5 Books For Eveline

19

19

Purdy didn't like the idea of having someone in the house. She could count the number of people that had entered that house on less than the fingers of one hand. People had visited, at first, checking up on her as she acclimated back after the accident, but she had held them all at the doorstep, uncertain who the other her had known. Who she could trust.

Briar had become only the fourth person to pass through those doors, almost barging her way in, full of excitement. Chattering away so fast that it had caught Purdy by surprise. Before Purdy could say a single word, Briar had passed into the entrance hall, giddy, and searching for the living room.

Almost ripping her Japanese-style 'character' rucksack from her shoulder, hand digging inside as the bag swung to and fro, she had stopped as soon as she saw the package upon the coffee table. Sat beside the two volumes of 'For Eveline' that Purdy had found before, Briar knew, straight away, what the package held.

"I was going to rub your face in it." With all her excitement drained away, Briar tugged a similar package from her rucksack and gave it a half-hearted wiggle in the air. "But, it seems, that old Carwyn luck strikes again."

Without a by-your-leave, Briar slumped down onto Purdy's sofa, defeated, staring at the two books and the package. After a few seconds, she sighed, leaning forward and placing her own package beside the one on the coffee table. She sat back, then leaned forward again to adjust the package's angle, lining it up straight, before slumping back again.

"So that's what you were up to yesterday?" Purdy stepped around the sofa, to touch both packages. She ignored Briar's pout. "It's not a competition, you know. Not yet, at least. Would you like a tea?"

"No. Coffee. No, wait, yeah, tea. No! Coffee! Do you have any beer?" Leaning her head back against the sofa, Briar sat, knees closed, feet splayed to each side. Purdy thought she acted like a spoiled teenager. "And it is a competition! Ten of these? Five of the fourth book and only one, one!, of the last one. Of course it's a competition!"

"If I find the last one, I'll let you read it." Heading towards the kitchen, Purdy could see Briar curl her nose at that. "And I expect you to do me the same kindness."

"It won't be the same." Briar slapped the face of the Manga character on her rucksack and then shoved it to the side, against a cushion. "I want to win!"

Briar said nothing else as Purdy made the coffee. It was as though the other woman didn't care that Purdy did not, in fact, like her. She breezed past Purdy's defences, ignored all Purdy's protests and laughed at Purdy's attempts to remain a solitary, anti-social person. She cared not a jot about Purdy's feelings on any of those matters.

To see the woman so devastated that Purdy had also found a copy of the third volume almost made Purdy feel a little sad for Briar. Almost. Carrying two mugs back into the living room, the limp caused by her hip making her take her time, wary of spilling the coffees, she placed them on coasters on the coffee table. She received only a muted 'thanks'.

"Where did you find it? Not in town, I expect." Purdy settled down at the far end of the sofa, adjusting the cushions to pad her hip. "I found mine ..."

"No, no, no! Don't tell me yet! Let me tell my story first." Spinning on her backside, lifting one knee beneath her, Briar came alive once again, bouncing as she settled down, facing Purdy. "I figured that people would check this one last, as it was in the city. You know the part where Eveline gets lost in the shopping centre? She searched for hours and wished Raya was there, because Raya was better at finding things? She hid in a photo booth, right? Until a security guard found her? And she found someone's photos that they left. A couple kissing."