Chapter Six
‘You have to admit “Firefighter Rescues Girlfriend From Cat-astrophy!” is a good headline.’ Felicity held up a copy of theGazetteand grinned at Lisa across the table.
‘I can’t believe you brought that with you. This is supposed to be a night out to escape the traumas of last week.’
‘I didn’t, it was on the newspaper rack by the door.’
Lisa took the paper and laidit on the table in front of her. ‘Firstly, what kind of bar has a newspaper rack, and secondly, how much of a slow news week is it to have this story on the front page?’
Felicity laughed. ‘Welcome to Cin Cin, you must be used to this whole café-meets-bar vibe by now. And as for a slow news week, it’s theGazette; firefighter rescues a woman who was rescuing a cat is hot news for them!’
‘You’re not funny. It was mortifying. I am perfectly capable of climbing back down a tree from that height. I just can’t do it holding a kitten.’
‘Hmm, well, it says right there’ – Felicity leaned over and pointed at a paragraph in the article – ‘after they’d rescued Kaboodle, you needed rescuing too; ladders, ropes and a harness are mentioned.’ Felicity giggled and picked up her orange juice.
‘My bloody arms were dead and my legs had turned to jelly. I’d been holding Boo and concentrating so hard on keeping her safe I hadn’t dared move.’
‘I’m sure. And needing to be rescued had nothing to do with the fact Nathan was there, in uniform, ready to throw you over his shoulder and carry you down to safety.’
‘Seriously? With that imagination you should write for theGazette. Thatis most certainly not how it happened. Believe me, it was a whole lot less glamorous.’
‘Oh, don’t shatter my illusions.’ Felicity screwed up her nose and turned the newspaper back to face her. ‘It was a bit sexy though, wasn’t it? I mean, look at Nathan holding the kitten. That’s calendar-worthy photography right there.’
Lisa put her head to one side as she studied the picture on the frontof the newspaper, and her cheeks turned red.
Felicity giggled. ‘Oh my God, it was sexy, wasn’t it?’
‘OK, it was a bit sexy, but it was still mortifying.’ Lisa took a sip of her wine as thoughts flooded her mind about the evening she and Nathan had spent together after the rescue, when she couldn’t keep her hands off him. Feeling her hot flush spread to her neck, she decided to change thesubject. ‘In other news … how is the mother-in-law? Sue driven you crazy yet?’
‘I thought you said we were here to escape the traumas of the week!’
‘Been that good, has it?’
As Pete knew the owners of Cin Cin, Felicity glanced around ensuring they weren’t within earshot before speaking, ‘It’s just such bad timing. Pete and I, we were just finding our rhythm again, making a bit of timefor us now the children are getting older, but with Sue staying, that’s gone out of the window. And, to be honest, I just don’t know how Pete’s sister has coped. I mean, Sue tries to be nice, I think, but it’s how she goes about it. She keeps insisting on helping round the house but does it in a way that seems like she’s suggesting my way isn’t good enough, and then there are the things she says.’
‘Like?’
‘Like, “You look nice … today”!’
‘Oh.’ Lisa grimaced.
‘Or “Megan’s hair looks so lovely … after a shower”; honestly why not just say the nice bit?’
‘You should speak to her in the same way, use a Sueism; maybe she’ll pick up on it and realise what she’s doing.’
‘That would be good. But maybe I’m just being too sensitive. I’ve been all over the place this week and…’ Felicity wiped away the tears welling in her eyes.
Lisa put down her glass. ‘Flick, what is it? What’s wrong?’
Felicity took a shaky breath. ‘I don’t know. I probably just need a distraction, to get out of the house more—’
‘Oh, Flick, I’m so sorry.’ Lisa felt a swell of guilt wash over her.
‘Why? It’s not your fault.’
‘But it is. I know you want to go running again, andI haven’t sorted a time with you.’
‘It’s fine. I know you’re busy. I didn’t mean—’
