She perked up slightly. “Yeah?”
“Do you have any extra wax?”Iasked. “Somethingthat’ll harden well.”
She nodded and held up one finger, then turned around and walked away, disappearing behind a fermentation tank.Itook one of the labels and folded it on the lines, wrapping it aroundone of the bars, hoping my idea would actually work.
Teddy came back a moment later with a crate of wax offcuts. “Willthis do?” she asked, setting it down on the workbench.
“Honestly?”Ishrugged. “Idon’t know.ButIhope so.”
“What are you thinking?”Shelooked impatiently between me and the bar of soap in my hand.
“Wax seal,”Isaid. “We’llneed to be careful so we don’t melt the soap, and we’ll need to trim a bit of the paper.Andit’ll take longer than tying them.”
“I need to send some of these off for testing tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Okay, well, we’d better get started.”
Teddy left to find something suitable for sealing, whilstIstarted wrapping the soaps and trimming the labels so they had just the right amount of overlap.Eventually,Teddycame back with a candle, a spoon, a tea towel, and a short wooden rod.
“What’s that?”Iasked, reaching out for it.Shehanded it to me, andIturned the wood over to see that there was a metal coin glued to the end, with a bee in the middle and a wreath of laurel surrounding it.Therewas a hole in the top, just above the bee’s antennae.
“A pendant,” she said. “Froma necklace.”
Sure enough, whenIlooked up, her neck was bare.
“It’s perfect,”Isaid, holding it up to the back of the label.Itwould be a bit big, but as long as the bee turned out, that was fine.
It took us some trial and error, but luckily the seals were easy to peel off if we made a mistake, and eventually, we got the hang of it.Teddywould heat and pour the wax, andI’dpress it and leave it to set whilstIgot the next bar ready.Wedidn’t talk as we worked, but it was a surprisingly companionable silence.Iwasn’t sure if the temporary truce was becauseIwas helping her or because she needed me, butIwas grateful for it nonetheless.
Willow trotted in and out, returning time and time again for bum scritches, andIhappily complied, even ifIdid have to wipe my hands off thoroughly each time to avoid getting golden fur in the wax.
Teddy even made me some food– or, well, she cut her own sandwich in half and poured out some of her crisps onto a second plate and offered it to me.Whichwas helpful, sinceIhadn’t actually thought about howIwould eat out here in the middle of nowhere.Onegood thing about the rescue had been its proximity to several places to scrounge up a meal deal.
By the time we got through all three crates of soap, having burned through two votive candles, my back was killing me from leaning over.Westood up and stretched our arms out at the same time, andIchuckled at the symmetry of it.Teddydidn’t, but she also seemed a bit less tense than she had around me thus far.
“Thanks,” she said. “Youshould start late tomorrow since you stayed so late today.”
I pulled out my phone to check the time, and, sure enough, it was gone six.
“Shit,”Isaid, heading immediately for the door at the front of the warehouse. “Doyou know what time the last train leavesAbergavenny?”
NowTeddylaughed. “You’renot really planning to walk all the way toAbergavenny, right?”
I didn’t stop walking, and she didn’t stop following;Icould hear her heavy footsteps getting closer to me from behind. “Howelse amImeant to get home?”
“I don’t know, the bus?”
“By the timeIget to the main road, the last one of the day will be long gone.”
“Wait, what main road?”Shestepped in front of me beforeIreached the door, andInearly ran into her.Ifroze for a moment, looking up at her concerned expression.God,Ireally could not get a read on this woman. “Showme,” she said, reaching down to take my phone from my hand, her fingers brushing mine as she did.Sheheld it out to me, soItook it from her, opening the walking route from the farm to the closest bus stop.
“Fuck,” she said, her voice raspy. “Ithought the bus at least came closer than that.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“So you’ve been walking all this way?”
I nodded.
