One Hundred Names (Special Edition)

the scummiest thing anyone could ever do. She expected him to snap and defend himself like he did the last time, a coward who couldn’t accept responsibility, but in fact the opposite happened.
    ‘I know you’re right, I’m sorry. I’ll never bother you again. I just wanted you to know that you did the nicest thing for me that anyone has ever done and I can’t understand why because I realise what I did to you was the worst and I have to live with that. Anyway, I won’t take up too much more of your time, I just wanted you to know that hand on heart, I’m sorry.’
    ‘Well … okay,’ she replied, not knowing what else to say, wanting to spout more words of hate at him but no longer feeling it was necessary. ‘Maybe you could give me a percentage of your royalties or something when the book is published,’ she joked.
    ‘Oh, yeah, there won’t be a book,’ he said.
    ‘What do you mean? I thought they liked it.’
    ‘They did but I had a meeting with the publisher this morning. When he found out who I was he decided not to publish me. I wrote a not-too-favourable article about a colleague of his a few years ago and, well, he definitely didn’t forget it.’
    Kitty’s mouth dropped, she punched the air silently and didn’t care who could see her from the wedding reception. No wonder the little rascal was so sorry, his evil ways were coming back to haunt him. When she ended the call she did a little happy dance.
    ‘What’s that? A rain dance?’ a gentle voice behind her asked. ‘I wasn’t listening, I just saw you leave the table and wanted to make sure everything was okay.’
    She turned round to see Steve a few steps away from her.
    ‘I think today is the happiest day of my life,’ she laughed.
    ‘What did you do now, tell me,’ he said, and the way he phrased it made Kitty laugh again. ‘What?’ he asked.
    ‘You make it sound like I’m always getting myself into trouble.’
    ‘That’s because you are. And I’m always trying to get you out of it.’ He came closer to her and gave her that look that made her feel delightful.
    ‘Um, Steve.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Katja.’ One word.
    ‘Ah. Katja is no longer.’
    ‘What did you do to her? Bury her in your allotment?’
    He dug his knuckles into her back.
    ‘Oww,’ she howled and squirmed, but he still held on to her tight.
    ‘No. We broke up.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Why do you think?’ He gave her that dark serious look again.
    Kitty swallowed.
    ‘She felt that I spent more time with you than with her.’
    ‘That’s ridiculous. You and I hardly ever see each other,’ Kitty spat.
    ‘True. Okay, she felt that I was there for you more than I was for her.’
    ‘Oh. Well. Do you think you are?’
    ‘Kitty, I helped you wipe shit and paint off your door, I gave you my bed and now I’m here in Cork with you pretending to be a photographer. What do you think?’
    ‘I think if I was your girlfriend I’d dump your ass.’
    ‘Would you?’
    ‘Would I what?’
    ‘Be my girlfriend?’ he asked. He asked it so shyly, yet so ser-iously, Kitty felt they were ten years old. She laughed shyly and looked down at her feet.
    Steve put his finger under her chin and lifted her head to meet his gaze. ‘I promise I’ve come on leaps and bounds since our last encounter.’
    Kitty laughed. ‘Hmm, I bet you have. I have too.’
    ‘It wasn’t that bad, was it?’
    ‘No,’ she smiled. ‘It wasn’t bad at all.’
    Just as he closed his eyes and leaned in to her, the tip of his finger beneath her chin, the water lapping beside them, there came the sound of applause as everyone toasted the bride and groom. As Kitty leaned in to kiss the beautiful, funny, dependable Steve, she happened to look over his shoulder and see someone at the pier, checking his watch, looking rather frustrated and as if he was about to leave at any moment.
    ‘Steve!’ she said, just as he reached her lips.
    ‘What?’ his eyes opened.
    ‘The adjudicator!’ She let go of him quickly. ‘We have to get Jedrek. The adjudicator is here.’ She let go of Steve’s hand and ran up the grassy slope to the party. ‘Stall him, I’ll get the boys!’

CHAPTER THIRTY
    ‘Yes, my dear, and I love you so much too. I wish you were here but this is my opportunity now to prove to everyone, to prove to you, that I can be something.’ Jedrek’s voice cracked and he stopped talking to compose himself. Kitty wanted to reach out to him to hurry him on but she couldn’t. She was