Suddenly he was beside her.
‘Where did you go?’ she gasped, gripping at his arms. He was solidly real, and looking at her like she was mad.
Her vision blurred. Cary’s face was telescoping close then far away. That’s when she understood that it washerthat was at risk of disappearing, falling back down the rabbit hole.
‘Do you need to sit down?’ he asked.
Cary guided her across the barn, dodging the too many people standing around like this was a drinks party. Some were laughing. It sounded horrible to her ears. There were no vacant chairs in the café corner.
‘Over here,’ one of the ladies in aprons was saying, looking at Alice with alarm and producing a chair from behind the café counter. ‘Come and sit yourself down.’
The woman cleared a path, shooing people out the way in a not very customer-service-focused manner, and, pushing Alice’s shoulders, plonked her down in the seat right in front of the flaming stove fire.
Alice still felt too vague to wonder if she was making a scene or how many people had noticed she was unwell, and in public this time. She’d always been able to save it until she was safely alone and out of sight, but not this time.
She still couldn’t seem to hear very clearly; everything had reduced to a buzz of noisy static.
‘You too, Cary Anderson,’ the woman was saying over the hum, and somehow Cary was shoved into a chair that had also been produced from nowhere.
‘You. Drink. Tea?’ the woman said close to her face, making big shapes with her mouth, miming drinking from a cup and saucer. She didn’t stick around for Alice’s answer.
Another woman, smaller, slightly younger, but very much like the first, magicked up a tray in an instant, placing it on the very top of the big stove. Mugs, a teapot, sugar cubes glistening, milk and something that looked a lot like frosted carrot cake.
‘Look after her, Cary,’ she heard the woman say, putting a gentle pat upon his shoulder.
Cary didn’t say anything for a moment, only resigning himself to the impromptu fireside tea party. He reached for the pot like this was all perfectly normal.
He poured two half-mugs of tea, adding the milk and ignoring the sugar lumps in the bowl. Had he remembered she’d bragged about not eating refined sugar at that meeting?
He turned the handle of her mug so it faced her and lifted his own.
Alice thought vaguely how she had never in her life been around anyone so tranquil. Cary was reaching for his plate and cake fork, observing her in a pleasant, neutral way as though she hadn’t just accused him of being pulled into a clock and disappearing.
She scoffed at herself now, but when she glimpsed over the room towards the clock, she shuddered too and had to look away, feeling like a child at their mother’s bedside after waking from a nightmare, unsure of what was real any more, the residual bad dream still haunting her.
She made a show of taking a drink, trying to stop her hands shaking. Putting her own plate on her lap, she blew out a deep breath, telling herself she was indeed awake.Snap out of it, Alice in Wonderland.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Cary cut a big wedge with his cake fork and ferried it swiftly into his mouth.
‘Is it good?’ she asked shakily. Her lips felt tight when she spoke. Her voice sounded unnatural.
He nodded.
She copied him, a big forkful straight in. She closed her eyes to chew.
‘I know,’ he said, and she wondered if she had exclaimed aloud at how delicious it was. Cary took a slurp of tea.
The act of eating was grounding her, bringing her back to herself. This was no high street coffee chain carrot cake, chilled from the fridge, dense and bland. This was somehow fluffy and light, bursting with spice and zesty citrus, with the sweetest whipped cream cheese topping.
She took bite after bite and the world around her came back into view. Her body regained its gravity and sank heavily in the chair the way it should. Cary must have been able to tell because he asked if she was feeling better now.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ she said, still not quite over the shaky feeling of wanting to cry.
‘Whatever it was, I’d say you can forgive yourself.’
He said it so serenely, so simply, it made her gaze back at him in wonder. He was happily eating once more.
Neither spoke for a time, and Cary didn’t seem to feel the need to fill the silence.
