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“Huh. All that meeting and talking and cigar smoke that he thinks we can’t smell leaking under the doors,” said Lilian grumpily. She sniffed and raised a hand to the toddler’s face. “Be a good boy, Dash,” she said more kindly. “Thanks for the book, Mila.”
She skirted around Billie and Jules and then the shop bell rang as she left.
Mila.
Billie couldn’t help but stare at the blue hair. Not exactly what she’d been expecting from someone’s mum.
“Hey, Mil,” Jules said cheerfully, leaning back against a book display. “Max around?”
“He’s gone over to Wenton, some sort of police training thing,” said the blue haired woman. She was already smiling in Billie’s direction and Billie was having the stirring of a memory.
She knew this woman. Or rather, she’d known this girl. She hadn’t had blue hair then, obviously, but Billie was beginning to put the pieces together. She’d known Lilian too, though she’d been far younger then, younger and bouncier, manning the bookshop with another woman, older, one who didn’t seem to be around now.
“Billie Brooke,” Mila said, as though finally solving a problem that had been bothering her.
Billie smiled faintly.
“Oh, you won’t remember me,” said Mila. “I was, what, four years above you in school?”
“Something like that,” Billie said, hoping that Mila wasn’t going to dwell on the past.
“Billie needs to talk to you about Ag,” Jules said. “We were hoping to get Max too, but you’ll do.”
“About Ag?” Mila said curiously. The toddler on her shoulder yawned. “Alright, let me put Dash down for his nap and get some coffee, give me a minute, alright?”
Billie nodded and Mila bustled off, leaving just the two of them. Jules picked up a book from a display and started flicking through it. Billie eyed the posters around the place. There was a book club, she noted. Maybe she should join? Maybe that was the non-threatening thing she needed to worm her way into Whitebridge society again.
Not that she was staying.
Not at all.
Not forever.
“Coffee’s up,” Mila said a few minutes later, coming back bearing a tray. “And I’m dying from curiosity. Spill everything, immediately, before I burst.”
Billie took a deep breath. “I’m teaching music over at the school,” she began.
“Ah, yes, I think I’d heard that,” said Mila, reaching out for her own cup. “That’s… nice.” She’d obviously been going to say something else, but Billie let it go.
“I teach Agatha,” Billie added.
“Right, right.”
Billie took another breath. “Um, the thing is…”
Jules rolled her eyes. “Jesus Christ,” she muttered.
Billie glared at her. “The thing is…”
“Ag’s not in any trouble, is she?” Mila asked anxiously. “I know she can be a bit precocious, but she means well, she’s not normal a naughty girl.”
“No, no,” Billie said hurriedly. “It’s just that…”
“Jesus,” Jules said again. “She good,” she said to Mila. “Ag’s good.”
“At school?” Mila asked, confused.
“At music,” Billie and Jules said together.
