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She still hadn’t managed to get the second load in.
    “Well that’s because you should be using the line out there to dry your clothes on. The sun may not be splitting the stones but as long as it’s peaking out occasionally your clothes will get dry.”
    Emily’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. She couldn’t help it. It was the know it all tone that Joni used.
    Joni’s lips twitched with amusement. “We’re going to be okay, you and I. Just be yourself. Don’t put up with my shit when you don’t deserve it.”
    Emily nodded, but suddenly she felt exhausted.
    Joni stood to make them another cup of tea without asking if Emily wanted it. While the water was boiling she found the butter and some plates and put out the scones she’d made. Emily’s stomach growled and she remembered that she hadn’t eaten yet.
    But she couldn’t help the annoyance that reappeared. Before she even took her first bite she knew they’d be delicious. Joni’s cooking always was. “And then there’s this,” she said trying to bring humor into her voice, “I can barely make scrambled eggs and toast and every time I’m in your presence you’re revealing some new amazing thing you’ve cooked.”
    “They’re only scones.”
    “That’s easy to say for the person who knows how to make them.”
    Joni didn’t quite smile but she looked satisfied with the compliment. “I can’t help it. I love cooking. It’s actually what I wanted to do. What I really thought I’d do. I saw myself as a head chef in one of those fancy London restaurants, or maybe even owning my own restaurant one day. But then I got pregnant, and well . . . . .”
    “What a defeatist attitude,” Emily couldn’t help sounding shocked. “I never would’ve expected that from you.”
    Joni shrugged. “You just have to understand I’m a slightly bitter person.” She said it lightly as she placed the tea on the table and took a seat opposite Emily; as if it was something she’d accepted about herself a long time ago. “I didn’t want to be a mother to my brother’s when my mom died but I had to be. When I was finally able to move to London I was out of here in a shot. I couldn’t wait to see what might happen. I wanted a new life in a new world. I wanted everything. When I got a job at a bar I was determined to learn everything I could there. I was like a sponge. I learned about ordering the food and drink, about making the food, about managing the staff. The other girls used to tease me because I’d take on almost any task they gave me. But I loved it. I saw it as my first step on the ladder to the career I wanted. I even managed to pay for cooking classes while making practically no money.”
    It was the way she held herself, the way her laugh still came easily, and the spark in her eyes that conjured up this younger Joni for Emily. She smiled back sharing Joni’s enthusiasm for the girl she used to be.
    “And then I met Robert and for a while he made everything even more wonderful. I thought life was really beginning. He took me out to some of those nice restaurants and he gave me a tour of the whole city. He’d moved there from Dublin three years earlier and he’d also been to Australia. He seemed worldly to me at the time.” She rolled her eyes, mocking her younger self. “We went to see shows and he took me on trips to the countryside. We loved staying in as much as we loved going out. We used to talk about everything. We weren’t planning a future we were just enjoying every day. But before I had time to take it all in, to relax and enjoy it, I was pregnant, married, and we had moved back here.” Her voice hardened as she moved from past reveries to current realities. “Everything changed. We got caught up in a routine, in all the day-to-day chores, and I think we both forgot how to make each other laugh. We really used to laugh. I miss that.”
    “Oh,” Emily’s face became serious as she watched Joni age in front of her.
    Joni waved her