Chapter Two
Having sent a text to say she was on her way after dropping Lisa off, Felicity got home to find Pete and the children preparing breakfast. Megan was helping Pete with the cooking, Alice was laying the table, Callum was stacking the variety packs of breakfast cereal, and Fred, well, Fred had a saucepan on his head that he was hitting with a wooden spoon – but he thought he washelping. She gave each of them a kiss, removed Fred’s saucepan and passed him a tub of less noisy but equally entertaining pastry cutters from the drawer.
‘How was the run?’ Pete took the bacon out of the fridge.
Felicity slumped into a chair at the table. ‘Torture! I am so unfit. I thought I was going to die.’
‘What?’ Callum stopped stacking the cereal.
‘Not really, darling, it’sjust something people say. It means it was very hard work.’ Felicity sat up, attempting to look less exhausted than she felt.
‘But people do die from running,’ Alice offered as she placed the last set of cutlery on the table.
‘Do they?’ Callum’s eyes went wide.
‘No. They don’t!’ Pete glared at Alice, putting his finger to his lips.
‘But they do. You remember on the radio they said—’
‘Oh, here we go,’ Pete muttered under his breath.
‘Alice, that’s enough.’ Felicity gave her an admonishing glare. ‘I jogged along the beach, it was hardly a marathon, and don’t you worry, Pumpkin, Mummy is fine.’ Felicity went to ruffle Callum’s red hair but missed as her son and everything in the room seemed to shift sideways. Feeling light-headed, she swaggered and sat down, holding herhead.
Pete grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filled it with water and took it to her.
As Felicity sipped the cool water, the dizziness subsided. She took a slow, steadying breath and looked up, noticing the eyes of all her children upon her. She gave them a reassuring smile. ‘Honestly, I’m fine. I just didn’t eat before I exercised, I probably didn’t drink enough, and—’ she lifted herarm and sniffed ‘—I need a shower. But other than that, I’m good.’
Pete crouched in front of her, meeting her gaze, a silent check she was really all right.
Felicity smiled and nodded, feeling the after-effect of the dizzy spell in the movement.
Pete looked at the children. ‘See, Mummy’s OK. We’d better get this breakfast finished so she can eat.’ He stood, encouraging the childrento crack on with their jobs, before glancing at Felicity. ‘Why don’t you stay there, drink that, and eat before you get cleaned up? The food’s almost done.’
‘Really, I’m fine.’ Felicity stood, holding the edge of the table as she tested her balance. ‘I’ll have a quick shower while you finish off, and then I’ll really be able to appreciate this lovely breakfast.’
‘But—’
‘I’ll be fiveminutes.’ Picking up her water, Felicity headed upstairs – her leg muscles aching from the run and her head feeling foggier than she was willing to admit.
In the bathroom, she turned on the shower and peeled off her clothes. Her thighs were mottled red from the shock of exercise as much as windburn, and she was certain she would be suffering by the following day, but she didn’t care. Fredwas two; it was time she found herself a hobby, and why not running? Standing under the hot shower, Felicity reasoned that with time, she could be every bit as fit as those women who had run past her and Lisa so effortlessly – in their appropriate running gear and annoyingly composed state. She just needed to set herself reasonable goals broken down into smaller targets. The 5K she had mentioned toLisa would be achievable if she worked towards it. With that in mind, Felicity thought about her first targets.Number one: invest in running clothes that won’t chafe. Number two: make it the length of the prom without feeling—
A knock at the door and a shout from Megan to say breakfast was being dished up made Felicity jump.
‘Coming.’ She reached for her towel and rubbed her feet andlegs dry before stepping out of the shower on to the tiled floor.
‘Daddy says two minutes.’
‘Almost done.’
Drying quickly before wrapping the towel around herself, Felicity went to open the window to let some steam out of the room. But in her haste, she knocked the metal spice rack she used as a bathroom tidy sideways. It crashed to the floor; earbuds, tampons, cotton wool, variousbottles of forgotten lotions, baby oil and talcum powder scattered in different directions. ‘Bugger—’
‘What was that?’
Realising Megan was still by the door, Felicity held back the rest of the expletives she wanted to say.
‘Mummy, what happened?’
‘I knocked the …’ Felicity paused, searching for a word suitable for her daughter’s ears, ‘stuff … off the shelf.’
