Knowing Me Knowing You (15 page)

It was so noisy she could hardly hear herself think and she couldn’t see Joel anywhere. This was definitely where he worked, he’d told her. She couldn’t find anyone else to ask, they were all busy running or stepping or cycling ridiculously fast, especially the twenty or so people pedalling and being yelled at by a psychotic woman wearing a headset. She was just about to give up when she saw him, at the side of the room, doing sit
-
ups with a pretty dark
-
haired girl.

She took a deep breath, trying to run over in her mind what she was going to say to convince him to help her. But as she moved closer, seeing how fantastic he looked in a very tight top and shorts, all her carefully thought out plans went out of the window. He was never going to agree to this
-
why would he? It was a mad plan.

Before she got too close she turned abruptly and found herself walking into a luckily unoccupied rowing
machine. She banged her shin; the pull bar unfastened and made a loud clank as it hit the metal frame.

Joel and the woman he was working out with both sat up and Joel quickly came to her assistance.

‘
Are you OK?
’
he asked, arriving at her side.

‘
Fine, thank you
.
H
ello, again,
’
she greeted
her cheeks reddening as she turned to face him.

‘
Kate,
’
he replied surprised to see her.

‘
Don’t
worry,
I haven’t come to join the
gym or to stalk you or anything.
I just wondered if I could talk to you, for a minute, in private. I have
-
a proposition for you
-
it’s nothing illegal or dirty or anything like you think, I don’t think
.
B
ut if I could just ask you, I
…
’
Kate began.

‘
Sure, I’m intrigued to know what it is. Susie, do another twenty and I’ll be back with you in a minute,
’
Joel called to his training companion.

He led the way to the end of the room where the water cooler was positioned. The electrical hum of the equipment lessened. He filled a plastic cup with water and offered it to Kate. She shook her head and Joel took a sip.

‘
I should have remembered, all but allergic to water aren’t you?
’
he
spoke with a smile.

‘
Hmm, look, about Friday night
-
first of all, I want to apologise for whatever happened then. I don’t really remember all of it, well the getting home part mostly, that’s very blurry and I want to say sorry if I did anything or said anything that was insulting or rude or in any way inappropriate,
’
Kate began, sweeping her hair behind her ears and trying to avoid Joel’s huge eyes.

‘
I think it’s the taxi driver that needs the apology, not me,
’
Joel responded with a smile.

‘
God really?
I don’t want to know any more
.
A
nyway I’m sure he’s had much worse on a Friday night, at least I wasn’t sick in his cab. I wasn’t was I?
’

‘
Well
…
’

‘
Stop!
Enough! OK, right, the thing is, I have a bit of a financial problem at the moment and things with my
husband
-
my ex-husband
- are a little bit difficult.
B
asically I really need to find a whole lot of money so that I don’t have to rely on him
any
more
,
’
Kate started, shifting from foot to foot as she tried to say what she wanted to say. This was so difficult!

‘
I see,
’
Joel replied.

‘
OK, good. Right well, I know Friday night was a disaster and I know I wasn’t the easiest of dates, but when I thought about how to get a lot of money easily and quickly without robbing a bank I thought about
Knowing Me Knowing You
. I know, it’s crazy, it was the most terrible thing I’ve had to endure but I just thought I, that is,
we
, shouldn’t throw away the chance of winning that money,
’
Kate blurted out as best as she was able.

‘
I’m sensing there’s a
“
but
”
coming on,
’
Joel spoke, drinking more of his water.

‘
No, well, yes, maybe.
T
he thin
g is, I can’t do it without you
can
I
? I mean it was us who got through to the next round, Kate and Joel
-
I can’t really do it alone. I’m sure they don’t allow for break ups in the rules and answering questions on your own wouldn’t really work with the format would it?
’

‘
No.
’

‘
Look I’ll just say it. I can’t do it without yo
u but I can’t afford to pay you
for your time
-
you know
- like dates and stuff.
S
o I thought maybe we could strike a deal with the winnings. If we win, which we probably won’t and then neither of us will have got anything out of it, but I thought
and eighty/twenty split
in my favour
-
seeing as it was my connections with Frank Peterson that got us into the game
show in the first place.
’

Joel didn’t reply.

‘
Look, I know you don’t really know me at all and I know that there’s absolutely no reason why you should give your services free of charge to someone you barely
know
, but I’m not asking for me
-
I’m asking for my daughter
.
T
his is all for her
and
I’m just being a mum and
trying to do all I can to give her the best I can,
’
Kate spoke
her eyes welling up with tears.

‘
Sixty forty
in your favour and I’ll do it,
’
Joel replied.

‘
You’ll do it?!
Sixty forty
?
Well
- how about seventy thirty
in my favour, I mean
…
’
Kate began, trying not to sound too elated as she bargained.

‘
Sixty forty
is my only offer, there’s no guarantee we’ll win and remember, you can’t do it without me,
’
Joel reminded.

Kate hesitated, mulling the idea over in her mind. She hadn’t expected him to agree to do it;
sixty thousand pounds
would go a long way to lightening her current financial burden and Joel could end up not getting anything out of it at all. There was only one answer she could give.

‘
OK,
’
Kate agreed and she put out her hand to him.

Joel leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, which immediately made Kate blush. She still had her coat on and the gym suddenly felt very warm.

‘
We’re supposed to be dating. If this is really going to work you’re going to have to stop trying to shake hands with me,
’
Joel told her with a smile.

‘
Sorry, it just feels a bit strange
-
but I can work on it,
’
Kate insisted with a determined nod.

‘
Good. I’d better get back to Susie or she’ll be completely crunched out,
’
Joel said, reminding her he had a client waiting.

‘
Oh OK, yes. Um, do you want to come round for dinner or something, I’ll cook, well, I’ll tr
y to cook and we can talk about
a strategy,
’
Kate suggested awkwardly.

‘
Sure, when?
’

‘
Um, I don’t know
.
A
re you free tomorrow night?
’
Kate asked.

‘
Tomorrow’s fine,
’
Joel said, heading away from her.

‘
Good, right, well about
eight
? Wait! Do
n’t you need my address? It’s…
’
Kate began, trying not to shout too loudly.

‘
Thirty one
Waverley Road
. You really don’t remember the taxi ride home do you?
’
Joel commented, smiling at her.

‘
Apparently not,
’
Kate answered
.

‘
I’ll be there, eight o’ clock
,
’
Joel answered and he joined Susie and encouraged her off the floor and onto a treadmill.

‘
OK, good,
’
Kate said to herself.

She watched him as he spoke to his client and got onto the treadmill next to her. And then she turned away and headed for the door, smiling gleefully to her
self. He had agreed to her plan -
things were looking up.

‘
He said yes,
’
Kate announced to Hermione that evening.

‘
Who said yes?
’
Hermione asked as she tried to loosen a stamping Cyrus from her skirt.

‘
Joel,
’
Kate said, picking
Bethan
up and swinging her around.

‘
God!
No! He said yes?!
For no fee?
Cyrus Sweetie, could you stop doing that? Mummy will be
here in a minute to pick you up.
W
ould you like a breadstick or some raisins?
’
Hermione offered the boy.

‘
Chocolate,
’
Cyrus whispered so quietly it was barely audible over his loud drumming feet.

‘
No chocolate Sweetie, we don’t have chocolate here do we? You could have an apple, how about that?
’
Hermione bargained.

‘
Chocolate,
’
Cyrus whispered again his large black eyes glaring at Hermione.

‘
Chocolate isn’t very good for you Cyrus, it’ll give you spots and make your teeth fall out,
’
Kate offered helpfully.

Cyrus let out a high pitched screeching noise and fell to the floor. He rolled up into a ball and began to sob.

‘
There there, come on now, come and see what w
e’ve got in Hermione’s cupboard.
H
ow about an organic flapjack?
’
Hermione offered.

Cyrus got up off the floor and sniffed, as if deciding what to do next.

‘
They eat these at Hogwarts,
’
Hermione said, holding the flapjack out to him.

‘
Hogwarts,
’
Cyrus whispered
his face turning up into a smile.

The doorbell rang not a moment too soon.

‘
That will be your Mummy Cyrus, let’s get your coat,
’
Hermione said, giving the boy the treat, gathering up his things and leading the way down the hall to the door.

When Hermione came back into the room she slumped down at the table and let out a heavy sigh.

‘
That child is going to be the death of me; he’s been an absolute horror all day. Whispering darkly, like he’s something out of
The Exorcist
, drumming his feet on the floor, wanting things he isn’t supposed to have. He has numerous intolerances but I’m getting intolerant to him,
’
Hermione said
,
putting her head in her hands.

‘
Where are the others?
’
Kate asked, referring to Hermione’s children, Heather, Sky and Brook.

‘
My mother’s taken them to the big
A
sda
. She does that every so often, rings up after school without warning, whisks them off and when they come back they’ve been spoiled rotten, had cheap all day breakfasts for tea and have a whole new wardrobe of clothes each
.
I shouldn’t complain really should I? Oh
Bethan
, at least I had you here to look after me,
’
Hermione said, smiling at the little girl.