Page 52 of The Day After Christmas
‘They want the centre?’ she said, rubbing her face with her hand.
‘I’m so sorry, Felicity,’ said Andrea.
‘What’s going on?’ said a voice from the doorway and they all jumped.
‘Charlie, dammit, I forgot you were coming in this afternoon,’ said Andrea.
Charlie was staring at Felicity, wide-eyed.
‘Nothing,’ said Felicity, blinking back tears and clearing her throat. ‘Charlie, this is my boyfriend, James…’
‘Woah, he’s a unit,’ said Charlie, reaching out a hand.
James stood and gave his hand a firm squeeze. ‘Good to meet you too,’ said James with a light laugh, but Felicity could tell he wasn’t expecting Charlie to be that handsome.
‘No wonder she won’t even throw me a bone,’ said Charlie.
‘Charlie, for God’s sake,’ said Andrea.
James didn’t miss a beat. ‘Why would she go out for ice cream when she has knickerbocker glory at home?’ He shrugged.
‘That’s the most British thing I’ve ever heard,’ said Andrea, laughing a little too loudly.
Harry guffawed from the corner, but Charlie was frowning. ‘What’s knickerbocker glory?’ he said. ‘And can you teach me how to do it?’
Felicity couldn’t help it. She snort-laughed at that. ‘You’ll find out when you’re older,’ she said. ‘Now, can we get back to the matter at hand?’
Charlie looked suddenly nervous. ‘You didn’t tell them, did you?’ he said, face paler by the second.
Felicity coughed.
‘Tell us what?’ said Andrea.
‘What happened, you know, between me and Felicity,’ said Charlie, putting his hands in his pockets.
‘What did happen?’ said James, moving as if to get out of his chair.
Charlie backed up.
‘Nothing,’ said Felicity, as loudly as she could manage without sounding shrill. ‘Nothing happened between us. Nothing at all.’
James turned to look at her. ‘Then why are you all red?’
‘That happens to me all the time, J. You know this.’
‘That’s true, I do,’ said James. He seemed more amused than anything else. ‘Charlie. Do you want to explain?’
‘Um. Looks like I’ve said enough,’ said Charlie, trying to mouth an apology at Felicity, which felt rather less than genuine.
‘You definitely have,’ said Felicity through gritted teeth. ‘James, I’ll explain later, okay? But it was nothing, just a misunderstanding, that’s all.’
‘Fine,’ said James, crossing his arms.
Andrea tutted. ‘Charlie, give us a few minutes please. The dogs need doing if you don’t mind.’
Charlie, still frowning, turned and practically ran out of the room, with just one quick glance at Felicity over his shoulder.
‘The boy’s got confidence, I’ll give him that,’ said Andrea.
