Page 24 of The Night Before Christmas
I’m not sure that’s a good idea, F xx
She stared at her phone for a long moment, then shook herself into action, making a mental note to think about it all later.
‘You okay?’ said a voice from the doorway.
James was watching her closely. Guilt leapt and flapped in her stomach, and she quickly slipped her phone into her pocket.
‘Yes, all fine.’ She nodded, although she wasn’t sure, to be honest.
‘Those look nasty…’ he said, nodding at the scratches on her arms, which if anything were looking angrier than before.
He had noticed, then.
‘Oh, I’ll be fine, thanks. I should have gone with the towel method, but you live and learn.’
James nodded sagely, as if he talked about towel methods all the time.
Felicity smiled. ‘It’s where you use a towel to – well, grapple seems a strong word, but you know what I mean. It can help when they don’t want to go in the carrier.’
‘I knew that,’ said James, mock-offended.
‘Course you did. Want to help me with rounds then, Mr Expert Volunteer?’
He smiled, a proper warm, slightly cheeky smile, the first she’d seen from him for a while, and the cold guilt in her chest was replaced with a spreading warmth.
‘You’re the boss. Lead on.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Holly pulled through.Andrea collected her a few days later and although she was woozy and still oh-so tiny, the vet had given her a clean bill of health and told them to persevere with everything they had been doing. Best of all, the vet was confident it wasn’t fading kitten syndrome, which is the thing that Andrea and Felicity had both been petrified of even though neither of them had said the words out loud. It can take a kitten very quickly and the reason is not always obvious. They had lost kittens before, and lack of appetite and failure to gain weight were two huge red flags.
When Holly and Gennie were back and settled in their basket together, Andrea, Felicity and James – who’d turned up for his first shift that morning as promised – stood around the cage like proud parents.
‘This is a weird little set up we’ve got going on,’ said Andrea, after a few moments, and there was a hushed ripple of slightly awkward laughter. No one wanted to wake the sleepers.
‘Oh, by the way, in case you hadn’t worked it out, James is coming to help us for a couple of weeks, Felicity,’ said Andrea in a low voice. ‘He fancied some volunteering work and I know we could use the help.’ This was all said with an arched eyebrow. Soarched, in fact, it looked like it might disappear over the back of her head. Felicity resisted a sideways glance at James.
‘Sure, makes sense,’ she said, trying to keep a straight face.
‘Good. I’ve put you both on shift tomorrow. It’s my day off. Can you show him the ropes, please? It might be pretty busy. And Lisa from the RSPCA is bringing some pups in during the afternoon.’
‘Sure, happy to.’
Andrea turned to look at her, both eyebrows practically on the ceiling now. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Sure, yes, why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Well, for one thing, you keep saying “Sure” in that weird voice.’
James cleared his throat and Felicity threw him a look.
‘No, no, I mean, yes I’m fine, sorry, I was just listening, that’s all.’
Andrea looked at Felicity, at James, then back to Felicity. She had a smirk on her face. Felicity shifted uncomfortably. Awesome as Andrea was, she could also be bloody embarrassing sometimes. She felt ready to kill her but also – and not for the first time – supremely grateful.
‘Good. I’ll see you both on Wednesday then. By the way, the vet said Holly would almost certainly have died if James hadn’t found her that night. If you guys hadn’t done everything you did for her. Well done, you two.’
James and Felicity exchanged a long look and Felicity felt her heart do a back flip. Then she looked down at little Holly, all snuggled up and sleeping next to her mum, and she said another silent prayer.Please make it through this, little one.
