Page 57 of The Day After Christmas
‘So what’s the gossip then?’ said Felicity, with a wry grin.
Andrea let out a little laugh, visibly relieved. ‘Do you want… details?’
‘God, no. Heaven forbid.’
‘Because I’m happy to share…’
Felicity shrieked in horror. ‘No. For the love of all that is good and holy, please. No details. I just meant, you know, is it serious? Because he’s still marriedandhe’s a big fat cheater. You know that, right?’
Both Felicity’s parents had had serious issues with fidelity, she had found out recently. She’d always assumed it was just Harry, but no, Jocelyn had also been at it with the local reporter when Felicity and her brother were only a few years old. Unbelievably, it had all gonedownhillfrom there.
‘I mean, you don’t talk about it much, but I’d gathered something like that had gone on,’ said Andrea, passing her a puppy and a tiny syringe of milk, Felicity avoiding her eye as she took the little bundle into her arms.
‘It wasn’t great. So just watch yourself, okay? Because I don’t want to be mopping you off the floor.’
‘I can handle myself,’ said Andrea, tossing her head and picking up a puppy of her own. ‘If he cheats, he dies.’
‘Woah. I mean that might be a bit extreme.’
‘Okay, fine. For you I won’t kill him but I’ll definitely be rather cross.’
‘Fair enough.’
They were just about to move on to the last two puppies when the doorbell rang.
‘I’ll get it,’ said Felicity.
‘Thanks, I’ll finish up here.’
‘And stop daydreaming about my dad,’ Felicity threw over her shoulder as she headed for the front door.
‘But he’s hot,’ Andrea threw back.
‘Ew.’
Felicity threw open the heavy front door to see a broad woman in an RSPCA uniform standing before her. Saskia was the local Animal Collection Officer and was always turning up with some animal or other that needed their care. Felicity had always suspected she was secretly in love with Andrea. But then, who wasn’t?
‘Saskia. What can we do for you this fine day?’
Saskia made a face. She had dyed deep-purple hair cut into a very cool pixie cut and tattoos on both hands. Felicity wondered, not for the first time, where she got her hair cut.
‘I’m so sorry not to call. I just took an emergency case on my way home and thought it would be right up yourStraße, if you know what I mean.’
Saskia also liked to throw foreign words into every other sentence. Felicity had no idea why.
‘Go on then, give us a look,’ said Felicity with a grin.
As everyone in the animal rescue world knew, “looking” was always code for “taking home and snuggling”. At least she hadn’t broken the number one cardinal rule and told Felicity its name. Once an animal had a cute name there was definitely no going back.
Saskia went to her van and produced a cage from the back. Inside was the scrawniest-looking excuse for a cat Felicity had ever seen. It was covered in tufts of ginger hair between raw pink bald patches, a couple of nasty-looking scratches, and on its head was a large sore that appeared to have been treated with a topical cream.
‘He’s been to the vets already,’ said Saskia as if reading Felicity’s mind. ‘They said he should be fine with some decent food and love, but you just need to keep an eye on that nasty thing on his head.’
Felicity put a finger through the bar. The little cat immediately started rubbing his head against her hand. His purr was deep and rumbling.
‘What happened to him?’ she said in a low voice.
Saskia shrugged. ‘Who really knows? He’s super old and he was wandering round this estate on the other side of town. The person who reported him reckoned he did have an owner but they must have died or left as he’s been on his own for a few weeks at least. The kids on the estate kept chasing him, poor boy.’
