Chapter 46
Mimi pressed play again. After a few seconds of silence, broken only by another snore, they heard Arabella say, ‘It took me ages to put together that list and you’re not even looking at it. Felix, is there some kind of problem here?’
‘No . . . I mean, er . . . the thing is . . .’ Felix had never sounded more pained and Hugh Grant-like.
‘You don’t want to go away on holiday with me, do you.’ Arabella said it flatly, a statement rather than a question.
Another long pause, then Felix sighed audibly. ‘No.’
‘Oh.’ She sounded crestfallen.
‘Sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s just . . . I mean, I don’t know quite how to say it . . .’
‘Shall I do it for you?’
‘It’s not you,’ Felix blurted out. ‘It’s me!’
‘Oh Felix, you’re wrong. It isn’t you. It isn’t me either.’ Arabella’s tone was sad but at the same time heartbreakingly upbeat. ‘And it’s no one’s fault. You still love your wife and there’s nothing any of us can do about it.’
Lois had covered her mouth and was inching closer to the screen.
‘True,’ said Felix. ‘Sorry. Guilty as charged.’
‘You two should get back together,’ said Arabella.
‘Lois left me.’ He sounded resigned. ‘She doesn’t want me back. But that’s irrelevant right now. I’m sorry about us. You’re a wonderful girl. I’ve messed you around and I didn’t mean to.’
‘Felix, it’s fine. I’ve been single for the last thirty-three years. It might break my mother’s heart,’ Arabella added with a rueful air, ‘but trust me, I’m used to it.’
Mimi looked at Lois, who was trembling all over. Lois reached for her glass of wine and found it whisked away by Paddy.
‘Don’t drink it.’ He showed her the wasp flailing furiously on the surface.
Mimi slid her own drink over to Lois, who took a hefty, grateful gulp, then another.
‘So that’s as far as I got,’ said Paddy. ‘The cricket stopped for tea and I pretended to wake myself up with an extra-loud snore. Felix and Arabella were starting to pack away their picnic when I left. And I wasn’t sure whether it’d be a good idea to let you know what I’d overheard.’ He paused, then winked at Lois. ‘But on balance, after coming over here, I thought it might.’
Arabella, they knew, lived just a few miles away, in Missingham. If Felix took her home and dropped her off before driving straight back, Mimi calculated he’d be here in ten minutes.
‘What if she was all calm and sensible while she was here and there were other people around them,’ said Lois, ‘but now she’s crying her eyes out and clinging to him like a limpet, begging him to change his mind?’
‘He’s still going to say no,’ said Mimi.
‘If she needs a bit of cheering up,’ said Paddy, ‘I could always give her a call, offer to show her a good time.’
His electric-blue eyes were glittering, his tone playful. He was, Mimi thought, a far nicer person than he liked to make out.
They waited, pretending they weren’t. Time slowed to a crawl. A fresh round of drinks was ordered and delivered to them, and a trickle of perspiration slid down Mimi’s sun-warmed spine.
After twenty minutes, Lois said abruptly, ‘I feel a bit sick. Maybe I should go home.’
‘Stay,’ said Paddy.
‘I don’t even know what I’d do . . . what I’d say to him, if he did come back. I ought to have a plan. I think it’s better if I just leave it for now, then—’
‘Here he is,’ said Mimi.
Felix’s bright-green MG had come into view. As they watched, it crossed the hump-backed stone bridge and approached the high street.
‘Now I’m feeling really sick.’ Shaking, Lois turned visibly paler as she tracked the car’s progress. ‘I don’t have a plan, not even the beginnings of one . . .’
To calm her down, Mimi said soothingly, ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to do anything today if—’
‘Are you kidding me? Of course I do!’ Lois was already lurching to her feet, knocking into the table as her prosthetic leg got caught under the bench. Then, regaining her balance, she was limping off across the grass, heading as fast as she could towards the road, waving her arms wildly in the air to attract Felix’s attention.
He braked as she launched herself off the edge of the pavement and yelled, ‘STOP!’ at the top of her voice. The car slowed and came to a halt and Lois, hyperventilating, gasped, ‘Stop!’ again.
The driver’s door opened and Felix climbed out of the car looking bewildered. ‘I have.’
Lois stared at him. ‘I know. I didn’t know what else to say.’
Silence. Mimi held her breath and waited. Next to her, she heard Paddy murmur, ‘Uh-oh. Stage fright.’
The sunlight caught the blonde stubble on Felix’s jaw as he said, ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Not really.’ Lois swallowed.
‘Why not? Has something happened?’
‘I don’t know.’ Her voice wavered. ‘Has it?’
‘Come on,’ Paddy exclaimed. ‘Spit it out!’
Hearing him, Lois glanced over at them, then looked at Felix and blurted, ‘You and Arabella. Are the two of you still . . . you know?’
‘Together?’ Felix supplied the missing word and shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘It wasn’t working.’
‘Are you upset?’
‘No.’
‘Is there anyone else you’d rather be with?’
Felix glanced around, then rubbed his hand over the top of his head, ruffling his already ruffled hair. ‘Yes.’
Mimi jumped as a round of applause broke out behind them, but it was the spectators welcoming the teams back onto the pitch following their break for tea. Apart from herself and Paddy, no one else was within earshot.
‘Is it me? Oh Felix, is it?’ Lois’s hand was pressed to her sternum.
Felix said cautiously, ‘Do you want it to be you?’
‘Yes! Yes, I do, more than anything . . . Sorry, my heart feels as if it’s about to burst out of my chest. Felix, I want it to be me because I love you so much.’
He took a few steps towards her. ‘Really?’
‘Really. I thought you were only with me because you were stuck with me.’
Felix looked appalled. ‘You seriously thought that? Never.’
Mimi saw Lois’s eyes fill with tears and her heart went out to her. The accident had scarred Lois both physically and mentally. It had robbed her of her confidence and of her perceived ability to be enough for her husband.
Felix closed the distance between them. ‘I love you. I don’t find it easy to talk about, you know, feelings. I think things, but it’s hard to say them out loud. But I’m saying it now. I love you more than anything. I only went out with Arabella because she asked me and I didn’t want to embarrass her. I just didn’t know how to say no. I’ll never stop loving you.’ His voice lowered as he wrapped his arms around Lois, and now she was half laughing, half sobbing as he murmured something else in her ear.
‘Well this is annoying.’ Mimi gave a sigh of impatience. ‘I can’t hear what they’re saying now.’
‘I think they’re happy, and that’s all that matters.’ Paddy turned to look at her. ‘What are you doing?’
Mimi had her phone in her hand. ‘We should be filming this.’
‘Pervert,’ said Paddy with a grin.
‘It’s romantic,’ Mimi told him.
‘It’s private.’
Lois was now hugging Felix as if she would never let him go. Mimi pressed the video button and said, ‘Not if it’s happening in the middle of the road.’