Chapter 10
Kate waved goodbye to Christian and felt genuinely sad to see him go. It wasn’t that she’d particularly miss him, it was just she wasn’t that keen on change and now she had to have someone new move on. Ewan was due to arrive the next day and Kate had decided to swallow her fears about it and make sure the house looked inviting for him when he arrived.
She was trying not to be judgey but that was proving VERY difficult. She just was judgy. She’d never met anyone polyamorous before and her attempts to research it on the internet had been eye opening to say the least. She felt hopelessly uncool and very out of her depths? And why had she lied to him about having a boyfriend? She would try and smooth that over as early as possible.
She had chosen Ewan for several reasons:
Firstly, He was the only one who didn’t scare her entirely; Tim’s bizarre attitude towards the size of the kitchen had set her on edge and she didn’t feel like she could live comfortably with someone who was that blunt about things he did and didn’t like. She was also very nervous of anyone who loved a cat as much as he seemed to. What if she stepped on its tail or kicked its litter tray and Tim killed her in her sleep? She couldn’t handle that pressure. No; it couldn’t be Tim.
Then there was Harvey… what an enigma Harvey had turned out to be. She didn’t feel like it would be too difficult to go vegetarian if she needed to; but how could she live with a man who only ate vegetables and smelled so strongly like meat? She was also seriously concerned that he might be eating his guinea pigs. Obviously he wasn’t; he’d said he was a vegetarian, but there was something shiftily creepy about him.
Of a weird batch of guys, Ewan was definitely the most normal. She was very nervous about having a snake in the house but she decided as long as it was in his room and in some kind of secure tank then it was fine. Also, perhaps one of his girlfriends might be lovely and become her new best friend? That would be good. Ok, so he wasn’t the perfect house mate but she was sure she could make it work. Kate was good at that. Hell, only a fortnight ago she had been trying to work out how she could settled down and marry Graeme simply because he was the only date she’d been on.
She anxiously put her key in the lock on her return home from work the day Ewan was due to have moved in. It felt odd to be coming home to a different person. Christian had been a bit of a non-entity housemate… she paused, perhaps that was why it hadn’t worked? She’d never really considered that it was his home; he just lived there and used rooms she wasn’t using. She promised herself that she would be more respectful to Ewan. It wasn’t that she hadn’t respected Christian… she just hadn’t really thought about him. What did she think about? Well, that was the problem, wasn’t it? She tried not to think.
She pushed the door open and called out an experimental hi. Ewan’s head appeared round the kitchen door frame,
“Hi housemate! How was work?” She noticed he was wearing her apron and wasn’t sure whether she was thrilled he felt at home, or annoyed at him for helping himself, “Turns out we have the same apron!” He laughed, pulling at the apron with his hand and immediately solving her problem of how to feel. She smiled, relaxing and promising herself she would try and engage properly.
“Work was alright. Work’s work isn’t it?” She said, shrugging.
“You don’t love it?” He said, disappearing into the kitchen which she took to be a cue to follow him in there. She sat down at the table and removed her coat and shoes.
“Not really, I’m not one of those live to work type people - I’m more… I have to go to work so I do.”
“Ah, that’s a shame - what would you prefer to do?”
Kate stared at him, “What do you mean?”
“Well, like, what’s the dream job?” He laughed a little, looking at her - confused as to why she didn’t understand.
“I don’t really have a dream job.” She admitted, “My dream is to not have a job.”
He laughed properly then and continued stirring, “What would you do with all that time if you didn’t have a job? What’s the dream life then?”
She stared at him again, “I don’t know… TV I suppose. This is a big investigation given that you’ve only just got here.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. So, I’ve made us some dinner but I warn you now I’m a terrible cook.” He served something brown nice smelling out of a saucepan.
“Oh there you go! I’m a good cook… maybe I’d cook or something? You know - the job question or the spare time thing.”
“Ah well you should have said that in the interview! I’d have paid double for the room if you’d mentioned you were a great cook!” He sat down at the table and they picked up their cutlery. She took a big mouthful.
“This is lovely - you definitely can cook.” She said, honestly.
“Yeah, well it’s your turn tomorrow.” Kate’s phone rang and she answered it to hear Polly’s voice angrily barking at her.
“Where are you?” She barked, “I’ve been waiting five minutes outside - everyone else is in there.”
“Oh god book club! Um, yes - I’m um, I’m round the corner!” She said, and hung up. “Fuck! I forgot all about my book club - I’ve got to go, but thank you so much for the dinner. I’ll um, I’ll eat it when I get back.”
“Woah… do you need a lift?” Ewan called after her and Kate hesitated… it would be better than walking all the way back up the hill on her already quite tired feet. But, could she get in a car with someone she’d just met? Yes, she decided. Yes she could.
“Would you mind? Your dinner will go cold?”
Ewan waved a hand dismissively, “What are housemates for, eh?”
QUESTION:
Who really disagrees with Kate at book club?
- Sasha
- Joe
- Frank
- Liesel
- Clara
- Maggie
- Polly
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