Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Coffee with Adam.
It sounded straightforward but turned out to be a logistical nightmare. Who arranges coffee on a busy Saturday morning in town during the January sales? What kind of sociopath thinks they can just drive in and find a parking space five minutes before the allotted meeting time? Me, that’s who , thought Felicity grimly, as she circled the car park for the third or possibly billionth time. Finally, an elderly lady with a purple Mini Clubman and what looked like a fuchsia pink top hat on her head let Felicity take her (freakishly tiny) space and she edged her battered old Toyota Yaris into the gap and squeezed out of the door trying not to scratch the much nicer car next to her.
‘You’re late,’ came an amused-sounding voice.
‘You’re meant to be at Costa,’ she replied, as she extracted herself awkwardly from the tiny gap between the two cars and looked up at Adam, who was blinking at her in the sunshine.
‘I saw you drive in. Besides, it’s rammed. Do you want to try somewhere else?’
Felicity wailed. ‘But… caramel latte…?’
‘Okay fine,’ said Adam, miming rolling up his sleeves. ‘Let’s do this.’
Twenty minutes later, they were successfully huddled in the corner of Costa next to the window, lattes in hand, flushed from their triumphant foraging expedition and only slightly battered and bruised from the experience. Felicity gave him a sideways glance. He looked back at her and they giggled like a pair of teenagers. She had forgotten how much fun they had together.
Adam was dressed for success as always, today in a pair of cream chinos and sky-blue shirt which set off his brown skin and big brown eyes beautifully. He looked rather pale, she thought, but that may have been the cream jacket he had on which wasn’t really appropriate for the season but looked bloody expensive. She glanced down at her go-to jeans and hoodie combo and wondered vaguely if she should have made more of an effort.
‘So,’ he said.
‘So…?’
‘So, I’ve been wanting to talk to you.’
‘I’m not sure what exactly we have to talk about, Adam, but I’m here, and I have caramel-flavoured coffee, so it’s as good a time as any. Go for it.’
‘Okay,’ he said, but didn’t continue. Instead, he seemed to be collecting his thoughts. ‘Okay.’
Felicity was tempted to say something facetious, but she kept quiet, sipping her sweet, sweet coffee, just waiting.
‘The thing is,’ he said, ‘I miss you.’
‘You already told me that. When you turned up at my work out of the blue. Remember that?’ She shifted on the uncomfortable café stool.
‘Yes, I know, I know, but then that blond titan turned up and I got distracted.’
Felicity tried to keep her features neutral.
‘Who is that guy anyway?’ he added, as if the question had just occurred to him.
‘That’s none of your business, actually,’ said Felicity. ‘Anyway, he’s not a titan. Fair enough he’s pretty tall but I wouldn’t say titan, exactly.’
Adam took a sip of coffee and looked up at her. ‘Whoever he is, he’s really into you,’ he said.
Felicity flushed. She brought her cup up to her face to try and hide the involuntary smile at the thought of Penguin Man being into her.
Adam caught it though and leaned in towards her. His dark eyes were serious. ‘He’s not the one for you,’ he said, and put his hand on her knee.
‘Is that so?’ she replied, looking at his hand but making no attempt to remove it. She wasn’t going to admit it to him, but his touch felt good. She felt a stirring in the pit of her stomach.
‘That’s so.’
Felicity studied his face, which was inches from hers, and her heart started to thump. That handsome face was so familiar to her, so dear. She knew every inch of it, every inch of him. He had been there practically since her childhood, by her side. He had supported her through some very dark times. And, in return, she had broken his heart.
‘Felicity, I…’
‘Oh my God!’
At that moment a squeal from the doorway nearly sent lattes flying everywhere. Felicity’s friend Bex was making a beeline for them. Felicity had a sudden urge to hide under a cushion, but it was too late and all the cushions in this place were freakishly small. A trend, presumably.
Bex – all stunning six feet of her, water bottle in hand – was pulling up a stool and dumping many, many expensive-looking bags on the floor and then looking from Adam to Felicity, Felicity to Adam expectantly, as if trying to read their thoughts. Felicity’s thoughts were Oh, bugger . She had no idea what Adam was thinking – okay, that’s not true, she knew exactly what he’d be thinking. He had always had a soft spot for Bex but she could be, well, a lot.
‘Darlings! How wonderful to see you both,’ said Bex, not adding the word ‘together’, though she clearly wanted to.
‘Rebecca,’ said Adam, nodding, with a rueful grin.
‘Bought the whole town, I see,’ said Felicity, indicating the bags. ‘You do know it’s not even lunchtime, right?’
‘What? Oh, yes, just can’t resist a sale, darling, you know me!’ replied Bex, tossing her beautifully dark, glossy hair over her shoulder. Her voice seemed a bit more plummy than usual. Was that for Adam’s benefit?
‘How have you been?’ said Adam, glancing at Bex. Good of him to make her feel included , thought Felicity.
‘Fine, darling, just fine. It’s wonderful to see you,’ she said, giving him a long look up and down.
‘Don’t sound so surprised,’ said Felicity, a bit more strongly than she had intended. ‘You and Sophie were the ones who told him where I was!’
‘Oh, rubbish,’ said Bex, flapping her hand dismissively at her and taking a sip of water. ‘He would have found you eventually.’
Felicity was already plotting all the messages she would send her traitorous friends later.
‘You make him sound like a stalker,’ said Felicity, trying to keep her voice light as she glanced at Adam.
He looked back at her intently.
‘Oh my goodness, you were stalking me?’ she said, eyes widening.
Bex giggled again, louder this time and some of the customers crowded around neighbouring tables looked sharply over at her.
‘I wasn’t stalking you,’ said Adam, spreading his hands wide and smiling nervously. ‘I was… I told you, I wanted to keep an eye on you, that’s all.’
‘He was watching out for you. That’s what he told us,’ said Bex. Adam shot her a look.
‘Watching out for me?’ said Felicity. ‘What does that even mean?’
Adam looked uncomfortable. He ran his hand through his hair and a memory stirred.
‘Felicity, it’s not what you think. I…’
‘Yes?’
Adam wrinkled his brow. ‘I just had to know you were okay. I told you I missed you.’
‘Aw,’ said Bex. And then, as if she’d only just realised the situation, ‘Maybe I should leave you two alone.’
‘No,’ said Felicity. ‘It’s fine. We’re done. In fact, I might do some shopping while I’m here.’
She found she was standing up without realising how it had happened. She was squashed against the window which meant the edges of the tiny table were cutting into her legs and she had to lean forward in a rather awkward manner so she could shuffle sideways. All in all it wasn’t quite the dramatic statement she had hoped for. But she was standing, nonetheless.
Adam looked up at her.
‘What are you doing?’ he said, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. ‘You can’t go yet.’
He pulled gently at her and she sat down again with a bump. Her stool seemed to be closer to him than before. Their knees and thighs were touching. How had that happened?
‘Sorry, I… you’re right, I’ll just drink some more latte,’ she said, reaching for her cup, and trying to ignore the closeness of him, never mind the uncomfortable feeling in her chest.
‘So,’ said Bex, leaning forward. ‘Have you heard the news?’
She proceeded to tell them at great length a disappointingly scandal-free story about a Carry On -style misunderstanding between Sophie and her father-in-law, which Felicity had already heard from Sophie herself, in actual fact, but she was very grateful to Bex for the distraction. Felicity tried to concentrate on listening and resisted the urge to glance at Adam, although she was suddenly very aware of his presence next to her. His thigh on hers. The simmering static between them. It all felt so natural, like old times. In her (probably rose-tinted) memory they had always been such a great couple. It had just worked . And they’d always been great in public, in front of people. Having Bex here was certainly adding to the sense of nostalgia.
The look in his eyes when she had mentioned stalking, though. That part was new. He wasn’t the stalking type of course, that was ridiculous… but something weird was going on, that was for sure. What was that all about? He’d definitely been about to say something important before they were interrupted, and while some part of her wanted to hear what he had to say, another part was more than relieved that Bex had arrived when she did. Had he been about to tell her he loved her? If he did, Felicity just didn’t know how she would feel.
What was the old saying about two buses declaring their undying love at once or something?
As if to prove the point, on the following Monday morning, James was back.
He sauntered into the office just as Felicity was drinking her morning coffee. The atmosphere in the room became instantly electric, like a Van de Graff generator, and Felicity wondered for a split second if her hair was standing on end.
Thank God.
‘Morning,’ he said, giving her a flash of his blue eyes. There was a moment when he clearly thought about leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek but must have thought better of it and did a kind of ducking motion to try and cover it. Felicity stifled a giggle. He does look like a blond titan.
‘Morning yourself,’ she said, smiling over the top of her cup. ‘We missed you.’
‘ She missed you,’ said Andrea, barging into the room behind him. ‘That’s what she means. She missed you. The rest of us all got along just fine without you.’
James laughed. ‘Thanks a lot,’ he said to Andrea, then glanced at Felicity in a way that made her arms prickle with heat. ‘How was your weekend?’
‘It was… weird, actually. I mean, fine. Honestly, it was fine.’
James raised his eyebrows at her. ‘Is that so?’
‘Yeah, it was… quiet, I guess. What about yours?’
James shrugged. ‘Boring, mainly,’ he said. ‘I missed this place. Is that sad?’
‘No, not sad at all. I often miss it on my days off.’
Cue a long lingering look between them.
‘You’ve only got him for one more week, you know, so you’d better not get used to this,’ said Andrea, wagging her finger in Felicity’s face and spoiling the moment somewhat. James raised an eyebrow at her.
‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,’ said Felicity curtly, feigning offence, but she knew neither of them was buying it. How strange that as soon as she saw James, as soon as he was anywhere near her, all thoughts of Adam disappeared completely. All she wanted to do was be near him. Well, kiss him, all she wanted to do was kiss him.
The week proceeded in a reasonably orderly fashion. Andrea had assigned them different rooms, Felicity the cat nursery – obviously – and James the puppy room, which was full to bursting. She was quite strict about it too, presumably to maintain some sort of decorum. But every so often their paths would cross, and they would grin at each other like a pair of fools, or one of them would make a joke and the other would giggle or, mostly, James would give her a look that made her feel all wobbly. Felicity was starting to wonder what might be happening if Andrea wasn’t on shift.
On Wednesday morning, Felicity was washing up the bowls at the sink when James came and stood right behind her as if he was going to put his arms around her.
‘What are you doing here?’ she said, under her breath, without turning round. ‘Andrea will murder you if she catches you.’
He didn’t reply but only moved closer, until he was right behind her, and she could hear him breathe-laughing in her ear. She shivered at his nearness and the shiver travelled all the way down her body. He edged closer and the shiver turned to a full-on body tingle. She felt him move to one side and just as she thought he was going to kiss her neck… a hand came down into the murky water. The next second, he had flicked dirty lukewarm water all over her.
‘Yuck!!!’ Felicity wiped her eyes with her polo shirt. ‘You bloody… man,’ she said, pretending to shake her fist as he disappeared out of the door.
As soon as he’d gone, though, she had to have a little sit down.
As the week progressed, Felicity found she was particularly enjoying watching him with the animals. He was so careful with them, as if they were precious treasures. When he thought no one was watching, anyway.
In particular, little Holly. Whenever he was actually allowed in the cat nursery, he would find an excuse to get the kitten out for a cuddle and Felicity would pretend not to watch him, being so tender, whispering to her as he stroked Holly’s head with one finger, the tiny kitten looking up at him adoringly and purring her little heart out. It was all she could do to stop herself just grabbing him right there and then. She tried valiantly to distract herself with cuddles from Bobby and some of the new arrivals – including a pair of youngish tabby cats who looked like miniature tigers – but in truth she couldn’t wait for the end of the week to see what might happen.
What happened was that she found him lingering outside the front door on the Friday afternoon. He was kicking at the stones in the patch of wasteland that served as a driveway for the centre.
Is he waiting for me?
‘All right?’ he said, looking sideways at her.
Felicity hugged herself with her arms. ‘All right?’ she said.
‘So… I was wondering what you might be doing now?’
‘Er. I was planning on taking a shower,’ she said, indicating her clothes, which were covered in cat fluff from head to toe. ‘I’m back for an evening shift later. Andrea’s got another date with the mysterious Spanish man.’
‘Oh, okay. No worries.’
‘But… I’ve got a day off tomorrow if you wanted to do something?’ she said, sounding braver than she really felt.
‘I said I’d help Andrea,’ he said. ‘I felt so bad for letting you all down last week. And she’ll be on her own otherwise.’
As if by magic, Andrea emerged from the doorway. Magical nosey-parker powers , thought Felicity suspiciously.
‘Oh, hi, you two,’ she said, casually.
‘How long have you been there?’ said Felicity.
‘Never mind that.’
Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘So, I guess you heard…?’
‘About tomorrow? I may have.’
‘So…?’
Andrea looked between them both, and then smiled. ‘I’ll be fine. You two go have fun. I’ll call you if I need you. Oh, and his name is Javier, by the way. In case you were wondering.’
They weren’t. After a few seconds, Andrea melted away into the doorway, not very discreetly, leaving them to stare at each other again.
James spoke in a low voice. ‘So… Crazy Cat Lady.’
‘Yes, Mr Penguin Man?’
‘How about I meet you here at eleven tomorrow and we’ll go… do something?’
Felicity nodded. ‘You’re on.’
‘Good.’
‘Good.’
‘Okay then.’
‘See you tomorrow then.’
‘Okay.’
Ooh. Fireworks.