‘Oh. Well, obviously, we’d pay for anything like that,’ Neil assured her confidently, like that was the only obstacle he could imagine.
‘I said no.’
‘You haven’t heard how much,’ Neil said, appalled.
‘How much?’ Mae said, just trying to get the conversation to end.
Neil hesitated. ‘Seven hundred and fifty?’
Mae shook her head. ‘Thanks. But no.’
‘Fifteen hundred?’ he said instantly.
Mae was shocked at how easily that number jumped. While she was standing there in her shock, it happened again.
‘I can’t go over twenty-five hundred.’
Mae couldn’t understand what was happening. ‘What?’
‘Fine. Three grand. That’s it. That’s the ceiling. And you’re included in the price.’
Mae started laughing, amazed.
Neil tutted. ‘Three and a half. You really know how to play hardball, don’t you?’
OK, that was not a bad number at all. And, considering the state of things lately, it would be helpful. ‘Why do you want the place so badly? There are other locations.’
‘There really aren’t,’ Neil admitted. ‘In terms of cute date locations that look good on TV in the area? This really is it. AndCallie is a big deal.’ He dropped his voice. ‘Don’t tell anyone this, but she’s the favourite to win.’
That didn’t really shock Mae. Though Callie had been a big fish in a small pond when she lived in Westerleigh, apparently, the size of the current pond changed nothing. She was a get in any dating pool.
‘What are you actually expecting me to do?’ Mae sighed.
‘Teach them how to bake something in the back. You demo, then they do it. Then they get to eat whatever it is in the front of house.’
Sounded horrible. But three and a half grand sounded not so horrible. She was barely hanging on, always a bit in the red, never in front, always chasing a simple zero. She kinda needed that money.
‘Fine.’
He nodded, muttering something about logistics, and left, leaving the door to swing gently behind him.
Mae went to the cases to start chucking out the contents, telling herself she didn’t care that it was Callie. That had all been a thousand years ago.
‘She was just the first girl you noticed, that’s why it seems like a big deal,’ she muttered to herself. But even as she told herself that lie, she could still see Callie’s face through the haze of smoke.Funny.
Back Then
Four thirty in the afternoon, and the bakery kitchen was still stifling, even with both doors propped open and the fans chugging in the corners. Heat rolled off the ovens in thick waves; they’d been switched off long enough that the metal wasn’t blistering, but the residual warmth still made the air heavy. Mae scrubbed at the racks with a damp cloth.
Her dad, in the corner, counting the day's leftovers for the shelter, glanced at her. ‘So… you’re done with school,’ he said. He’d never been good at natural segues. It was always, ‘So… we’re talking about this now.’
‘Yep,’ Mae responded. There was no need to say more. He’d take it from here.
‘Be good to have you in the back full time,’ he said, bagging croissants.
Mae scrubbed at the counter until her arm ached. ‘Right.’
‘You’ve got the front-of-house down now,’ he said. ‘And people like a familiar face.’
