Knowing Me Knowing You

by Mandy Baggot

  ‘It doesn’t sound like I have much choice,’ Kate answered.

  ‘Good, come on then, we’ll go to that new place, that’s nearest,’ Hermione said, hurrying along the mall.

  ‘I’ve heard it’s really expensive.’

  ‘Ah who cares, like I said my treat,’ Hermione said.

  Within a few minutes they had reached the new ‘Oriental Palace’ restaurant.

  ‘Right then, here we are,’ Hermione spoke, looking at Kate.

  ‘Yes, here we are, looks busy, maybe they don’t have a free table,’ Kate said as she looked inside.

  ‘Well, let’s go in and ask,’ Hermione said and she pushed open the large glass door, leading the way.

  They entered the restaurant and stood by the bar, surveying the other tables and waiting for someone to come to their assistance. It wasn’t long before Kate noticed a familiar diner.

  ‘Oh, God, it’s Matthew....with her, Amanda,’ Kate stated, swallowing the shock and disappointment.

  ‘What? Where?’ Hermione questioned.

  ‘There, just over there,’ Kate said, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

  ‘I thought he was so in love with you he had left her.’

  ‘That’s what he told me at the hospital, in between unconsciousness, he said he had never loved anyone like he loved me.’

  ‘Well he was drunk and apparently suicidal,’ Hermione replied.

  ‘But he’s with her, look at him, laughing and holding her hand. He sent me flowers, he came to my work and he said he wanted to start again,’ Kate said, tears spilling out of her eyes.

  ‘Lying bastard, I’m going to tell him just what I think of him,’ Hermione said, preparing to approach the table.

  ‘No, no don’t,’ Kate said, wiping at her eyes with her fingers.

  ‘Why? After everything he’s done?’

  ‘I’m going to tell him what I think of him,’ Kate said, sniffing her tears away.

  ‘Maybe we should just leave,’ Hermione suggested.

  ‘No, I won’t be a minute,’ Kate spoke and she took a deep breath and strode towards the table where Matthew and Amanda were sitting.

  Amanda looked up first and then Matthew paled as he saw Kate stood in front of him.

  ‘Oh great, what do you want? Shouldn’t you be elbow deep in nappy changing or something?’ Amanda questioned with a frustrated sigh.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re still together actually because Matthew told me you had split up,’ Kate spoke calmly, her eyes not leaving her ex-husband.

  ‘Kate….,’ Matthew began.

  ‘What’s she talking about Matt?’

  ‘He told me you were over when he was begging me to give him another chance. What was it you said? ‘Amanda means nothing to me’,’ Kate continued.

  ‘I didn’t say that, Amanda, I did not say that.’

  ‘He said he still loved me and he wanted to be a proper family. And he sent me flowers, dozens of bouquets of flowers and he tried to see me at work, called himself Bruce Carmichael so I wouldn’t know it was him,’ Kate carried on.

  ‘That’s my dad’s name,’ Amanda stated, going pale.

  ‘Amanda, this isn’t true. I was just trying to make amends a little bit for being a bit harsh over Bethan, I mean she is mine, I shouldn’t have denied it, she even looks like me. You got the wrong end of the stick Kate, I’m sorry if there was any misinterpretation,’ Matthew spoke.

  ‘You said you wanted nothing to do with the brat,’ Amanda said, her tone wild.

  ‘Amanda, this is all nonsense, she’s making it up, nothing’s changed, you’re the one I want to be with,’ Matthew insisted.

  ‘If I was you I would get out while you can, he’s a compulsive liar and an accomplished one. The only person he cares about is himself,’ Kate said sternly.

  ‘How could you? You sent her flowers and used my dad’s name as an alias!’ Amanda said, close to tears as she stood up.

  ‘Amanda, don’t go, come on, don’t listen to her, you know what she’s like, Amanda!’ Matthew called as Amanda threw down her napkin and rushed for the door of the restaurant.

  Matthew reached into his pocket for his wallet.

  ‘Well thank you, thank you very much.’ he said, throwing his napkin down in frustration.

  ‘That’s Joel’s,’ Kate stated wide eyed, staring at the wallet in her ex-husband’s hand.

  ‘What?’ Matthew said, not understanding.

  ‘That’s Joel’s wallet! That’s his wallet, the one that was taken when he was mugged. It was you!’ Kate exclaimed in horror, snatching it from Matthew’s hands.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Give me the wallet, I need to pay for all this extortionate food,’ Matthew blasted, indicating the meals on the tables.

  ‘You arranged for a group of thugs to beat him up! You could have killed him!’ Kate screamed as Hermione hurried to her side.

  ‘You’re mistaken, give me the wallet back.’ Matthew demanded.

  ‘No,’ Kate said and she opened it up and tipped the contents right into the middle of the shredded beef and hoisin sauce.

  ‘Stay away from me Matthew and stay away from Bethan,’ Kate spoke, shaking.

  ‘I’ll be speaking to my solicitor, about proper access.’

  ‘You do whatever you think you have to do.’

  ‘She’s my daughter.’

  ‘Yes, she is. But I’m not your wife, not anymore,’ Kate answered, swallowing a lump in her throat.

  She took one last look at him and then turned and bolted for the door.

  ‘You come near Kate again and you’ll have me to deal with,’ Hermione threatened, narrowing her eyes at Matthew as he desperately tried to wipe sauce off his credit cards.

  ‘I know all about you. What are you going to do? Put a Hex on me?’ Matthew asked with a chuckle.

  Hermione picked up one of his cards and held it out to him.

  ‘Yours I believe,’ she remarked, making him look up.

  Matthew went to reach for it and as he did Hermione jerked her knee up and landed a direct hit in his nether regions making him audibly yelp in pain.

  ‘That’s the thing about the mystics, they can help but sometimes brute force is the only real remedy,’ Hermione ended, straightening her coat.

  Outside the tears were falling from Kate’s face as she looked at the leather wallet in her hands. She ran her fingers over the smooth front and felt like a complete fool. Why had she let Matthew take her in again?

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

  ‘He got people to attack Joel. This is his wallet,’ Kate spoke, holding it up for Hermione to see.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘He told me he wanted to start again, he told me he loved me and he loved Bethan and he wanted to be a family again.’

  ‘I know Sweetie,’ Hermione said, feeling her friend’s pain.

  ‘He’s made an idiot out of me,’ Kate continued.

  ‘No! You are not an idiot Kate because you didn’t fall for it,’ Hermione insisted.

  ‘Maybe not externally but perhaps I had....in here,’ Kate admitted, touching her chest.

  ‘Leopards can’t change their spots Sweetie, no matter how hard they try. Matthew hasn’t changed, he never wanted to start again he was just concerned about his finances and he saw a way to stop you getting ruthless about it. He was your Achilles heel and he exploited that. He’s a liar and a cheat and a self-centred excuse for a man. He was that person when he left you and he’s still that person now,’ Hermione stated.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we want them to but that isn’t your fault.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Then why do you feel so much responsibility for what he did to you?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘You’re a wonderful person Kate, a good friend, an exceptional mother and a bright, intelligent, young woman with her whole life in front of her. You need to mov
e on from Matthew and do it with a fresh outlook and no turning back. What’s done is done,’ Hermione spoke, making Kate look at her.

  ‘I’ve been so stupid, hanging on to some ridiculous idea that we could be a happy family again, even when he said all those horrid things about Bethan, still I thought he would change his mind and come back.’

  ‘You deserve so much better Kate.’

  ‘Like Joel you mean?’

  ‘Well, he wouldn’t be a bad start.’

  ‘I’ve not been entirely honest with him about how I feel,’ Kate answered, rubbing at her eyes.

  ‘What did I say about letting go and having a fresh outlook? Give him a chance; after all, you already know he’s good in bed.’

  ‘Mione! I never said that!’

  ‘You didn’t need to Sweetie.’

  Thirty One

  ‘Hey, you OK? I was getting worried, it’s late,’ Joel remarked as Kate struggled through the front door, three shopping bags on each arm.

  ‘Have you any idea how long it takes to fine the perfect accessories for a fake wedding?’ Kate asked, dumping the bags on the floor and slumping down onto the sofa next to him.

  ‘No idea.’

  ‘Well let me tell you, it takes FOREVER! But a bangle, a pair of earrings, a fascinator, a garter would you believe, two pairs of pearlescent stockings and a pair of shoes later and Hermione is happy we’re ready,’ Kate explained.

  ‘It sounds like it was painful,’ Joel remarked with a smile.

  ‘Yeah, it was. But not as painful as something else,’ Kate spoke and she reached inside her handbag and brought out Joel’s wallet. She handed it to him.

  ‘It is yours isn’t it.’ Kate said, needing it to be clarified.

  ‘Yes but where did you get it? I mean....,’ Joel exclaimed.

  ‘Matthew. You were right, everyone was right, you weren’t just mugged, he arranged it and he had the nerve to use your wallet, flaunt it like some sort of trophy. I am so sorry Joel,’ Kate said, looking at him.

  ‘I knew,’ Joel replied, putting the wallet on the coffee table.

  ‘I know and Hermione suggested it and I wouldn’t listen and.....’

  ‘No, I mean I knew, for certain,’ Joel told her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘When they’d finished kicking me they pressed his business card into my hand,’ Joel explained.

  Tears pricked Kate’s eyes and for a moment she couldn’t respond.

  ‘But I couldn’t tell you that. You still loved him and I wasn’t sure you’d believe me. And he’s Bethan’s dad at the end of the day, I couldn’t tell the police and be responsible for her father being on the end of an assault charge,’ Joel spoke.

  ‘You should have told me,’ Kate said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

  ‘What good would it have done? I wasn’t playing games like him. If you wanted to be with me you had to decide that for yourself not because of anything I’d told you or anything he’d done.’

  ‘He hurt you because of me, it’s my fault,’ Kate spoke, trying hard not to sob.

  ‘Now that’s one of the most stupid things you’ve ever said and I don’t want to talk about it anymore,’ Joel told her seriously.

  ‘But what he did.....’

  ‘He did because he loves you,’ Joel reminded her.

  ‘No,’ Kate said with a shake of her head.

  ‘I think he does. I think he knows he made the biggest mistake of his life when he left you and he’s desperate to make up for that,’ Joel continued.

  ‘No. He’s still with Amanda. We saw them tonight, together, like he’d never made me any of those promises,’ Kate told him.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Joel said, looking at her.

  ‘No, don’t be. I needed to see it, it opened my eyes. There he was, looking at Amanda the way he used to look at me and I saw him and I didn’t feel angry that he was looking at her like that I felt sad because I didn’t know if it was real. I mean did he ever love me? Does he really love her?’ Kate asked.

  ‘I think he’s a fool for letting you go,’ Joel told her.

  ‘He didn’t just let me go, he walked away without a second thought,’ Kate told him.

  Joel took hold of her hand and held it tightly.

  Kate looked up at him and felt a wave of feeling wash over her. Here she was sat next to the most gorgeous man she had ever met, someone who had entered a relationship contest with her to help her and Bethan crawl away from near bankruptcy and she had wasted so much time pining for someone who didn’t want her and perhaps never had wanted her.

  She reached up to touch his face and Joel sprung from the sofa like she was about to poke him with a live wire.

  ‘I saved you some lasagne, I’ll warm it up,’ he spoke quickly.

  ‘Great, thanks,’ Kate replied, not knowing what else to say.

  She had left it too late.

  Thirty Two

  ‘Hi, Joel Brown and Kate Baxter, we’re here for the competition, ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’,’ Joel spoke to the hotel receptionist.

  It was the day of the final and Kate and Joel had arrived in London ahead of that night’s show.

  ‘Of course Sir, let me just find your details.’

  ‘I’m starving,’ Kate remarked, looking about the foyer of the hotel in search of something food related.

  ‘Me too. Let’s get checked in and find somewhere to eat,’ Joel agreed.

  ‘OK, you are in Executive Suite 4 which is on the third floor with a lovely view of the London Eye. Here is your key card, the lifts are just over there, would you like some help with your luggage?’ the receptionist asked.

  ‘No thanks, we’re fine,’ Joel answered, about to leave the desk.

  ‘A three course lunch will be served in the dining room at 1.00pm for all the contestants and it is requested that you participate in short mat bowls afterwards,’ she continued.

  ‘Short mat bowls,’ Kate stated, looking at the hotel employee quizzically.

  ‘Yes Madam.’

  ‘You’re good at bowling,’ Joel remarked to Kate.

  ‘That’s skittles, not short mat bowls. Could we have someone to help with our bags? You shouldn’t be lifting anything,’ Kate said, taking the bags away from Joel.

  ‘Apart from the £100,000 cheque.’

  ‘If anyone’s getting the first lift of that then it’s me,’ Kate answered, leading the way towards the lifts.

  ‘Wait! Wait!’ Lynn screeched as she and Darren arrived in the hotel reception area.

  Kate stopped and smiled at her friend as she hurried towards her.

  ‘Where’s the bar? We’ve been on that bloody coach for over two hours and I’ve had to listen to all Dorothy from accounts hospital stories,’ Lynn exclaimed with a sigh.

  ‘I think it’s that way but we’ve only just got here ourselves and we have to have lunch with the other contestants at 1.00pm, followed by a game of short mat bowls,’ Kate informed her.

  ‘Darren and I will be in the bar. He has a new hand, look,’ Lynn spoke, pointing over at where her husband was talking to the receptionist.

  ‘I’ll go and see him, it’s time we had a proper chat and it will give you two a chance to find the bar,’ Joel said.

  ‘It’s weird them knowing each other isn’t it? Darren told me what happened, had to drag it out of him as usual but he told me,’ Lynn said as Joel joined Darren at the reception desk.

  ‘Joel has terrible post-traumatic stress, he blames himself for everything,’ Kate informed her.

  ‘Darren had nightmares to begin with but he seems to be dealing with it now, he sees a counsellor, well that’s what he tells me, could be at the pub for all I know.’

  ‘Perhaps if they start talking to each other it might help them both,’ Kate remarked, watching as Darren and Joel joked with each other and between them picked up the luggage.

  ‘Oh here she comes, wearing some sort of bizarre jump suit. Oh and she has two suitcases! For one night!’ Lynn remarked as
Miranda entered the hotel, Andrew Kent following her like a lapdog.

  ‘Gold sandals and Gucci sunglasses,’ Kate said as the two women watched Miranda make her entrance.

  ‘And a thong.’

  ‘Enough information,’ Kate told her.

  ‘So have you got a great room?’

  ‘We have a view of the London Eye apparently.’

  ‘Cool! Good God, who is that? Skin tight jeans or what? And a smaller top than any of the Lady Dragon’s. Oh! Oh! I recognise her, that’s....,’ Lynn remarked as a tall blonde haired woman entered the foyer.

  ‘Marina,’ Kate remarked as she watched the woman walk up to the reception desk and enthusiastically greet Joel.

  ‘She’s going to kiss him, bet she goes for the mouth,’ Lynn commented as Kate watched the scene, unable to keep her eyes away.

  Both the women watched as Marina threw her arms around Joel and kissed his lips.

  Kate felt her chest tighten and she tried to swallow the feeling away. She had no right to feel jealous, she had spent the past couple of months sending out mixed messages and wishing she was back with her cheating ex-husband. She couldn’t stop looking though and didn’t like the way Joel’s arm had circled Marina’s tiny waist.

  ‘Hussy! She can’t stop touching him, maybe we should go and join them, make her realise who they belong to. She touches Darren and I’ll swing for her,’ Lynn remarked, eyeing Marina with suspicion.

  Kate continued to survey the scene as Marina and Joel spoke to one another. There was no denying they made an extremely good-looking couple. Marina touched Joel’s arm and he smiled and let out a laugh. Darren then began showing off his new hand and began trying to tickle Marina with the plastic fingers and she giggled loudly, flicking back her blonde hair. Now who did that remind her of?

  ‘Right, that’s it, she’s going down,’ Lynn announced and she began to stride over to the reception desk.

  ‘No! Don’t Lynn, please, just ignore her, she’s not interested in Darren, she’s interested in Joel, just leave her,’ Kate insisted, grabbing Lynn by the arm and dragging her back towards her.

  ‘Are you going to just let her stand there and crawl all over your man?’ Lynn asked, staring at Kate with wide eyes.