Holly's Intuition by Saskia Walker Page B

Joshua’s reaction when his mother had almost walked in on them had made her fret. The complications of her connection with Joshua were snowbal ing, and things were fast getting out of control. Donna was so close to her wedding. She had enough to think about right now. No wonder Joshua didn’t want to introduce the subject of his sexuality. Everything was becoming crystal clear for Hol y.
    “I know you’re busy, and you have a lot of people to talk to.”
    “You have to come to the wedding,” Donna said as she reached for another piece of toast. “Mum invited you, right?”
    Hol y shook her head. “No, that would be wrong, please don’t feel that you have to squeeze me in.”
    “Real y, there’s plenty of room. A couple of family members have had to cry off. We have two places free, and we can’t cancel them now. It makes sense for you and Joshua’s flatmate to take them. Please.” Donna gave her a sunny smile and it was so reminiscent of Joshua’s that it made her feel even worse.
    How quickly this was getting away from her. She glanced across at Joshua, who was animatedly chatting to his brother Kyle in the hal way. But Joshua’s dad had overheard the conversation with Donna and he joined them.
    “Believe me, we’ve paid enough for those two places. Make an old man happy and fil the seats.” He beamed at her.
    Hol y mustered a weak smile. Thankful y they seemed to take that as an acknowledgement and let her be. It would be churlish and almost cruel to deny them, and yet she knew it was wrong, it was stacking up trouble. How would Joshua and Stewart feel about it? She made it a priority to find out.
    Joshua had them saying their goodbyes and on their way inside forty minutes of emerging from the bedroom, which was pretty good going. The mutual relief the three of them felt at getting away without tripping themselves up meant that their journey back home was fil ed with good humour, to begin with.
    “Your face, when your mother knocked on the door,” Stewart commented, nodding his head at Joshua. “And I’ve never seen a stiffy vanish so quickly.”
    “Fuck you,” Joshua replied, but he was laughing. He glanced into the back seat, where Hol y was sitting.
    She leant forward and put her hand on his shoulder. “Just be grateful she didn’t knock at the door a minute or two later.”
    She hadn’t meant it to sound quite so suggestive, but that’s the way he took it.
    He looked at her with desire in his eyes, but his laughter faded. He sighed, then nodded.
    She forced herself to bring up the subject of the wedding. “I’m real y sorry, but Donna and your dad reiterated the wedding invite this morning, and they’ve more or less insisted that Stewart and I fil those places.”
    Stewart swerved the car rather rapidly as if he’d been distracted. He swore beneath his breath, but didn’t comment otherwise. She noticed that he glanced at Joshua, however.
    “I didn’t say yes or no,” she added quickly, “so just give my excuses and say I had something prearranged.”
    Joshua turned to her once more, and although his expression was troubled and his mood was heavy with mixed emotions, he smiled at her fondly.
    “You are a generous woman, and I appreciate that. Don’t worry, I’l deal with it, you won’t have to go. I’l explain the situation to my parents tomorrow.”
    Silence descended. Hol y sat back in her seat. He real y thought she didn’t appreciate the invitation. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go to Donna’s wedding. In fact she had taken to the Dawson family, inevitably. She didn’t, however, want to make Joshua’s situation any worse than it already was.
    When they emerged from Stewart’s car, back at the flats, Joshua stood by uneasily. “Would you like to come to our place for coffee?”
    Hol y sensed that he did want her to, but felt awkward because he didn’t know what to say. Regret swamped her once more. She shook her head.
    “Thanks, but I’m due at my sister’s