‘Know what your problem is?’
I just had to find those tablets. The pain was suddenly excruciating. Kate was still twittering in my ear.
‘OK,’ I snapped. ‘I’ll go on a date with Ned.’ Anything to get her off the line. There was a surprised silence, followed by a laugh of triumph.
The minute I said it, I knew I shouldn’t.
* * *
‘I hear you’re going on a date, darling.’ That was my mother’s opening gambit on Saturday morning when she phoned under the pretext of asking how I was. It hadn’t taken long for the family grapevine to rev itself up.
‘Very sensible of you,’ she said happily. I could virtually see her hopping from foot to foot in the kitchen at home. ‘You need something to take your mind off the accident.’
If only she knew. It wasn’t the accident I needed to get off my mind. It was the accident waiting to happen. I had to get Daniel out of my head. She warbled on enthusiastically for another five minutes before suddenly remembering that Dad was in the car waiting to take her to the supermarket.
Perhaps I could get away with just making up the date. I slumped back on the sofa and dreamed up details of the perfect imaginary date − nice wine bar, long boozy lunch followed by a walk around Covent Garden, stopping along the way to watch the street entertainers.
But no such luck. Kate rolled up in person at lunchtime to check up on me. I struggled down the stairs to let her in as Emily had abandoned me in favour of a shopping expedition to Westfield.
‘God, you look awful’ she said, marching past me into the flat, with a bag of Marks & Spencer goodies. Funnily enough, I thought the same about her. Her hair, as always, was perfect but there were dark shadows under her eyes. There was something she wasn’t telling me.
I’d only got an inch of water into the kettle before she asked, ‘So where are you going with Ned?’
No ‘How are you feeling? How’s your arm?’ Trust her to go straight for the jugular. I should have answered her immediately to distract her but I left it that fraction too long. My silence told her everything she needed to know.
‘Typical. You haven’t fixed anything up yet, have you?’
‘Don’t nag. I was going to do it today.’
By the time the teabags were being dunked, she had my laptop fired up ready to go. If composing an email with Emilywas tortuous, it was nothing compared with trying to write one with my sister peering over my shoulder.
* * *
‘Let me know, how it goes won’t you?’ she said as she rose to leave.
‘Yes, Bossy. Sure you don’t want to come and supervise the date properly? In fact, why don’t you cancel your flight home altogether...’
‘I’d love to,’ she said, suddenly serious. ‘I’m not...’ She stopped and sighed.
‘Kate?’
‘I’m fine. Fine.’
‘You don’t seem it. What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. Australia’s a long way away. I miss everyone.’
‘Yes, but you’ve got loads of friends, and the super surf-stud.’
She hesitated. ‘It’s just not the same. Even though they speak the same language — they don’t.’
‘You’ve lost me.’
‘The Clangers— you rememberThe Clangers.’ Her hand grasped the top of my good arm.
‘Little pink knitted fellas and the Soup Dragon.’
‘Precisely.’ Her glossy hair slithered forward as she nodded. ‘You know exactly what I’m talking about.’
