Page 100 of The Night Before Christmas
‘My problem is that I’m afraid you are completely and utterly stuck with me because there is no way in hell that I’m ever letting you go. Do you understand me? So, you are just going to have to not-trust me in your own special way until you do trust me. I don’t care how long it takes. Okay?’
Felicity nodded, her heart thumping in triple time like it might leap right out of her rib cage.
‘I’m not done yet.’
Oh God.
‘I’m not done yet because, Felicity Brooks, I need to tell you that I love you.’
Felicity gave a huge shuddering sob.
‘I’m going to kiss you now,’ said James, and she nodded through the tears.
He flashed her an enormous smile as he bent to kiss her, and his blue eyes crinkled right into her heart.
I’m home at last.
The next day Felicity floated to work.
She floated through the door into the corridor, and she floated into the office to put down her bag. She floated to the coffee machine and made herself a latte without spilling a drop, then she floated across the room to change her shoes. Effortlessly, of course.
Andrea watched these proceedings with amusement. ‘Morning, Felicity.’
‘Oh, good morning, Andrea,’ said the new and improved Felicity, who was loved – really loved – by an amazing man and had spent the entire night being naked with him and his broad Disney chest and his handsome face and his blue, blue eyes and his kisses like lightning.
‘Your face will get stuck like that, if you’re not careful,’ said Andrea, and went back to pretending to work on her computer.
Felicity ignored her. She floated through to the cat nursery to check on the cats who all mewled with excitement at her arrival and scrambled up their various cages to try to get to her first. She felt like a Disney princess. All elegance and grace with hundreds of small animals falling at her feet. The feeling even lasted while she cleaned out their litter trays. Which was a first.
After break she floated back to the nursery to play with the cats and do some training (cuddling). This time Andrea followed her and told her that someone was coming after lunch to see if they’d like to rehome Holly and Gennie.
‘Wait, what?’ Felicity felt her feet hit solid earth for the first time that morning.
‘You heard me. There’s this lovely family who live down the street who’d like to take on a couple of cats. They were really excited when I told them about those two,’ she explained, nodding towards Holly who was snuggled in Felicity’s hands, and Gennie who was perched on her shoulders.
Felicity smiled fixedly but didn’t reply.
‘You are okay with this, right?’
She felt strangely emotional. She put Holly back in her cage and wrestled Gennie down from the back of her neck, quite against her will.
‘Yeah, I’m fine, of course. It’s great news.’
‘I know this always feels the toughest part,’ said Andrea, putting her head on one side as she watched the three of them. ‘But it’s the happy ending bit. That’s what we want, right?’
‘I know. It’s just, with these two, I felt… a connection.’
‘But you can’t take every cat home, you know.’
‘I’ve been very restrained so far! Not a single cat or dog taken home yet. Personally, I think there should be some kind of award for that. “And tonight, the award for Best Will Power goes to…”’
Andrea laughed. ‘Well, if you’re serious then you know the answer to that, now don’t you?’
‘Sounds like it’s too late.’
‘Not necessarily… there are other possibilities…’
‘You mean Itchy and Scratchy?’
