Grace by Victoria Scott

Author:Victoria Scott [Scott, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800240957
Publisher: Head of Zeus

19

December 24th

Michelle

Nine weeks until the final hearing

‘Just roll it. That’s it. Not too hard, or it’ll be tough as old boots. Spread it out at the edges. We want to get as many out of this as possible.’

Michelle lifted up the rolling pin and examined her efforts. She’d got half of it stuck on the rolling pin and the pastry was far from being a uniform pound-coin width throughout, as ordered, but she still felt a tiny burst of pride. These would be her first home-made mince pies, ever, and her nan would be proud of that, she thought. She had made delicious cakes – fruit ones, mostly, like Christmas cake.

Gillian and Mike’s kitchen smelled of spice and booze and wet dog. Mike had just taken Rory out for a walk to a nearby quarry, and he’d apparently thrown himself into the murky water with wild abandon, despite the fact it must have been zero fucking degrees in there.

It was frozen solid outside. She had almost fallen arse over tit on a frozen puddle when they’d walked out to the car that morning, going to pick up party supplies. It seemed astonishing to her now that she’d once spent a winter sleeping out in this sort of temperature. She remembered that a sort of numbness had set in eventually, when she could no longer shiver, and she recalled the true value of the piece of cardboard beneath her that had prevented the tiled doorway floor she’d bedded down on turning into her very own mortuary slab.

‘Right, so now you need to take a cutter,’ said Gillian, reaching into a box in one of the cupboards beneath the counter, ‘and cut out the lids.’

‘Gotcha,’ said Michelle, taking the cutter and setting herself to the task.

‘Are you going to be all right, this evening?’ asked Gillian. ‘I can imagine you might not feel up to being sociable.’

Michelle paused. She was still recovering from her overdose. Frankly, she still felt like she could sleep for days, and she was not a sociable person. In fact, she suspected most people went out of their way to avoid her. However, she was so grateful to Gillian and Mike for their generosity, and a part of her was also incredibly curious to meet their guests.

‘Yeah, I should be fine,’ she said.

‘Okay. But if you’re feeling tired at any point, just go to bed. Honestly, we won’t mind.’

‘Got it.’

Michelle had now cut out circles from almost all of the pastry and had deposited them delicately on the top of deep pastry cases, filled with a spoonful of mincemeat each, and a tiny slice of marzipan. ‘That’s my mother’s secret,’ Gillian said. ‘They taste delicious.’ Gillian nodded and smiled at Michelle’s work, picked up a brush, dipped it in milk and began to coat the pies. ‘I’m glad you’re feeling better,’ she said. ‘And I wanted to say – if you want to talk about anything more – about the things we discussed when you first arrived – I am here, okay? We can chat, whenever.

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