What about you?

Part - 7

Friday’s were the worst days of the week. After a long day working, she headed to see Peter. Friday was the night she took him out for food. Usually a fast food joint, he had regressed to the appetite of a child, and this Friday was no exception. They’d been to MacDonald’s, and it had been every bit as difficult as normal. Because Peter looked normal, she hated that word, but because externally there were no obvious signs from his accident, people often got offended at his bluntness, childish behaviour or his eating habits. Tonight he’d thrown fries from the upstairs balcony down to the queues waiting to be served. Eventually the manager had come over and she’d had to take him home before he’d had his apple pie. That meant he hadn’t gone to bed without shouting and crying. It was well after ten when Kate finally left the residential home, to make her way to her home. She hated getting the tube after dark, well alone anyway, so she took the bus. It was longer, but without the daily traffic it was less of a trauma than it could’ve been.

She’d barely taken a seat when her phone rang. Looking at the display she smiled to see it was Tilly.

                 “Hey Tilly, how are you?”

Her friend chuckled, “good, I wondered how your evening went. How was Peter?”

                “Fine! Though I think we’re banned from yet another MacDonald’s!”

Tilly laughed, “You have the patience of a Saint! Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow? Ashton is going to some football game, and there’s a bottle of Sambucca in my fridge just waiting for someone to devour.”

Where did she ever get a friend like Tilly? And what had she done to deserve her? She’d met Tilly on her second day at University; they were instant friends and had barely done anything without consulting the other since. She was the sister Kate had never had and she couldn’t begin to count how many times she’d cried on her shoulder. Sometimes she pitied her for having such a one-sided friend.

At that moment she decided to buy her a gift, and promised to not complain of cry throughout the whole afternoon. She was with Peter on Sunday, so she had to fit in all her weekly chores before going. A squeeze, but she knew she’d enjoy it!

“I’ll be there!”

 Tilly’s resonse was a sigh of relief and pleasure.

For the rest of the journey Kate’s mind wandered back to those carefree University days, particularly Tilly’s nineteenth birthday. They’d gone to a party in the University, dancing, drinking well into the early hours. It was as she’d been stood at the bar ordering their umpteenth drink that the most handsome man in the World had appeared beside her, within seconds they were talking and she was mesmerised by him. They were inseparable from that moment on. Peter, the love of her life.

Saturday morning had been a blur of laundry, grocery shopping, and a little investigation for work. Then she bathed, relaxed, pampered herself a little before heading to Tilly’s stunning house.

The smell of some divine creation met her nasal receptors as soon as the door opened. Hugging her friend she groaned, “It should be illegal how good this house smells!” Holding out an 80’s CD and a blue glass vase filled with sunflowers.

“For being such a good friend!” She smiled when she saw the surprise on Tilly’s face.

Laughing she led her friend into the kitchen, a huge room which was definitely the heart of this home. She was continually amazed by how her flighty hippy friend Tilly had morphed into the domestic goddess that she now was. She still worked, an assistant in a designer boutique, something that she loved, but now it was more of a hobby, Ashton was seriously rich, some bank guru. Kate knew relatively little about the world of finance, and wasn’t inclined to investigate further, but Ashton’s long hours and weekends away landed him with a huge salary and a beautiful home in the most exclusive part of London. And Tilly was Lady of that Manor.