One Hundred Proposals. Holly Martin

reputation of Carlton Balloons for something that was quite clearly not their fault. How many people would want to book balloon flights with them if they knew there was the possibility of crashing? Frank had been flying balloons for around sixty years. He had a spotless record, and many customers commented on how gentle the landings were in comparison to other balloon pilots. There was no way we could tell the truth.

      We had heard back from Frank’s family a few hours before and he was fine. The doctors were keeping him in overnight to do more tests, much to Frank’s annoyance, but his son said they were confident that he’d be allowed to go home tomorrow.

      ‘Is it ok?’ Harry asked, after returning with two teas from the kitchen.

      ‘It’s fine, but I don’t know about the extra effort thing. As we said yesterday, the small proposals are sometimes the best.’

      ‘I thought you would like it, it might encourage our customers to go with some of our more extravagant proposals.’

      I smiled. After my moaning the day before about how many basic packages we had sold, Harry was trying to rectify it.

      ‘Oh, so this hundred proposals is all tactical then, it’s not about finding me the perfect proposal at all, it’s just a business stunt?’

      Harry completely missed the tone of my voice. I was joking, but his face fell and the look of hurt on his face was like a punch to the gut.

      ‘Is that what you think?’

      ‘I was joking, I’m sorry – I didn’t mean it.’

      ‘This wasn’t about the business at all, I thought you knew that.’

      ‘I honestly don’t know why you’re doing all this. No one has ever gone to this much effort for me before and I don’t understand why you are?’

      He stared at me and it was clear that he didn’t want to say why. I waited, watching him.

      ‘I wanted to cheer you up. You’ve been so down since Jack died, I wanted you to have something to look forward to every day.’

      I felt like I’d just been hit by a bus. My lip wobbled, an actual wobble, and I looked away as tears filled my eyes. Harry quickly moved to hold me. Again. It was not actually possible to love this man more than I loved him right now.

      ‘Oh God, Harry,’ I whispered into his shirt, as he held me tight against him.

      ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.’

      ‘They’re happy tears, I promise.’ I pushed him gently away and he stepped back to look at me with concern. ‘I’m just lucky to have you.’

      He smiled, with relief, then moved to look at his computer, clearly embarrassed.

      ‘Sixty-one followers on our blog so far. That’s amazing.’

      I smiled at the change of subject.

      ‘That’s fantastic.’

      ‘Yes. And after mentioning Nadia’s Bakery in yesterday’s blog, I’ve had emails from quite a few places begging us to use them in my next proposal.’

      I moved closer as he scrolled through his emails.

      ‘Anything interesting?’

      He quickly minimised his email screen. ‘Nosy aren’t you. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.’

      He logged off his computer and any hints at what was to come vanished into a screen of blue. He checked his watch and pulled on his jacket.

      ‘Hot date with Sexy Samantha tonight?’

      ‘No, I’m meeting Badger for drinks and a few games of pool. Any hot plans for you?’

      ‘Dinner with my lovely sister-in-law.’

      ‘Excellent, have fun.’ He planted a quick kiss on my cheek and left. If this goodbye kiss was going to become a regular feature, I could get used to it.

      *

      A splat of something green and foul-smelling hit the side of my cheek.

      Bella giggled and laughed as the green mush slid down her face too.

      ‘Is your niece causing a mess again?’ shouted Jules from the kitchen.

      I scooped Bella up out of the chair and plonked her on my lap, hoping to minimise the splatter damage if I was behind her. ‘No she’s just perfect, aren’t you, pumpkin.’

      Bella chuckled and wiggled her legs as I wiped her face and firmly took the spoon from her sticky grasp. I leaned into her soft, warm head as I spooned up some more of what Jules had told me was pureed broccoli and cauliflower. She smelt amazing, like milk, talcum powder and baby lotion. Her hair was dark just like Jack’s, the same nose, the same eyes, the same chin – there was no getting away from the fact that she was his daughter.

      Jules walked in carrying two glasses of wine and passed one to me. She was wearing a bright yellow top today, one that I hadn’t seen on her before. Her hair was freshly dyed with warm honey coloured highlights and she was actually smiling. It had been a long time since I’d seen her smile. Maybe she’d been given a proverbial kick up the bum as well as me. I liked it, life was for living.

      ‘You look good.’

      ‘I feel good. Bella’s sleeping properly at night now and she is such a delight during the day. And I know I shouldn’t be glad of this, but Jack’s insurance money has meant that I haven’t had to rush back to work. I get to spend all day with her and I love just being a mum. Jack didn’t want me to work again after she was born anyway, so he’d be happy that I’m taking care of her.’

      ‘You’re doing a wonderful job, she’s such a happy child.’

      Jules smiled fondly at Bella, smoothing out her wayward locks. Her eyes moved to mine.

      ‘You look happy too. How’s Harry?’

      I failed to see how the two were connected. ‘He’s good, gave me a good talking to yesterday about not clinging to the past, hence I’m back to my colourful clothes again.’

      ‘I’ve always loved your sense of style, or lack of it.’ She smirked mischievously. ‘And I hear he proposed.’

      Back to Harry again. ‘Not properly.’ I laughed at the thought. ‘Just, you know, business.’

      She peeled a banana and passed it to Bella’s eager hands. ‘I like Harry.’

      ‘I like him too.’ I jiggled Bella on my lap, deliberately trying to avoid Jules’s eyes.

      ‘And you two have never…’

      ‘No not at all, never. We’re friends. He doesn’t see me like that. Plus his reputation with women is hardly squeaky clean. He used to be with a different woman every week. The man’s a complete tart.’

      ‘Maybe he’s just looking for the right woman. Jack was the same, you know that. Famously sleeping with two different women on the same night.’

      ‘Whoa, I knew he had lots of girlfriends, I didn’t realise he’d had a threesome.’

      Jules spat out her wine and Bella giggled, blowing raspberries with her own lips.

      ‘Not a threesome. Just slept with one girl, she broke up with him and by the end of the night he was in another woman’s bed.’

      ‘How do you know this?’

      ‘I was the other woman.’

      I felt my mouth fall open. ‘And didn’t it bother you that he’d been with someone else hours before?’

      Jules shrugged as she mopped up the wine. ‘He wasn’t anything serious, not for me. And his ex-girlfriend at the time was a complete cow so I was just pleased to get one over on her. Then we started seeing each other, just the odd night here and there, and then those