Jo arrived at the café on Friday with a bag of napkins she'd found in a cupboard.
“I bought them for a Christmas I apparently expected to last six years,” she said.
Eva took the bag. “Thank you.”
They stood beside the counter for a moment. Jo looked at the kitchen door, then back at Eva.
“Are we talking?”
“I rang you.”
“You asked whether I could carry plates. That can be done in silence.”
Eva laughed and went round the counter to hug her. Jo held on hard.
“I was horrible on Wednesday,” Eva said when they stepped apart. “You were right.”
“Yes. I enjoyed that bit about being right. The rest was awful.”
Eva opened the serving plan. “I'm trying to get the woman to look at the booking again.”
“Good.”
Jo pulled up a chair and sat down. “I should have told you about Nora before Monday. I kept thinking there'd be a right moment and then it was Monday.”
“And the chair.”
“And the chair. I wanted dinner to be easy.”
“It was lovely facing your cleaning products.”
“You had the premium view of the good washing-up liquid.”
Eva smiled. The smile faded a little.
“Don't move me without asking next time.”
Jo nodded. “I won't.”
They worked through the plan. Jo could get there on Saturday at five. She had never carried four hot plates at once and didn't intend to learn with witnesses. Eva gave her water, bread and two plates at a time. Jo wrote WATER in large letters on her own copy and circled it.
Will came out to say hello. He rested his hand briefly on Eva's shoulder, and Jo looked straight at it.
“Ah,” Jo said.
Eva smiled at Jo.
“Yes.”
Will went back to the kitchen, taking the empty cup beside Jo as he went.
Jo leaned forward. “That looked different from Wednesday.”
“It is.”
“Do you want to tell me?”
Eva told her about the flowers and the pastry. Then about the toast. She left some of the evening to herself, but Jo could hear enough in her voice.
“You look better,” Jo said.
“I've had five hours' sleep.”
“You look strangely better.”
“Please don't discuss my face with the water.”
Jo laughed. She took her plan and got up to leave. Eva walked her to the door, and it felt like the first normal goodbye they'd had all week.
When she turned round, Nora was pinning a fresh sheet beside the kitchen.
THURSDAY SUPPER was written across the top. Underneath it she had listed bread, glasses, table checks. At the bottom was a note asking Will to confirm the numbers with her.
“Thursday's mine,” Eva said.
Nora turned. “I was getting ahead.”
“Why are the numbers going to you?”
Nora took her hand off the drawing pin.
Eva came closer. The sheet had been neatly written. Nora had already put herself in the little space where Eva usually wrote her own name.
“What have you been told?” Eva asked.