Page 88 of The Happy Hour
‘There isn’t much to do,’ Felicity admitted. ‘Wendy and Susie, particularly, have been marvellous. It seemed daunting at first, but knowing how you’ve all rallied to support Enzo, I knew I could ask for help, too.’
‘Teamwork makes the dream work.’ Kirsty held her wine aloft.
‘But I...’ Jess said, as they all clinked glasses. ‘You only told me about it yesterday.’
‘You’ve done so much for me already, Jess,’ Felicity said. ‘And we’re here tonight becauseyouneed help.’
She winced. ‘There really isn’t anything—’
‘We all love Ash,’ Susie cut in.
‘And, more importantly, we love you and Ash together,’ Felicity said.
Jess topped up her cider, watching it tumble over the ice in her glass. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so uncomfortable. ‘We can’t Crowdsource me a boyfriend.’
‘Not justanyboyfriend,’ Kirsty said. ‘Ash.’
‘Ash Faulkner,’ Olga added in a dreamy voice.
Jess folded her arms. ‘You can’t make a video saying how much you miss him and post it on TikTok. He only set up an account so he could watch the Misfits’ videos. He’s probably deleted it by now.’
‘You mean you haven’t checked?’ Kirsty sounded horrified. ‘What about his other social media accounts?’
Jess stared at the table.
‘Of course she’s checked,’ Lola said.
Jess rolled her eyes. ‘He has Instagram and Twitter, but he hasn’t used either of them for over four months, and his TikTok account has no activity. There’s no recent reel of him strolling through Covent Garden with a kooky backing track, so I can race up there and fling my arms around him.’
‘He’s a great guy,’ Spade said. ‘You didn’t have to spend much time with him to know that.’
‘He was so kind when I was worried about my new changing bags,’ Susie said. ‘He told me they were wonderful, let me give him a demonstration of all the compartments, even though he admitted he hadn’t spent a lot of time around babies.’
‘He came up with my latest bestselling flavour combo,’ Kirsty added. ‘My pistachio, lime and vanilla muffin is so popular.’
‘He looked good in every one of my hats, which is a pure anomaly.’ Olga shook her head.
‘If it wasn’t for Jess and Ash, I would still be living in an arsonist’s dream,’ Felicity admitted. ‘Without them, I would never have faced it.’
‘They may have started it, but the hard work has been yours.’ Spade planted a kiss on her forehead.
‘You’ve been amazing, Felicity,’ Jess agreed. ‘It’s a huge transformation.’ Her heart swelled as Felicity sat up straighter, basking in the praise. She waited for someone else to chip in, but it seemed as if, right now, she wasn’t going to escape the spotlight. She sighed. ‘I do miss Ash,’ she admitted.
‘You miss him because you love him.’ Susie pressed her clasped hands to her chest.
‘Oh, I don’t think...’ She cleared her throat, then took a long, slow sip of her drink. Did she love Ash? The fact that she’d taken two days off work because she was feeling too sad to play Happy Sales Assistant made her think there was something pretty cosmic going on inside her. She had tried not to examine it too closely, but she hadn’t felt this miserable for a long time.
‘We need to track him down, basically.’ Kirsty made it sound like the easiest thing in the world.
‘He’s not answering your calls?’ Spade asked.
‘He hasn’t even read my WhatsApps,’ Jess admitted.
‘He could have turned off the read receipts,’ Lola suggested.
‘He could have thrown his phone in the river,’ Susie offered. Everyone looked at her like she’d sprouted wings. ‘If he was upset, I mean.’
Jess sighed. ‘I don’t think we can find him. Thank you – all of you, but—’
