‘She’s agreed to come back to work full time next week. Once we get her settled back into a routine you’ll be able to ease back on your hours, or leave altogether if that’s what you really want.’
It took a few seconds for her brain to process what he was saying. ‘She’s coming back to work, just like that?’
Her father frowned as though he couldn’t understand why she sounded so surprised. ‘We had a long talk about everything and she’s promised to make the coffee shop a priority.’ He shook his head. ‘I thought you’d be happy but it seems like there’s no pleasing you.’
Kat leaned against the doorframe. ‘Don’t make this about me, Dad. If she’s agreed to support you here more, then I’m very happy to hear it, but what else is she going to do? Whatever it is that drives her to keep hurting you hasn’t just magically gone away. She needs proper support, professional counselling.’
Her father removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes with a weary sigh. ‘You never stop pushing, do you?’
‘And you give in to her too easily,’ Kat snapped. She shook her head. ‘Sorry, Dad, I don’t mean to pick a fight with you. If she’s really serious about making things up to you and it’s what you really want then I’ll do what I can to support you.’
‘It would go a long way if you would apologise to her.’
Kat couldn’t stop the incredulous laugh that burst out. ‘Me? Apologise to her? Jesus Christ, Dad.’
‘She’s very upset, Katrina.’
‘Yeah? Well, that makes two of us! Look, I’ve said my piece to her and I don’t intend to give her a hard time about anything, but I won’t apologise because I’m not sorry. I promise I’ll behave professionally and be polite to her if we happen to be on the same shifts, but that’s it. You can’t ask this of me, Dad.’ She cut herself off and took a deep breath. ‘I’d better go and open up.’
‘It’s important to her so you understand that I had to try.’
It was only important to Jen because without Kat’s buy-in she wouldn’t be able to get back on the fantasy merry-go-round where they all pretended everything was fine. ‘I get it, Dad.’ Didn’t mean she had to like it.
‘There’s just one more thing. I know it’s a lot to ask but I want to take your mum out for the day on Friday. There’s that nice spa over at Port Petroc so I thought a bit of pampering and a nice lunch, a way of celebrating things getting back to normal. If I can get someone in to cover for me are you happy to open and close?’
Kat hadn’t thought there was anything left inside her to break but apparently there was. She was too upset to be angry any more, too exhausted to argue about anything. ‘Do whatever you want, Dad. I don’t care.’
When Kat got home that evening, Harry had already gone to work downstairs. She went straight to her room, stripped off her work clothes and headed for the shower. Closing her eyes, she stood beneath the spray and let it wash away the day. Behind her lids, her eyes burned but no tears came. Maybe she had it wrong and what she’d said had really given Jen the wake-up call she needed. Maybe a spa day was all her parents needed to get their marriage on track.Maybe I’ll win the lottery and be able to buythe shop next door and never have to worry about anything again.
Dressed in her cosiest pyjamas and slippers, Kat shuffled into the kitchen and opened the fridge door to survey the contents. The first thing she noticed was a bottle of white wine in the door. A Post-it had been stuck on the label with the words ‘DRINK ME’ written in very wonky block print, theKfacing the wrong way. Kat laughed then quickly bit her lip as it turned shaky and the tears that hadn’t come suddenly threatened to overwhelm her. She shut the fridge and rested her forehead against the cool metallic door, taking long, slow deep breaths until the feeling passed. She opened the fridge again and took out the wine with a smile. She was about to close it when she noticed the covered dish on the middle shelf with another wobbly message: ‘EET ME’. ‘Oh, Harry.’
She was just mopping up the last of the delicious chicken stew with a hunk of the sourdough loaf and contemplating a second glass of wine when she heard Harry’s key in the front door. She rose to greet him with a smile. ‘Hello, what are you doing here?’
He still had a dark blue bandanna tied over his hair as he leaned down to kiss her. ‘I’ve got five minutes so thought I’d pop up and see how work was.’
‘I’m going to need a refill if you really want me to get into it.’
‘That bad?’ Harry asked with a half-laugh as he picked up her glass.
While he poured her some more wine, Kat gave him a quick rundown of what her father had said. ‘So there we have it, everything’s rosy again and she’ll be back at work on Monday.’
Harry set her drink down in front of her with a frown. ‘I can’t believe he expected you to apologise to her. And he’s going to leave you on your own on Friday so they can have a nice day out together?’ He shook his head. ‘He’s taking the piss, Kitty.’
The fact she’d been thinking the same thing didn’t make it any easier to hear. ‘If he thinks taking Jen to a spa for the day is going to fix everything then he can get on with it as far as I’m concerned.’
Harry set his hands on his hips. ‘And what if it doesn’t?’
She picked up her wine and sat back in her chair, wondering why he seemed angry with her when none of this was her fault. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Come on, Kat, you don’t really believe your folks are going to kiss and make up and everything will be fine.’
‘Well, of course I don’t! But Dad’s not prepared to listen to reason and I’m done trying to make him. Once she’s back at work I’ll be able to reduce my hours and really focus on making our dream for the cookery school come true.’
‘And what happens when it all goes tits up? What happens when he gets on the phone and begs you to help him becauseJenflakes out on him?’
Kat stared up at him in disbelief. Why was he being like this? ‘If –whenthings go wrong then he’ll have to deal with it. I’m done with the coffee shop, Harry. The only thing I care about is the cookery school – and you.’
Harry dropped his head to stare at the floor. His hands were still braced on his hips and she watched as his chest rose and fell, rose and fell as though he was breathing away his emotions the way she had herself not too long ago. When he lifted his head, the anger was gone, but she didn’t like the worry that had replaced it. ‘Don’t promise me things you can’t follow through on; don’t promise yourself those things either.’
