Laura Ziepe - The Morning After the Wedding Before

‘I have a five-year-old girl called Eva,’ Callum told her, smiling with pride.

‘Oh really? I’m hoping the tantrums stop by five?’ Holly laughed.

‘I hate to disappoint you,’ Callum said, a light laugh escaping his lips, ‘but no, not yet. In fact, I think they get worse. But maybe that’s just Eva.’

‘Does Max have children too?’ Holly asked, her brow furrowing.

Callum looked at Holly as though the thought amused him. ‘No, not Max. Max doesn’t have any children yet.’

Holly didn’t know whether this was a good or bad thing. She was glad Max was single, but perhaps he wouldn’t consider someone with children if he didn’t have any of his own? Holly came as a package. It was always going to be her plus two. Would it be hard to find someone willing to take on the three of them? Lottie was a handful at times and Jacob was still only a baby. Why was Holly even thinking about this when it had never bothered her before that men may be put off by extra baggage? She was perfectly fine on her own and had actually sworn to herself she didn’t ever want to rely on a man again, but she was starting to question whether she really did want to be single forever. Would she be lonely in years to come? Just seeing how happy Rob and Nikki were was making her question things. Her mother was always telling her that one day her children would grow up. One day they wouldn’t need her to clean their faces and brush their hair. They would know exactly what they wanted to wear. They wouldn’t want their mother to drive them places. What was she going to do then? Perhaps Holly had believed she was okay all alone because she’d never met anyone else she actually liked and had feelings for?

‘One white wine.’ Max shot Holly a devastating smile as he handed her the drink. ‘The barman was so slow, I actually ordered us all two drinks each,’ he explained, heading back over to get the other three.

‘Thanks.’ Holly’s lips turned upwards as he walked back.

‘So, where we off to next?’ Max asked, gazing round the bar.

‘There’s a club here in the hotel, I think; Charlie mentioned we were going there earlier. I’m certainly up for it; I’ve heard Vegas clubs are amazing.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Max replied enthusiastically, licking his drink from his lips. His brown eyes met Holly’s and her insides turned to jelly. He was just so sexy. She couldn’t believe she hardly knew him and he was having such an effect on her. Holly made her way to the ladies’ after twenty minutes of chatting to Max and Callum and bumped into Emma again.

‘Having fun?’ Emma asked curiously, looking as though she knew Holly’s secret. She was smirking as she asked the question.

‘He’s gorgeous.’ Holly couldn’t help herself.

‘Which one? They both are!’ Emma giggled. ‘Slightly improved since college, haven’t they?’

‘Yes, they really have. They’re both good looking but I was talking about Max though. What’s the deal with him?’ Holly asked as she washed her hands.

‘He’s just split up with his ex-girlfriend, Carmen,’ Emma revealed, applying some lipstick in the mirror. ‘He was with her about five months; I never knew him to have a girlfriend before that, and I’ve known him ever since I started going to the gym about two years ago. He gets tons of attention from women, not surprisingly. I think he’s a bit of a charmer, to be honest.’

‘Yes, I can imagine,’ Holly replied, brushing her hair. ‘He’s so lovely though.’

‘He likes you too,’ Emma smiled widely, giving Holly a reassuring smile.

Holly felt a slight colour coming to her cheeks. She felt so silly and childish. Clubbing. Having a little crush. Finding out he liked her back from her friend. She was reminded of her past when this kind of thing was a regular occurrence. It had been so normal back then. ‘What? How do you know?’

‘I just asked where you’d gone and they told me. Then they both said they thought you were really nice and Max gave a cheeky laugh saying he hoped you weren’t long as he was hoping to get to know you even better.’

Holly’s tummy did another somersault. ‘He just said that?’ She adopted a tone of surprise.

‘Yep,’ Emma grinned. ‘I think you could have yourself a little summer romance here in Vegas.’

Holly couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. ‘We’ll see,’ she said, as they left the ladies’ room.

Thirty minutes later, Holly was entering the dark nightclub, following behind Emma. A small group of them had decided to go on, including Max and Callum, while a few of the others had decided to call it a night. The nightclub was absolutely huge, the music was blaring and there were tables full with gigantic bottles of champagne and vodka. Half-clothed waitresses were parading round with trays of shots. It felt crazy to Holly that she was actually here. Once again, she was taken back to the time before she’d had children when she used to go out with Kim. This environment had been her life at one point (not that the local clubs at home were even a fraction as good) and Holly remembered sometimes actually getting a little bored with it. Some nights she didn’t always want to go to a club; it was the thing they did every weekend and it could sometimes get a little dull seeing the same faces and going to exactly the same places. Holly couldn’t imagine ever finding Vegas dull. She was having the time of her life so far, enjoying every single second. She was going to make the most of her little trip, of that she was certain. She was in no rush to get back to the hotel room and go to sleep; all previous thoughts of being jet-lagged and tired had completely disappeared now she was out enjoying herself.

Max took her hand, pulling her backwards as Callum and Emma walked ahead, following a pretty waitress to their table.

‘What’s up?’ Holly asked, confused.

Max didn’t say anything, he just smirked amusedly before pulling her closer towards him, his hands around her waist.

Holly’s heart raced as she gazed into his blazing eyes and without thinking, she leaned in for a kiss.

‘I’ve been wanting to do that since I first saw you,’ he told her with a wicked grin, before walking ahead assertively still holding her hand.

Holly caught her breath as she followed him, unable to believe what had just happened. Kissing Max had felt like the most natural thing to do and her stomach bubbled with anticipation. Max was rugged, confident and intriguing, exactly the type of man she found attractive.

Holly was hooked.

Kim woke up and immediately sat up in a panic. Why weren’t the children awake yet? It took her a few seconds to realize everything was okay. She wasn’t at home. There were no children here. She was in Vegas, with Holly lying in the bed beside her.

She took a deep breath, stretching out in bed as she noticed the time on the clock by the television. She’d slept for over thirteen hours, only waking once in the night to notice that Holly wasn’t yet back. Thirteen hours of pure, uninterrupted peace; she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to do that. One of her children always woke her. If not in the middle of the night, then at the crack of dawn. They were such early risers and Kim found it difficult to think of the last time she’d slept past seven o’clock. Seven was late for her nowadays. If one of the kids woke and she saw seven anything on her clock she felt like it was an achievement, that she was winning at life and she would give herself a pat on the back in triumph.

Kim glanced over at Holly’s bed, pleased to see her friend was now sleeping soundly. She hadn’t heard Holly come in, but she knew it must have been very late because when Kim had woken at three, Holly still wasn’t back. She honestly didn’t know how Holly did it. Kim had been really looking forward to their summer trip away, but she had to admit she planned on relaxing as much as possible. She needed to relax a lot more than she needed to party. She completely understood that Holly was single and probably more interested in going out drinking than nice dinners and shows; luckily there were other people Holly could go out with if Kim felt like having a chilled one.