Page 20 of The Night Before Christmas
To his credit he had so far resisted the urge to ask her who Adam was, although she knew he must be dying to. As they sipped their (Irish) coffees in the break room after rounds and waited for midnight, neither one looking directly at the other, itseemed as though James may be on the verge of saying it… Of saying something, anyway. But just as he opened his mouth to speak, there was a loud shout. James and Felicity leapt up and raced instinctively to the cat nursery, where they found Andrea holding aloft a pale blue box.
‘What on earth is this?’ said Andrea. ‘You haven’t even known each other five minutes and already, a ring!’
James looked at Felicity and Felicity wondered if she could somehow make herself invisible. Was it Harry Potter who could do that? What were those words again?Spellus invisibilianus, or something?
‘Whatisthat?’ said James, reaching forward to take it from Andrea, who went a deathly shade of pale.
‘You mean it’s not from you, James?’ she said, glancing at Felicity in horror.
Felicity shook her head slowly.
Oh God, oh God, oh God.
She felt as though her insides might be folding in on themselves.
Swallowing her panic, Felicity thought fast. She decided to attempt nonchalance.
‘It’s from that bloke, Adam,’ she said, in what she hoped sounded like a breezy version of her voice. ‘The stupid idiot hasn’t seen me for, like, years, so I have no idea what he thinks he’s playing at.’ She gave a forced kind of laugh which came out much louder than she had intended, but the others were looking down, mouths agape, at the open box in James’ hand and didn’t even seem to notice.
James stared at the ring, for that is what it was, for a long time. And all the while, Felicity and Andrea waited, exchanging nervous glances, Andrea trying to mouth an apology across the room, Felicity trying to hold back the tears, but also trying to keep her face neutral, as if it really did mean nothing.
‘I should go,’ said James, slowly, taking a few steps backwards. ‘I’m late.’
Andrea had somehow managed to edge towards the door, looking contrite, and it was obvious she was trying to give them some alone time to make up for her monumental cock-up. But when she heard him say that, she stopped short.
‘You’ll do nothing of the sort,’ she said.
James looked at her, a bit taken aback.
Andrea blustered on. ‘It’s New Year’s Eve. It’s 11.30, it’s far too late to turn up to a party now. You’ll miss the big moment. Anyway, you said it was black tie.’
James glanced down at himself as if he’d forgotten what he was wearing.
‘Why don’t you take Freddy and Felix out for a quick walk round the block? That would be a huge help, actually.’
James crossed his arms. ‘It’s nearly midnight. Why on earth would two tiny dogs like that need a walk at midnight on New Year’s Eve?’
Andrea didn’t miss a beat. ‘It’s part of their training for a new home. They need to get used to being taken out at all hours. It was scheduled anyway, and Felicity was due to do it… only, Freddy hates her.’
Felicity nodded. ‘He does, it’s true,’ she said, with a feeble attempt at a smile.
James stared at Andrea for a long moment, as if trying to make her crack. To her credit, she stared back at him boldly, daring him to accuse her of lying. Then, in a devastating final blow, she crossed her arms back at him, and that was that. Defeated, James turned with a sigh, grabbed a couple of leads from the higgledy-piggledy pile on the hooks in the corner, and headed in the direction of the puppy room. He didn’t even look at Felicity as he walked past, and she felt a bit woozy – like it wasn’t just her insides that were giving up the ghost. Now theentire universe felt as though it was on the verge of caving in around her.
‘I need a beer,’ she announced in a feeble voice to no one in particular. But if she was honest, all she really wanted was to take a proper look at that ring.
The evening had really gone downhill from there. Midnight had come and gone with an awkward ‘Happy New Year’ and a pathetic attempt at a verse of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and then, before they could make up another task for him to do, James was leaving, muttering some excuse about needing to be up early the next day for something vague he couldn’t possibly miss even though they all knew it would be New Year’s Day and who the hell ever had plans on New Year’s Day?
He stared at Felicity for a long moment as they reached the door.
Say something.
‘Look…’ she said, wondering which words were going to come out of her mouth next.
‘You don’t have to explain anything to me,’ he said. His jaw was tense.
‘I do…’
‘No, you don’t. It’s really none of my business.’
