Page 12 of The Night Before Christmas
‘That’s no kind of answer.’
‘I know, but there’s not much else I can say right now. It’s complicated for me, too.’
She seemed sad but Felicity put it down to the booze. Bex had drunk an awful lot of Prosecco, even by her standards. She always got maudlin after Prosecco.
‘What about Sophie, then?’ whispered Felicity. ‘They’re doing okay, aren’t they?’
‘Boringly so, yes.’
‘Come now. You’re not jealous surely?’
‘Of Sophie and Marcus? No way. Urgh. It’s a bit too perfect for my liking. All that couples yoga and crafting with the kids. They even make their own Easter eggs, for God’s sake. Who does that?’
‘Ha! There’s no such thing as too perfect. Admit it. If you had their life, you’d be happy as a clam.’
‘I’d be bored senseless. I’d probably have ten men on the go, because, you know, why not?’
Felicity laughed. ‘You’d have ten men on the go now, if you had the time.’
Bex shrugged.
‘At least,’ she said, with a grin.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Penguin Man did,in fact, turn up out of the blue.
It was the day after the day after the day after Boxing Day – whatever it’s called – when the rest of the world was lost in a fog of cheese and wine andMorecambe and Wiserepeats and Felicity and Andrea’s universe had shrunk down to being almost entirely focused on nursing Gennie and Holly back to health.
‘There’s someone here to see you,’ Andrea had said, slyly, when she spotted Felicity walking past her office door.
‘What? Who? Where?’
Andrea just smiled and waved her pen in the general direction of the cat nursery. Felicity’s mouth went dry. She ran her fingers through her hair and wondered if she smelled of dog food and whether she could quickly duck past the doorway and make it to the toilets to check.
But as she approached the room all thoughts of her own appearance went straight out of her head. James was standing by the central table, peering down at the two new arrivals with a look of absolute reverence on his face. He was wearing a soft-looking vintage brown leather jacket over a striped shirt and jeans, and his blond hair was just the right amount of tousled. Her memory had definitely underplayed the level of handsome.
Felicity leaned on the door frame and tried to look cool and effortless and not at all embarrassed about being covered in cat hair from head to toe.
‘Well now. If it isn’t Mr Penguin Man himself.’
Smooth.
James lifted his head and a slow easy grin spread across his face. His eyes seemed to her in that moment to be the bluest blue that anyone’s eyes had ever been.
‘Well good morning. How are you?’ He was speaking in low tones, not wanting to wake the sleeping pile of floof in front of him, and her heart gave a little appreciative twinge.
‘Good, I’m good, thanks,’ she replied, attempting to lower her voice to match his, even though it seemed to have gone all squeaky for some reason. ‘How’s you?’
‘Yeah. Good thanks. I brought snacks.’ He nodded towards the side counter which was covered with paper bags overflowing with fresh doughnuts and cookies alongside several boxes of food for the cats.
‘No wonder it smells like a bakery in here, wow. Are those Yum Yums? Andrea is dead partial to a Yum Yum.’
James shrugged and turned his attention back to the cats, but she could see he was suppressing a smile.
‘Just a little something to keep you all going.’
‘And more cat food. That’s amazing. Thank you. Can I get you a coffee or something? It’s about that time.’
