Is it too much to set the table, Kate wondered to herself. She usually just ate on the lounge while she watched TV, but Tilly didn’t know that. Kate looked across the living space to Tilly. Reclined on the lounge in her pyjamas, she was focused intently on marking History tests she’d given that morning, her fingers mindlessly toying with her plait. Kate hunted in the cabinet beside the stove for the pasta strainer. Would Tilly mind sitting at the table to share a meal? They’d be able to talk more without the distraction of the TV. And if they set a precedent now—to sit together each night and talk over dinner—then Kate would have it to look forward to at the end of the day. The corner of her lips twitched with a smile. Yes, she’d definitely set the table.

The scent of Tilly’s body wash was comforting as she slid up beside Kate at the sink. “Can I help with anything?” she asked.

Steam rose from the strainer. Kate swirled the pasta, the movement disguising the way her body jerked suddenly at the brush of Tilly’s hand across the low of her back. “Nope. All done.”

While she plated up their dinner, Tilly filled their water glasses. At the table, Kate picked up her fork and whirled it through her pasta. “So how was—”

“You don’t say Grace?”

Kate looked up. Tilly’s lips were pursed.

“Um…no.” But something gives me a feeling I’m about to start…

Tilly looked to Kate’s fork. Slowly, Kate let the pasta slide off and back into her bowl. Message received.

Tilly’s eyes closed. She clasped her hands together. Running her tongue along her teeth in amusement, Kate did the same.

Tilly pressed her steepled hands to her breastbone. “Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty.”

Kate’s eyes dropped from Tilly’s lips to her collarbone.

“Through Christ, our Lord—”

“Where’s your crucifix?”

Tilly’s eyes snapped open. Instantly, she made to clutch at her pendant. She stiffened. “Oh no. It fell off in the garden but I thought I had secured it properly.” Her eyes grew wide. “Oh, Kate,” she said anxiously. “Aunt Hattie gave it…I…I can’t sleep without it.”

Something caught in Kate’s chest at the grief in Tilly’s gaze. She pushed back her chair. “The garden? It’s okay, we’ll find it.” Taking the torch from beneath the kitchen sink, Kate smiled reassuringly. “Come on, let’s go.”

The torch battery was low. Kate bashed it against her palm, hoping the jolt would spark life. No luck. “Give me the torch and you use my phone torch,” Tilly said, tossing her slippers off beside the garden gate. “My eyesight has always been much better than yours.”

“Gee thanks.”

As Tilly opened the gate, she swiped roughly at her jawline with her free hand. Kate’s heart clenched. In the moonlight, Tilly’s skin was wet with tears.

Tilly headed straight for the spinach patch. “I was in the lettuce bed for a long time, and then…” She inhaled sharply, her step faltering as she spun back to glare at the fruit boxes. “Oh no, I was in the strawberry bed, and tomatoes too…”