Page 5

“I can’t take these,” Mia said.

“Well, you certainly can’t walk around in a wedding dress all day,”

said Rachel. “People are already starting to talk. Besides, all this was collected for the church jumble sale. No one’s using them right now. They’re clean and they’ll do the job.”

Mia looked down at the bundle of clothing, then nodded. Rachel made a fair point. Walking around in a wedding dress was starting to get old. And, perhaps more importantly, was starting to smell just a bit funny. “Thank you.”

“Run up and get changed,”

Rachel said. “Then come back down and let’s you and I have a bit of a talk about what’s going to happen in the next few days.”

Mia’s breath caught in her throat. “I thought you told me not to think about the future?”

“Big picture future,”

said Rachel firmly. “Small picture future needs a bit of planning right now.”

She hesitated, then laid a hand on Mia’s arm. “Don’t you worry, love. I’m here. We can do this together. Go on now, go and take a shower and put on something that doesn’t look like you belong on top of a cake.”

Mia laughed and then realized what she was doing and stopped.

“What?”

asked Rachel. “You can’t laugh now? It’s not the end of the world, love. No one’s died. And even if they had, if you forget how to laugh, you forget how to live. That’s what my grandma used to say.”

“Yeah.”

Rachel cocked her head to one side. “Mind you, she also used to say that morning urine was the best face wash for spots, so I’d take her advice with a pinch of salt.”

Mia laughed again, and this time didn’t stop herself. She went upstairs, feeling a little more cheerful. And after a hot shower and a change of clothes, she felt even more cheerful still.

“Oh good,”

Rachel said when she came back downstairs. “You do have legs. I was starting to wonder.”

“Thank you,”

said Mia, feeling slightly embarrassed that she was taking all this charity from a woman she barely knew.

“No need to thank me. Just pay it forward one day,”

Rachel said. “Come on, come back here with me.”

“Pay it forward? Like the next time I see a runaway bride?”

“Silly girl, take a seat,”

said Rachel, pointing to a small table by an open window on which sat a teapot and a plate of biscuits. They were in a tiny room behind the reception desk.

“This looks lovely.”

The window let in a faint breeze. The day was going to be a warm one, and she could smell heat on tarmac and hear insects buzzing. It reminded her of being a child trapped in school, just waiting to be let out to play.

“Alright, now, let’s talk about a few things,”

Rachel said. She picked up the teapot and poured. “Are you thinking about going back to him? It is a him, right?”

“It’s a him. Mikey. And… I don’t know.”

“Right. Got a job to go back to?”

Mia swallowed. “Um, not really. I’ve got an interview in a couple of weeks. Mikey just got promoted, so we’re moving.”

She swallowed again. “We were moving.”

“Okay.”

Rachel pushed a cup of tea toward her. “Should you let some people know where you are?”

Mia gritted her teeth. She’d tried hard not to think about anyone. She shook her head. “They’ll kill me. My mum and dad, I mean.”

“Can’t speak to that,”

said Rachel. “But they’ll be worried. I’d be worried if I were them.”

Mia didn’t say anything to this.

Rachel picked up her cup of tea and settled back into her chair. “I’ve got a proposal.”

With a deep sigh, Mia shook her head. “I’ve taken enough from you already. You’ve already done far more than anyone should.”

“Listen to my proposal first,”

Rachel said.

Mia picked up her tea, blew on it, sipped, then nodded. “Alright.”

“You stay here for a few days. A few weeks. However long it takes,”

Rachel said. “You need time to sort yourself out, time to decide what it is you want. And you need a place to lie low.”

“I can’t ask you to give me that.”

Rachel held up a hand. “It’s not without strings. But I’m over sixty, girl. I’ve been around the block a few times. Believe it or not, I’ve had my own life to sort out. I know what it means to have a bit of peace and quiet to sort through the confusion. Someone provided me with that, and now I’m paying it forward.”

“What kind of strings?”

Mia asked, putting her cup down.

“First, I’m going to put you to work,”

Rachel said. “Cleaning rooms, that sort of thing. Nothing too strenuous, but I could use the help. Besides, keeping yourself busy will stop you dwelling on things. You can pay for your stay that way.”

“Alright,”

said Mia. That sounded fair.

“Second, you need to pay things forward when you get the chance. And when you get back to your life, you might want to send the church a donation to cover that jumble you stole.”

“I didn’t steal it,”

Mia said indignantly.

Rachel grinned at her. “Details,”

she said. “And third, you need to give someone a call. Mum, dad, cousin, whoever it is. You don’t have to tell them where you are, but you need to tell them you’re alive and safe so that they stop worrying so much.”

Mia blew out a breath. She looked out of the window at the bright sun hitting the gray slate of the roof opposite. Time. Space. It was what she needed. “I’m not the kind of person that does this kind of thing,” she said.

“Did I say you were?”

asked Rachel. “But, far be it from me to point out the obvious, but you are, aren’t you? Because you’re the type of person who’s already done this kind of thing. So perhaps you’re not quite the kind of person you think you are?”

The logic was impeccable. “Okay,”

Mia said slowly. “Okay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“It’s a deal,”

Rachel said, raising her teacup to clink it against Mia’s.

***

When Luna got home, she had dirt under her nails and her neck was prickly with dried sweat. Not that she minded. She’d never minded a bit of dirt or mess. But her grandmother took one look at her and pointed her toward the bathroom upstairs.

“Don’t come down until you’re clean,” she said.

Luna shrugged and went to shower and change her clothes, coming back down fifteen minutes later with wet hair and an empty stomach.

“Don’t shovel food into your mouth, girl,”

her grandmother said, once they were seated at the dinner table.

Luna groaned but forced herself to chew more slowly.

“Where have you been? You came home looking like a farmer.”

“I got a job,”

Luna said proudly. She grinned at her grandmother. “At the florist in town.”

Her grandmother raised an eyebrow. “A job?”

“Yep. With pay and everything,”

said Luna. Although now that she thought about it, the issue of pay hadn’t arisen. She assumed Jan was going to pay her. Jan had to pay her, right?

Her grandmother put down her fork and steepled her hands, elbows on the table. “A menial job?”

“It’s not menial,”

said Luna stoutly. “It’s a good job.”

“It’s a good job if you were a florist. Which you’re not. In fact, as far as I can see, you’re not anything. Which is sort of the problem.”

“What problem?”

Luna could feel herself getting sulky.

Her grandmother picked up her fork again. “If this ‘job’ is an attempt to impress me, well then, you should know that it doesn’t.”

Luna let her mouth fall open. “But… but…”

“But nothing,”

said her grandmother. “I’m asking for dependability, reliability. Getting a summer job in a florist is the sort of thing a teenager would do. Like it or not, Luna, you are no longer a teenager. I need full proof that you’re a grown adult who takes her responsibilities seriously.”

“Like… like what?”

Luna asked.

Her grandmother sighed. “Like a career, Luna. Or a relationship. Something stable. Something that tells me you have a plan for your life, a future.”

Luna closed her eyes.

“I know you think of me as an evil witch, determined to destroy your life,”

her grandmother said. “But I won’t be around forever, Luna. And when I’m gone, all the money will be yours. I won’t be able to tell you how to spend it, or how to save it. You’ll need to be responsible with it. You’ll need to be able to take care of yourself, not be fleeced, not end up destitute.”

Luna opened her eyes again. Her grandmother understood nothing. But she had made things very clear. Dependability, responsibility, or no money.

She gritted her teeth. “Fine,”

she said, and went back to dinner.