After the mouse debacle, Holly wasn’t quite sure how she or Charlie got through his booked massage, especially since Rachel took her time to leave with Harry, having just popped in to collect a couple of toys Harry had suddenly decided he couldn’t live without, which he had left in the flat during his last visit. Once she’d dispatched her sister and nephew, Rachel’s amused gaze lingering long after they’d left, Holly decided to just ignore what had gone on. She was mortified, and from the way Charlie readily agreed to head back down to the shop to keep the appointment, she sensed he was, too. There was certainly something a little different in the air than the first time, and she felt a mixed sense of disappointment and relief when it was over.

As he emerged from the treatment room, looking more relaxed than when he’d entered it (although, to be fair, he couldn’t have been much more tense in the wake of the mouse incident), Holly looked up from her yoga mat. She hadn’t been able to let go of the tumult of emotions that the whole thing had unleashed, and coupled with that was the nagging, unnerving, unresolved issue of the photo in the suitcase. Although now was hardly the time to bring that up in conversation.

‘How are you feeling?’ she asked him softly as he closed the treatment room door behind him.

‘Pretty good,’ he replied. ‘All things considered!’

Holly smiled. ‘I’m glad.’

There was an almost imperceptible pause between them.

‘So, er, how much do I owe you?’ Charlie asked. He fumbled in the inside pocket of his jacket for his wallet.

‘I sort of feel like I should be paying you compensation for what you went through earlier!’ Holly said.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Charlie grinned, ‘worse things happen in Parliament. But, seriously, I can’t keep snagging freebies off you. You have a business to run, after all.’

‘Fair enough.’ Holly smiled back. She got to her feet and ambled over to her counter where the till was. ‘It’s twenty-five pounds please.’

‘Reasonable at twice the price,’ Charlie said, handing over his debit card.

As their hands touched, Holly felt a jolt of electricity. She glanced up at Charlie and noticed his eyes widening. There was definitely something between them; something more than the artificial intimacy that the massage had provided. But perhaps he still felt weird about landing on top of her in the way he had.

Holly rang through the sale and then presented him with a receipt, ‘Just in case you can claim it on your expenses!’

Charlie laughed. ‘I’m sure stranger things have been claimed. Not that it was strange at all,’ he added hastily. ‘In fact, it was lovely.’