Page 99 of The Happy Hour
Too late to care about embarrassment, Jess sobbed into the white fluff of the dog she and Ash had laughed about, and tried to accept that he was gone. She tried to come to terms with how horrible it felt, and that the reason she had felt everything with him, so completely – happiness and longing and desire, anger when he’d turned up unannounced, pleasure when he kissed and touched her, devastation right now – was that, despite everything, shehadlet him all the way in. She’d let herself fall in love with him.
It was a mistake she’d tried so hard to avoid in the past, and now every cell in her body was facing the repercussions.
Jessica Peacock, currently sobbing into the soft fur of the demon Diamanté dog on a bench in Greenwich Park, was in love with Ash Faulkner, and she’d realised it just as he’d said goodbye to her for the last time. As moments went, it was a pretty crap one. And yet, whereas usually such intense misery would send her running to her room, drawing the curtains and turning her phone off, right now she wanted to join in while Lola and Malik clocked up their Fitbit steps in front of the TV, eat muffins with Wendy, find Spade and ask for one of his famous headlock-hugs.
And that, she realised, as she gave the woman in the sky-blue coat a sheepish smile and handed her soggy dog back, had been Ash’s gift to her. He’d made her see that she wasn’t better on her own, that she could draw on the strength of the people she loved. She just wished he’d listened to his own advice.
She would always carry around a piece of him, even when the memories of their time together faded, and he was nothing more than a discarded, low-down-the-list message thread in her phone: a ‘what could have been’that never was.
Jess stood up and watched Diamanté race down the hill, her owner struggling to keep up, and then slowly followed their path through the park, leaving her and Ash’s bench sitting empty behind her.
Chapter Thirty-Six
It was ten days until Felicity’s home sale, and Jess wanted to make sure the day went without a hitch. Their core group of marketeers were all going to be there, even though it was a Saturday: they’d got cover for their stalls, and would show potential buyers round and keep an eye on them. Roger might bring a clipboard. Kirsty was going to make a special batch of muffins. Spade said they would set up the Market Misfits in a corner of the living room for a set. If there wasspace, though, because—
‘You’re going to wear a hole in that umbrella if you keep rubbing it like that.’
Jess moved the orange polka-dot umbrella to the other end of the counter. ‘It’s already got a tear in it, which is why I took it off the shelf.’
‘Seconds?’ Wendy asked.
‘I think so.’
‘Mark it up then, and put it in the basket.’
Jess got the labels out from under the counter.
‘When you’ve done that, I want you to start thinking about how the shop looks.’
‘What?’ She glanced at her boss, who was standing in the storeroom doorway.
‘A complete autumn refresh,’ she said. ‘Change as much as you want. All the displays, the decor, will be down to you. How we organise the stock. Any new lines you think we should introduce. In a couple of weeks, we’ll close for a day or two, once you’ve had a chance to plan it all out.’
‘Wendy, I don’t—’
‘Otherwise, you’re going to wear holes in all the merchandise to match the one in your heart.’
Jess scoffed. ‘Come on—’
‘I’m serious.’ Wendy’s voice was somehow firm and soft all at once. ‘You need to keep busy, and I know we’ve got Felicity’s house sale coming up, but you also have to spend a large proportion of your time here, and I want you to be occupied. She was in here yesterday, by the way.’
‘Who was?’
‘Felicity. With Spade.’
Jess had spent most of yesterday lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and replaying her conversation with Ash over and over. She’d had to blow-dry her yellow yeti cushion before she went to bed, because it was soaked through with tears. She’d even considered calling her mum and dad at one point, but had talked herself out of it.
‘How were they?’ she asked, even though she was in constant touch with Felicity, now, and didn’t need an update.
‘They placed an order.’ Wendy pointed at the gilt-framed mirror. ‘For that.’
Jess blinked, a fresh wave of emotions washing over her. ‘That... that is—’
‘I know. She’s asked me to save it for her until after the sale. Obviously, she’s made some changes in her life.’
‘Big changes,’ Jess agreed. ‘But I still didn’t think she’d ever actuallybuythe mirror.’
‘That’s down to you.’
