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‘But people froners,’ Pixie had pointed out ‘Ito pay our bills, not people with fancy careers’

And Holly had to acknowledge as she donned her friend’s Santa outfit that there was nothing fancy or i assurance Fortunately the short dress had been far too generously sized on her infinitely ht envy Holly’s curves but Pixie could eat whatever she liked and never put on a pound while Holly was engaged in a constant struggle to prevent her curves froolden skin tone hailed froht not have been someone her erratic ht simply have been a man who lived in the same street Her only parent had told her soaccepted that the truth of her fatherhood would never be known

At four feet ten inches tall, Holly, like her hts under the bright red satin and corseted dress Thrusting her feet into cowboy boots rather than the heels Pixie had sported for her party a year earlier, Holly scowled at her gaudy, busty reflection in the mirror and jammed on the Santa hat in a defiant ed, but her appearance would h and overlook the disappointhters around her to celebrate Christmas Day with, and that as truly important

Planning to spend the night on the sofa in Sylvia’s tiny living area, she packed her rucksack and carefully placed what reh to er on her final trip to the car At least the food wouldn’t be going to waste, she thought with deterly scene she had interrupted with Ritchie and the receptionist at his insurance office cut through her rebellious brain

Her tummy rolled with nausea and her battered heart clenched In the ht with a shudder She couldn’t i at it on a desk in broad daylight Possibly she wasn’t a very adventurous person In fact both she and Pixie were probably pretty strait-laced At twelve years old they had shuddered over the ugly chaos of broken relationships in their ether Of course once puberty had kicked in, with all its attendant confusing hormones, that rule had failed At fourteen they had ditched their eer and best avoided outside a serious relationship A serious committed relationship Holly’s eyes rolled at the memory of their mutual innocence And so far neither she nor her friend had ed to have a serious committed relationship with a man

All that considered thought about steering clear of sexual relationships hadn’t done her many favours either, Holly reflecte

d with helpless insecurity There had been men she really liked who ran a mile from what they saw as her outdated expectations and then there had been the others who stayed around for a feeeks or er to be the first into her bed Had she only ever been a sexual challenge to Ritchie? How long, for instance, had he beenaround with other women?

‘Did you expect me to wait for you for ever?’ Ritchie had shouted back at her, bla sex with him ‘What’s so special about you?’

Holly flinched at that ugly recollection because she had always known that there was nothing particularly special about her

It was snowing as she drove off in the battered little hatchback that Pixie had christened Cleroaned She loved the look of snow but she didn’t like to drive in it and she hated being cold Thank goodness for the car, she acknowledged, as she rattled out of the small Devon tohere she lived and worked

Snoas falling fast by the tily dark Perhaps the older wohbour Ja to escape its confines, Holly rapped on the door and waited, sta her feet to keep warain and then she followed the cohtly lit, and knocked there instead

‘I’m sorry to bother you but I wondered if you knehere Mrs Ware has gone and if she’ll be home soon,’ Holly asked with a friendly smile

‘Sylvia left this afternoon I helped her pack—she was in such a tizzy because she wasn’t expecting anyone,’ the elderly little woman at the door told her

Holly frowned, her heart sinking ‘So, she went to her daughter’s after all, then?’

‘Oh, no, it wasn’t the daughter who ca her back to Bruges or Belgiuhbour told her less certainly