P.S. I Love You Read Free Page B

committed.
    “Ta-da!” Sharon sang, holding up a bag Holly hadn’t noticed her carry in. “Don’t worry, I took care of that. By the looks of it, you haven’t eaten in weeks.”
    “Thanks, Sharon.” A lump formed in her throat and tears welled in her eyes. Her friend was being so good to her.
    “Hold it! There will be no tears today! Just fun and laughter and general happiness, my dear friend. Now shower, quick!”
    Holly felt almost human when she came back downstairs. She was dressed in a blue tracksuit and had allowed her long blond (and brown at the roots) hair to fall down on her shoulders. All the windows downstairs were wide open and the cool breeze rushed through Holly’s head. It felt as though it were eliminating all her bad thoughts and fears. She laughed at the possibility of her mother being right after all. Holly snapped out of her trance and gasped as she looked around the house. She couldn’t have been any longer than half an hour, but Sharon had tidied and polished, vacuumed and plumped, washed and sprayed air freshener in every room. She followed the noise she could hear to the kitchen, where Sharon was scrubbing the hobs. The counters were gleaming; the silver taps and draining board at the sink area were sparkling.
    “Sharon, you absolute angel! I can’t believe you did all this! And in such a short space of time!”
    “Ha! You were gone for over an hour. I was beginning to think you’d fallen down the plughole. You would and all, the size of you.” She looked Holly up and down.
    An hour? Once again Holly’s daydreaming had taken over her mind.
    “OK, so I just bought some vegetables and fruit, there’s cheese and yogurts in there, and milk of course. I don’t know where you keep the pasta and tinned foods so I just put them over there. Oh, and there’s a few microwave dinners in the freezer. That should do you for a while, but by the looks of you it’ll last you the year. How much weight have you lost?”
    Holly looked down at her body; her tracksuit was sagging at the bum and the waist tie was pulled to its tightest, yet still drooped to her hips. She hadn’t noticed the weight loss at all. She was brought back to reality by Sharon’s voice again. “There’s a few biscuits there to go with your tea. Jammy Dodgers, your favorite.”
    That did it. This was all too much for Holly. The Jammy Dodgers were the icing on the cake. She felt the tears start to run down her face. “Oh, Sharon,” she wailed, “thank you so much. You’ve been so good to me and I’ve been such a horrible, horrible bitch of a friend.” She sat at the table and grabbed Sharon’s hand. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Sharon sat opposite her in silence, allowing her to continue. This is what Holly had been dreading, breaking down in front of people at every possible occasion. But she didn’t feel embarrassed. Sharon was just patiently sipping her tea and holding her hand as if it were normal. Eventually the tears stopped falling.
    “Thanks.”
    “I’m your best friend, Hol. If I don’t help you, then who will?” Sharon said, squeezing her hand and giving her an encouraging smile.
    “Suppose I should be helping myself.”
    “Pah!” Sharon spat, waving her hand dismissively. “Whenever you’re ready. Don’t mind all those people who say that you should be back to normal in a month or two. Grieving is all part of helping yourself anyway.”
    She always said the right things.
    “Yeah, well, I’ve been doing a lot of that anyway. I’m all grieved out.”
    “You can’t be!” said Sharon, mock disgusted. “And only two months after your husband is cold in his grave.”
    “Oh, stop! There’ll be plenty of that from people, won’t there?”
    “Probably, but screw them. There are worse sins in the world than learning to be happy again.”
    “Suppose.”
    “Promise me you’ll eat.”
    “Promise.”
    “Thanks for coming round, Sharon, I really enjoyed the chat,” Holly said,