Chapter Forty-One
Felicity gathered all the chairs she could muster from around the house. Having Pete’s mum, sister and family for Boxing Day dinner meant setting three extra seats and an extra highchair around the table. The variety of seats meant there would be a mismatch of heights, but it was the best she could do. Her plates were odd too, some from her mum’s collectionthat she couldn’t bring herself to get rid of, and some she and Pete had bought to add to them. Ordinarily she didn’t notice such things, but with Pete’s mum coming too she was on high alert to imperfections, of which she felt there were many as she turned her attention to finding glasses.
‘Pete, please tell me we have at least enough glasses for the adults. How have we only got threewine glasses?’
‘I think we’ve got plastic cups left from Fred’s party.’
‘Fred’s party?Pete, we can’t give your mother wine in a plastic cup with jungle animals on it.’
‘We won’t, you and I will have them to match the kids; problem solved.’
‘I knew I married you for a reason.’ Felicity smiled.
Pete scoffed. ‘After all these years, that’s the best reasonyou can think of?’
Felicity didn’t answer, she still had crackers to get off the tree and matching cutlery to find – which didn’t involve plastic handles, princesses or MrTumble. The day had barely started and already she was looking forward to the evening when she and Pete might get a moment to themselves; a moment to breathe.
She thought about Lisa and her call the previousnight when she had excitedly told her the news about Nathan’s arrival in France. It was so romantic,lucky moo!They were only in France and yet when she thought about the two of them, in a chalet in the snow, it seemed a million miles away from her own existence. OK, so sun was more her thing than snow, and Lisa and Nathan weren’t alone, but, nevertheless, it sounded bloody bliss compared tothe day she had planned. Checking her watch she sent Lisa a text:
I hope you managed to get some sleep ;-) And, ooh, it’s big secret day!
Trying not to admit to Pete that she was desperate to know what it was he was hiding was driving her crazy; that and the thought that his mum might already know.
Lisa sat up. She looked at Flick’s message and realised, with the excitementof Nathan turning up, the shock of his declaration and the added shock of her mum not minding them sharing a room together – cosmopolitan living was obviously agreeing with her – she had forgotten to ask Nathan about Pete’s secret. She wanted to get to the bottom of it. She needed to know that Felicity was OK, and she didn’t want the fact she had seen the message hanging unsaid between her andNathan. She just needed to pick the right time to broach the subject.
She slipped out of bed.
Nathan yawned and stretched his arms above his head, causing the sheet to slip lower on his firm stomach, revealing the top of his black hipsters. ‘You know, we have missed out on a lot of time together.’
Lisa pretended not to be fazed and turned to open the curtains. She lookedat the mountain, the snow glinting in the early morning light, and the sight of her parents and Luke driving off on their daily trip to the boulangerie. ‘We’ll have to think of ways to make up for all that lost time.’ She grinned, placing her hands on her hips, slightly lifting her T-shirt as she did so.
‘Oh, I’ve got ways.’ Nathan leapt out of bed, and Lisa screamed and ran.
He chased her. Lisa’s heart thudded as she laughed, squealed and ran all at the same time. When Nathan caught her she was heading for the stairs. He grabbed her and put her over his shoulder. Lisa squealed in mock protest. As he threw her back down on her bed, he leaned over her.
‘Don’t run away from me again, will you?’ His breathing was heavy, he was being playful, but Lisa could seethe vulnerability in his eyes and hear the sincerity in the question.
‘I won’t run,’ Lisa replied, pulling him down closer to her so she could feel the weight of him pressing against her.
Nathan leaned down to kiss her, but paused. ‘The morning after the bonfire, you ran; why?’
‘Nathan, I didn’t run… well, I did, but not because of us… I mean, what happened between us.That was… amazing.’ Lisa coughed. ‘Unexpected, but amazing!’
‘Unexpected?’ Nathan scoffed. ‘So based on previous knowledge you weren’t expecting amazing?’ He raised his eyebrows in anticipation of her answer.
‘Pah!’ Lisa burst out a giggle.
‘I’m hurt.’
‘And there I was meaning it as a compliment for your new skills.’
‘OK, that I’ll take.’ He kissed her.
Lisa started to lose herself in the kiss as her hands traced down his spine.
Nathan pulled back. ‘So why did you run? If it wasn’t because you were afraid of… us?’
Lisa shifted, moving Nathan she sat up. ‘Look,’ she took a breath, ‘I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want you to think I was snooping.’
