AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kate was touched by Bob’s concern. “Yeah, I was thinking I may get one fitted to the door through to the dining room. It would also stop people trying to use the kitchen and I’d feel like I had a bit more personal space.”
“I could do that for you if you like?”
Kate would have accepted his offer, but at that moment Bob’s mobile started playing Bon Jovi’s Living On a Prayer and he excused himself from the room. Through the door, Kate could hear him getting more and more frustrated.
“Argh, stupid phone signal.”
“Try the bench outside,” she called through the door. “That’s where I go to make calls.”
“Thanks,” Bob called back.
Kate heard his footsteps pound down the newly varnished staircase. Only when the door clicked did she make her way downstairs herself, curling up on a purple sofa and covering her legs with one of the new fuchsia throws. Summer was long gone, and it was becoming very chilly in the evenings. Kate wrote herself a note on her pad to call someone about the fire. Ten minutes after he’d gone outside, Kate peered out of the window to see if Bob was still there. He was sitting on the bench, hands flying wildly around him as he gesticulated to whoever was on the other end of the phone. Bob looked back towards the house and Kate whipped her head away. The last thing she wanted was to seem like a nosy neighbour.
Kate waited and waited, but Bob didn’t return. Reluctant to be caught spying, she picked up a book and pulled the throw tighter around her knees. She was finishing a chapter when a knock on the door made her jump. Kate opened it to a red-faced Bob, wringing his hands.
“Oh, hi. Sorry, I thought you’d gone home. Is everything all right?”
“Bit of trouble at home. I’d better be off.”
“Anything I can help with?”
Bob surprised her with a peck on the cheek. “That’s very kind of you, but I need to sort this out myself.”
“OK, see you soon,” she said, but he was already striding towards his car and she wasn’t sure he heard.
CHAPTER EIGHT
KATE FLUNG THEdoor open and threw herself in Maddie’s arms. “It’s so, so good to see you,” she said into a mouthful of blonde curls.
“Anyone would think it had been a year. I saw you a month ago!”
“I know, but it feels like a year. Let me look at you.” Kate held Maddie at arm’s length, relieved to see she hadn’t changed. She was makeup free, wearing a crop top, baggy jeans and a chunky knit cardigan. She could have stepped off the pages of a Boohoo catalog, if catalogs were still a thing. “You look amazing.”
“So do you.”
Kate laughed, she was in her cleaning clothes which consisted of a baggy old jumper and torn skinny jeans. Not torn in a cool Maddie way, torn in a falling apart with no money to replace them kind of way. She probably had a spider family in her hair, as it had a familiar sticky feeling when she ran her hands through it.
“Are you going to let me in? I’m dying to see inside, and it looks like it’s about to piss it down.”
“Sorry, yes, come in.”
“Wow!” said Maddie, stepping into the sitting room.
“Good-wow, or what-the-hell-have-you-done-wow?” asked Kate, scrutinising her friend’s face for clues about her true feelings.
“You’re joking, right? This looks amazing!”
Kate smiled, and her shoulders dropped. “Come on I’ll give you a tour.”
Kate led Maddie through to what used to be the dining room. “This is my bedroom. The guests will be upstairs.”
Maddie threw herself onto the iron bed Kate found in a reclamation yard and spread her arms and legs in a star fish. “I love what you’ve done with the photos.”
Kate was proud of her photo wall. She’d got hold of the frames by scouring the many charity shops in town and had been surprised by how good they looked against the pale pink wall (rose blush, if she was going to use the technical name). “You don’t think it’s too studenty?”
“No, not at all. It’s classy. I love that you’ve got your old photos up. Look at your dad in those trunks! It doesn’t make you too sad, does it? Having them looking down on you when you’re trying to sleep?”
“No, I wondered if it would, but it felt right somehow. They’ve been hidden in a box for so long, but coming here feels like a fresh start, like I don’t need to hide away that part of me anymore.”
