‘I was done being consumable anyway,’ she said one night, sitting on the kitchen counter, a rule Mae had stopped enforcing months ago.
‘What are you going to do?’ Mae asked, bashing at a sourdough proof.
Callie shrugged. ‘Fuck knows. Maybe I could code, like George. Is it hard, do you think?’
‘I have no idea,’ Mae told her. ‘But the other day I watched you struggle to delete your Instagram for half an hour, so I’m not sure a career in computers is your calling.’
Callie snorted. ‘Maybe. He says hi, by the way.’
‘Oh, did he?’ Mae asked, surprised.
‘Well, he would have if he could say your name without blushing,’ Callie admitted.
‘He’s gonna need to get over that when he comes next month to visit.’
‘I don’t know. Some crushes never fade.’
Mae smiled at Callie. ‘You’ve got that right.’
Callie smiled back. But she was grinding her teeth. What the hell was she gonna do with herself besides love Mae Morgan?
And then, one day, the vicar knocked on the door.
Mae answered it, and when she saw the white collar, she was fully expecting a request for Harvest Festival donations and was ready to lob a tin of chickpeas his way. But he was smiling in an apologetic, faintly desperate way.
‘I’m doing a fête,’ he said.
‘Right,’ Mae said.
‘And our celebrity has dropped out. Food poisoning. Or a breakdown. One of the two. Anyway—’ He glanced past Mae, spotted Callie hovering. His face lit up. ‘Oh! There she is. Can you—’
‘No,’ Callie said immediately, from behind Mae’s shoulder.
The vicar blinked. ‘I haven’t said what it is yet.’
‘Whatever it is, no,’ Callie said. ‘I’ve retired.’
Mae turned to look at her. ‘It’s a fête,’ she explained.
‘I’m not doinganykind of appearances. I can’t do people asking how I am after Sam “broke my heart.”’
The vicar clasped his hands together. ‘It’s for the roof.’
‘The roof has been falling in since 1998,’ Mae said mildly.
‘Yes, but a tile nearly brained Mrs Jones last week,’ he said. ‘We’re at a critical point.’
Callie opened her mouth to refuse again. But then she saw Mae, and she thought,She’d help. Even if she hated it.
‘What do you need me to do?’ she asked.
Mae stared at her. ‘You just said—’
‘I know what I said,’ Callie cut in. ‘What do you need me to do?’
He beamed. ‘Just… be there. Cut a ribbon. Wave.’
Callie sighed. ‘Gimme ten, I’ll see you over there.’
