One Hundred Names (Special Edition)

again.
    ‘Come on, college boy,’ Molly called, though her tone was softer this time, and as Edward looked at her, Kitty could see something between them. She was so happy she could have just leaped for joy.
    Regina sidled in beside Kitty on the bus.
    ‘Hello,’ she said shyly. ‘We haven’t had the opportunity to speak yet.’
    ‘Yes, I’m sorry about that.’
    ‘Oh, you’ve more important people to talk to,’ she said kindly, ‘For your story. And I won’t keep you, I just wanted to thank you.’
    ‘No need to thank me, it was a pleasure for your company.’
    ‘I didn’t mean for the trip, though I am thankful of that, and Archie said you paid for our room and that was very nice of you.’ She looked down at her fingers, thin delicate fingers that looked like they belonged to a doll. ‘But I meant thank you for helping Archie. He said you have done a lot for him. That it was you who told him to talk to me.’
    ‘I don’t think he needed much persuading,’ Kitty smiled. ‘He had his eye on you every time I spoke.’
    She blushed at that.
    ‘Well, because of you helping him, he has helped me, so for that I’m truly grateful.’
    ‘He told you about his … ability?’ Kitty couldn’t think of any word for it because in truth she wasn’t sure if it was a gift or a curse. If it had helped him meet Regina and if it led to his happiness then she was sure it was a gift but she didn’t envy him for it.
    ‘Yes, he did. I heard his entire story and he’s a very special man, that much I’m sure of,’ she said firmly, implying she wasn’t sure if she believed the rest.
    ‘He’s been through a lot,’ Kitty agreed. ‘Can I ask a personal question? You don’t have to tell me your personal story but … I’m interested to know, was he right about you?’
    ‘About my prayers?’
    ‘Yes. He said that you would sit there saying “please”.’
    ‘I wasn’t conscious of it.’ She looked down at her fingers again. ‘But I suppose that is what I was thinking.’
    Kitty nodded, dying to hear more but not wanting to push it. Archie was her story, not Regina, but her interest in people was in her blood, at least that’s what Constance had always told her.
    ‘I was in a relationship,’ Regina said out of the blue when Kitty hadn’t been expecting any further explanation. ‘For a very long time.’ She had that haunted look again that Kitty recognised from seeing her in the café. ‘But he no longer wanted to be in the relationship. All of a sudden. Just one day. He didn’t give much of a reason. He said it didn’t matter but …’ she shrugged. ‘I found it hard to let go. He moved out, changed his number, changed his job. It was like he vanished off the face of the earth. But then I saw him in there one day, at that time in the morning, when I was passing, and I got such a fright that I couldn’t go to him. I wasn’t ready to say what I wanted to say. I walked on, turned the corner, changed my mind and went back but he was gone. It’s the only place I had ever seen him. People we knew had no contact with him. I think he had an episode of some kind; he just dropped his life and made a new one. He wanted to disappear, but I found him in there. I just didn’t have the nerve to go inside. I thought that maybe he’d go back, that that was somewhere he went to regularly, so I started going. He never turned up but I couldn’t miss a day. I kept thinking: what if today is the day he comes back? And then I couldn’t stop going. And the months went by and I still couldn’t stop going. Even when I tried to go elsewhere it was as if he was pulling me back. I would always end up there. I know it’s odd behaviour.’ She looked at Kitty nervously. ‘My family, they were worried about me. I know it wasn’t normal but I couldn’t stop. It was the only new link I had to him. So I kept going, hoping. I always believed in fate. And destiny. And all of those things that I know most people don’t believe in. I thought it was a sign, that I saw him there once and I would see him there again. But now I don’t really understand the point of it all. I never saw him again. It’s been a year,’ she said, almost ashamed with herself for keeping up that behaviour.
    ‘You met Archie there,’ Kitty said, fascinated with this woman, with this story. ‘That was the point. Your old love brought you back there but maybe it wasn’t to find him, maybe it was so you could meet Archie. If ever there was