All I Want Series Boxset, Books 1-3: All I Want for Christmas, All I Want for Valentine's, All I Want for Spring (25 page)

Her dad met them at the door, his wife Sarah close behind, her dark red hair cascading past her shoulders like a hair waterfall. It was a stark contrast to Holly’s dad, David, who was receding and grey.

“Welcome, lovely to see you!” Sarah hugged both women tightly. “Lovely to meet you Tori, I’ve heard so much about you.”

“I think you’ve got a fan already,” Holly whispered in Tori’s ear as they followed Sarah down the hallway.

Tori smiled. “Something smells good,” she said, her nose assaulted by the delicious scent of home-baking, the air filled with trails of buttery pastry and warm fruits.

“All David,” Sarah said, smiling at her husband. “We’ve got a delicious dessert tonight thanks to his baking talents, so I hope you’re not on a New Year diet.”

“No diets here,” Tori replied.

The lounge was something straight out of Holly’s nightmares. Sarah had a thing for patterns and flowers, and their lounge had those in abundance: on the walls, on the sofa, on the curtains. It wasn’t that Holly disliked florals and patterns, just not
this
many all in one place. When Holly had first visited, she’d been overwhelmed by the craziness of it all. Now, she knew what to expect, but Holly could see from Tori’s face she was suffering the initial lounge shock.

Tori’s mouth was hanging open. Holly contemplated leaning over to shut it, but decided against it. Sitting in a room like this for too long made Holly long for a plain, white wall. And a couple of paracetamol. Or at least sunglasses.

“And how’s my little princess?” Holly asked, bending down to give Elsie a kiss on the cheek. It’d been at least three months since Holly had seen her two-year-old half-sister, so she wasn’t expecting a glorious welcome.

Elsie stared at Holly, a bit wary, her gaze telling Holly there was work to be done to get back in her good books. As if to prove the point, Elsie backed away and clung to her dad, who was now sitting on the sofa.

“Say hello to Holly, Elsie! And this is Holly’s friend, Tori.” He lifted Elsie onto his lap, and Holly couldn’t help but be struck by the age difference between him and his daughter. Her dad was five years off his 60th birthday and had a toddler — he’d already told Holly that everyone thought he was Elsie’s granddad when he picked her up from school.

“So how was Christmas? You spent it at your mum’s, right, Tori?” David had an arm around Elsie, who was staring wide-eyed at Tori as she spoke.

“Yep, and it was great, thanks. Great food, fine wine, gorgeous company.”

“Your mum seemed on good form on Christmas day, too,” David said to Holly.

Holly’s shackles went up. It was an automatic reaction where her mum was concerned. Holly was her protector.

“She was. She’s doing really well. And Tori’s mum did a lovely Christmas.” Holly wanted to add, “no thanks to you”, but she decided to play the adult card instead. There was a time and a place, and goodness knows she’d thrown enough shots at her dad, who fully deserved them. But now, it was time to move on. Holly was here with her girlfriend, and it was time to forgive her dad, and make a relationship with her baby sister. Even if sometimes when she looked at him, she still wanted to slap him.

“And who’s the green-fingered one in this relationship?” Tori asked, cutting in, steering the conversation in a different direction. “It’s like a garden centre in here.”

Sarah raised her hand. “That’d be me. I love plants — I’ll show you round the garden later if you like.”

Tori shook her head. “I’m more interested in indoor plants. Any tips you can give me would be most appreciated,” she said. “If I can keep a peace lily alive for the next six weeks, we’re getting a kitten.”

Sarah rubbed her hands together. “Fabulous — I love kittens so I’ll be sure to give you some tips over dinner.”

“That’d be great,” Tori said.

“Now, what can I get you to drink?” Sarah asked, jumping up.

***

Dinner went well, with her dad producing his famous sea bass with lemon potatoes, and following up with a home-made pear tart. The way to smooth relations and butter people up is to feed them good food, and Holly’s dad delivered big-style. They’d decided to stay the night so they could take Elsie to the park in the morning; plus, getting back to town didn’t seem like such a good idea after a few glasses of wine. Holly didn’t particularly like staying overnight anywhere but a hotel, but she’d agreed to this for Elsie’s sake. It had been her New Year’s resolution, after all — get to know her little sister.

Holly’s dad showed them to their room, giving them towels and backing away swiftly. But it was only when Holly closed the door they saw what lay in wait. As well as more floral curtains and wallpaper so patterned it was like they were inside a kaleidoscope, their bed for the night had no mattress — rather, it was a water bed.

Tori was the first to dive on it, and she let out a shriek of laughter as her weight hit the bed, then the water sloshed about, as did her body.

“A water bed? I mean, who has water beds anymore, apart from ageing rock stars.” Tori rolled one way and then the other, giggling as she did. “You think Sarah was a rock star in a former life? It might explain the big hair. Or maybe a buyer for a hideous floral wallpaper company? Or a mix of both? I can’t quite decide.”

Holly fell onto the bed too, letting the weird sensation overwhelm her. She moved one way and the bed wobbled. She moved the other, same thing.

“No idea, but this is too odd for words. This must have been Sarah’s before she met dad.” Holly paused. “Can you imagine having sex on it?”

Tori rolled over and gathered Holly in her arms, giving her a sly smile.

Holly immediately began to laugh. “Oh no, don’t give me that look. We’re not having sex in my step-mother’s water bed the first time we visit. I do not want their looks in the morning when we go down — it was bad enough at Christmas with your mum making those comments. But how noisy would sex in a water bed be?”

“It’d just sound like we were having a vigorous bath,” Tori replied, running her hands up and down Holly’s body.

“In a room without a bath.” Holly leaned in to kiss Tori and the bed lapped around them.

They both burst out laughing, rolling onto their backs, holding hands and staring at the ceiling.

“I bet your dad and Sarah have had sex on this bed.” Tori squeezed Holly’s hand as she said it.

“Eugh, please!”

“They’ve done it at least once, they’ve got Elsie.”

“At least twice. Remember, that’s how Mum found out. Someone told her Dad had been caught on the office camera having sex.” Holly sighed. “Poor Mum.”

Tori squeezed her hand again. “Enough of that anyway — you told me you were moving on. And Sarah seems nice.”

Holly let the thought roll around her head. It was true that Sarah had never been anything but lovely to her, and tonight she’d been the consummate host, carrying conversation, refilling their glasses and laughing at all of Holly’s jokes. Even the lame ones. Despite that, Holly still clicked her tongue before answering.

“She does.” Then she shrugged. “But you know, she’ll always be the woman who had an affair with a married man. And not just any married man, but my dad. With the receding hair and the slight paunch. If you’re going to have an affair, at least do it with someone attractive.”

Tori elbowed her in the ribs. “Your dad is attractive, and he’s a nice man. And he can cook, too. He’s got a lot going for him.”

“For a philanderer.”

Tori glanced sideways at Holly. “Really glad that whole ‘letting go’ thing is working out so well for you. Now you’ve got a two year old in your life, you might want to watch
Frozen
with her — there’s quite a good song in there about it.”

Holly elbowed her, before draping a smile over her features. “I’m working on it, okay? I know I need to, and it’ll be good to be around Elsie — she at least deserves to think good things about her daddy. She’s probably the only person in the world who does, but everyone needs someone to adore them, right?”

Tori rolled over, and began to chuckle again as the water gurgled beneath them. “I’m so glad we stayed — this is beyond anything I expected, in a good way.” She kissed Holly on the mouth, before leaning on her elbow, her face resting in her palm. But when Holly moved, the bed wobbled and Tori collapsed, laughing.

“Just so you know though, that person in your life is me,” Tori said when she’d recovered her poise.

“What person?” Holly said, flat on her back, not daring to move.

“The one who adores you.” Tori put her index finger to her chest. “That’s me.”

Holly glanced sideways. “Adoration already? Have we been going out long enough for adoration?” She let a smile creep onto her face, though. Everyone likes to be adored.

This time, Tori didn’t care what the bed did — she rolled decisively on top of Holly, pinning her down.

“I’ve always adored you, ever since we met at school. It just took me a little while to catch on that I
really
adored everything about you. And I’m never letting you go now we have access to a water bed.” She paused, sliding a hand between Holly’s legs and raising one eyebrow. “You sure I can’t tempt you into some action on the high seas?”

“I’m always up for some pirate talk,” Holly replied, giving Tori a sultry smile.

CHAPTER 5

January: Week Three

The following Thursday, Holly was having a coffee at work, having just concluded a one-on-one. One of her junior recruitment consultants had placed four clients in one day, so she’d called her in to congratulate her. Holly was all about praising when her staff had done well, and gentle cajoling when they needed it. In her book, nobody responded well to outright criticism, so why waste her time and theirs doling it out? Luckily, it was a management style that worked well, with none of her staff taking out a hit on her. Yet.

Her phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. It was her dad. She swiped the screen. They’d only seen each other four days ago, so why was he calling? Plus, he normally kept his fatherly duties to evenings and weekends.

“Hey dad,” Holly said.

“How are you?” His voice was shaky and the hairs on the back of Holly’s neck stood up.

“Everything okay?”

“Well, not really,” he said, his voice catching. “It’s Sarah — we’ve had some bad news. She’s been having a lot of headaches lately, and she’s been diagnosed with a brain tumour.”

“Fuck,” Holly replied. Sarah might be an acquired taste, but Holly wouldn’t wish a brain tumour on anyone. “I’m so sorry, that’s terrible.” She sat down heavily on the sofa, wobbly with shock. It didn’t seem possible, she’d been fine when they’d seen her at the weekend. “Is she going to have surgery?”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. “It looks that way. I don’t know — they were being vague when they told her yesterday, we’ve got an appointment to see a specialist tomorrow. But even if it’s not cancerous, they think the best thing to do is to operate because of its position.” He paused. “So I was wondering if you would be able to help out with Elsie.”

Holly could imagine him raking his hairy fingers through his less hairy head as he spoke. The tension hummed down the line.

Her dad continued: “I know it’s a big ask, but it would be a huge help. Your grandparents and Sarah’s folks will help out too, but they’re a bit older, and Elsie’s a handful.” He paused. “What do you think, would you and Tori be up for it?”

Holly’s heart lurched — she didn’t need to think about this one for long. “Of course we would.”

“We’re trying to keep it as normal for Elsie as possible, but if you could come over or take her for the odd weekend here and there, that’d be great.”

“Happy to. And if you need someone in the week, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.” Holly paused. “Plus, I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy
Frozen
on DVD, so this gives me the perfect reason. You’re doing me a favour.”

He laughed at that and Holly cracked a smile as the tension eased.

“And how’s Sarah doing?”

There was a pause before he replied. “She’s incredible — very positive and staying strong. But that’s Sarah really. I think I’m worse than her.” He sighed. “Are you around this weekend if we need you?”

“Yes, we’re around. And if we weren’t, I’d cancel my plans.” Emotion swirled through her. She couldn’t imagine how he was feeling. If this was Tori, she’d be an absolute wreck.

“Thanks love. I’ll call you when I know more.”

CHAPTER 6

“So is this a test?”

Elsie was sitting in her parents’ viciously floral lounge, bashing some wooden blocks with a plastic stick. Tori recalled having a similar set when she was younger.

“Is what a test?” Holly asked.

“You know — us babysitting Elsie while I’m in training for a kitten.”

Tori surveyed Holly as she sat back on the sofa, sipping a mug of tea. Her face sagged with tiredness — Holly had been having sleepless nights worrying about this weekend. Looking after a two-year-old without parents was going to be a challenge. Still, they both had cousins and friends with kids, so how hard could it be?

“Of course,” Holly said. “The plant’s still alive — well done. If we can keep Elsie alive this weekend, that’s another obstacle hurdled. Only try not to kill her, because it’d be a little tricky to explain. They’re quite attached to her. People get that way about small, cute things. It’s only when they grow up that parents start not to care.”

Tori put her arm around Holly, while beginning to sing
Frozen’s
Let It Go
.

At that, Elsie jumped up and raised both her hands in the air. “Elsa!” she shouted, her stubby legs propelling her around the room. “Elsa!” She ran in circles for a few more moments, before wobbling and collapsing onto the mercifully plain beige carpet. If that had been patterned too, Tori’s migraine would have been instantaneous.