‘Ruby Ellis,’ Mae said. ‘Just that. Big enough to read.’
She held up two versions of a sign she'd made on her laptop. One had a small red line beneath the name. The other had a pale blue circle.
Ruby pointed at the red line.
‘I thought so.’ Mae put the other one down. ‘Don't put “with” on it. Don't put another logo underneath. They're coming to see your work.’
Ruby looked at her. ‘Even if I borrow his things?’
‘Even then.’
It was good to hear it said so plainly. Ruby had come home ready for a discussion about being ungrateful. Mae had opened the sign file instead.
‘He offered the back room again,’ Ruby said.
‘You don't have to take it.’
‘I'm not going to.’
Mae nodded. ‘Then that's settled.’
She moved the red line closer to the letters while Ruby looked at Dan's photograph again. The grey cover was exactly what she needed. The risers folded flat.
‘Is it stupid to say yes?’
‘No. They're useful.’
‘He might think it means more.’
Mae stopped touching the keyboard. ‘Tell him what it means.’
Ruby sat down beside her and rang Dan.
He answered quickly. She could hear the bakery behind him: a voice asking for something, the short metal crash of a tray.
‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Everything all right?’
‘I'll borrow the two risers and the cover. Just for the market.’
‘Brilliant.’
‘Wait. I want to be clear.’
The background sound moved farther away.
‘It's my stall,’ she said. ‘My own sign. I don't want a joint launch or bakery branding. I'm not coming back to teach there. And I'm not saying we should try again.’
He didn't answer straight away. Mae kept her eyes on the laptop, but her hands were still.
‘I heard you,’ Dan said.
‘Good.’
‘They're a loan. You don't have to give me a speech to borrow a table cover.’
Ruby closed her eyes briefly. ‘Then we agree.’
‘We agree. I can drop them round tomorrow morning.’
She hadn't considered that. Tomorrow morning she'd be working at home, and Mae had offered to help pack. Dan in the flat, carrying his useful things, looking at the moved sofa—she didn't want it.
‘Leave them at the hall,’ she said.
‘It'd take me two minutes to bring them upstairs.’
Mae reached across and held out her hand. Ruby shook her head; she could do this herself. Mae drew her hand back.
‘I'm not asking you to bring them upstairs,’ Ruby said. ‘Leave them with Bev.’
‘All right.’
She could hear the disappointment. She knew how to soften it. She let it stay.
They agreed he would take the things to the hall in the morning. The bakery refreshments were already Bev's arrangement. Ruby wouldn't be ordering them or putting her name on them.
When the call ended, Mae gave her the sign to hold.
‘There you are,’ she said. ‘Tell me whether that line's too close.’
‘It isn't.’
‘You haven't looked.’
Ruby looked. It was her name, her small red mark, nothing else. She smiled.
Half an hour later Dan sent a message saying he could still come early and save them collecting the equipment. Ruby was in the cupboard counting stock when Mae's phone rang. She heard Dan's voice faintly through the speaker, then Mae saying, ‘No, she asked you to leave them at the hall.’
Ruby stopped counting.
‘I know you could carry them,’ Mae said. ‘That's not the problem.’
A pause. Ruby came out of the cupboard.
Mae looked at her and lifted a hand: wait.
‘Listen to me. Don't turn up here tomorrow. She hasn't asked you. You can do the useful thing without doing that.’
She listened, then said goodbye. When she put the phone down, she looked annoyed.
‘He's being an idiot.’
Ruby leaned against the door frame. ‘Thank you.’
‘You'd already said it.’
‘I know. Thank you anyway.’
Mae got up and came over. She hugged Ruby, hard enough to press her back against the frame.
‘I want your day to work,’ she said into her shoulder. ‘That's all.’
Ruby hugged her back. They stayed like that for a moment, then Mae's phone buzzed again and they both groaned.
Mae glanced at the message and put the phone facedown.
She and Mae spent the evening making price cards. Mae wrote the numbers more confidently than Ruby could, then made her repeat one aloud without adding “or less”. Ruby obeyed, rolling her eyes.
When they ran out of card, Mae used the blank back of her rejected sign. Ruby objected to the waste of the nice blue circle.
‘I'll save it,’ Mae said. ‘For your second stall.’
‘Let's have the first one.’
Mae tucked the blue version into a drawer anyway. Ruby pretended not to see.