‘Exactly!’
After Felicity made herself another cup of tea and found a blackcurrant Fruit Shoot for Lisa, they compared diaries and scheduled in the week’s appointments.
It had only been a couple of weeks, but Lisa was finding Felicity’s support with her increasing workload a great help. She was turning down fewer new clients and, since Flick had startedtaking on some of her existing clients too, Lisa was feeling less tired by the end of the day. While she had taken Felicity to meet Winnie and Jack, Lisa was in no hurry to stop seeing her favourite clients, especially not since Dom had pointed out Jack’s new obsession with her could be down to her pregnancy, and Winnie had started knitting for the baby – no easy task with her knotted hands.
Once the week ahead was planned, Felicity fetched the parcel sent fromPaws About Townmagazine from Lisa’s van. Lisa had saved opening it until they were together, wanting Felicity to know she welcomed her opinion on any of the gadgets they were sent. With the box on the table in front of her, Lisa opened it and peered inside before pulling out a round object wrapped in bubble wrap and securedwith tape.
‘It’s like Christmas,’ Felicity joked.
‘Christmas if you have to unwrap your presents, test them out and send them back with a five-hundred-word report on their functionality,’ Lisa pointed out.
‘Hmm, not quite like Christmas, then.’
Lisa pulled at the last of the tape, causing the object to clatter to the floor.
‘It’s a lead.’ Felicity went to pick it up, but Lisawas already stooping beside it.
‘An extending lead.’ Lisa slipped her hand to the floor sideways to avoid bending over her increasingly firm baby belly. ‘Look, it lights up.’ She pressed a button, causing lights to flash on and off.
‘Can I do it?’ Fred was watching them keenly.
‘Not now, you can have a turn in a minute if Lisa says it’s all right,’ Felicity affirmed before turningher attention back to the lead. ‘What’s the bit on top do?’
‘I think’ – Lisa lifted the flap – ‘it holds poo bags—’
‘Haha, you said poo! Lisa said poo, Mummy.’ Fred looked at Felicity, a cheeky grin spreading across his face.
‘She did, but it’s OK to say poo bags, the way Lisa did,’ Felicity responded, taking the lead from Lisa and discovering another compartment. ‘Treats too, by thelook of it. What else is in there?’
Lisa looked back at the bubble wrap, noticing the other objects for the first time. She pulled them out. ‘Attachments, maybe, for more leads?’ She looked at Felicity.
Looking at the high-tech dog lead in her hand, complete with LED lights, handy compartments and extra lead attachments, Felicity nodded and blew out a breath. ‘It’s the … Swiss army knifeof dog leads!’
Lisa smiled, the headline for her report having just been handed to her in Felicity’s comment.
As the kitchen door opened, Sue walked in.
Waving his stethoscope in the air, Fred cheered. ‘Nanny, come and see what Lisa got me!’
Felicity smiled a welcome, but Lisa heard the brief sigh she let slip too.
‘Mrs Willis, Sue, you are looking well … today.’ Lisa attempteda Sueism, hoping to give Felicity a giggle, but realised her words hadn’t quite come out in the manner Felicity described Sue’s quips. ‘I mean, your hair looks lovely … now you’ve …’ Lisa paused, she had nowhere to take the end of that sentence without seeming extremely rude. Her cheeks began to go red. ‘I mean …’Oh, ground swallow me up now.
Felicity began to laugh.
Sue stared at Lisa,waiting for her to finish her sentence.
‘Oh, poo bags!’
All eyes turned to Fred, who was looking at them with big blue innocent eyes.
‘I dropped my dog lead, too!’ He tutted.
On the doorstep Felicity continued to laugh. ‘That was the funniest thing I’ve witnessed for a long time.’
Lisa put her hands to her face in shame. ‘Thank goodness for Fred.’
‘Yes, thank goodness myson repeats things he shouldn’t.’ Felicity grinned.
‘Bless him, he’s adorable.’ Lisa lowered her voice, ‘Will Sue be staying with you much longer?’
‘Just until Monday. Returning her home before Mother’s Day seemed a bit mean. So like the good daughter-in-law I am, I offered for her to stay until after the weekend.’
‘You’re making the most of her looking after Fred while you run, aren’tyou?’ Lisa raised an eyebrow.
Felicity winked.
Once in her van and on her way to take Toby the Newfoundland for his swimming lesson, Lisa thought about Mother’s Day. She had told Felicity she would accompany her to her mum’s grave in the morning while Pete and the children prepared a special Mother’s Day breakfast. Having not known about Flick’s mum’s accident when it happened, Lisa stillfound it hard to accept that Mrs Forster, or Mrs F as she called her, was gone. The trip to the cemetery also meant Lisa could take flowers to her Granny Blake, as she had promised her dad she would when they last spoke on the phone.
Lisa knew it was going to be a day of high emotions; the nearer it drew, the more keenly aware she became that this would have been her first Mother’s Day withPip. Of course she was excited about her pregnancy and the fact that she would, all being well, have her baby to share her next Mother’s Day with, but, with Pip on her mind too, she also felt guilty for those thoughts. Add to that the fact she and Nathan had invited his parents for an evening meal, at which they intended to break the baby news to them, and Lisa could already feel the nerves increasinginside. Lisa hadn’t seen Nathan’s parents since her return to Littlehampton. She had got on well with them as a teenager, but after the way she had treated Nathan – publicly rejecting his proposal and leaving him the night of their prom – would they be able to forgive her and move on from that? Would they accept that she was back in his life to stay?
