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 collection that 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 three wine 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 reason you 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 Mr Tumble. 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 previous night 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 to the 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 excitement of 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 and Nathan. 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 looked at 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 see the 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.’

‘Snooping,’ Nathan laughed at the word, ‘why would I think that? Uh oh, you didn’t find Napoleon, did you?’

‘What? No. Who?’ The bizarre question threw Lisa when she was all set to confess to reading the message on his phone.

‘Napoleon Boneypart, the skeleton in my closet!’

Lisa looked at Nathan’s straight face. ‘You aren’t joking, are you?’

‘Would it be better to say I am?’

‘Nathan! This is serious.’

‘So is Napoleon, he takes things very gravely.’

Lisa took a breath, deciding to ignore the joke. ‘That morning, when I left, it was because … because I saw your phone, in your kitchen. I mean I saw a message on your phone … from Pete.’

Nathan looked at her blankly as he tried to process what she was saying.

‘Flick’s Pete. I saw a message on your phone from Felicity’s husband Pete.’

‘Oh.’ Nathan sighed, the flicker of recognition on his face causing the playful atmosphere in the room to disappear.

Lisa started to panic. ‘I wasn’t going through your phone or anything. I was getting some water. Your phone was charging and Flick’s name appeared on the screen. Looking was automatic, not really intended.’ Lisa’s cheeks flushed at the confession.

Nathan frowned. ‘You could have asked me about it.’

‘I’m asking now.’ Lisa hoped it wasn’t too little too late.

‘But if you’d stayed to ask me then, I wouldn’t have thought you had run away. You’d have been there when I woke up and we wouldn’t have wasted more time.’ He kissed her, first on the lips and then in a trail around her neck.

Lisa tried not to succumb to the distraction. ‘So what would you have told me, if I’d asked you then? What is Pete hiding from Felicity?’

Nathan stopped kissing Lisa and looked at her directly. ‘I would have said I couldn’t tell you, because I gave Pete my word.’

Lisa bit her lip. She didn’t want secrets between her and Nathan, and she didn’t want Pete having a secret from Flick; one that he had to wait until after Christmas and to be in the presence of his mum to share. ‘But you lied to Felicity.’

‘When?’ Nathan looked taken aback.

‘At the bonfire, you told her you didn’t know Pete; you said you hardly ever go to Cin Cin.’

‘I didn’t lie. I don’t know Pete that well and I do hardly ever go to Cin Cin. He got my number from a mate because he knew I’d seen … well, I’d seen something at the bar. So we shared a couple of texts.’

Lisa thought about the barmaid. She’d seen her and Pete being touchy-feely at the bar; they barely bothered to hide their friendship, relationship or whatever it was. Her stomach turned at the memory.

Nathan continued, ‘Pete only contacted me because of you. In case I told you what I’d seen.’

Lisa looked puzzled.

‘It’s not that complicated. I saw something, he learned I was seeing you, and you and Felicity are friends. I guess he was just taking care of the trail.’

‘The what?’

‘The trail.’

‘What does that mean?’ She thought she had heard the phrase before, but couldn’t think where.

‘Pete was taking care of the trail that would lead back to Felicity. He wants to tell her himself. It’s fair enough. It’s nobody else’s business to let it slip.’

‘Really?’ Lisa felt it was her business if her friend was in anyway going to get hurt. She glanced over at her phone. Whatever it was Pete was hiding, Felicity would soon know. Lisa realised that even if she did know what it was and it was something bad, she was too far away to be anything other than a distant comfort. She decided to wait it out. The heat she had initially felt as Nathan had thrown her on the bed was dissipating as her concern for Felicity grew.

Nathan pulled Lisa closer and kissed her. She tried to protest, but her body started to respond, goosebumps pricked at her skin while heat spread inside. She forced herself to stay focused.

‘Can you at least tell me it’s nothing that will hurt her?’

Nathan looked into her eyes. The longing she saw in his gaze was distracting.

‘Lisa, I gave my word.’

‘So is it? Is it something that will hurt her?’

Nathan sighed. ‘Look, I’m not supposed to say anything, but if I tell you Pete wants Flick to be happy, can we leave it? You know she’s going to call you later and then you’ll know everything. OK.’

‘Wait, was that “and then I’ll know everything’s OK”, or “and then I’ll know everything. OK”?’

Nathan sat up. He pressed a kiss to Lisa’s mouth before lifting her T-shirt off over her head. She attempted to focus on continuing her line of questioning, but with the feel of Nathan’s mouth on her body the words escaped her.