Page 107 of The Happy Hour
‘Jess, what are you doing over there?’ Lola called.
‘Nothing.’ Jess had been standing in the bay window for the last half-hour, when it was clear she’d sold all the prints she was going to. She was sure that Lola, and probably every single person in that room – including all three cats, because Artemis and Bond had emerged at some point and joined Twiggy on the sofa – knew what she was doing there. She came over and took a flute.
‘Cheers!’ Spade said, and everyone clinked glasses.
‘I want to thank you for all your generosity over these last months,’ Enzo said, his eyes crinkling at the edges. ‘I do not know what we would have done without you, but we are put back together now, if that is the right expression.’
‘It’s an excellent expression,’ Roger said.
‘So, Felicity, you must keep your money from today’s sale. And Jess – it goes without saying that your profits are yours. I am just glad we could come, to be here with you all. We will repay your kindness.’
‘Thank you,’ Carolina added, holding her glass aloft. There was another round of clinks.
‘I want to do one an’ all,’ Braden said. ‘If it weren’t for you lot, I’d be fucking up somewhere, getting in the shit. This is much more fun.’
‘You’re not old enough to drink champagne,’ Wendy said.
Braden grinned at her, then took a defiant sip. ‘Mind you, if I hadn’t stolen that watch then none of you’d have had the joy of my creative prowess. How’s that for dictionary corner, eh? Mycreative prowess.’
‘That’s great, dude.’ Spade took his green fedora off and put it on Braden’s head. ‘The Misfits wouldn’t be the same without you. But you need to move onto orange juice now, capiche?’
‘Dictionary corner,’ Jess whispered, her eyes straying to the window again. She didn’t know how many people she’d watched walk past the house now, but none of them had had dark hair and grey eyes, and a smile that felt like her own, personal lightbulb, lighting her up from the inside.
The doorbell rang and her stomach twisted, her palms prickling with sweat. She exchanged a wide-eyed look with Lola, then leaned forward to try and see out of the narrow side window as Felicity, who had shut the front door at three, went to open it.
‘Oh, hello,’ she said. ‘Come in, please.’
‘Thanks.’ It was a male voice, but Jess could barely hear it over her heart pounding in her ears. ‘I didn’t know if I’d be too late, or...’
Jess’s shoulders slumped. It was Milo, Lola’s boss at the Gipsy Moth. Lola had told her that he was a car-boot junkie, and had been thrilled at the prospect of Felicity’s house sale.
‘Milo,’ Lola said. ‘I thought you couldn’t make it!’
‘Problem with our keg delivery,’ he said. ‘Sometimes I think my staff couldn’t organise a piss-up in a pub, which is pretty worrying considering they all work in one.’
As the landlord’s larger-than-life personality absorbed everyone’s attention, Jess slipped into the hallway and sat on the fifth stair up. It smelled of furniture polish and carpet cleaner, the white-painted banisters glistening. She wrapped her arms around her legs and watched as Twiggy stalked up the stairs to join her. He pressed his soft, warm body against her side, his purr reverberating through her hip.
It was clear, now, that Ash wasn’t coming. He knew how important this was to Felicity, and to her, and Jess thought he would have been here if he could. But he needed to prioritise himself right now, and facing up to Felicity’s predicament – being reminded of everything that connected them – was probably too hard on top of everything else.
She should have let go of that sliver of hope hours ago, but she did it now, and the disappointment that took its place was a heavy weight on her chest. This, along with her unanswered message, marked the full-stop to her summer with Ash, those stolen hours that had ended up meaning so much.
Still, tomorrow was Sunday, her busiest day at the market, and she was starting afresh: a shop redesign, clearing out the old, bringing in the new. As she went back into the living room, let Wendy top up her glass, slipped her arm through Susie’s and asked Sofia about her children, she realised that she thought of them all as friends, now. She had other people to light her up, and she wasn’t going to take them for granted any more. Friendships, like time, could be fleeting, and she was going to be better at holding onto the ones that mattered.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
For a moment, Ash thought he’d forgotten to turn his alarm clock off. He groaned, rolled over and flung an uncoordinated hand out, trying to find the offending item on his bedside table. It continued to squawk, and before he found the smooth, round button, he remembered. It was Sunday, and he hadmeantto get up this early, because today was the day he was turning over a new leaf. New horizons, new outlook.
He slid out of bed and into the shower, trying to wash away his weariness. He’d felt weary ever since his dad had gone; worse since that day with Jess in the park. But every time he had an uncharitable thought about Nico, or found himself staring at the TV screen, having watched a whole episode ofSlow Horseswithout taking any of it in, or ignored messages from Dylan for longer than several hours, he was reassured that he’d done the right thing. He cared about Jess too much to subject her to all his hostility and vacant hours.
He dressed in jeans and a marl grey T-shirt, checked the time on his watch, and left the flat, jumping when Mack glared at him from across the corridor. He’d probably been waiting with a glass pressed against the wood, listening for the sound of Ash unlocking his door.
‘Andrea at number twenty-one is getting my paper today,’ Mack said. ‘Seeing as you told me you couldn’t do it.’
Ash couldn’t help but smile. ‘I’m sure Andrea will be more entertaining than me, and there’s somewhere else I need to be today.’
Mack’s face brightened. ‘Off to Greenwich, are you? Going to fix things with that woman of yours at last.’
Ash dropped his gaze to the horribly patterned carpet, his stomach twisting with guilt. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I told you. That’s over.’
