Page 53 of The Happy Hour
‘Felicity trusts you,’ Jess said, as he pulled her against him, even though it was one o’clock on a Sunday afternoon and their alleyway was a popular cut-through. ‘It took her two seconds to realise you were a good person.’
‘Well, I’m glad,’ he said. ‘Felicity’s your friend “Tina”, obviously.’
‘Was it the mention of the water feature that gave it away?’ Jess raised her eyebrows.
Ash laughed. ‘I’m a veritable Sherlock,’ he murmured, as he lowered his head. ‘This feels way too short.’
‘I’m sorry, it was out of my hands. I tried to get them to have their meeting at any other time, and in the end there wasn’t even much to do. You missed Lola and Spade’s practice run, which was insane.’
‘You don’t need to apologise,’ Ash said. ‘And I saw their first video: I downloaded TikTok specially. It’s great that you’re going to sell your prints in the shop.’
Jess groaned. ‘Is it, though? My silly side hustle, it’s—’
‘Notsilly,’ Ash said. ‘You know it isn’t. Come on, Jess. Don’t underestimate yourself.’
‘So you... you’d like one, then?’
He frowned. ‘Like one what?’
She reached into her handbag and took out the item that had been sitting there all morning, almost burning a hole through the leather. It was wrapped in her favourite tissue paper fromthe shop: blue with little gold clocks on it. She handed it to him.
‘What’s this?’
Jess laughed. ‘Open it and you’ll see.’
She watched him unwrap the tissue paper, watched his brows rise, his mouth fall open as he revealed the print, secured in a chunky white frame. ‘We all havesuperpowers, you just need to believe in yourself to discoveryours,’ he read out. ‘Jess, this is—’
‘I went back to the heath,’ she told him. ‘I waited for a windy day, and there was someone else flying a kite, so the photo – it’s notourkite, but it’s similar.’ It was another diamond, the panels gold, green and red, its shimmery fabric glowing. It looked, almost, like a superhero costume. She’d put the text next to it, over the blue sky, but matched the font colours to the kite. The design was one of her boldest, the words were Ash’s, and it was selling well online, already making money for Enzo.
‘You made this for me?’ he asked.
‘I did,’ she said. ‘I’ll put it in the shop, too. I hope you don’t mind, but—’
‘Of course I don’t.’ Ash laughed. ‘Thank you. I love it. I’m going to put it up at home, and it’ll always remind me of you. Of that day on the heath.’ There was something sad about his smile, and Jess had the urge to push; to get him to open up.
‘You have to go to your next appointment in a bit?’ she asked.
‘Yeah.’ He exhaled.
‘You’re not looking forward to it?’
‘It’s not a whole lot of fun,’ he admitted.
‘So what—’
‘But I’m glad we get this time, now. Before I have to go.’
Jess paused. The subject change had been obvious, but they’d had so little time on their own, and she didn’t want to ruin their goodbye. ‘And next week,’ she said instead, ‘we’ll have two whole hours.’ She felt giddy at the thought. ‘Though we won’t be alone, and it’s going to be challenging, helping Felicity face her demons.’ She leaned into him, and he brought his arm around her waist. ‘You didn’t have to offer to help.’
‘Felicity invited me,’ Ash said, his mouth close to hers. ‘And I don’t want youto have to do it alone. If we can work together to make things easier for her, then why not? And, like I said earlier, I don’t mind what we’re doing, as long as I get to spend time with you.’
Jess’s throat squeezed. ‘Don’t think I didn’t notice that Felicity got you to sacrifice your coffee date with Mack, while I haven’t been able to.’
Ash grinned. ‘I’m testing the boundaries. I can see Mack any evening after work, whereas this time in Greenwich – it’s only on a Sunday. An hour isn’t enough any more. Not because of Felicity, but because of you.’
‘So you’re saying,’ Jess said, as two small boys flew through the alley on scooters, followed by their jogging, harassed-looking dad, ‘that you would have given me two hours next weekend whatever?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying.’ Ash cupped her face, his touch delicate, fingers brushing her cheek. His kiss, when it came, made her feel weightless and beautiful.
