Cecelia Ahern - P.S. I Love You

She rushed into the house to get her purse and squeezed her last fiver into the boy's chubby little hand. His face lit up.

“OK, let's go,” his dad said, turning his son around by the shoulders and leading him down the drive.

“Da, I don't wanna do this job anymore,” the boy moaned to his dad as they carried on to the next house.

“Ah, don't worry, son, they all won't be as mad as her.”

Holly closed the door and studied her reflection in the mirror. He was right; she had turned into a madwoman. Now all she needed was a house full of cats. The sound of the phone ringing pulled Holly's eyes away from her image.

“Hello?” Holly said, answering the phone.

“Hiya, how are you?” Denise asked happily.

“Oh, full of the joys of life,” Holly said sarcastically.

“Oh, me too!” she giggled in response.

“Really? What's got you so happy?”

“Oh nothing much, just life in general,” she giggled again.

Of course, just life. Wonderful, wonderful, beautiful life. What a silly question.

“So what's happening?”

“I'm calling to invite you out for dinner tomorrow night. I know it's short notice, so if you're too busy . . . cancel whatever it is you have planned!”

“Hold on and let me check my diary,” Holly said sarcastically.

“No problem,” Denise said seriously and was silent while she waited.

Holly rolled her eyes. “Oh look at that, whaddaya know? I appear to be free tomorrow night.”

“Oh goody!” Denise said happily. “We're all meeting at Chang's at eight.”

“Who's we?”

“Sharon and John are going and some of Tom's friends too. We haven't been out together for ages, so it'll be fun!”

“OK then, see you tomorrow.” Holly hung up feeling angry. Had it completely slipped Denise's mind that Holly was still a grieving widow and that life just wasn't fun for her anymore? She stormed upstairs and opened her wardrobe. Now what piece of old and disgusting clothing would she wear tomorrow night, and how on earth was she going to afford an expensive meal?

She could barely even afford to keep her car on the road. She grabbed all her clothes from her wardrobe and flung them across the room, screaming her head off until she finally felt sane again. Perhaps tomorrow she would buy those cats.

Thirty

HOLLY ARRIVED AT THE RESTAURANT at eight-twenty, as she had spent hours trying on different outfits and ripping them off again. Eventually she settled with the outfit that she had been instructed to wear by Gerry for the karaoke just so she could feel closer to him. She hadn't been coping very well over the past few weeks; she had had more downs than ups and was finding it harder to pick herself back up again.

As she was walking toward the table in the restaurant her heart sank.

Couples “R” Us.

She paused halfway there and quickly sidestepped, hiding behind a wall. She wasn't sure she could go through with this. She hadn't the strength to keep battling with her emotions. She looked around to find the easiest escape route; she certainly couldn't leave the way she had come in or they would definitely see her. She spotted the fire escape beside the kitchen door, which had been left open to clear some of the smoke. The moment she stepped out into the cool fresh air she felt free again. She walked across the car park, trying to formulate an excuse to tell Denise and Sharon.

“Hi, Holly.”

She froze and slowly turned around, realizing she had been caught. She spotted Daniel leaning against his car smoking a cigarette.

“Hiya, Daniel.” She walked toward him. “I didn't know you smoked.”

“Only when I'm stressed.”

“You're stressed?” They greeted each other with a hug.

“I was trying to figure out whether to join Happy Couples United in there.” He nodded toward the restaurant.

Holly smiled. “You too?”

He laughed, “Well, I won't tell them I saw you if that's what you want.”

“So you're going in?”

“Have to face the music sometime,” he said, grimly stabbing out his cigarette with his foot.

Holly thought about what he'd said. “I suppose you're right.”

“You don't have to go in if you don't want to. I don't want to be the cause of you having a miserable night.”

“On the contrary, it would be nice to have another loner in my company. There are so very few of our kind in existence.”

Daniel laughed and held out his arm. “Shall we?”

Holly linked her arm in his and they slowly made their way into the restaurant. It was comforting to know she wasn't alone in feeling alone.

“By the way, I'm getting out of here as soon as we finish the main course,” he laughed.

“Traitor,” she answered, thumping him on the arm. “Well, I have to leave early anyway to catch the last bus home.” She hadn't had the money to fill the tank in the car for the past few days.

“Well then, we have the perfect excuse. I'll say we have to leave early because I'm driving you home and you have to be home by . . . what time?”

“Half-eleven?” At twelve she planned on opening the September envelope.

“Perfect time.” He smiled and they made their way into the restaurant feeling slightly reinforced by each other's company.

“Here they are!” Denise announced as they made their way to the table.

Holly sat beside Daniel, sticking to her alibi like glue. “Sorry we're late,” she apologized.

“Holly, this is Catherine and Thomas, Peter and Sue, Joanne and Paul, Tracey and Bryan, John and Sharon you know, Geoffrey and Samantha, and last but not least, this is Des and Simon.”

Holly smiled and nodded at all of them.

“Hi, we're Daniel and Holly,” Daniel said smartly, and Holly giggled beside him.

“We had to order already, if you don't mind,” Denise explained. “But we just ordered loads of different dishes so we can all share them. Is that OK?”

Holly and Daniel nodded.

The woman beside Holly, whose name she couldn't remember, turned to her and spoke loudly,

“So Holly, what do you do?”

Daniel raised his eyebrows at Holly.

“Sorry, what do I do when?” Holly answered seriously. She hated nosy people. She hated conversations that revolved around what people did for a living, especially when those people were complete strangers that she had just met less than a minute ago. She felt Daniel shaking with laughter beside her.

“What do you do for a living?” the woman asked again.

Holly had intended on giving her a funny but slightly rude answer but suddenly stopped herself as all the conversations around the table died down and focused on her. She looked around with embarrassment and cleared her throat nervously, “Em . . . well . . . I'm between jobs right now.”

Her voice shook.

The woman's lips began to twitch and she scraped a piece of bread from between her teeth rudely.

“What is it that you do?” Daniel asked her loudly, breaking the silence.

“Oh, Geoffrey runs his own business,” she said, proudly turning to her husband.

“Oh right, but what is it that you do?” Daniel repeated.

The lady seemed disconcerted that her answer hadn't been good enough for him. “Well, I keep myself busy all day every day doing various things. Honey, why don't you tell them about the company?” She turned to her husband again to divert the attention from herself.

Her husband leaned forward in his seat. “It's just a small business.” He took a bite out of his bread roll, chewed it slowly, and everyone waited while he swallowed so he could continue.

“Small but successful,” his wife added for him.

Geoffrey finally finished eating his bread. “We make car windshields and sell them to the warehouses.”