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 embarra.s.sment 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 sc.r.a.ped 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."

"Wow, that's very interesting," Daniel said dryly.

"So what is it that you do, Dermot?" she said, turning to look at Daniel.

"Sorry, my name is Daniel actually. I'm a publican."

"Right," she nodded and looked away. "Awful weather we're having these days, isn't it?" she addressed the table.

Everyone fell into conversation and Daniel turned to Holly. "Did you enjoy your holiday?"

"Oh, I had a fabulous time," she answered. "We took it easy and relaxed every day, didn't do anything wild and weird."

"Just what you needed," he smiled. "I heard about your near-death experience."

Holly rolled her eyes. "I bet Denise told you that."

He nodded and laughed.

"Well, I'm sure she gave you the exaggerated version."

"Not really, she just told me about how you were surrounded by sharks and had to be airlifted from the sea by a helicopter."

"She didn't!"

"No, not really," he laughed. "Still, that must have been some conversation you were having to not notice you were drifting out to sea!"

Holly's face blushed a little as she recalled that they had been talking about him.

"OK everyone," Denise called. "You're probably wondering why Tom and I invited you all here tonight."

"Understatement of the year," Daniel mumbled, and Holly giggled.

"Well, we have an announcement to make." She looked around at everyone and smiled.

Holly's eyes widened.

"Myself and Tom are getting married!" Denise squealed, and Holly's hands flew up to her mouth in shock. She did not see that one coming.

"Oh Denise!" she gasped, and walked around the table to hug them. "That's wonderful news! Congratulations!"

She looked at Daniel's face; it had gone white.

They popped open a bottle of champagne and everyone raised their gla.s.ses as Jemima and Jim or Samantha and Sam or whatever their names were made a toast.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Denise stopped them just before they started. "Sharon, did you not get a gla.s.s?"

Everyone looked at Sharon, who was holding a gla.s.s of orange juice in her hand.

"Here you go," Tom said, pouring her a gla.s.s.

"No no no! Not for me, thanks," she said.

"Why not?" Denise huffed, upset that her friend wouldn't celebrate with her.

John and Sharon looked at each other and smiled. "Well, I didn't want to say anything because it's Denise and Tom's special night..."

Everyone urged her to speak.

"Well...I'm pregnant! John and I are going to have a baby!"

John's eyes began to water and Holly just froze in shock in her seat. She did not see that one coming either. Tears filled her eyes as she went over to congratulate Sharon and John. Then she sat down and took deep breaths. This was all too much.

"So let's make a toast to Tom and Denise's engagement and Sharon and John's baby!"

Everyone clinked gla.s.ses and Holly ate dinner in silence, not really tasting anything.

"You want to make that time eleven o'clock?" Daniel asked quietly, and she nodded in agreement.

After dinner Holly and Daniel made their excuses to leave and n.o.body really tried to persuade them to stay.

"How much should I leave toward the bill?" Holly asked Denise.

"Oh, don't worry about it." She waved her hand at her dismissively.

"No, don't be silly, I couldn't let you pay for it. How much, honestly?"

The woman beside her grabbed the menu and started adding up the price of all the meals they had bought. There had been so many and Holly had only picked at her own and had even avoided eating a starter so she could afford it.

"Well, it works out as about fifty each, and that's including all the wine and bottles of champagne."

Holly gulped and stared down at the thirty euro in her hand.

Daniel grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Come on, let's go, Holly."

She opened her mouth to make the excuse of not bringing as much money as she thought, but when she opened the palm of her hand and looked at the money, there appeared to be an extra twenty.

She smiled at Daniel gratefully and they both headed out to the car.

They sat in the car in silence, both thinking about what had happened that night. She wanted to feel happy for her friends, really she did, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of being left behind. Everyone else's lives were moving on except hers.

Daniel pulled up outside her house. "Do you want to come in for a tea or coffee or anything?" She was sure he would say no and was shocked when he undid his seat belt and accepted her offer. She really liked Daniel, he was very caring and fun to be with, but right now she just wanted to be alone.

"That was some night, wasn't it?" he said, taking a sip of his coffee. Holly just shook her head with disbelief. "Daniel, I have known those girls practically all of my life, and I did not see any of that coming."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've known Tom for years too and he didn't mention a thing."

"Although Sharon wasn't drinking when we were away," she hadn't listened to a word Daniel had said, "and she did throw up a few mornings, but she said it was seasickness..." She trailed off and her brain went into overdrive as things started to add up.

"Seasickness?" Daniel asked, confused.

"After our near-death experience," she explained.

"Oh, right."