From London With Love by Katie Fforde

Author:Katie Fforde [Fforde, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781529158236
Publisher: Cornerstone
Published: 2025-02-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Felicity would never have thought she could possibly look forward to going back to her secretarial course, but the previous week had dragged so, in spite of trying to keep herself busy.

She had been shopping with her mother, to the cinema with Violet, who also seemed edgy, and had taken two walks by the river. Somehow her feet always led her there, although she really didn’t want to stare into the water or, more poignantly, the bit of foreshore between the water and the wall where she and Oliver had gone mudlarking.

But although her course was a distraction, it was also a reminder of how much Felicity disliked shorthand and typing. She was more friendly with the other girls now but hadn’t become close to anyone. And the lessons filled her with a horrible mixture of boredom and anxiety. Their tutor for much of the time had an iron-hard perm and the grim expression of someone who’d done something secret in the war. Felicity had never seen her smile, and to add to the general dreadfulness, this daunting woman felt it was a good idea to start the new term with a shorthand test, followed by a typing test in the afternoon. If she hadn’t spent a lot of long and dreary afternoons at home, Felicity might well have not gone back to college after lunch.

With the days being so short, it was nearly dark by the time she set off for home after the first day back at college. But when she saw a figure sitting by the front door she instantly knew it was Oliver. She recognised his shape, his dark, long hair, the set of his shoulders, even though she saw him from quite a long way off. She was glad she had a few minutes to get her heart in order.

‘Your mother is out,’ he said, without greeting her.

‘Obviously,’ said Felicity. She was pleased to hear herself sound calm.

‘Can I come in? I really want to talk to you.’

She swallowed and nodded. As she unlocked the door and let him through, she wondered who owed whom the greater apology. She decided it was she who had been wronged, so he could go first.

‘I’ll put on some tea,’ she said and went into the little kitchen. ‘Make yourself comfortable in the drawing room.’

She didn’t want a confrontation in a small space. He would be too near her, and however much he had broken her heart, she still wanted to fling herself into his arms.

He was standing by the window and hastened to take the tray from her when she came back. He had put on the table lamps but the room was mostly in shadow. This suited Felicity.

Without asking, he poured the tea. He knew Felicity liked it weak without milk. ‘Thank you,’ she said and put the cup and saucer down.

‘I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said in Scotland,’ said Oliver. ‘How unwelcome you felt. How you felt you were only there because your mother was.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.