Callie’s eyes flicked up. ‘I thought I explained—’
‘No, I mean here,’ Mae said. ‘Now. When you turned up with your cameras. Why didn’t you come in the back? Talk to me?’
Callie winced. ‘I thought about it,’ she said. ‘But I was sure you’d tell me to get lost,’ Callie went on.
‘Oh, yes. I would have. You’d have had to beg,’ Mae said plainly.
Callie laughed, looking away. ‘I somehow thought I could sneak in and out without you spotting me.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. And I also hoped I wouldn’t be able to if that makes sense.’
Unfortunately, it did. Not that Mae was quite prepared to admit that. Not while there were still coals to drag Callie over. ‘Well, you must have been thrilled when Neil kept dragging you in here.’
‘Youcould have said no,’ Callie pointed out. ‘You had a lot of chances to.’
‘Well, as you said, there was easy money,’ Mae said. But that was only half the truth. And the other half was the next thing she said. ‘But then we kissed, and it really blew my head up.’
There was the word.Kiss.
Mae watched Callie lick her lips nervously.
For a moment, Mae was absurdly aware of Callie’s mouth. How it had felt last night. The heat of it, the familiarity. Like it had been waiting for her. She thought of doing it again. Of not stopping this time. Of the counter behind her, and the sheer relief of hauling Callie up onto it and letting the rest of the world sort itself out later.
The thought made her lightheaded. It also made her furious.
‘I’m still angry at you. Don’t think I’m not,’ Mae said, trying to hang onto it. It wasn’t too hard. Things had still happened. Things that couldn’t be taken back. Callie had left such a deep wound with her actions that there probably wasn’t really any coming back from it.
No matter how much Mae might want to.
Callie nodded, contrite. ‘Of course.’
‘And now I can look forward to some pretty embarrassing infamy coming my way,’ Mae added.
Callie’s shoulders dropped a fraction. ‘I can still try and fix the footage,’ she said.
‘You know that’s unlikely,’ Mae said.
‘I can still try,’ Callie repeated. ‘I owe you that much.’
‘Don’t worry about it. What’s done can’t be undone.’ She sighed. ‘Now, I’ve got a village full of customers who’d been told to fuck off for several days now,’ Mae said. ‘I need to beready. They’ll be at the door tomorrow like a pack of carb-loving wolves.’
She crossed the room quickly and hauled the flour bin towards her, the lid rasping as she opened it. She tipped flour into a bowl.
‘You’re going to bake?’ Callie asked, faintly disbelieving.
‘What else would I do?’ Mae said.
Mae poured water into the flour, her hands moving automatically as she began kneading. She had to. Because it was either this or she was going to try and bang Callie on the worktop. Bread was less complicated. Even sourdough.
‘I should go,’ Callie said finally, her voice low.
Mae didn’t look up. She kept kneading, trying to feel the dough and nothing else. ‘Mm,’ she murmured.
‘I’m… sorry,’ Callie added. ‘For everything.’ The words sounded truly heavy. Mae knew that Callie meant them.
Mae swallowed against the lump in her throat. She wanted to turn, to say something that would make it easier for both of them, but she couldn’t. It was too much.
