'I'll volunteer for that duty. As long as you return the favour when I inevitably collapse after Nina's speakeasy.'
'Deal,' Alice laughed.
'Right,' Alice said, glancing at her watch. 'I'd better get back to it. Those flapjacks for tomorrow won't bake themselves, more's the pity.'
Cally nodded, draining the last of her coffee. 'I might have another one if you don’t mind.'
‘Of course. Thanks for the chat. I needed a bit of a laugh.'
'Me too. More than you know.'
Alice frowned. 'Everything alright?'
For a moment, Cally was tempted to spill everything, but she held back. There was no way she wanted her personal drama going around Lovely, although she was fairly sure the Lovely grapevine was well aware of what was going on. ‘Yep, fine. Everything’s good with me.’
Alice nodded, though she didn't look entirely convinced. 'Alright. But my offer stands. Anytime you need to talk or just fancy a cuppa and a moan, you know where to find me.'
'Thanks.’
‘Oh and later, if Colin comes at you with a clipboard, just run. Run far and run fast.'
Cally laughed. 'Noted.'
33
As she sat at the table daydreaming, Cally looked at her phone, hoping perhaps to see a message from Logan. Of course, there was nothing. She wondered where the situation was going to go. Would she ever see him again? Would they not have a story now? Was this the end? It made her heart hurt to think that because she couldn’t deal with not knowing about Cassia, they were no longer together. A tiny part of her felt quite impressed that he had called her bluff. The other stubborn part of her wasn’t going to have a bar of it.
Just after Alice put another coffee on the table, she answered a message from Nina about that evening's meeting, took a phone call, and started to doom scroll through her phone, shaking her head at what was going on in a couple of other parts of the country. Seeing not-very-nice scenes in the streets reminded her how nice it was in Lovely Bay. Almost as if the little town was exempt from stuff that was happening elsewhere. As if Lovely existed in its own little bubble. Eventually, putting her phone down, she people-watched out the window for a bit and watched Nancy from the station walk past, chatting away to Penny, the woman she’d met at the lighthouse. Then she waved as Clivefrom the riverboat, with a shopping bag from the Co-op over his arm, strolled past with his dog.
She sat staring for ages and stayed where she was as Alice shut up the deli for the day. As Alice pottered around setting up for the next day, she asked Cally if she wouldn’t mind going to the Co-op to grab an extra pint of milk. Cally gladly went, happy to take her mind off thinking about Logan. She stopped on the way to chat with Colin, who was heading in the direction of the deli for the meeting. Lost in a world of her own as she walked into the Co-op, she found herself in the biscuit aisle, shook her head, and made her way to the end, where the milk fridges stood all along the back in a row. Just as she was opening the middle fridge and wondering if Alice wanted skimmed or not she smelt Logan before she saw him. Instinctively, she turned around to see him standing at the end of the adjacent aisle in front of the cheese fridge, looking at blocks of cheddar.
Her mind raced as it toggled between running as fast as she could out the door without a backward glance or waiting until he turned so that he bumped straight into her. Deciding she couldn’t deal with it and very much wanting to make a hasty retreat, she grabbed a pint of milk. She then turned to leave with the door still open right at the same time as Logan glanced up. Their eyes met and Cally’s heart leapt. She stood there with the fridge door ajar. Unsure of what to do, she half-smiled. It was not reciprocated. ‘Hi.’
‘Cally.’
‘How are you?’
‘Yep, fine.’ Logan’s tone was clipped and not happy.
‘I, err.’
Logan put his hand up to stop Cally from speaking. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to run.’
Cally was a bit flabbergasted. ‘The least you could do is talk to me.’
‘I could say the same.’ Logan's face tightened and his expression wasveryguarded.
Cally shifted uncomfortably, clutching the pint of milk to her chest like a shield and slamming the fridge door shut. She gestured to the bottle. 'I was just getting some milk for Alice. For the deli.'
Logan nodded curtly, turning back to the cheese display. 'Right.'
Cally felt a flare of irritation at Logan’s dismissive attitude. She raised her voice a little bit. 'As I said, the least you could do is speak to me properly, Logan. We're both adults, aren't we?'
Logan's shoulders stiffened, and he turned back to face her fully, his expression now tinged with anger. 'Pah! Speak to you properly? That's a bit rich, coming from you. You've been avoiding me and you knew about the certificate for ages and didn’t let on. What a joke.'
'I haven't been avoiding you.’
Logan scoffed, shaking his head. 'Don't give me that.’
