Jonah was cutting narrow strips of brown paper when Ruby came into the workshop.
‘That's not the exciting machine,’ she said.
‘No, this is the exciting scissors.’
He put them down and came to kiss her. She liked the ease of it, the brief contact before he went back to the bench. He didn't seem to be looking at her for evidence that she'd changed her mind again.
‘I've got to finish this,’ he said. ‘Ten minutes.’
‘I've heard that before.’
‘Sit there.’
She sat on the stool, pulling it close enough to watch. He turned a frame facedown, sealed the back and fitted a small hanging wire. Ruby could have stayed there all evening watching him make exact little things.
Her phone vibrated. Mae had sent a picture of a packed box, numbered in large red figures.
‘She's still helping?’ Jonah asked, seeing Ruby smile at it.
‘Yes.’
He nodded and continued with the wire.
Ruby didn't want to introduce the argument. But Mae had already included him, and pretending it hadn't happened would make the next surprise worse.
‘She tried to arrange a meeting tonight,’ she said. ‘At the hall. Me, her, you and Dan.’
‘I know.’
Ruby looked up.
Jonah reached for his phone and showed her the message. Mae had sent it that morning, asking him to come and clear the air before everyone had to work together at the market.
His answer was short. No. My stall's separate. I'll deal with Bev.
‘You could have told me,’ Ruby said.
‘I thought she'd ask you.’
‘She sort of did. After making the list.’
He put the phone down. ‘I wasn't going to do it.’
‘I've cancelled it.’
‘Good.’
He didn't ask what Mae had said about him. Ruby felt grateful, then realised gratitude wasn't quite enough. His life had been interrupted by a meeting he hadn't wanted, just as hers had.
‘I'm sorry she messaged you.’
‘You didn't send it.’
‘I gave her your measurements to pass on.’
‘That's fine. You asked. I said yes.’
He finished the frame, set it upright and checked the join. Ruby watched a little groove form between his eyebrows.
‘Bad?’ she asked.
‘Not quite right.’
He took it back to the bench. She liked that he could say so when she'd thought it looked finished.
‘Do you want me to go?’
‘No. I'd like you to hold this.’
She steadied the frame while he adjusted the back. It only took a minute, but when he lifted it away she found herself wanting another useful thing to do.
Jonah put a sheet of paper in front of her. ‘Draw me where your stall is.’
She drew the rows from memory. Her first attempt put the entrance where the store cupboard should be. He frowned.
‘That would make the market fairly exclusive.’
She crossed it out and started again. When he added his own stall at the end, the little rectangles were farther apart than she'd pictured.
‘You won't see me much,’ she said.
‘I'll see you before and after. I hope I'll be working in between.’
‘You hope I'll be too?’
‘Very much.’
He went to the shelf and brought down a small frame with four different pieces of wood forming its sides. It should have looked accidental. Somehow it didn't.
‘I'm taking these,’ he said. ‘Odd lengths. Cheaper than the custom work. Gives people something they can buy on the day.’
Ruby turned it in her hands. One side was smooth black, one pale oak, another dark and ridged. ‘I like it.’
‘The joins are a nuisance.’
‘That's why you like it.’
He considered her, then grinned. ‘Possibly.’
She held it up against the window, framing a patch of roof and evening sky. He stood behind her to look through it too. His hand settled on her waist.
‘That one's free,’ she said. ‘The view.’
‘Limited edition.’
She leaned back against him. For a moment the awkward list, Mae's worry and Dan's grey cover seemed very far away.
Jonah kissed the side of her neck, lightly. Ruby turned within the space of his arm.
‘Finished working?’
‘Nearly.’
‘I'm willing to wait. Not indefinitely.’
He laughed and let her go. She kept the little frame while he swept the bench. There was enough time to walk down to the front afterwards, and enough evening left to stay out until it became properly cold.
On the walk he asked what she wanted to do when the market was over. She thought he meant work, then saw his face.
‘Something without tables,’ she said.
‘Excellent. I know a few places with no furniture at all.’
‘Can you find them without the shortcut?’
‘No promises.’
Ruby put her hand in his. He held it and kept walking.