Page 55 of The Day After Christmas
‘No.’
‘No. I’m sorry.’
He sat down beside her again, arms still crossed, jaw still clenched, and she patted his arm gingerly.
‘I’m really sorry. I should have told you.’
‘Yes. You should. He wasn’t… naked, was he?’
Felicity could have sworn she caught James sucking in his stomach as he said this.
‘Are you clenching? You are, you’re clenching!’
‘Hey, he’s a young lad, I’m sure he’s got a great body.’
Felicity cleared her throat but elected to stay silent.
‘See,’ said James, jabbing at the air with a finger. ‘That cough, right there. That says I’m right.’
‘No, it doesn’t,’ said Felicity.
‘So he has a disgusting body covered in boils or something does he?’
‘Well, no, but…’
‘I bloody knew it. I’m going to kill the useless little nutbag.’
‘Don’t mention nutbags,’ said Felicity, bursting out laughing.
‘Oh my God,’ said James. ‘You didn’t see…’
Felicity shook her head. Her body was racked with laughter now and she couldn’t speak for a good minute. After a few more seconds of this, James began laughing too.
‘Nutbag,’ she said, cackling.
‘I’m glad we can laugh about this,’ said James, still frowning and laughing all at the same time.
‘I knew we would one day,’ said Felicity.
He kissed the top of her head and relief washed over her.
‘Of course we would,’ said James. ‘You just should have told me sooner, okay?’
‘Okay.’
‘And if he ever pulls anything like that again…’
‘Yup. I know.’
‘Right then. We’ll say no more about it. Or about your boss and your dad, now that I think of it. What the hell is that about?’
‘Like I said, it’s been a long day,’ said Felicity.
CHAPTER 28
The following morning Felicity felt weirdly awkward about going back into work.
She encountered Andrea in the puppy room, where she was busying herself with the very important work of cuddling three puppies at once.
