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He went to the spice rack and chose a couple of pots. Crossing to her side, he placed them on the counter beside her.
“Why don’t you let me finish while you go and watch some TV,” he said, taking the knife from her.
“I want to pull my weight.”
He patted her behind gently. “Go on, you’ve had a shock to your system. Just take it easy. If you’d prefer to colour, there are books and things in the drawer of the table over there.” He nodded toward the kitchen table set before the bi-fold doors, presently half open so Honey could wander in and out at her leisure. He watched as Penny went and opened the drawer he’d indicated. She pulled out some thin colouring pads and flicked through them. He chuckled at the expression on her face when she came to the spanking colouring book that he’d only bought for Penny last week. At the sound of his laughter, she glanced over at him, her face flushed.
“Your Penny liked to colour?” she asked, making no mention of the book’s content.
“She did, and crafting too; as a designer she found it therapeutic.”
“What does she design?”
“Our company is called ‘Littles Furniture.’ Penny designed all the furniture in her—your—bedroom. It was why she—youwere in the States. We’d landed a huge contract with a company in New York,” he explained.
I wish now that I had gone to America in Penny’s place. Best keep that thought to myself!
He watched with interest as she seated herself at the kitchen table. Choosing a book and lifting out a packet of colouring pencils from the drawer, she lined each pen up neatly. Staring out of the bi-fold doors at where Honey sat in a patch of sunlight, Penny remained still, appearing as if in a trance. He waited to see how long she would stay that way. Finally she sighed, picked up a pencil, and began to colour.
As he observed her, he noted how all of his own Penny’s mannerisms were there. How unselfconsciously she tucked her hair behind her ears, stopping frequently to suck the end of her pencil. He smiled as she jiggled her heel up and down as she concentrated. Either she was his Penny and had suffered a substantial memory loss, or she was the same person but from another dimension. An image of the contents of her suitcase flashed across his mind.
I have to face facts, however obscure and unbelievable. This is likely to be another version of my Penny.
He turned off the heat under the stir-fry and wandered over to where she sat. Peering over her shoulder, he saw she wasn’t actually colouring, but free hand drawing Honey. She was good too, as good as his Penny. He shook his head; this constant comparing was giving him a headache.
“That is extremely good,” he praised. “Food’s ready. Clear the table.”
She smiled, and immediately tidied her things away as requested.
They ate in comfortable silence. Later they watched some television and then he asked if she’d like a drink before bed, curious to see what she would choose. She asked for hot chocolate, which pleased him immensely, another small thing she had in common withhisPenny.
She followed him into the kitchen and rinsed plates before loading them into the dishwasher. Honey trailed behind her and she knelt to pet the dog.
He smiled; Honey was an important part of their lives. Penny had been so thrilled when he’d brought the puppy home as a gift for her on their first wedding anniversary two years ago. “There you see, she likes you,” he said. He watched her bury her nose in the dog’s soft fur. Honey’s tail brushed back and forth on the floor, denoting her pleasure.
“She’s sweet. I’ve never had a dog before. We had a cat when I was a child. How long have you and Penny had her?”
“Two years, I bought her for Penny on our first wedding anniversary. She’s our fur baby. I can’t imagine life without her now we have her. I grew up with dogs and always wanted one when I had a home of my own,” he explained.
“How long have you lived here?” she asked.
Honey flopped onto her back.
“She wants you to rub her belly,” he told her. “We moved in a couple of months before our second wedding anniversary. There was a lot of structural work to be done. It took six months to modernise the house and to build the kitchen extension.”
Honey rolled over and stood up. Penny climbed to her feet, brushing fur from her legs.
“Did you meet in the States?” she asked.
“No, we met over here. Talking of the US, do you mind telling me what you were doing over there?”
“I travelled to New York with samples of our new autumn range of Ameeba handbags to show the stores that stock our range. I was thrilled with how well they were received and how many orders I took, the most popular design of bag being one of my own.”
“Well done. It seems the designing trait is an integral part of the Penny design!”
She clattered a plate at his comment and he cursed himself for being so thick-skinned.
“I wonder what all the other ‘Davids’ are like from other dimensions. Are they all control freak daddies like me, d’you think?” he added lightly, hoping to make her feel at ease.
