Nine
The weeks tick over, and she works longer shifts, but ever since making Julia's cake, an idea has been niggling in the back of her head, an idea that makes her feel happier and happier with every passing day. Eventually, one evening, she broaches the topic with Thomas and Miles, home for once, as they talk over a cup of coffee.
"I'm considering setting up a business," she says when there is a lull in the conversation.
"What?" Miles says, staring at her. A flush creeps past her ears.
"I'm thinking about setting up a business."
"In cake-decorating?" Thomas asks.
"Yeah. It's just I did Julia Singh's cake, and several mothers have asked if I'd be willing to do the same for their children and…forget about it, it's a stupid idea."
"Kitty, no, it's fantastic," Miles enthuses. "It would be so much fun."
"How would you advertise?"
A rush of gratefulness for the two of them floods her, and she smiles, twisting her fingers around her mug. Steam wafts into the air in dense curlicues. "I'd ask Flora to see if she could put something in the newsletter, I guess."
"Get Grace Singh to tell people she knows about it," Thomas suggests. "The more people who know about you the better. How would you operate?"
"I think I'd put my address on the newsletter or my phone number, and then parents can phone me if they want to."
"It sounds amazing, Kitty," Miles glances down at his watch. "Oh, I've got to go."
"Secret girlfriend?" The words are out of Kitty's mouth before she even has a second to think about them, and Miles flushes.
"Well…"
"I'm sorry, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."
"No, it's okay." Miles takes a deep breath. "Okay, I've been seeing one of the nurses at work for a couple of weeks now…"
"So that's why you're never in," Thomas interjects.
"Yeah, that's why I'm never in. I'm going to be late to pick her up." He turns and makes a dash for the door before their conversation can pull him back like a fishing net.
Thomas and Kitty look at each other for a second, stunned, and Kitty calls out, "Congrats, Miles!" as the front door opens.
"Thank you!" comes his faint reply, then there is a click and she and Thomas are alone, sitting in the kitchen.
"We were right," he says, shaking his head.
"I know," Kitty laughs a little, taking a sip of her coffee.
He leans back in his chair, regards her with those blue eyes that remind her of the time just after sunset, before the smothering blackness of night, pure, rich, sapphire blue, though she freely admits to herself now that Thomas' eyes make her heart race a thousand times more than the prospect of wearing expensive jewels for another interminable photo-shoot.
"There's another reason why you want to set up this business, isn't there?" he asks quietly, his voice gently tugging her out of her thoughts. She starts.
"Sorry?"
"There's another reason for this," he repeats, and she wants to lie, she wants him to think that her intentions aren't purely selfish, but the thought has been niggling at her mind, and she-has-told-too-many-lies-in-this-life-to-tell-another.
"Yeah," she exhales. "A single mother running a cake decorating business looks better to the courts than a single mother working two jobs with millions of shifts."
"It does. There's nothing to be ashamed of about it." He closes his eyes for a second. "Wait, I've just had an idea."
She nods. "Go on."
"Even when you're not doing birthday cakes, you could do some bog-standard ones and get the café where you work to sell them."
"Thomas – that's brilliant!" Kitty says, excitement suddenly leaping into her throat. She wants to hug him. "I'll talk to Joan tomorrow – I'm sure she'd like it, she's always after new ideas."
"My pleasure," he says.
Later on, she makes dinner round at his, and they settle down in front of a film, Kitty's legs tucked neatly underneath her and tiredness drooping her eyelids until the screen is blurred. When she finally falls asleep, there aren't any nightmares waiting to tear the corners of her mind ragged. There's only peace.
He looks down at her, curled up closer than she's ever been on the sofa, her head resting bare inches from his arm and a rush of tenderness surges through him. Kitty. She's nothing like his mother, he knows that, and yet he still worries. His mother was weak, there were cracks in her life that no amount of love and care could ever mend, but Kitty, Kitty is strong. There's steel running through her veins, holding her upright even in the worst of circumstances – he knows, he's seen her piece herself back together – and for the first time since the bastard took Sylvie away, the worry has vanished into thin air.
So he wraps his arm around her, and they both fall asleep like that, tucked into each other's warmth with the film credits rolling up and up and up the black screen.
In the morning, neither of them mention it. He makes breakfast, she doodles on a piece of paper. Miles shoots them pointed looks from above his morning coffee and they make small talk, diverting the conversation towards Miles' evening out.
His girlfriend's called Helen. She's a junior nurse in one of his wards, and she spent months pretending to be impervious to Miles' flirting, so when her defences finally crumbled, there's substance to the relationship. Neither of them have any intention of getting bored.
Thomas is thrilled. He'd just about had enough of Miles somehow managing to break hearts left, right and centre. It was all completely unintentional, just the way Miles was back then, but he still felt bad for the girls left standing in his friend's wake.
At nine o'clock, he's at the hospital, getting into theatre when he finds that yet again he has the wrong notes in his hand. Yelland. Fucking Yelland. Of all the times…
He takes a deep breath and makes himself tell an orderly to fetch the right notes. It's the last bloody straw. He's going to find a way to stop that bastard's meddling once and for all.
Kitty gets into work half an hour before she's due, slipping in through the open back door with her uniform smartly ironed and the pictures of Julia and Sylvie's cakes cold against her clammy palms. This is it.
Her boss, Joan, is sitting at one of the tables, doing inventories and Kitty hovers uncertainly at her shoulder for five minutes before Joan looks up. "Oh hello, Kitty. You're here early."
"I know." Kitty surreptitiously wipes her hand on the back of her black trousers. "I need to ask you something."
"You're not resigning, are you?" Joan's face crinkles in on itself. "You're one of our best."
The compliment makes pinkness rise to the tips of Kitty's ears, turning them the colour of raspberries, and she shakes her head. "No, I'm not."
"That's good. Sit down, you don't have to stand there like that."
Kitty does as she's told. "Joan…I have a proposition for you."
"Yes?"
"I bake and decorate cakes, and I'm going to be setting up a business down at St Francis' Primary School. I was wondering if I'd be able to sell some of my cakes here."
"Well," Joan gives her an encouraging smile. "What kind of decorating do you do?"
Kitty puts the pictures down on the table. "That's the cake I did for my daughter's birthday, and that's for her friend."
Joan is nodding. "You know we already have big cakes that people have slices of, but those are pretty damned spectacular if you'll excuse my French. Could you do fairy cakes, perhaps?"
"Yes, I'm sure I could."
"Well, the cookies aren't selling as well as I'd like them too, so how about we replace them with your creations for three or four weeks and go from there?"
"That would be wonderful."
"I'd be willing to up your salary and pay for all the ingredients you'd need."
"Thank you, so, so much Joan. Thank you."
"It's not a problem. I think Anton's in the kitchen sorting out the food for late breakfast, so if you want to go see if he has anything for you to do before your shift starts, that would be wonderful."
"Thank you, Joan." Kitty stands and Joan extends her hand.
"Let's shake on it."
A/N So...I'm sorry for the late update. I really, really am. The network has been playing up like nobody's business at home, so I've had funny Internet connections on and off for the last few days. But here's the update! What do you think of the development in the Miles situation? And is that enough Kitmas for you? Also, shameless self-promotion, but I've written a couple of little Harry Potter oneshots, the first of which has been posted, and if you want to read it, I'd love to hear from you! I promise the next chapter will be up before Tuesday! N xxx
