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Her smile was wearing very thin.

“It’s marine-grade stainless steel, so you shouldn’t have any more issues with rusting,” she lectured. “Would you still like to go ahead?”

“Oh, I’ll take it,” he conceded, getting out his wallet. Then he took out his credit card.

She baulked. This guy couldn’t be serious. Right? She didn’t have the energy left to argue. She picked up the machine for him to tap his card and handed over his shiny new screw with the receipt, forgoing the unnecessary bag, and moved to throw the old screw out.

“Sorry, can I have the old screw back?”

She glared at the bin. Becauseof coursehe wanted it back. She turned around, smile back in place, and handed the rusty bit over.

Finally, he was out of the shop, without so much as a thank you or goodbye. She watched him leave through the window, as he got in his late-model Porsche and drove away. Of course. It was always the wealthy ones who could be the absolute stingiest bastards in the shop.

Her dad looked up from the computer.

“Wow, was he for real?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” she replied, exasperated.

The buzzer sounded again, but when she looked up, she was glad to see a familiar mop of messy short brown hair coming in, lanyard swinging in her hand.

“Hey Taylor. How did you go?” Sam smiled for real.

“Great.” She handed over the fob, looking back to her normal self, the storm cloud from earlier seemingly dissipated. “Wiring is all done, new speaker is in and got the plate back on for you. I didn’t get time to finish off the last few things, but we can organise that another time. I gotta run before the supermarket shuts. See you tomorrow?” she asked hopefully.

“Of course. Have a good night Taylor.”

It was board game night with Taylor, and Sam was nervous.

She adjusted her jumper and checked her face in the car mirror. She had no idea what Taylor’s friends were like, so she’d gone for neat casual with her favourite white sneakers, blue jeans and an oversized cream knit with her hair down.

She got out of the car and took in the quaint ‘80s suburban house with a small lawn area and pebble path leading up to the door. Taylor’s van was in the driveway, and she could hear a dog barking from the window. She made her way up and knocked on the door, the barks growing louder.

Taylor wrenched the door open, holding Belle back, who wasveryexcited.

“Sorry—come in! This monster should calm down in a minute. She’s still a pup.”

To Belle, she said, “Remember, you only get cuddles if you’re behaving yourself and sitting still.”

The dog whined but stayed put long enough for Sam to bend down as the grey ball of pure muscle whirled itself straight at her. She wobbled on the spot at the impact, barely keeping herself upright.

“Woah. Hi! I’m excited to meet you too.” Sam giggled, giving Belle big scratches as the dog licked her arms with enthusiasm.

She looked up to see Taylor smirking at them.

“Sorry, hi,” Sam said sheepishly, standing up again now that Belle was satisfied, trotting off down the hallway.

“So, you’ve met Belle.” Taylor smiled, then ran a hand through her hair. Was she nervous too? “You look great by the way.”

“Thank you.”

She finally took a moment to look at Taylor. She realised this was the first time she’d seen her out of her work gear. She stood in jeans, a white T-shirt and a very warm-looking sherpa jacket.

“You too,” she finally answered, well aware she’d taken way too long to reply. Why did she always start acting so weird around her? It’s not like she’d never made new friends before.

“Also, before we head out,” Taylor started, “I just wanted to clear the air and say sorry for yesterday morning.”

“Oh, that’s okay. That was really none of my business?—”