Page 124 of Kate and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop
‘Yes, it will. I still find it odd though,’ Jack says, ‘that we’ve found ourselves involved in all this.’
‘Perhaps we’ll never know why?’ I shrug. ‘But does it really matter now? We’ve done a great thing with the help of an antique sewing machine and a battered old easel.’
‘Why does yours get to be antique and mine battered and old?’ Jack asks, smiling. ‘I think they’ve played their part equally.’
‘They have, maybe we should reunite them sometime so they can say hello again.’
‘Say hello again,’ Jack scoffs. ‘You’re talking like they’re real now.’
‘They’re hardly normal, are they?’
‘That’s true. Do you think they’d like to be reunited? I mean permanently …’
I look at Jack questioningly. Was he saying what I thought he was?
‘Yes, Kate, I’m asking if you’d like to move in together? I know we haven’t known each other all that long but—’
‘Yes,’ I say quickly, before he changes his mind. ‘Yes, Jack, I would. Very much.’
Jack’s smile broadens even further, and we’re about to lean in for a kiss when I turn my head suddenly so Jack ends up kissing my cheek.
‘Hey!’ I say, staring at the easel. ‘How did that happen?’
‘What?’ Jack asks, following my gaze. ‘What the hell!’
The easel that until a moment ago had held a painting of a church now displays a painting of a house standing elegantly on top of a hill, and my gravestone-shaped felt is now a door. A blue door.
‘It’s the house,’ I whisper excitedly, as we both stare at the easel in amazement. ‘The house that Clara, Arty and Maggie used to live in. It’s the house with the blue door, Jack!’
‘Put it together,’ Jack instructs, in a much calmer voice than mine. ‘The door, I mean. Match it up to the one on the painting.’
I do as he says, carefully matching up the two creations, and as always happens the colours immediately start swirling together to form a new moving image that slowly comes into focus.
As we watch the images a car passes along the road in front of the house, followed by a man riding a bicycle. He’s wearing a helmet and tight, brightly-coloured Lycra.
‘It’s not the fifties!’ I hiss at Jack. ‘It can’t be. It looks like now!’
Jack is silent as we enter this new modern-day world.
A woman carrying a reusable shopping bag and talking on a mobile phone walks through the gate. She has her back to us so we can’t see her face, but she’s tall and has long dark hair; an elderly golden Labrador poddles slowly behind her.
She ends the call, walks up to the front door and pulls a key from her pocket, but as she’s about to put it in the door it swings open and a man greets her with a loving smile. As the woman enters she has to bend down to kiss him because he’s in a wheelchair.
‘It’s us,’ I whisper so quietly I can barely hear myself. ‘It’s us, Jack, and that’s Barney following me through the door.’
I feel Jack’s hand take mine as we continue to watch ourselves.
The woman, who I can clearly see is me now she’s turned around, suddenly smiles at someone coming up the path behind her and we quickly recognise slightly older versions of Molly and Ben messing about as they walk towards the house, playfully pushing and nudging each other like siblings often do. They have a second dog on a lead – this time it’s a chocolate Labrador puppy.
Then, just as I’m desperate to see more of what can only be our future selves, the door of the house closes behind them and the picture begins to fade …
‘No!’ I call out. ‘No, I want to see more.’ I turn to Jack expecting him to say something similar, but instead I see his broken face and a tear rolling down his cheek.
‘You still want me in the future then?’ Jack says, more as an observation than a question. ‘You don’t get tired of being with me.’ He wipes the stray tear away.
‘Of course I want you! Why would you even think I wouldn’t want to be with you? I love you, Jack. You know I do.’
‘I love you too, Kate. More than you know.’
