Read Online The Love of Her Life by Harriet Evans - Free Book Online Page A

there was the parking ticket machine; there was the gate that half hung off its hinges. It was so unlike Daniel and Lisa’s house; it was more like Kentish Town, where she’d grown up. She ignored the lounging youth who sat on a wall two houses along from Zoe’s, staring balefully at her; she even smiled quite sweetly back at him, hammering on the door impatiently, all thought of fatigue gone.
    And then darling Zoe opened the door. They didn’t say anything. Zoe just smiled at Kate, and held out her arms, and Kate remembered what she’d forgotten, that Zoe and Steve’s house was more of a home to her than anywhere she’d ever known, that she loved Zoe more than most peoplein the world, probably. Zoe looked exactly the same, like a little brunette imp, and as she stepped forward and hugged her best friend, Kate felt her heart hurting, physically hurting.
       
    ‘Missed you.’ Zoe’s silky thin brown hair muffled Kate’s voice; after about a minute they laughed, and stepped back, Zoe still gripping Kate’s elbows.
    ‘Look at you, lovely girl. You’re so grown-up. What’s happened to my Kate?’
    ‘Hardly,’ Kate laughed, and shook herself free. She crossed her arms. ‘Where are the children?’
    ‘In bed,’ said Zoe. ‘Sorry,’ she added. ‘I knew if I let them stay up to see you we’d never get rid of them. I told them if you came round at all it’d be very very late. And I told them you wouldn’t have had time to buy any presents yet, because there aren’t any in America.’
    ‘Ah.’ Kate followed her in, and shut the door behind her, looking round in pleasure at the long corridor, littered with small wellington boots, a bike with stabilizers and coats, hung on various things. A birdcage hung off the umbrella stand.
    It was like being home again. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed this house. Zoe gazed around rather helplessly, then clapped her hands and said,
    ‘Right, let’s get some wine. Put your coat – er, there. That’s right.’
    ‘Thanks.’ Kate followed her through into the sitting room, piled high with brightly coloured videos, books, toys, cushions, and more cushions – Kate had forgotten this, that Zoe was incapable of entering one of those Cath Kidston-style lifestyle shops so beloved of her, the kind that stocked chipped enamel jugs and beautiful cups and saucers for the modern vintage home, without walking out with a cushion underher arm. She must have had about twenty. It made sitting on sofas in Zoe’s house extremely hard.
    ‘So how was –’
    ‘So how are –’
    There was a constraint in the air all of a sudden; they broke off and laughed. ‘You go first,’ Kate said.
    ‘How’s your dad?’
    ‘Fine. Weak, bit shaky, but basically fine, for the moment. They won’t know if it’s been a success for a while.’
    ‘Must have been great to see him.’
    ‘Yeah.’ Kate couldn’t articulate it all. She scrunched up her nose, and nodded, and Zoe nodded back. She understood.
    ‘How was the flight?’ said Zoe, brushing the worn edge of the large blue sofa.
    ‘Good, good, thanks,’ said Kate.
    ‘How’s New York! I want to hear everything. How’s it going?’
    ‘ How’s it going ’ is one of the world’s most annoying questions. It is not a request for specific information, more a general ‘fill me in’ command. Kate didn’t know where to start. Trying not to sound churlish, she said,
    ‘What do you want to know about?’
    ‘You know!’ Zoe’s enthusiasm was loud, too loud. ‘How’s everything going, what’s it like in NYC, are you liking living there. What’s new?’
    ‘Um. Well, I saw Betty on Friday –’
    ‘Yeah? How’s she?’
    ‘She said she’d just spoken to you.’ Betty was an old friend of both of theirs.
    ‘Yeah, she rang last week, actually.’ Zoe cleared her throat. ‘Who’s Andrew?’
    ‘Andrew?’ Kate was blank for a moment, then she remembered. It seemed years ago. The drinks, the kiss, her runningaway …