Page 22 of The Night Before Christmas
For a moment or two, Felicity had the strangest sensation that she was falling. What did this mean? What the hell was Adam playing at? As per usual she felt oddly annoyed with him, despite this kind gesture, and the anger was muddled into all the old love and desire and everything she had ever felt for him coming back in a rush.
She tried to think calmly. What was going on? It had been three years since she’d seen him. And the last time she had seen him… well, she’d been so awful to him, so cruel, she could hardly bear to think about it. Felicity had ruined everything. She had accused him of cheating and – even worse – she had kicked him out of their house on Christmas Day. Just told him to get out, no chance for him to explain, never even stopping to wonderwhether she had jumped to conclusions. Just one of the many reasons that Christmas was not her favourite time of the year.
And now there was a ring.
Did this mean he forgave her?Couldhe forgive her for that? Adam had seemed pretty, um, forgiving when he came to the centre. She felt rather hot as she thought about how close he had been, how good he had smelled. He may be a little intense at times, but he had always known what he was doing in that department.
She got up to get a glass of water and try to stop that particular train of thought when she realised that at some point in her reminiscing, she had slipped the ring on. Onto her engagement finger, no less. She quickly pulled it off again and put it back in the box. Then she put it back on again, took a quick picture with her phone – man, oh man, it looked amazing on her finger – and then whipped it off again quickly. Who was going to see? She was alone after all, but for some reason she felt guilty. As if she was betraying James somehow. Which was a strange thought given they’d only just met.
As she ran the tap for her drink, something else occurred to her. Felicity put down the glass, grabbed her phone and googledTiffany flower ring. And there it was, plain as day, on their website. A rose gold and diamond flower ring. It was called The Victoria. And it was priced at a very reasonable £2,800. Felicity laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all. What onearthwas Adam playing at? Did he really think a ring – even one that beautiful – was going to make everything okay?
Felicity got no sleep that night. Or for several nights afterwards, truth be told. Bloody men.
Returning to work a few days later, it was back to earth with a bump.
There were no handsome men dressed as penguins waiting on the doorstep when she arrived at the centre. There was no James turning up out of the blue with his broadness and his blue eyes and his, well, whatever it was that made her want to grab him and kiss him every time he walked past. There was no Adam getting down on bended knee while she was doing the washing up and befuddling her brain. Andrea wouldn’t even let her play her anti-Christmas playlist anymore to cheer herself up.
‘It’s the New Year now, Felicity. No more Shaky or Cliff for a whole year. I would have thought you of all people would be delighted about that.’
Andrea was right. She normallydidfeel delighted to get Christmas out of the way. Most years, it was a huge relief, as if she had sidestepped a landmine. But this year, for the first time in many years in fact, she didn’t feel delighted at all. For some reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on she felt… bereft.
A couple of days later, Felicity was left to hold the fort while Andrea took Holly and her mum to the emergency vet. Holly was the most adorable little kitten, all ginger fluff and toe beans, heart-meltingly cute. But the reality was, she hadn’t got any better since New Year. She seemed very weak and was not putting on much weight despite constantly suckling from Gennie and all the extra feeds from Andrea and Felicity. They were so worried that – even though they had absolutely zero money inthe bank this month and they’d had a load of new arrivals – they made the call and told the vet to do whatever he needed to, to get her better.
And now Felicity was covered in scratches because although she understandably had not wanted to be separated from Holly again, Mummy Gennie also reallydid notwant to go to the vets. For some strange reason that had absolutely nothing to do with recent events of course, Gennie was suddenly suspicious of all boxes and cages and other trap-like containers, and she had definitely got some of her fight back now she was feeling better.
Felicity sat on the office chair rubbing Germolene into her war wounds and waiting for Andrea to return, when a sneaky thought wormed its way into her mind.
James would definitely want to know about Holly.
Definitely.
He’d be worried.
Really worried.
He might even be upset that she hadn’t told him.
Once the thought was in her head, she couldn’t shake it. She waited as patiently as she could, kicking her legs under her and subconsciously counting the seconds as they ticked by, and then she caved and at 11.05am precisely she texted the number he’d left on their noticeboard (‘for emergencies’), which had been burning a hole into her eye sockets ever since.
James, hi, it’s Felicity, Holly is really sick. Please come.
Shameless, she thought, and deleted it.
Try again.
James, hi, it’s Felicity. I hope you’re okay. Holly is not doing so great; she’s going to the vet’s today. I thought you’d like to know.
That was better. Less needy. That was good.
She hit send and closed her eyes, hardly daring to hope. She had been half expecting never to hear from him again, so jumped in surprise when her phone beeped a rapid reply.
What can I do?
She smiled. He was such a fixer.
Scrap that, I’m on my way.
She felt weirdly triumphant for a second. He was coming.
