Saskia pressed her lips together nervously, then held forth a bunch of yellow roses.
“These are for me?”
“Mm-hmm. To say thank you and… sorry about last night.”
“Sorry? Whatever for?”
“For… dumping all that on you. It wasn’t exactly what you asked for.”
“I brought the subject up,” Kivi said evenly. “You can hardly be blamed for responding. But thank you for these.”
Saskia smiled, and then there was a pregnant pause, almost as if she was trying to find the words to say something. Kivi felt her heart begin to pound.
“I spent-”
“Do you want-- sorry, what were you saying?” Kivi just about hid her cringe, which probably would have crushed the flowers if she’d let it show.
“No, no, you continue,” Saskia said gallantly.
“No, it’s fine!”
They both stayed silent, staring at each other. Kivi thought,Brilliant. We’re back where we started yesterday evening.
“Do you want to come in?” Kivi decided to try and rescue the situation. “I need to put these in some water. And Toto is desperate to say hello to you.” She could practically feel him vibrating with excitement behind her legs.
“Oh. Okay. Just for five minutes,” Saskia said, and Kivi stood aside to let her through. She was greeted enthusiastically by Toto, and bent down to make a fuss of him while Kivi rooted about under the sink for a vase.
“Do you want a glass of wine? Or a snack?” Kivi said this on autopilot, then instantly wondered whether it was a good idea to bring up food now.
“Just some tap water, thanks,” Saskia said. Kivi obliged, and they both sat down at either end of the single sofa that sat opposite the TV. Toto jumped up and tried to snuggle up next to Saskia, but Kivi ordered him down, knowing that Saskia probably wouldn’t want her water with a side of dog hair.
“What were you saying, then? A few minutes ago?” Kivi said to break the silence.
Saskia looked bemused, then it clearly came back to her as she swallowed her first mouthful of water. “Oh. I spent the evening with Jean Taylor. Do you know Jean?”
“I knowofher,” Kivi said. “But not in any great detail.”
“Oh. Well, Jean goes by ‘they/them’ pronouns, firstly. And we ended up getting dinner together.”
“They work in that little shop on the Lygate road, don’t they? And they run the choir, in the village?”
“Correct. I’ve been commissioned to write an article about the abuse of shop-workers, and our paths crossed when I was getting you those roses. Anyway, I interviewed them over dinner in the pub, and that was when we discovered our mutual friendship with Cass and Felicia.”
Saskia took another drink of water, and Kivi cast around in her mind for something to say.
“Their choir is meant to be performing at the wedding,” Kivi said. “I’ve been meaning to get in touch with them. Oh – we set a solid date at last, by the way. The celebrant phoned. September 23rd. The back garden is beautiful in September, all golden and green – it’ll be the perfect place.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Saskia said. “I just told Jean that we didn’t have a date, so now I can email them and rectify that. The 23rd, you said?” She was already whipping out her phone. “That’s a Saturday… hopefully most of the choir members will be available…”
“Do you have to email them now?” Kivi reached forward, and boldly took Saskia’s phone out of her hand. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“I suppose,” Saskia said, relinquishing the device. Kivi put it on the coffee table in front of them, and they returned to pregnant silence.
“Come on then, how was your day?” Kivi had to break the silence again.
“Hmm?” Saskia swallowed another mouthful of water. Kivi needed to time her questions better. “It was… interesting. Followed an old guy around his farm, trying desperately to link whatever he was saying back to what I actually wanted to know. Then stopped off at the shop and witnessed a colossal arseholetrying to tear strips off a shop assistant. That’s how I met Jean. We got chatting, and then ended up going for dinner when their shift ended.”
“Did you meet Jean’s wife, Petra? She is drop-dead gorgeous.” Kivi smirked.
