Chapter 26
‘We’ll just be a minute, hopefully,’ said Felicity, as they jumped out of the car outside Animal Saviours. ‘Then we can go grab some lunch.’ Her heart was still pounding. Holiday glow officially gone. What the hell had happened?
James had been extraordinarily calm on the journey from the airport which had only made her more anxious.
‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ he kept saying in a weirdly measured voice.
‘Don’t you do your spy shit on me,’ she muttered back as she pushed the heavy doors open, the smells and sounds of the animals hitting her right between the ears and nose.
‘For the millionth time, I’m not a spy.’
‘But my point is,’ said Felicity with a smile, ‘that’s exactly what you’d say if you were.’
‘Fair enough but you know me well enough now, it’s not like I disappear off round the world all the time or anything.’
She shrugged. ‘Maybe you’re a sleeper agent.’
‘Do you even know what one of those is?’
They were chatting easily back and forth as they made their way down the corridor, which is why they didn’t notice Andrea and Harry until they practically bumped into them. Felicity let out a gasp. They were locked in a passionate embrace right in the middle of the rescue centre.
Her boss and her father.
They sprang apart guiltily as James cleared his throat. Harry immediately covered his face with his hands.
‘Erm, what the hell was that?’ said Felicity, looking from one to the other.
Andrea tossed her salt-and-pepper plait over her shoulder in what seemed to be a gesture of defiance, blue eyes flashing, face flushed. ‘What was what?’
Felicity pointed between them.
‘That.’
The blood was pounding in her ears.
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 been going 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?
‘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.
‘Hmmmm,’ said James, his voice a low dangerous rumble. ‘He’d best watch himself.’