Kate and Eve sat in one corner of the Fox and Hounds pub, which was crowded and busy.
‘I tried to make some bread earlier.’ Eve admitted. ‘I dropped it on the floor and only just managed to wrestle it into the bin before Max ate it.’ She laughed and gave her mother a sidewards glance. Since arriving at the pub, her mother had been chatting to an older lady who’d sat herself down at the table right next to theirs.
‘I’m a member of the WI too,’ their mother had said, ‘Last week we did a fabulous gift-wrapping course. The lady, Joanne, from More Pretty Things was from Sheffield; she’d travelled all the way to York just to give us a lesson.’
‘Oh, I love learning new things.’ The elderly woman replied. ‘But I bet you’re too busy to do things, you know… with your daughter like that?’ She lifted her eyebrows and stared at Eve. ‘Poor thing. Must be hard on you, having to look after her all the time.’
It was a statement that infuriated Eve and for a few minutes she waited for their mother to correct her, for her to say how wonderfully her daughter managed on her own and was totally independent. But of course, she didn’t. Instead, she nodded and took the sympathy that the older woman offered.
‘As I was saying earlier,’ Eve growled the words, tried to ignore what their mother was saying. ‘Zoe came over and walked Max earlier. He came back from the quarry smelling of the fox poo that he’d managed to roll in and he ended up with an impromptu hosing down in the back garden.’ She spoke as loudly as she could, felt determined to prove to the woman that she wasn’t incapable.
‘Don’t rise to it…’ Kate whispered, and patted a hand against Eve’s knee. ‘She isn’t worth the effort.’
‘What’s she really doing here, Kate?’ Eve asked under her breath. ‘Do you think she’s fallen out with Dad again? I mean, it’s not like she wants to see us, is it?’ She gave her mother a sideward glance, could hear the way she told the elderly woman about the accident and of how she’d unfairly lost her only son. ‘She’s barely spoken to either of us all evening. In fact, I’d say that the only way we could be of any interest to her would be if one of us morphed into being James.’
Kate shook her head angrily. ‘I’d just be happy if she buggered off home…’ Once again she tapped Eve on the leg, and Eve caught her breath as her leg gave out an involuntary movement. She felt sure that Kate had seen and felt herself swallowing hard and half closing her eyes while waiting for the questions that would inevitably come. ‘…I’d much rather she used your house as a hotel and not mine.’ Kate concluded.
‘Not a chance.’ Eve chipped in and felt the relief pass through her. ‘And you know she only goes to yours because the house used to belong to her mother,’ Eve smirked. ‘She’s probably highly pissed off that Grandma left everything to us, rather than to her.’
Laughing, Kate picked up her drink and took a sip. ‘And, she probably feels as though she’s still got a right to be there. I just wish she wouldn’t fall out with Dad quite so often.’ ‘Kate. Don’t look right now, but…’ Eve wheeled her chair a few inches backward. ‘There’s a man. He’s sat at the bar over there.’ She lifted a hand, and used the smallest of finger gestures to point to the area directly behind where Kate sat. ‘He’s wearing jeans and dark rimmed glasses. He’s waved at me a few times and I’m suspecting he’s someone that knows you, rather than me.’ She moved from side to side, lifted her eyebrows with interest. ‘I’d say it’s a case of mistaken identity and unless that’s your new, tidy Ben, I really need to know who he is, because I’d say he’s really cute.’
Kate laughed as her eyes searched the crowd. ‘Eve, there is no “my new, tidy Ben”! But you have a deal, whoever he is. I’ll introduce you.’
Impatiently, Eve fidgeted in her seat. Being identical twins, they were used to people waving at them and mistaking them for the other. It was a reaction they encountered on a regular basis, and before the accident they’d simply waved back rather than explain. But now, with the wheelchair, doing that was no longer possible and Eve felt her heart sink as she realised that unless she found a way to walk, unaided, she’d never again be the other half of an identical twin again.
Watching as the man glanced over his shoulder, Kate caught his eye and smiled as a look of confusion crossed his face. His eyes quickly went from her to Eve. Something that never got old and made them both laugh with amusement.
‘Oh right, I know who it is.’ Kate said, ‘He works at Parker & Son. We met in the corridor yesterday. I couldn’t work out where Ben had gone, and Mr Parker was waiting and…’ she tried to think. ‘Nope, I have no idea of his name.’
‘Hi there.’ Kate hurriedly pushed her plate to one side and stood up to greet him as he tentatively walked towards her. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘Yesterday, I didn’t catch your name.’ She turned, held a hand out in her sister’s direction. ‘I’m Kate, and this, this is my twin sister, Eve.’
The man pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘Wow. You’re so…’
‘Yeah, identical… right?’ Eve smiled, patted the chair beside her. ‘Please…’
‘Eric…’
‘Right. Well, please Eric. Why don’t you sit down and join us.’