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“Yes, her. She’ll keep to herself unless needed, no interaction otherwise,” I point out.
“Oh darn it, this old boy could do with a little entertainment. What is this wonderful woman’s name?”
“Loretta.”
Frank grins. “Oh, nice name. Where’s she from?”
“This old boy will get a pan on the back of his head if he carries on like he is,” Sandy grumbles, making Kate smile and me snort with laughter. “Will she live in the village too?”
“No, I think that will draw too much attention. We’ll make sure she’s close by and that she won’t ever approach you unless we’ve given her permission to do so. Think of her as a bodyguard you’ll only ever get to meet if shit hits the fan. Which I hope is never,” I add.
“So we carry on as normal?” Sandy inquires.
“Yes,” Kate nods. “Do what you normally do, and we’ll check in regularly. If you have any suspicions about anyone, trust your gut and call us. The rest we’ll deal with.”
“Will this be forever?” Frank asks, swiping a hand through his hair.
“For as long as I think it’s necessary…” Kate responds vaguely, her voice trailing off as Christy enters the kitchen in a pair of pink heart print pyjamas and a wide grin.
“Have you told him yet? I’m getting bored waiting, and I thought maybe we could play a game of Twenty-one?”
“Nope," I say, pulling out the dining chair beside me and patting the seat. “Would you mind filling me in whilst Sandy grabs the deck of cards?”
“All right then. Are you ready to have your mind blown?” she asks, plonking down next to me.
“As I’ll ever be. Hit me with it.”
And so she does.
By the time Christy’s finished regaling me of hergift—which is fucking debatable if you ask me—I’m shocked into silence. A left hook to the temple couldn’t have stunned me more.
“It’s okay to be scared,” she says after a minute or so of me not responding. “Most people are scared of the things they don’t understand.”
“I’m not scared,” I reply, snapping out of my trance. “I’m just… surprised, I guess.”
Anda little bit fucking terrified, but I won’t ever admit to that. This is way too weird for my liking.
“It’s hard to believe, I know,” Kate says, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she reaches for Christy’s hand and squeezes. “But Christy knew things about me, aboutusshe couldn’t possibly have known.”
“Like the wholestud-muffinthing?” I say, trying to make light of what is a seriously fucking strange turn of events. I feel like I’ve stepped into an episode of Doctor Who and any minute now a dalek is going to come rolling into the room saying ‘exterminate, exterminate,’ or some such shit.
Christy giggles. “Yeah, like thestud-muffinthing.”
I eye Kate who’s cheeks start to flush and say, “You haven’t seen us… you know…”
“Eww, no!”
“Oh, thank fuck!” I exclaim, letting go of the tension in my muscles.
“My thoughts precisely,” Kate says, rubbing at her temples as she glances over at me.
“You know, this is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You think I’m crazy?” Christy asks, looking hurt.
“No, sweet cheeks, I don’t thinkyou’recrazy. It’s just that this stuff is out of the ordinary. I’m the kind of man who relies on what he can see with his own eyes and touch with own hands.”
“And what about how you feel? What about that?” Christy asks, cocking her head to the side as she studies. “You feel love right?”
