Page 84 of Take Two

‘Okay, but then what happened?’ he asked. ‘Because, like, I’m smelling a juicy divorce.’

Callie looked around for rescue. Her eyes, unfortunately, landed on Neil. But his eyes were bright. This was the kind ofmoment he prayed for: messy, real, and just about PG if nobody swore.

‘We don’t have to talk about that now,’ Callie said quickly, aiming it at Mae more than Sam. ‘We’re supposed to be teaching you how not to destroy doughnuts, remember?’

‘Oh, come on,’ Sam said, flashing a grin at the camera. He tipped his head towards Mae, conspiratorial. ‘You’ll tell me, right? What did she do? Did she ditch you for the big city? Was there a blow-up? Was there a boy? Please tell me there wasn’t a boy. I will besobummed if there was a sisterhood breach.’

A crew member actually snorted. Callie’s pulse thumped in her ears.

Mae went very still. Callie recognised that look. She’d seen it when Mae was deciding whether to let a comment go or sharpen her tongue.

‘It’s boring,’ Callie said, talking fast. ‘We were kids. We grew up. I thought London would fix all my problems. Mae stayed here and did something sensible with her life. End of story.’

She smiled at Sam, then at the camera, like she’d just wrapped it up with a bow.

Sam didn’t look convinced.

‘I don’t think that’s the end of the story,’ he said slowly. ‘That’s like… the press-release version.’

Callie looked at Sam and thought, Himbo, my arse.She could see now that he was a shark. He’d smelled blood in the water, and now he was more than willing to bite her head off for one good, sharable clip.

Callie could feel Mae’s stare on her.

‘We’re not doing this on camera,’ Callie said to her, under her breath.

And that, apparently, was the wrong thing to say.

A dark shadow passed across Mae’s face, and the light, careless voice she’d been using around Sam suddenly vanished. Her voice became hard-edged steel.

‘Why not?’ she said. ‘Maybe Sam ought to know? I mean, you guys are maybe gonna get married or whatever the fuck happens if you win, right? Sam should know what happened. He should know who you are. That we were in love and then youbroke me.’

Callie felt the colour drain out of her face. No one made a peep. Even Sam shut up.

‘Mae,’ she breathed.

‘What?’ Mae said. ‘Are you ashamed?’

Yes, Callie was ashamed. Deeply.

Back Then

Callie was standing in the kitchen, staring at the crack in the wall, lost in thoughts of the future. Once that conversation was had with Mae’s dad, concrete plans would be made. Tickets booked, a hostel room secured, just to start. They’d figure out the rest from there…

Beep went Callie’s phone.

Can you come round? Need to talk. I love you.

Was that good? Maybe not. Maybe it had been hard, and Mae needed a hug right now. And she’d get it.

‘Hey,’ her mum said from the doorway. ‘Can I have a word?’

Callie slid the phone into her pocket. ‘Sure,’ she said. She could go in five minutes.

‘Let’s sit.’

‘No. Just say whatever it is. I have to nip out.’

Her mum sat at the table. Callie sighed and joined her.