One Hundred Names (Special Edition)

now she found them both in the allotment hugging tightly and she was suddenly self-conscious. She loosened her grip and he did too, but he didn’t pull away from her. Their faces were close when they looked at one another. His blue eyes bored into hers. She swallowed.
    ‘That was supposed to be a thank you,’ she said quietly.
    He frowned. ‘Thank you for what?’
    ‘For cleaning spray paint off my apartment door, for cleaning dog shit off the steps, for giving me your bed, but most of all for making Richie’s face look like a rotten tomato.’
    ‘Oh. Right.’ He let go suddenly and took a few steps back – a lot of steps back – and then separated them entirely by standing behind the machine. Back to his usual self. ‘So you found out about that.’
    ‘He came to my flat to get his jacket. He thought you were my boyfriend and that you’d caught me out. He was thrilled.’
    Steve’s face hardened. ‘That fucker. I swear I could hit him again.’
    Kitty was surprised by his reaction. Steve wasn’t that kind of guy. He was never aggressive. He wasn’t soft but his first method of defence was to get out of a situation because he was never that bothered by anyone, not to pounce.
    ‘Well … you did it once and I appreciate that.’
    ‘Twice, actually,’ he smiled. ‘Almost broke my fist too.’ He lifted his hand and that’s when Kitty saw the swollen bruising on his knuckles.
    ‘Oh, Steve, I’m so sorry.’ She went towards him to touch it but, true to character, he pulled it away.
    ‘It’s fine. No big deal.’
    ‘I thought you weren’t speaking to me.’
    He looked confused.
    ‘Just the way you hung up the phone the other day, I thought you were angry at me. About the story in the Sunday paper. About messing up again.’
    ‘No, no, Kitty, no,’ he said gently. ‘No way. I was so angry. At him. Why would I be angry at you?’
    She shrugged and looked around, suddenly feeling so vulnerable in his company, so eager to please, so … no! She couldn’t be feeling like this
with Steve
?
    ‘So how are you, how’s the story going?’
    ‘I am
loving
it,’ Kitty said, pushing her feelings to one side and responding ecstatically.
    He laughed.
    ‘I have met the most amazing people and I can’t wait to tell you all about them.’
    ‘Sounds good,’ he smiled. ‘It sounds like you’re back to your best.’
    ‘Does it?’ she said, genuinely touched.
    ‘Yeah. Back to all the stuff you used to bore me with before. It’s good to see you so …’ he looked at her ‘… happy.’
    Happy
. She thought about it. Yes, she was happy. Despite all the crap going on in her life, she was actually happy.
    ‘Do you want to go for something to eat or drink, or …?’
    ‘I’d love to but I have to get to Kildare, to the butterfly woman. I really need to learn more about her. She is so fascinating, like a creature from a Tolkien novel or something. And then I have a job interview,’ she winced.
    ‘Where?’
    ‘Ashford night school for their media studies course. Though I’m half-thinking of cancelling.’
    ‘Don’t you dare,’ he warned. ‘You’ll knock them dead.’
    ‘That’s what I’m afraid of.’
    ‘Kitty,’ he fixed her firmly with his blue-eyed gaze, ‘you’ll be wonderful.’
    She was genuinely moved by that and felt ridiculous as tears sprung to her eyes. She hadn’t received any praise lately, particularly not from Steve, and she hadn’t realised how much she desired his praise. She looked down at her feet in the soil and cleared her throat. ‘So I’m going on a trip tomorrow and I was wondering if I could use the assistance of your girlfriend.’ The words felt like chalk in her mouth but she was trying, she hoped that he could see she was trying.
    ‘Katja? Why?’
    ‘The most exciting story of all.’ She smiled then. ‘Birdie, one of the names on my list, made a bet that she would live to the age of eighty-five and she turns eighty-five tomorrow. We’re driving to Cork to pick up her winnings.’
    ‘You’re kidding. How much winnings?’
    ‘Ten grand,’ Kitty grinned. ‘Or its euro equivalent, at least. So I need a photographer. It will be an overnight trip and there’s a couple of things along the way I’ll need her to do too.’
    Steve thought about it. ‘I’ll let her know.’
    ‘Thanks. I’ll text you the pick-up details from the bus. If she can’t come let me know so I can organise someone else. I’d better go.’ They stood still in the