Tess came up at six with a paper bag from the bakery.
“They were closing,” she said. “I bought what was left.”
“How much was left?”
She opened the bag. Two sausage rolls, a misshapen apple turnover and a large square of something covered in pink icing.
“Enough.”
I was sitting on the bed with my new booking confirmation open. The room photograph filled most of the screen. A single bed, a small table, the wall of the building opposite.
Tess leaned over my shoulder.
“You could put your mug there,” she said, pointing at the table.
“I've got one.”
“I've seen.”
I closed the photograph and put the phone in my jacket pocket.
“Want to go out?” I asked.
She lifted the bag.
“That's why I bought portable food.”
We went down the stairs, past the reception desk where someone else was covering the evening, and out into the light. It felt strange to leave the hotel without checking where either Ruby or Callum might be.
The kiosk was shut when we passed. Its boards had been put away, the gate hooked closed. I looked towards it, then kept walking.
Tess didn't try to pull me past. She stayed beside me, carrying the bakery bag by its folded top.
We found a place farther along the shore, beyond the steps where Callum and I usually sat. There was a low wall above the sand. Tess put the bag between us and handed me the warmer sausage roll.
I ate the first bite too quickly. She watched me make the face everyone makes when they pretend hot food isn't burning their mouth.
“Successful?” she asked.
I nodded with my mouth shut.
“Convincing.”
I swallowed and laughed. It hurt my chest a little, but I laughed.
The tide was coming in. A little boy below us was trying to stop it reaching his sandcastle by piling handfuls of sand against one wall. His father offered a bucket. The boy refused it with a fierce shake of his head.
Tess broke the turnover in two. Most of the apple stayed in her half.
“That looks unfair,” I said.
She inspected both halves.
“A serious structural problem.”
She tipped some apple onto mine with the edge of the paper bag. It landed mostly on my lap.
For a second we stared at it.
Then Tess began laughing, and I had to set the pastry down before I dropped it as well.
“I can fix it,” she said.
“Leave it. You'll put apple in my pocket.”
She handed me a napkin and leaned back, still laughing. I cleaned my skirt as well as I could. A small sticky patch remained beside my knee.
We sat quietly after that. I didn't have to find something to say every time I thought of him.
I missed the way Callum would have put his hand on my leg, unbothered by the apple. I missed his shoulder. I could still hear him saying my name outside the car.
There wasn't anything I needed to do with that tonight.
Tess offered me the pink square. I shook my head, so she folded the bag round it for later.
“I'll have to get my own hairdryer once you've moved,” she said.
“Terrible expense.”
“Entirely your fault. Can I come over and complain about it?”
I looked at her.
“Will you?”
“If you're up for it.”
“Yes.”
She nodded, as though we'd settled something as ordinary as a shift swap.
I took my phone out and sent her the room address. She checked hers, saved it, then pointed at the booking dates.
“A week here first,” she said.
“Yeah. Starting again Monday.”
“Then Eastmere.”
“Then Eastmere.”
No one else's name was on the booking. I'd paid for it. The first two weeks were covered, and I had work to go to when I got there.
The air grew cooler. Tess got up first and brushed pastry flakes off her cardigan. I held her bag while she pulled her sleeves down.
“Coming?”
“In a minute.”
She stayed beside the wall while I looked at the water once more.
My suitcase was waiting in my room. One mug was on the little table beside my bed. Tomorrow I could sleep until breakfast and have a day off. On Monday I'd begin the extra week I'd agreed to work.
I got up and gave Tess the bag back.
We walked home slowly, sharing the last piece of cake.