"Yeah right," she said sarcastically, wiping her tears again.

"No really," he said honestly, "I thought it was really funny. You all looked like you were having a great time." He smiled at her.

"Pity that's not how I felt," she said sadly.

"Maybe that's not how you felt, but the camera doesn't pick up on feelings, Holly."

"You don't have to try to make me feel better." Holly was embarra.s.sed at being consoled by a stranger.

"I'm not trying to make you feel better, I'm just saying it like it is. n.o.body but you noticed whatever it is that's upsetting you. I didn't see anything, so why should anyone else?"

Holly felt mildly better. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure I'm sure," he said, smiling. "Now you really have to stop hiding in all the rooms in my club, I might take it personally," he laughed.

"Are the girls OK?" Holly asked, hoping it was just her being stupid after all. There was loud laughter from outside.

"They're fine, as you can hear," he said, nodding toward the door. "Ciara's delighted everyone will think she's a star, Denise has finally come out of the toilet and Sharon just can't stop laughing. Although Jack's giving Abbey a hard time about throwing up on the way home."

Holly giggled.

"So you see, n.o.body even noticed what you saw."

"Thanks, Daniel." She took a deep breath and smiled at him.

"You ready to go face your public?" he asked.

"Think so." Holly stepped outside to the sounds of laughter. The lights were up and everyone was sitting around the table and happily sharing jokes and stories. Holly joined the table and sat beside her mum. Elizabeth wrapped her arm around her daughter and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, I thought it was great," announced Jack enthusiastically. "If only we could get Declan to go out with the girls all the time, then we'd know what they get up to, eh John?" He winked over at Sharon's husband.

"Well, I can a.s.sure you," Abbey spoke up, "that what you saw is not a regular girls' night out."

The boys weren't having any of it.

"So is it OK?" Declan asked Holly, afraid he had upset his sister.

Holly threw him a look.

"I thought you would like it, Hol," he said worriedly.

"I might have liked it if I had known what you were doing," she snapped back.

"But I wanted it to be a surprise," he said genuinely.

"I hate surprises," she said, rubbing her stinging eyes.

"Let that be a lesson to you, son," Frank warned his son. "You shouldn't go around filming people without them knowing what you're doing. It's illegal."

"I bet they didn't know that when they chose him for the award," Elizabeth agreed.

"You're not gonna tell them, are you, Holly?" Declan asked worriedly.

"Not if you're nice to me for the next few months," Holly said, slyly twisting her hair around her finger. Declan made a face; he was stuck and he knew it. "Yeah whatever," he said, waving her away.

"To tell you the truth, Holly, I have to admit I thought it was quite funny," giggled Sharon. "You and your Operation Gold Curtain," she thumped Denise playfully on the leg.

Denise rolled her eyes. "Oh, I can tell you all something - I am never drinking again."

Everyone laughed and Tom wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"What?" she said innocently. "I really mean it."

"Speaking of drink, would anyone like one?" Daniel stood up from his chair. "Jack?"

"Yeah, a Budweiser, thanks."

"Abbey?"

"Em...a white wine, please," she said politely.

"Frank?"

"A Guinness, thanks, Daniel."

"I'll have the same," said John.

"Sharon?"

"Just a c.o.ke, please. Holly, you want the same?" she said, looking at her friend. Holly nodded.

"Tom?"

"JD and c.o.ke, please, Dan."

"Me too," said Declan.

"Denise?" Daniel tried to hide his smile.

"Em...I'll have a...gin and tonic, please."

"Ha!" everyone jeered her.

"What?" She shrugged her shoulders as though she didn't care. "One drink is hardly going to kill me..."

Holly was standing over the sink with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows scrubbing the pots when she heard the familiar voice.

"Hi, honey."

She looked up and saw him standing at the open patio doors. "h.e.l.lo, you," she smiled.

"Miss me?"

"Of course."

"Have you found that new husband yet?"

"Of course I have, he's upstairs in bed asleep," she laughed, drying her hands.

Gerry shook his head and tutted, "Shall I go up and suffocate him for sleeping in our bed?"

"Ah, give him another hour or so," she joked, looking at her watch, "he needs his rest."

He looked happy, she thought, fresh-faced and still as beautiful as she remembered. He was wearing her favorite blue top, which she had bought him one Christmas. He stared at her from under his long eyelashes with his big brown puppy eyes.

"Are you coming in?" she asked, smiling.

"No, I just popped by to see how you are. Everything going OK?" He leaned against the door ledge with his hands in his pockets.

"So, so," she said, weighing her hands in the air. "Could be better."

"I hear you're a TV star now," he grinned.

"A very reluctant one," she laughed.

"You'll have men falling all around you," he a.s.sured her.

"Falling all around me is right," she agreed. "The problem is they keep missing the target," she said, pointing to herself. He laughed. "I miss you, Gerry."

"I haven't gone far," he said softly.

"You leaving me again?"

"For the time being."

"See you soon," she smiled.

He winked at her and disappeared.

Holly woke up with a smile on her face and felt like she had slept for days.

"Good morning, Gerry," she said, happily staring up at the ceiling.

The phone rang beside her. "h.e.l.lo?"

"Oh my G.o.d, Holly, just take a look at the weekend papers," Sharon said in a panic.

TWENTY.

HOLLY IMMEDIATELY LEAPT OUT OF bed, threw on a tracksuit and drove to her nearest newsagent. She reached the newspaper stand and began to leaf through the pages in search of what Sharon had been raving about. The man behind the counter coughed loudly and Holly looked up at him. "This is not a library, young lady, you'll have to buy that," he said, nodding at the newspaper in her hand.

"I know that," she said, irritated by his rudeness. Honestly, how on earth was anyone supposed to know which paper they wanted to buy if they didn't even know which paper had what they were looking for? She ended up picking up every single newspaper from the stand and slammed them down on the counter, smiling sweetly at him.

The man looked startled and started to scan them into the register one by one. A queue began to form behind her.

She stared longingly at the selection of chocolate bars displayed in front of her and looked around to see if anyone was looking at her. Everyone was staring. She quickly turned back to face the counter. Finally her arm jumped up and grabbed the two king-size chocolate bars nearest to her on the shelf from the bottom of the pile. One by one the rest of the chocolate began to slide onto the floor. The teenager behind her snorted and looked away laughing as Holly bent down with a red face and began to pick them up. So many had fallen she had to make several trips up and down. The shop was silent, apart from a few coughs from the impatient queue behind her. She sneakily added another few packets of sweets to her pile. "For the kids," she said loudly to the newsagent, hoping everyone behind her would also hear.

He just grunted at her and continued scanning the items. Then she remembered she needed to get milk, so she rushed from the queue to the end of the shop to retrieve a pint of milk from the fridge. A few women tutted loudly as she made her way back to the top of the queue, where she added the milk to her pile. The newsagent stopped scanning to stare at her; she stared back blankly at him.

"Mark," he yelled.

A spotty young teenager appeared from one of the shopping aisles with a pricing gun in his hand. "Yeah?" he said grumpily.

"Open the other till, will ya, son, we might be here for a while." He glared at her.

Holly made a face at him.

Mark dragged his body over to the second till, all the time staring at Holly. What? she thought defensively; don't blame me for having to do your job. He took over the till and the entire queue behind her rushed over to the other side. Satisfied that no one was staring at her anymore, she grabbed a few packets of crisps from below the counter and added them to her purchases. "Birthday party," she mumbled.

In the queue beside her, the teenager asked for a packet of cigarettes quietly.

"Got any ID?" Mark asked loudly.

The teenager looked around in embarra.s.sment with a red face. Holly snorted at him and looked away.

"Anything else?" the newsagent asked sarcastically.

"No thank you, that will be all," she said through gritted teeth. She paid her money and fumbled with her purse, trying to put all the change back in.

"Next," the newsagent nodded to the customer behind her.

"Hiya, can I have twenty Benson and -"

"Excuse me," Holly interrupted the man. "Could I have a bag, please," she said politely, staring at the huge pile of groceries in front of her.

"Just a moment," he said rudely, "I'll deal with this gentleman first. Yes sir, cigarettes is it?"

"Please," the customer said, looking at Holly apologetically.

"Now," he said, returning to her, "what can I get you?"

"A bag." She clenched her jaw.