Mae had drawn a very small Ruby behind a very large table.
‘That's alarming,’ Ruby said.
‘It's to scale.’
‘My arms aren't that short.’
Mae extended them with her pencil. ‘Better?’
‘Now I can reach the next stall.’
They were sitting at the kitchen table with the hall plan, a sheet of paper and some of Ruby's stock. Mae had offered to help arrange it. Ruby had hesitated after telling her about the kiss, but Mae had said the work was a different thing and she wanted Ruby's stall to be good.
Now she was drawing little shelves above Ruby's enormous arms, concentrating hard enough that she stuck her tongue against the inside of her cheek.
‘You need height,’ she said. ‘Everything's lovely, but people have to notice it before they're standing right in front of you.’
‘I know.’
‘What have you got?’
Ruby looked at the cupboard. ‘Two shoe boxes. A paint tin. A desperate attitude.’
Mae put down the pencil and got up. She came back carrying three books, stood them in a row and laid a tray across them.
‘Pretend that's wood.’
‘It's a very valuable piece of wood. One of those books cost eighteen pounds.’
Mae put bowls on the tray. Ruby watched the colours change as they rose above the flat line of the table. It was better. Much better.
‘I hate that you can do that,’ she said.
‘You don't.’
‘I hate that I didn't do it.’
‘More likely.’
Ruby brought out the red-lined dishes. Mae arranged three at the front, moved the green jug to one side, then made Ruby stand in the doorway.
‘Look from there.’
Ruby looked. The table still needed something, but for the first time she could imagine a stranger stopping.
‘You should take a picture,’ she said.
Mae's hand slowed halfway to her phone.
Ruby saw it. ‘For your own work. I mean, if you want to.’
‘Do you mind?’
‘It's my table. I'm asking you.’
Mae took the picture. Then another, crouching to get the light behind the green jug. Ruby went to help move the tray and Mae made her stand clear.
‘Don't interfere. You've invited an artist.’
‘I've invited someone to borrow my books.’
Mae laughed, and Ruby felt a quick ache of affection. They had been careful with each other since Jonah came to the flat. She had missed this.
When the picture was taken, Mae showed her a folder of other work: a coat photographed against a yellow wall, a window dressed with paper flowers, an arrangement of shoes that looked far more interesting than shoes had any right to look.
‘I'd like to do shop windows,’ Mae said. ‘Small places. Not personal styling. Not for a while.’
‘Why don't you ask?’
‘Because they'll ask what I've been doing.’
‘You've got those pictures.’
Mae flicked back to the shoes. ‘I'd need more recent ones.’
Ruby pointed at the last picture. ‘You've got one.’
Mae smiled. She sent it to herself, then set the phone down when it buzzed again.
Ruby took a picture of the table too. She sent it to Jonah, asking whether the back row was too crowded. He replied that he was cutting something and would look properly later. She liked being told what he was doing instead of being given a hurried answer.
‘Bev needs the setup measurements,’ she said to Mae. ‘Mine, anyway. Jonah said he had to resend his. Would you mind passing them on? You're better at keeping these things together.’
‘Of course. I know Bev from that window job at the hall. Send me what you've got.’
Ruby measured their practice layout, leaning across the table while Mae read the tape. She sent her the figures and a message for Bev about the bowls at the back.
Jonah's reply arrived as she finished. Beneath a brief opinion about the layout were his own table measurements.
Ruby typed, Mae's putting my setup details through to Bev. Can she forward yours as well, and have your number for questions about the measurements?
Yes, that's fine, he replied. Less measuring for me.
She forwarded the exchange to Mae. Mae sent both sets to Bev and waited until they showed as delivered, then amended the drawing.
‘Look at us,’ Mae said. ‘Almost organised.’
The phone rang before Ruby could answer. Mae glanced at it and stood up.
‘I need to take this.’
‘Go on.’
Mae stepped into the hall, then through the front door onto the landing. Ruby heard her say hello. Nothing after that.
She rearranged the red dishes while she waited.
Mae was away longer than Ruby expected. When she came back, Ruby asked whether it was work.
‘Something that might help,’ Mae said. ‘Not sorted yet.’
Ruby didn't press. She knew what it was like to talk hopefully about a thing before it existed, then have everyone ask after it.
‘Your arms are still wrong,’ she said instead.
Mae looked at the paper. ‘I'm giving you more. You need to carry stock.’
She drew two extra arms. Ruby laughed, and Mae leaned against her shoulder to show her where the workshop list should go.