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‘Nope. It’s six hundred hours.’

‘Ugh, that’s so unfair!’

‘Actually, I’m starting to think I got off lightly.’ He thought back to the conversation with Angela — his stomach twisted again.

‘What do you mean? The judge was mean. You should have just had a fine or something. You have so many more important things to do with your time.’

Did he though? He wasn’t so sure after the cat rescue.

‘Can’t you just, like, make them some reels and get six hundred hours of views? That would work, wouldn’t it? They’d still get their hours and you could come back to living a proper life with me. What do you think?’ She pouted again, widening her eyes until she looked almost like one of the filters she used. ‘Come out with me, and you can make content tomorrow, and then get your other hours . . . with your online presence, you could hit that in a few days.’

He didn’t like to tell her he’d already done that — and more — with the video of him and Ernie pulling faces at each other. ‘Yvette, I’m not going out tonight.’

‘So you’ll let me go out by myself, even though I’m really upset?’

‘Sorry.’ He shrugged, not really meaning it.

‘Well I’m still going!’ She snarled the words at him.

‘Then, I guess have a nice night.’ He reached for his phone, and she smacked it away, sending it spinning across the floor before turning on her heel and storming out. A few minutes later he heard the growling chug of a car — his car — start up and roar away. He shook his head and opened up his taxi app. Somehow, he didn’t think he could rely on Yvette tomorrow, and he definitely wasn’t going to let Angela down.

* * *

‘Ready for some lunch?’ Angela held up the bag she’d picked up from the village café. ‘I’ve got cakes.’

‘Don’t have to ask me twice.’ Rick finished stacking the dishes he’d been cleaning and washed his hands before joining her. Much to Angela’s amusement, he almost inhaled the first half of the sandwich without pausing to speak.

‘Guess you’re hungry then?’

‘Yeah. Sorry, I should remember my manners. My mum would give me a right clip round the ear. Thank you for this, it’s bloo . . . ming good.’

‘You’re welcome.’ Angela laughed, knowing how hard he found it to not swear, and appreciating the effort he made around her. ‘I thought today deserved some sort of mark.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. As of about half an hour or so ago, you’re one hundred hours into your time here.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah.’ She laughed at the look on his face. ‘Did you not think you’d make it this far?’

‘Honestly, no. At first I was just planning to try and figure out the quickest way out of it. And then, when the village council told me where they wanted to assign my hours, and then I realised who you were, I didn’t think there was any way you’d want me here.’

‘I didn’t at first,’ Angela admitted.

‘What changed your mind?’

‘Desperation,’ she admitted. ‘And some not-so-gentle nagging from friends. You know how physical it can be around here. I wasn’t keeping up as well as I needed to be. Things were slipping. To be honest, in some ways they still are.’ She didn’t know what it was that prompted her to admit it.

‘How do you mean? It looks pretty good round here.’

‘It costs a lot to run Bill’s. The fundraising work I do and events I run have almost all stopped at the moment.’

‘Because of your injuries.’

‘Yeah. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it now. I want to enjoy cake. Are you joining me? Or watching me eat two slices?’ She got out the cake box.

‘Depends on what cake it is.’