Page 4 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
‘And you feel like that’s your job?’
‘There’s nobody else who will.’
‘Still don’t see why you have to. I don’t see why anyone has to. If it doesn’t worry Mum, then it’s a non-issue.’
‘Here’s an idea – why don’t you take it back and save everyone going round and round in circles over something that ought to be a non-issue?’
‘Here’s a better idea – why don’t you keep your nose out? Nobody is going round in circles over anything apart from you. But then you’ve got nothing better to do, I suppose.’
‘What? I might not be a city darling like you, but I have a job and a home. I certainly don’t have time to chase after you.’
‘But you’re here anyway. I think you’re a bit obsessed with me, quite honestly. Always have been – hated that I came alongand spoiled your party when you thought you were always going to be the only child.’
At this, Caitlin balled her fists. Eden saw the movement from the corner of her eye and she knew instantly she’d gone too far. But would she back down? Say sorry? Admit she was out of order? No, Eden would do none of those things. Instead, she’d do what she’d always done and revel in her meanness. She couldn’t understand why she felt the need to taunt her sister all the time. Perhaps because deep down, she knew that all the things her sister had said about her were true and it hurt to acknowledge. So she kicked back rather than try to understand, rather than try to change. It was stupid and pointless and later she would come to understand that.
‘I know what you’re trying to do,’ Caitlin said, so obviously fighting the urge to slap Eden. ‘And I’m sure you think it’s hilarious, so I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of rising to it. I’m going to leave, and I’m going to trust that at some point during the next few days, you’ll have an adult response to this conversation and take Mum’s watch home to her.’
‘I will. I said that, didn’t I? Go back to your sad spinster life and stop trying to run mine, eh?’
Caitlin looked pained as she turned to go. Eden wanted to pull her back, to say she was sorry, but stubborn pride wouldn’t let her. So she simply watched her sister leave. Then she went to get her phone and sent a text to her friend, even though she knew it was a vain hope.
Hey, sorry to ask but could you have another look for my watch?
There was an instant reply.
Didn’t you think you’d lost it in the taxi?
Yeah, but could you look anyway? My sister is asking about it. It’s kind of an heirloom.
Not to be funny, but I spent an hour last week looking and it’s not here, not gonna look again, no point. Guess you’ll have to buy her another one.
Eden locked her phone and sighed. It was just another thing she’d screwed up. She never meant to upset the people she loved, but somehow she always did.
The watch never did turn up, and when Eden finally owned up to it, her mum didn’t get upset. She only looked so desperately sad that Eden didn’t know what to say. So she did what she always did in those situations – she skipped off back to her flat and took no blame at all. She removed herself from the visible consequences of her actions and hoped that they would be gone by the time she visited again. Until the day would come when there would be no hiding, when the consequences would be so big she’d never be able to escape them.
Eden dropped her keys onto the table and slumped into one of the chairs, looking around the silent kitchen of Four Winds Cottage, not seeing the charm of it, only the misery that had brought her here. She tried to hold on to the hopes that she’d also brought with her. The events of the past month had to mean something. She didn’t know how or what, but she knew something had to change.
CHAPTER TWO
After finishing a quick wipe of the surfaces and eating a bag of crisps she’d had in her handbag for the train journey, Eden needed some air.
She lingered for a moment at her phone on the table, hand hovering over it as she headed for the door, and then decided to leave it there. Nobody was going to be phoning her – at least, nobody she had the strength to talk to right now. It felt odd to leave the house without it but strangely liberating too. She could barely remember a life where she didn’t carry one everywhere she went – even around her flat – and yet there must have been one. Perhaps going without now would help her to connect to that girl again, if only for a short while. After all, wasn’t that what she’d been hoping to do by coming back here?
The path down the cliffs to the beach was steep, but she enjoyed the exertion, and having to concentrate on where she was walking helped to clear her mind. Yes, this was absolutely what she’d come to Sea Glass Bay for, and she decided as she clambered down that she would do this every day for the next six months.
It was midweek and the cove was a secluded one, out of the way of the main tourist spots further along the coast, and sowhile it had always been less lively, today it was quieter than Eden had expected. There were a few older couples snoozing away on deckchairs at the foot of the cliffs, some bodyboarders out at sea, and a young woman playing football with two small children, buckets and spades acting as goalposts while the children – perhaps five or six – squealed with laughter as they raced up and down the sand with the ball. Eden found a spot on the sand and settled there, closing her eyes to tune into the sound of the waves, matching her breathing to them and letting the sun warm her. It was as close to contentment as she’d had for weeks.
She’d zoned out when a sudden blow to the head made her eyes snap open, and she leaped up with a yelp. A colourful plastic ball rolled away from her, and as she looked up, the woman was running across the beach, the two children racing after her.
‘Oh God I am so sorry!’ she panted. ‘Are you all right? I didn’t…totally my fault. I didn’t realise I’d kicked it so hard!’
‘It’s OK.’ Eden forced a smile. ‘No harm done. You’d have to kick harder than that to damage this nut.’
‘Lucky the ball’s a bit flimsy too, not a proper football, eh?’
The woman scooped up the ball, and as the children arrived by her side, they stopped and studied Eden with a mixture of shyness and curiosity.
‘Hello,’ Eden said, with some shyness of her own.
