Page 5 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
‘What’s your name?’ the boy asked.
‘Eden.’
The boy nodded and the girl wrapped a hand around the woman’s leg. Eden gave them all a closer look. She’d have guessed the children were around the same age – twins? How old? She was a bit rubbish at this sort of thing. Six? Seven? Nine or ten? She felt stupid for not being able to tell. And was the woman their mum? She looked young – Eden would have saidyounger than her own twenty-seven – but certainly old enough to have children.
‘You on holiday?’ the woman asked.
‘Sort of.’
‘Ah…’ The woman stroked an absent hand over the girl’s hair, and the action was so natural and unknowing that Eden was now convinced she was their mother. ‘Well, sorry again about the ball. We’ll move a bit further down the beach so it doesn’t happen again.’
‘Sorry,’ the boy said.
‘Sorry,’ the girl added.
Eden couldn’t help but smile. They were cute, even if she didn’t know how to talk to them.
They began to walk away, but then the little girl turned around and ran back to Eden. She stopped a few feet short and pointed to the beach dress she’d changed into before coming out.
‘You look pretty.’
Tears welled in Eden’s eyes, springing from nowhere, so sudden and violent she was almost overwhelmed.
‘Thank you.’
The girl looked taken aback, confused by the reaction, but as she turned to run back to the woman, Eden called to stop her.
‘Hey. You don’t have to move down the beach for me, you know. You were here first, after all.’
The woman smiled and nodded, and Eden was glad she’d persuaded them to stay in their spot, because as they continued their game, she didn’t close her eyes but curled her arms around her knees to hug them close and watched. There was such joy in their squeals and laughter, and while she loved to hear it, there was a bittersweetness to the moment too. Not so many years ago it would have been her racing up and down this beach, carefree, careless of a tragedy in her future looming silently, invisibly, but far too quickly.
Before ten minutes had passed, the ball came flying in her direction again, but this time she was ready to catch it neatly before throwing it back. And now the woman started to collect the buckets and spades up as if to move, shouting an apology at Eden as she did.
Eden got up and went over.
‘Honestly, don’t move on my account. It’s been nice to see them having so much fun.’ She smiled at them both.
‘I’m Nancy,’ the girl said with a mixture of shyness and eagerness.
‘Hello, Nancy.’ Eden glanced at the boy, but when he missed his cue, the woman spoke for him.
‘And this little…’ She roughed the boy’s hair, and he grimaced, squirming out of her reach. ‘This is Levi.’
‘Cute names,’ Eden said. ‘So are you on holiday?’
‘No, we live here. School’s out today, teacher training day, so I’m the entertainment.’
Eden looked at them again. ‘How old are you then? Let me guess…about thirty-seven?’
Nancy started to giggle, and Levi groaned.
‘Six!’ Nancy laughed. ‘We’re six!’
‘Both of you?’ Eden asked. ‘No, I don’t believe it. I was going to see if you wanted to go to the pub later.’
Nancy’s giggling grew even more uncontrollable, and Levi wore a broad grin.
‘We can’t go to the pub!’ he said.
