Chapter 10
Ten
Now
The sound around Callie blurred. Neil’s instructions to the crew, Hannah’s exclamations, and her mother’s ability to crack the air with a simple tut were all muffled, like she was hearing them underwater.
‘You all right?’ Mae asked.
Callie stuttered a reply of some kind and was amazed she could even manage that.
Callie swallowed, trying to find something useful to do with her hands. But they just hung on the ends of her limp arms like a couple of chumps.
She didn’t remember stepping forward, but suddenly she was close enough to smell Mae’s perfume.
Or maybe it was the smell of baked goods that she worked with.
Or maybe it was just her natural smell. Callie had never been sure about that.
All she knew was that Mae had always smelled very good. And she still did.
‘You didn’t need to do that,’ Callie said quietly.
Mae’s brows lifted. ‘Put out a fire?’
‘There’s a guy for that on the production,’ she explained. ‘He’d have sorted it.’
Mae gave a small, incredulous laugh. ‘Well, next time I’ll let the place burn and hope your guy remembers what to do.’
Callie found herself grinning. ‘Funny.’
Mae’s mouth went up fractionally at one corner. ‘That’s me. Funniest girl in the bakery.’
God, were they conversing? This was wild.
‘Hi, Mae! Can I have a biscuit!?’ Hannah said, jumping into the middle of the moment. ‘I haven’t been allowed to eat one yet because of, er, continuity or something?’
‘Oh, umm, well, everything here’s a write-off, but there’ll be something in the back if you give me a minute.’ And Mae walked away, that tight little bum moving at speed.
Callie turned away before she got caught staring. Reality rushed back in. Her mother was watching her with a smirk. Callie really didn’t need that.
Neil was pacing with a phone in hand, barking at someone about insurance. The crew were tidying the smashed light and cleaning the scorch it had left.
Callie felt frozen, like she’d been caught in Mae’s headlights. Only Mae wasn’t even in the room anymore. Yet every muscle in Callie’s body still felt wired wrong.
It shouldn’t be this way. Twelve years had gone by. It shouldn’t be this way. But one look and it was as if the years had just been a pause, a long inhale before the inevitable exhale.
She caught herself staring at the door Mae had walked through, expecting it to open again. It didn’t.
Hannah came over eventually. ‘Is she ever coming back with that biscuit?’
Callie forced a shrug. ‘Not my department.’
Callie gripped the edge of a table. She was fine. She was.
Back Then
The heat on the bus was stifling. Callie and Mae practically ran off it at the Staffington stop.
‘Jesus. I need hydration!’ Callie complained.
‘Me too. What the hell is with that bus? Why doesn’t it have any air? Where did it go?’
‘I think they remove it on purpose, to discourage escape,’ Callie said. ‘But it didn’t work, did it? We survived. We’re out.’
‘We’re only one village over,’ Mae pointed out.
‘For now,’ Callie said. She said it like a joke, but it wasn’t. She was going to get out. If her mum didn’t somehow trick her into staying. If she didn’t look into her brother’s eyes and feel too much guilt to ever leave.
‘I need the biggest coldest drink I can find so I don’t die,’ Callie declared.
‘There’s a café down there,’ Mae said. ‘Does a mean ice coffee. Pastries are shite though.’
‘Have a day off, would you?’ Callie said.
Mae rolled her eyes. ‘Maybe we should have brought your brother with us.’
Callie sighed. ‘Don’t, please. I need a break. I love him. But I need a break.’
‘I’m just saying, I wouldn’t have minded. He’s a nice kid. I like him.’
‘Yeah, and he likes you so much he struggles to speak in your presence.’
Mae paused. ‘Oh.’
‘Yeah,’ Callie said with a grin.
Mae and Callie headed towards the café.
‘Remind me why we didn’t just stay under the tree?’ Mae asked.
‘Because we need to live bigger,’ Callie replied. ‘And you said the bakery coffee tastes like socks.’
‘It does,’ Mae conceded. ‘And not clean ones.’
‘Then let’s drink the coffee of the adjoining village just because we can.’ Callie nudged her shoulder. Mae didn’t return the gesture, but the corner of her mouth hitched.
They pushed open the café door; inside, the air was somehow hotter. A ceiling fan squeaked its way through each rotation, barely moving anything.
Then the waitress looked up.
Pretty. Light eyes. Neat eyeliner. Her smile brightened the moment it landed on Callie.
‘Hi,’ she said warmly. ‘It’s boiling today, isn’t it?’
Callie blinked, thrown off by something she didn’t yet understand. ‘Yeah. Like walking through soup.’
The waitress laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
‘Can I get you two something cold?’ the waitress asked.
‘Two iced coffees,’ Mae said crisply.
The waitress started up the machine and handed Callie a loyalty card. ‘Gave you some extra stamps.’
Callie looked down. The stamp card was already halfway to a free drink. ‘Thanks, but we don’t live here. Not sure we’ll be able to utilise it.’
The waitress took the card back and stamped across the finish line. ‘Now you’ve got a reason to come back.’
Callie smiled shyly. ‘Oh. I guess so.’
The waitress smiled again, eyes lingering on Callie. A faint flush climbed into Callie’s ears.
That was new.
They took a table by the window. Callie sat slowly, processing.
Mae watched her across the table. ‘Are you all right?’
Callie blinked. ‘She was… nice.’
‘She was flirting,’ Mae said in that way she had of saying things that felt like they contained no opinion. Just a fact machine.
‘Yeah, maybe,’ Callie said.
‘Callie, she was very flirting,’ Mae said.
Callie stared at her drink, a grin forming. ‘If you say so.’
Callie glanced over at where the waitress was assembling their drinks. She assessed, finding new details. She had a nice bottom. A really good handful. Boys didn’t really have handfuls like that. It was, generally speaking, a much flatter situation back there.
‘I’ve never thought about girls,’ Callie murmured, almost to herself.
Mae snorted. ‘You’re the straightest person I’ve ever met.’
‘Apparently not,’ Callie said, delight spreading across her face. ‘Look at me. I’m like, blushing and shit.’
Mae rolled her eyes.
The waitress brought over their drinks, brushing Callie’s hand when she set them down. Callie’s breath caught.
‘I included a biscuit,’ the waitress said softly before walking away.
Callie swivelled back to Mae with bright, incredulous eyes. ‘She likes me.’
Mae didn’t meet her gaze. ‘Yes.’
‘And she’s hot.’
‘I understand the situation,’ Mae said, sucking on her straw.
Callie leaned over the table, stage-whispering with a grin so wide it hurt. ‘Mae, I’m shook. Am I into her?’
Mae’s flat demeanour seemed to slip. ‘I don’t know. Are you?’ she asked almost nervously.
Callie sat back, sipping her iced coffee, still glowing with the novelty of it, the surprise, the possibility.
Girls. Wow. OK then.