It’s another hour before Callum gets back. Oliver must realise why I was in his room; I’m not sure he quite bought my explanation it was because I wanted to see if he had any more items belonging to my family. If I’d had more time, I would’ve been able to have thought of a better excuse.

The minibus pulls back in through the gate; I watch it bounce through the same potholes Callum and I did. Mary drives it up the rest of the drive and swings it into the space beside Callum’s car. Has Mary spoken to Callum at all about getting rid of his car? No one else here appears to have one.

‘Let me help,’ I say, hurrying over to the van as Mary climbs out of the driver’s seat.

‘Oh, thank you, Grace, but there’s really no need,’ she says, flicking her dark hair over her shoulders.  

I shake my head. ‘It’s fine, I want to. I need to have something to do otherwise I’m going to end up going crazy.’

‘Well, the shopping’s all in the back, I’ll just get the door open,’ Mary says, brushing what looks like crumbs off of her seat.

The passenger door swings open, everyone else begins to pile out. I dart over to Callum.

‘How did it go?’ I ask looking over my shoulder to make sure Mary isn’t watching us.

He shakes his head. ‘It was strange, people seemed to know who we were; they gave us weird looks, there were a couple of teenagers who shouted things at us, it wasn’t pleasant.’

‘Did anyone confront them?’

‘Nah, everyone pretty much stuck to the tasks they had. Mary told me to ignore them.’

‘Callum.’ A voice reaches me from behind. I turn around, Eve’s striding over to us carrying two shopping bags. ‘Would you mind taking one of these?’ she says.

‘Course,’ he says, taking one. A wave of jealousy pulses through me. ‘Think it’s best if we chat later,’ he whispers to me and hurries into the house. 

‘How’s things, Grace? I thought earlier I haven’t been properly introduced to you yet,’ Eve says with a bright smile, once Callum's left us. God she’s a lot more confident than I imagined her to be. I expected her to be quite quiet and nervous.

‘Um yes fine, I’ve been meaning to come and speak to you actually, Oliver’s spoken a lot about you.’

Her face brightens. ‘Has he? It must be because we’re a similar age; I was twenty-seven in February. Callum’s great, isn’t he, I remember what you said when you first came here, about him being there for you since you were ten. You aren’t . . . you aren’t together, are you?’

God she really does fancy him. ‘No we’re not, we’re friends. He’s more of a brother to me,' I reply.      

She beams at me. ‘Oh, that’s great, Oliver keeps telling us how we’ll find our one true soulmate and I . . .’ she breaks off, I shift on my feet. ‘Anyway, listen to me, I’m rambling. I’ll catch you later, Grace.’

I breathe a sigh of relief when she enters the house, following Mary. God that was awkward, I’ve never had a conversation with any girl who’s fancied Callum before.

I grab a couple of bags that have been dumped on the driveway and hurry them through into the house, leaving them on the kitchen table. I flick my gaze around the room and dart outside. Callum’s out in the garden. At least it looks like he’s got out of helping everyone else put all the stuff away.

‘Got a sec?’ I ask. He nods; I drag him round to the side of the house. Thank God Abraham isn’t lingering around the vegetable patch like he normally is. ‘So, how did it go with you know, with the guy I spoke to last night?’

‘Well, I managed to get his name out of him for a start; it’s Noah,’ Callum says. ‘Another religious name, but he’s a pretty closed book I’m afraid. Every time I sort of tried to make any sort of conversation with him, he shut me down. He didn’t even try to speak to anyone else, but no one else tried to converse with him either.’

‘Shit,’ I say. ‘That’s like how they were all with him last night at dinner. There must be something he knows, there’s got to be –’ Voices reach my ears, the back of my neck prickles. Glancing over my shoulder, I spot Jeremiah and Mary walking towards us, hands buried in their pockets as they stride our way. There’s no other way for us to go. Ahead of us, to our left, are thick prickly brambles with purple thistles poking through, a strong stench of pollen hits me. If we were on the other side of the house, we would’ve been able to have escaped onto the driveway. ‘Just act natural.’

I make my way out back into the main garden area, my nose tingling from the pollen; Callum follows me.

‘Grace, Callum,’ Mary says, as she spots us, stopping in her tracks, I have a feeling she already knew we were here. ‘I thought you were helping out with the shopping in the kitchen.’ There’s a trickle of ice in her voice.

Jeremiah’s staring straight at me, he mutters something but I can’t quite work out what he’s said.

‘We were, we just wanted to grab some air quickly,’ I say. I have to force myself to keep looking at her in the eye.

‘OK,’ she says, her eyes flickering from me, to Callum standing behind me. ‘Why don’t you go and see if they need any more help? I’m sure they could use an extra pair of hands.’

‘Um, yes, of course, Mary.’

I dart in the direction of the kitchen with Callum following me closely behind. I run my tongue around my dry mouth. At least it didn’t seem as though Mary heard what we were discussing.