Page 51 of The Day After Christmas
Harry, meanwhile, was practically sweating. ‘It was nothing… it was just…’ Andrea threw him a look and he stopped talking immediately.
‘I mean, we just walked in here and you two were kissing so there’s no point denying it.’
James snorted. ‘Felicity’s right. We did see that I’m afraid.’ He pretended to rub his eyes. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever unsee it, to be honest.’
Andrea folded her arms across her wolf fleece.She was wearing a wolf fleece for God’s sake. How did the woman do it?‘Look, it was nothing.’
‘Hey,’ said Harry.
‘Fine, it wasn’t nothing as such,’ said Andrea, rolling her eyes. ‘But it’s not why I called you here.’
‘Thank God for that,’ muttered Felicity, anger still burbling in her chest like lava. ‘You do know he’s still officially married, right?’
Andrea and Harry exchanged a glance.
‘Ah, okay, you did know.’
‘Of course I did,’ said Andrea as she led them through to the staff room. ‘You know I like them complicated.’
‘That’s for sure,’ said Felicity under her breath.
James cleared his throat. ‘So why did you call us here? And also, can we all agree we will never speak of what we have just witnessed?’
‘Fine with me,’ said Harry, sitting down heavily in one of the plastic garden chairs round the sides of the tiny room.
‘And me,’ said Felicity.
‘You might want to sit down too, Felicity,’ said Andrea. It wasn’t like her to be considerate, something really was wrong.
Felicity stayed standing, too panicky now to sit.
‘Suit yourself. The thing is, the centre is in trouble,’ she said, not bothering to mince any words. ‘Harry here was just… consoling me…’
James let out a little groan and sat down in the corner.
‘Is that what you call it?’ said Felicity, eyebrow raised.
‘He was consoling me, because I’ve just had a letter from the bank,’ said Andrea.
The blood drained from all Felicity’s limbs at once. James pushed a chair forwards a few inches with his foot and she sank into it gratefully.
‘The bank? Why?’ Her palms were prickling. Was she having a heart attack? Is this what a heart attack felt like? How was anyone supposed to know?
‘Why do you think?’ piped up Harry. ‘There’s no money.’
‘There’s never any money,’ said Felicity, looking between them. ‘That’s not news.’
Andrea’s voice was strained. ‘This time there really isn’t any money. None. Not a bean.’
‘But…’ Felicity looked at Andrea, wondering for the first time if they should be having this conversation privately, but it was clear Harry already knew everything. How long had this beengoing on between them, exactly? ‘But I thought you bought this place with your inheritance.’
Andrea sighed. ‘I did, but a few years ago there was a teeny tiny blip in the finances and I may have taken out a teeny tiny’ – she gestured with her fingers – ‘mortgage.’
‘Teeny tiny was it?’ said Felicity.
‘Well, not that teeny tiny,’ said Andrea, handing Felicity a crumpled piece of paper from her back pocket. Felicity didn’t miss the shake in her hand as she did so. ‘I missed a few payments. So now they want it back.’
Felicity scanned the letter, but her vision was blurry with tears. Maybe it was a panic attack? Was that better?
