Page 73 of The Day After Christmas
‘Fine, I’m a little bit mad. But seriously, Felicity,’ he stopped and looked over at her, his sky-blue eyes flashing, ‘are you really doing this?’
She knew what he meant.
‘I can’t have this conversation again.’
‘I think you have to.’
‘The wedding’s coming up fast, James. I can’t pull out now.’
James’s mouth was set in a tight (but quite sexy) line. ‘You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.’
‘I do. Everything is arranged. I have to be there. She’s one of my oldest friends.’
‘She’s a bitch.’
Felicity put her forehead slowly down on the table and took a deep breath. ‘Seriously, I cannot keep having the same conversation about this.’
‘Then don’t. Just listen to me. I know we said you’d hang in there, and that they were your oldest friends and all that, but I’ve changed my mind. You think you have to be friends with them because you’ve always been friends with them and you’ve been through a lot together or whatever but seriously, you can walk away. People do that.’
‘Do they?’ Felicity said into the table.
‘They do. Yes. I know you have trust issues or whatever and maybe you’re scared you won’t find other friends but you will, I promise you. You can find friends who don’t treat you like shit.’ He was sitting beside her now, his hand on her back.
She lifted her head slowly, wincing as her hangover headache started to kick in in earnest. He was looking at her with such concern she felt her heart thump.
‘What did I do to deserve you?’ she said softly.
‘You won the boyfriend lottery, what can I say?’ He grinned.
‘I sure did.’
CHAPTER 36
James was right, she knew he was, of course he was.
Andrea and Sophie were her only true friends in the world, which was a bit of a sad state of affairs, truth be told, especially as one of them was also her boss.
‘Felicity, are you okay?’ said one of them now – Andrea, in fact – her brusque voice drawing Felicity back into the present. ‘Only you’ve been sat in that chair for ten minutes now. Don’t you have a home to go to?’
It was the end of shift and yes, Felicity very much did have a home to go to. One with a lovely man in it and three gorgeous cats and she knew she should be skipping home to them immediately, but something was holding her back.
‘Andrea…’ she said.
‘Yes…?’
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘I think you just did.’
‘You’re hilarious,’ said Felicity in her most sombre voice.Go gently.‘It’s just… we were talking the other night and, well, we really need to get on and organise the fundraiser soon, just checking that’s still okay?’
Andrea spun round sharply.
‘Who’s we?’
‘Me, I said.’
‘No, you said we. Who’s the we, exactly?’
