Page 14 of Ask Another Day

‘Owen Harrison, are you a secret magician?’ Holly whispered, her eyes wide in anticipation. The excitement at this potential discovery had her loosening his hold on her hand so she could clap her hands together with delight.

His laugh rumbled through him and if their hands had still been connected, the vibrations would have travelled to her too. She was a little disappointed she didn’t get to experience that.

‘Well, I’m not a member of the Magic Circle or anything, but I can do a few tricks.’

‘Natalie would love to see some tricks.’

At the mention of Natalie, Owen sat up a little straighter. The movement made Holly happy - like he wanted to sit a bit taller because of her daughter.

‘Yeah? OK, I’ll drop by the pub and show her a few of my best tricks.’

As they’d been talking, Holly’s posture had relaxed and her thighs were now resting on the cool tiles. Subconsciously, she was also moving her legs through the water now, no longer only benefiting from Owen’s actions.

‘Thanks. And thank you for this, Owen,’ she said, gesturing to the pool.

‘Don’t mention it. Easiest lesson I’ve got scheduled for today,’ he gently nudged her shoulder, smiling at her warmly.

*

The bells on the door to The Book Nook jingled when Holly entered the shop an hour later to find Natalie cuddled up with Rose looking at a book together. Rose spotted her first, her daughter too engrossed in whatever book they were sharing.

‘Hey Holly. How did the lesson go?’ Rose’s question snapped Natalie out of the book, and she pushed up excitedly to get to her mum.

‘Mummy, did you get in the water with Ow-en?’ Natalie asked, struggling a bit with his name. Natalie’s language was great for a child her age, but that w sound would often cause her issues.

‘It was good,’ she gave Rose a knowing smile, and then focussed on her daughter as she added, ‘and yes, my feet and ankles got wet.’

Natalie screwed up her face. ‘Only your feet and ankles? That’s not swimming, Mummy,’ she tutted.

‘Go grab the biscuits, Natalie, you don’t want to leave them here, Uncle Luke will eat them all.’ Rose made a gobbling action as she pretended to stuff biscuits into her mouth.

Natalie jumped up and rushed towards Eleanor’s small living space at the back of the bookshop. For years, Eleanor had lived above the bookshop - in the space Rose now called home. When Rose had moved to the Bay to work in The Book Nook, Eleanor had already moved herself into a studio behind the shop. Looking at it now, you’d have thought it had always been that way.

‘So?’ Rose rushed out as soon as they were alone. They wouldn’t have long, and they both knew it.

‘Yep, it was good. I sat on the edge, got my feet and ankles wet and we chatted.’

Rose nodded along, happy. ‘OK, good start. Nice foundations. I’m getting strong friends to lovers vibes. Maybe a bit of Alanna and George?’

Holly shook her head, and huffed out a gentle laugh. Rose was book obsessed, which made complete sense seeing as she’d moved hundreds of miles to work in a bookshop. But for Holly, who wasn’t a big reader, Rose’s references often went over her head.

‘You know I don’t know who you’re talking about right? Anyway, we’ll see. I’ll take him getting me to swim again over anything else to be honest.’

‘Anything else? Aim big, Holly. I think he can do more than just teach you to swim.’

Before Holly could form a pithy response, Natalie came crashing back into the shop floor, tripped over the edge of a rug and managed to catapult herself, hard, onto the exposed wooden floorboards. The ensuing scream was instant and Holly rushed over to scoop her up. There was a small cut to her knee, but otherwise she looked fine.

‘Come on, darling. You’re OK. Let’s get one of our special plasters on that knee.’

The mention of a special plaster appeased her enough so she could nod her head in agreement, although tears still streamed down her pale, blotchy face.

‘Thanks for having her,’ she turned to say to Rose, hoping she knew how much she meant it. ‘Sorry about the theatrics,’ she added as a whisper.

‘Any time. Next week, maybe we’ll make it to the cinema - yeah?’ Rose directed the last part to Natalie, with a hopeful smile. Holly knew that’s where her friend had wanted to take Natalie today, but when her daughter had declared she wanted to make biscuits this morning, Holly knew Rose would likely have changed her plans. It was easier that way.

In response to the question, Natalie nodded, but then started wailing again when she spotted the blood seeping out of the small cut. Holly hugged her a little tighter, and walked across the road to their pub.

As they made their way through to the kitchen, Natalie’s sobs had dimmed to a steady drone. The tears were still falling though, she was nothing if not committed.