Read Online The Holiday by Erica James - Free Book Online Page A

receptionist had taken the necessary details from her, she was shown through to a room where the lights were romantically dimmed. ‘What made you think you needed to have your eyes tested?’ he asked, indicating for her to sit in a raised black chair.
    She told him about the squinting and the headaches.
    ‘What work do you do?’
    ‘I’m a teacher.’
    ‘Under a lot of stress, are you?’
    ‘Not really.’
    ‘Stress,’ he said. ‘It’s a real killer. Marriage, divorce, bereavement, moving house, they’re the big four that wreak havoc on the body. Especially the eyes. Have you experienced any of these things in the last few months?’
    ‘I’ve moved house and changed my job,’ she admitted. She wondered whether it was worth mentioning her mother too. Perhaps not.
    ‘Moved house and changed your job,’ he repeated, shaking his head and whistling through his teeth, not unlike a garage mechanic diagnosing a terminally sick car. ‘Well, Miss Jordan, let’s take a look, shall we?’ He reached into a drawer, pulled out a strange-looking piece of equipment, then lunged into her face and pressed it against her right eye. ‘Don’t look into the light,’ he said too late. He smelt of aftershave and Polo mints and she wondered if the latter was to cover up the smell of tobacco. I could never go out with anyone who smoked, she found herself thinking. But his hands don’t smell of cigarettes, she pointed out, and he is quite good-looking. In fact, he’s rather nice. The old Abba song, ‘Look into his angel eyes and you’ll be hypnotised,’ popped into her mind.
    When he finished, he pronounced her to be in possession of near-perfect vision. ‘You’ve got nothing to worry about other than slightly lazy eye muscles.’ He explained some eye exercises to do twice a day that would help, then asked if she would have a drink with him that night.
    ‘Oh, um isn’t that rather unethical?’ she asked, taken aback by his directness.
    He grinned mischievously. ‘Only if you tell anyone.’
    It was when he had shown her to the door and she was crossing the road to call in at the chemist, before going back to her car, that she had noticed another optician’s further along the row of shops. With an awful sinking feeling she knew that this was where she should have been for the last hour. Skulking guiltily past the shop window, she contented herself with the thought that had she gone there she wouldn’t now be considering what to wear for her date that evening.
    It’s Fate, she told herself, with cheery smugness.
    But it was a long time before she realised the extent of her foolishness. Before that happened, Alan had thoroughly charmed her, he had fully absorbed her into his life, had made her his own. And she had loved it. There had been walks in the country, picnics by the river, trips to the theatre and thrilling white knuckle rides at a theme park. There had been candle-lit dinners, roses, chocolates and the best champagne. There had even been a surprise weekend in the Cotswolds where he had told her he loved her and asked her to move in with him. As lavish and as clichéd as it all was, it was impossible to resist. Having only recently moved to the area and not knowing anybody beyond the school gates of her new job — this was before she had met Max and Laura — a relationship with somebody as self-assured and fun-seeking as Alan was just what she thought she needed. She was only too willing to fall in love with a man who treated her with such a flourish of generosity, even if at times it felt as though he was being a little possessive. But given the circumstances, what girl wouldn’t have been blinded by the amount of false glitter being showered upon her?
    With hindsight she could see that one of the attractions Alan held for her was that she had hoped to gain some of his confidence from him, as if his energy and strength of character would magically rub off on her. In the end, when everything went wrong, all