5 Books For Eveline

20

The Third Book

20

The knock came at the door as Purdy shuffled from the kitchen, the smell of black coffee rising from her mug, filling her nostrils as she frowned. The only person she could think who would knock on the door at that time in the morning, or, indeed, at any time, was Briar. She began to sigh and then stopped.

For, perhaps, the first time in a long time, she didn't feel infuriated that someone disturbed her. In actual fact, she felt a little excitement that she had a visitor. As her slippered feet trudged towards the door, she wondered when she had started liking the idea of having Briar around and could only think of the night before.

The woman did not fit the kind of person that Purdy would ever consider 'her type' of person. Loud, brash, far too forthright for her own good, and a little childish. A lot childish. Briar had started to become a fixture in Purdy's life. A point-of-contact with the outside world, breezing in to Purdy's life like a Westerly wind tearing across open countryside.

"Ooh! Coffee! Lovely!" Grabbing Purdy's mug from her hand, Briar pushed past Purdy and headed to the living room. "Lots to do!"

"No, please, come in." Miming an invite to an invisible caller outside the door, Purdy turned and frowned. She regretted feeling happy that Briar had knocked upon the door. "That's my coffee, by the way!"

"And a nice cuppa it is, too." Briar had already sat down on the sofa, pulling a tablet from a more sedate bag than any of her others. "We are going on a little trip today."

Still in a state of waking, Purdy slouched past the living room door and headed back to the kitchen, setting the kettle boiling again and staring at her spare coffee mug. It felt far too early for someone to be as awake and excitable as Briar appeared. As soon as the kettle began whistling, she used a cloth to pick it up and poured the boiling water into the mug, stirring the coffee.

When she entered the living room, Briar had already started playing music from her phone and now sat there, holding her tablet so that Purdy could see the screen. There appeared a picture of a statue in the middle of a pedestrian square. Purdy recognised the place as one in the nearby city and she found herself frowning again.

"It's a statue. Nice." Reaching down to Briar's phone, she turned down the volume, ignoring Briar's pout. "And what is important about that statue?"

"You've read the third volume, right?" Turning the tablet, a little, Briar pinch-zoomed into the picture and then pointed to it. "This statue is mentioned, right? Where Eveline and Raya meet after they had separate Summer holidays? Look closer."

Purdy had read the third volume. The reason she felt so tired now was due to staying up late to devour the entire book. The girls, Eveline and Raya had aged again and now spent a little more time apart. The separate Summer holidays were only one obstacle to their friendship and they snatched every moment they could to spend time together.

Leaning closer, Purdy squinted at the photograph, trying to see what had made Briar so upbeat. In the story, Eveline had waited for hours at the statue. As the day had worn on, she came to think that Raya would not arrive, but then, through the crowds, Eveline had seen her friend. Their tear-filled reunion had almost broken Purdy's heart.

"It's a statue." Repeating the same phrase was all her sleep-deprived mind could conjure.

She sat upon the arm of the sofa, wondering how such a small woman like Briar could take up all three seats. Sipping her coffee, she let the dark, bitter beverage pass across her tongue and down her throat. It felt too hot, but she felt she needed to wake up. After another sip, she took another look at the photograph, but still couldn't see what Briar had seen. Shaking her head, Purdy smacked her lips, relishing the taste of coffee upon them.