Lisa still looked puzzled.
‘A bar, in Arundel. I don’t think you’d know it. I’ll take you there sometime. Pete says the cash is handy, but with all these nights out I think he is up to something!’ Felicity joked.
Pete ignored the comment.‘Nate Baker comes in sometimes, him and the rest of his crew.’
‘Nate, yes, that’s what he prefers now.’ Lisa pulled a face at Felicity. ‘He’s a fireman.’
‘That’s him. I didn’t make the connection; I didn’t realise—’
‘You didn’t say he was a fireman – wait until I tell Melissa!’ Felicity put her wine down, grabbed her phone and started a text.
Pete shook his head.‘I’ll go and check they’re settled upstairs.’
As Felicity’s phone buzzed, she read the almost instant reply, ‘Melissa says, “You know what they say about firemen.” What do they say?’ Felicity looked up puzzled.
‘Mess with them, and they, or you, might get burned?’ Lisa offered.
Felicity’s phone buzzed again, she looked down and read the message before bursting into laughter.‘I prefer Melissa’s answer: “They’re hot stuff and they’ve got big hoses!”’
Lisa looked at Felicity who was still laughing. ‘That’s not even funny.’
Having decided that too much wine had been consumed and it had got too late for Lisa to go home, Felicity prepared her a bed on the sofa and told Pete he might as well head up himself. She didn’t want to leave Lisa until she knew shewould sleep. It had been a long day for her and, while Flick hoped the alcohol might take the edge off her raw emotions, she knew from experience, after her mum’s death, that it wasn’t always enough.
‘He’s lovely, your Pete. You’re lucky to have him,’ Lisa slurred.
‘Thanks a lot. I’m not so bad myself you know!’ Felicity laughed.
‘That’s not what I meant. He really caresabout you. It’s really obv… obv… clear.’
‘I know! He is lovely, I just wish…’
‘What? What do you wish?’ Lisa wanted to be a good listener, and she wanted to be the friend Flick had been to her and listen to what was on her mind. She just wished the room would stop spinning long enough for her to focus and do that.
‘That we got a break sometimes, that we could find our… I don’t know, mojo, I guess.’
Lisa could only picture the chewy sweets she and Felicity used to get from the post office.
Felicity continued, ‘I’d love that! We used to blow each other’s minds back before life got so full of children and stuff.’
‘And a mojo will fix that?’ Lisa’s mind wasn’t keeping up.
‘Yes, I often imagine just us on a hot beach, lying in ahammock, making slow, mind-blowing love.’
Finally, Lisa realised what she was talking about. ‘So don’t you now? Not the beach thing, but don’t you make mind-blowing love?’
Holding the baby monitor he was about to give Flick before he showered, Pete stopped in his tracks outside the door.
‘Hmmm, well… it’s all about the conservation.’
‘Talking is important.’
‘Not conversation, you bloody drunk, con-ser-vation. These days we mostly have… conservation sex.’
‘You do?’ Lisa had no idea what that was. ‘Is it en… en… environmentally friendly?’
‘No, it’s relationship friendly. I often feel too tired; my head isn’t with it. I can’t switch from Mummy on call to sex goddess. But I don’t want to say no or appear like a miserable cow.I used to be bloody hot, you know. So instead I settle – conservation sex. I do it anyway, or something that will keep him happy. It keeps things ticking over.’
Lisa thought for a moment. ‘Well, it sounds a bit shit!’
