The next week, as Tamsin was going about her business, Diane kept popping into her head. She’d hardly seen her at the club, but Isabelle had told her that was normal at this time of year due to it being the end of the fiscal year. Which made Tamsin all the more grateful that Diane had taken her on as a new client, even though she was probably very busy. She hadn’t let on during their meeting, and hadn’t uttered a word about it during dinner.

Ah, that dinner. Not only had it been a sort of milestone for Tamsin to have her first guest over in her new house, but it had also been very pleasant to sit and chat with someone as evening fell. Tamsin hadn’t always believed she was born for the kind of companionship that was touted everywhere, from movies to commercials to magazines, but maybe she had changed. And maybe Diane was part of her plan for that particular kind of change.

Maybe her move to the countryside had been about more than just wanting more space and fresh air. Perhaps the thought of turning forty soon had changed something in her subconscious and the results of that were only now making it to the surface.

She arrived home just as her sister’s car was pulling up. She’d been looking forward to this weekend. And maybe she could confide in Eve. Tamsin felt she might burst if she didn’t tell someone about Diane, even though there wasn’t really that much to tell. It was just a feeling, in the end. Some chemicals in her brain acting up.

Eve got out of the car and opened her arms to pull Tamsin into a hug. “I’m so ready for a weekend without James,” she said. She cast her glance over the cottage. “I’d forgotten how lovely and peaceful this place is. I’ve only just arrived and I feel a million times less stressed already.”

Eve carried her holdall inside while Tamsin did the same with the shopping she’d picked up. When she was cooking for someone else but herself, she liked to put some effort in. On the menu tonight were scallops with courgette and black pudding.

Once inside, Bramble greeted Eve with a few licks of the hand. Tamsin opened the back door so Bramble could go out into the garden and chase squirrels. The sky was blanketed with thick dark clouds and Tamsin made a mental note to keep an eye out for rain. Bramble out in the rain equalled a big mess to clean up inside afterwards.

“Bramble seems to like it here.” Eve produced two bottles of red wine from her bag. “James gave these to me and said to savour them. They’re not meant for over-indulgence, apparently.”

“As if we ever would.”

“As if he won’t be doing exactly that on his lads’ weekend away.” Eve rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe I once argued for wanting to join him.”

“Ah, the foolish things young love makes us do.”

Eve set about opening the wine and pouring them each a glass while Tamsin started chopping a courgette.

“Can I help?”

Tamsin pointed to a chair by the kitchen door. “You can sit there and tell me all about your week.”

“We spoke on the phone two days ago. Not much has happened since.” Eve sat on the chair appointed to her. “I finished the drawings for the Clare Linderman book, so well done me.” She sipped from her wine. “You tell me about your week instead.”

“It was Darren’s last week at the club.” Finally. “So things should get a bit busier from now on.”

“Which reminds me,” Eve said. “I spoke to Maxine the other day when I was dropping off some documents. She asked if you’d managed to file your own taxes.” She threw in a chuckle. “I told her that would be the day.”

Something warm bloomed in Tamsin’s chest. “I did no such foolish thing, of course. I’ve found an accountant here in the village. She’s a member at the club. Her name’s Diane.” Tamsin focused on chopping, her head bent down. She didn’t want a sudden blush on her cheeks while talking about Diane to give her away. This was Eve she was talking to, the foremost expert on all her feelings since the day she’d been born.

“Aaaand?”

“And what?” Tamsin still didn’t look up.

“I recognise that certain inflection in your voice. Plus, it’s not the first time you’ve mentioned this Diane.”

“Don’t be silly.” Tamsin had a hard time focusing on cutting and, wishing to keep her fingers intact, she put the knife down for a moment. She even dared to look her sister in the eye. Eve’s eyes were almost the same colour as hers, she thought, as she often did, even though she didn’t know why. Despite being fraternal twins, they’d both inherited their mother’s bright green eye colour, Eve’s a little lighter than Tamsin’s.

“I’m not the one being silly.” Eve painted a smirk on her lips. “And I wasn’t born yesterday either.”

“Nope, you were born on the 6th of July 1978, just like me,” Tamsin said, “albeit thirty minutes later than me, which technically makes me your older, much wiser sister.” She smirked at Eve.

“Yeah, yeah, repeat that often enough and perhaps you’ll believe it, but my thirty minutes deficit on this planet have not impacted my acquired wisdom at all.” Eve put her glass of wine on the kitchen table. “How about you finish chopping first. You can tell me all about Diane later.”

“There’s nothing to—” Tamsin started, but Eve cut her off by lifting up her hand.

“At least, as my older sister, show me some respect.”

They both burst out into a chuckle. ‘Show some respect’ was one of their father’s mantras in life—and the man had many mantras to choose from.

“Have you seen Dad?” Tamsin inquired, glad that she was off the hook about telling her sister about Diane for now.

“No, but I’ll see him next week. He’s coming all the way to London. Some furniture vendor is very keen on a few of his latest pieces.”

“Blimey, dad’s leaving his territory and heading for the big smoke.” Tamsin had resumed her chopping.

“You should come, Taz. It would be lovely to have a family dinner.”

Tamsin nodded. “I will. What with the move and settling in here, I haven’t seen dad in ages.” When she still lived in London, Tamsin went to see her father at least once a month.

“It’s a date then. We’ll go to Lomax. He loves their rack of lamb.”

Tamsin happily kept chopping, looking forward to seeing her father. When she took a break to sip her wine, her sister wagged a finger at her. “I’m going to set the table and, when we sit down, you and I are going to have a long overdue heart-to-heart.”

Tamsin had managed to steer the conversation during dinner; a meal which didn’t take very long because her sister always had the habit of gobbling her food as though she’d never be fed again in her life. Eve had started talking about an idea she’d had of transferring some of her drawings to the furniture their father made and she got so caught up in it, she seemed to have forgotten all about Diane.

If only it were that easy for Tamsin.

When they’d cleared their plates, Tamsin looked outside. Dusk was beginning to fall but no raindrops had yet made an appearance.

“Shall we take Bramble for her daily constitutional?” she asked.

“I thought you’d never ask. I want to see the nightlife in Tynebury.” Eve smirked at her.

“I think Friday is karaoke night at the village pub,” Tamsin replied.

“Let’s steer clear of that then.”

Tamsin grabbed Bramble’s leash from a hook in the hallway. If they were walking into the village, she might need it.

Once outside, Eve inhaled deeply. “I can see the appeal, you know. Even though I’ve given you a hard time about moving to Dullsville.”

“It’s really not dull at all,” Tamsin said. “It would be if you’re looking for nightlife and a new restaurant opening every weekend, but I’m past that now.”

Eve hooked an arm through Tamsin’s. “You’ve settled in well, then?”

Tamsin nodded. “My job helps, of course. It’s the perfect way to get to know people.”

Eve squeezed her arm a little tighter. “True. It’d be different if you were a hermit.” She tilted her head back and looked at the sky. “Weather’s the same as in London, though.”

“Are you glad we grew up in the countryside?” Tamsin asked.

“I guess.” She shrugged. “Luckily, neither one of us have children of our own to take into account.”

Eve had long ago declared her and James happily—and very consciously—child-free. Tamsin might have felt her biological clock give a little tick when she turned thirty, but she didn’t think she had enough desire to consider becoming a single mother—and was further deterred by the whole rigmarole she’d have to go through. As far as Tamsin was concerned, children simply hadn’t happened in her life. Most of the time, she was neither happy nor sad about that.

“I have Bramble, of course,” Tamsin joked. The dog was walking a few feet ahead of them. “She loves growing up in the countryside.”

Tamsin lived on the very edge of Tynebury, but the village wasn’t big and it didn’t take her and Eve long to reach the high street. The first few weeks after she had moved here, it had been downright bizarre to find everything but the pub closed on a Friday evening, so accustomed had Tamsin become to the convenience of living near a major city. But now it gave her a sense of peace. When there was nothing to be done, no new restaurants to try and no exciting plays to discover, it was much easier to relax—to simply do nothing.

“Where does Diane live?” Eve asked, out of the blue.

“I truly don’t know. I’ve only been by her office, which is just off this street.” Tamsin pointed at the next street on their left.

“Come on, Taz. Give me something. It’s not as if I have my own exciting love life to tell you about. James and I have been married for too long. We just muddle along and everything’s fine.”

“Everything can’t be fine all the time,” Tamsin said, buying time.

“Well, no, I guess not. So sometimes, for a little while, everything’s not fine, until it’s fine again.” She bumped her hip into Tamsin’s.

Then, as if the bump of her twin’s hip opened up something inside of her, Tamsin started talking. The words were there, at the ready, as though they’d been waiting to be let out of her mouth. Tamsin told Eve about the evenings in Portugal, her resolution to get over Diane and subsequent failing to do so. About the dinner they’d had the previous week, ending with a hug that was very much open for interpretation.

She ended with, “but as far as I know, she’s as straight as an arrow, so…”

“From what you’re telling me, she doesn’t sound very straight at all,” Eve countered. “In fact, it sounds as though she’s very much into you.”

Tamsin stopped walking. She looked around but there was no one about. She’d have felt more comfortable conducting this conversation in the privacy of her home. “Sometimes, I get that impression as well.”

“How old is she?” Eve let go of Tamsin’s arm.

“Fifty-four,” Tamsin said.

Eve’s eyes widened. She put her hands on her hips. “Your tastes have certainly changed.”

Tamsin wanted to object, but she barely had the chance to open her mouth before Eve interjected.

“Which just goes to show, a person’s preferences can change all the time.” She waggled her eyebrows. “What goes for you, can go for Diane too.”

“Being interested in an older woman instead of a younger one is a bit less drastic than going from men to women,” Tamsin said.

“Sure,” Eve said, “but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.” She offered her arm again. “Let’s walk some more so you can listen to my sage advice.”

Tamsin grabbed hold and they started walking through the quiet evening streets of Tynebury again.

“My advice,” Eve said, “is that you should ask her out. Take the leap. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Tamsin scoffed. “I could lose my job—again.”

Eve shook her head. “This is a grown woman we’re talking about. Someone who makes her own choices. Someone who’s been dropping many a hint. The worst that can happen is that she’ll say no, that’s it.”

“It’s different when you live in a village like this. Word travels fast. If I ask her out and she says no, then tells a friend, and so on… Things can become really problematic for me.”

“You’ve already had her over for dinner once. Invite her again. Don’t say it’s a date, just have one.” Eve said it as though this was the brightest idea in the history of humankind.

“I’m not sure,” Tamsin said.

“Of course you’re not,” Eve said, “But I’m here the rest of the weekend to help you change your mind.”