She closed the gap between them, went up on her tiptoes, and gave him a tender kiss on the mouth. It wasn’t full of passion, and she hoped it wouldn’t be misconstrued as absolution for his behaviour, but it was full of meaning and kindness. And for Holly, it was also a kiss goodbye.

The following day, Chloe was in Holly’s office going through their plans for the week. Well—that was supposed to be what they were doing. It had taken all of twenty seconds before the conversation had gone off on a tangent to the events of Holly’s weekend and Holly’s apparent change in thinking.