‘Jane is very… friendly,’ says Pie over breakfast as I sit down at the table with a glass of water. She glances in my direction. ‘Don’t you think?’

‘She’s nice,’ I agree half-heartedly. When I’d woken up that morning I felt a slight ache. I thought it might have been a hangover (despite how little I’d had to drink the previous night), but now I know for sure. I know it’s coming before the pain arrives.

My sight crackles with grey static; I can feel the ache growing. I stop, with my glass almost touching my mouth.

‘Kim?’ Pie’s frowning at me from the other side of the table. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Migraine,’ I say, blinking. ‘I have –’ suddenly I can feel it, drumming through my brain, echoing in the back of my skull. I close my eyes tight, breathing deeply. I get to my feet, feeling for the wall, when someone takes my other hand. ‘Pie?’

‘Don’t want you to fall over,’ is all she says, guiding me towards the stairs. When we reach the bedroom I lie down while Pie walks around and tugs down all the curtains. ‘Are you too sick to have lunch with Jane?’

I nod, pulling the bed clothes around me. My body feels hot and cold and weak all at the same time, like a baby. For a moment I wish that my mother were here, comforting me the way she did when I was a child. But she isn’t here. It’s just Pie and me.

‘I’ll go tell Jane that we can’t come,’ says Pie from a long, long way away. ‘Do you have your medicine?’

‘Yes,’ I say, squinting up at her.

‘Ok. I’ll be back soon.’ She disappears, and I lie back on the bed. The medicine is on the bedside table like always. I wish it was faster working, but it takes some time to take effect and with a migraine everything seems to slow down. The dim bedroom is still too bright. I press a hand over my eyes, willing the pain to stop – it’s never worked before but I try it every time, try to beat it out through sheer power of mind. There’s a knock on the door, Pie peers into the room.

‘Kim?’ she’s speaking softly. I groan a little bit in reply. ‘Did you take your medication?’

‘Yes,’ I mumble. ‘It takes a while to kick in.’

She moves closer to the bed, perching by my side. I can hear her quiet breath; her warm weight next to me is – soothing somehow. Or maybe it’s the medicine, which I can feel seeping through the cloudy pain. I sigh.

‘Feeling better?’

‘Mm. It’s good.’ My tongue is so heavy when I speak, my eyes slide closed. ‘It makes me fall asleep and when I wake up I can’t remember what happened.’

‘It does?’

I nod, and wince slightly. Moving is a bad idea. Something cool rests against my skin and my eyes flutter open in surprise. Pie is leaning over me, her hands framing either side of my face. Her fingers rub slow circles into my temple.

‘Is this helping?’ she whispers. Her face is so close to mine; I can feel her breath on my face. You don’t have to do this, I want to say. You don’t have to be so close to me. I know it’s hard for you to be around me. But I can’t open my mouth, so I close my eyes and soak up the gentle feeling of the massage. I can feel her pulling away, sitting up, and I shift slightly, trying to catch her hands before they leave.

‘Don’t,’ I whisper. The medicine is pulling me towards milky sleep, my mouth is too big for my head.

‘Don’t what?’

‘Please don’t go.’

I feel Pie’s hand ghost over my cheek, she whispers, ‘I won’t,’ and then everything is dark and cool and still.

+

We have lunch with Jane the next day and as a gift I bring a basket of apples that are so green they almost glow.

She accepts them but shakes her head when we try to express our apologies for having to reschedule.

‘Are you feeling better?’ She looks across at me, her brows drawn in concern.

‘Much, thank you.’

‘So did you spend all day sleeping? Pie told me you were in bed when she came over to cancel.’

‘Yeah I did. To be honest I can’t really remember what happened, it seems like a big dream. My migraine medicine does that. But I remember it started in the morning and I went upstairs to bed, and Pie asked me if I was too sick for lunch… and then I think she came over here. By the time she got back I must have fallen asleep.’ I look at Pie. ‘Is that what happened?’

She nods. She isn’t looking at me; she’s staring down at the food on her plate. Jane pouts and reaches across the table to take my hand. ‘I hope she gave you a massage. They’re very good for headaches. I would have given you one.’

‘You’ll make a lovely wife,’ I say, ‘always taking care of your partner like that. That person you told me about last night – they sure left the wrong girl.’

‘You think so?’ Jane beams. I can feel a foot pressing against my own, I move back slightly to give it space under the table and take another bite of the lunch. Similar to the day before, I feel slightly superior. Not being the kind of person to brag much, cooking is the one thing I tend to get competitive over. Pie’s sitting by my side, uncharacteristically quiet. I reach over and touch her hand that’s resting on the table. She raises an eyebrow at me.

‘Are you alright?’ I ask, keeping my voice low. Pie coughs, filling with more food and nods. I shrug, aware of Jane watching us, and quickly turn back to the dinner. Could Pie still be angry at me for what happened the other day? Maybe she’s angry we had to cancel lunch yesterday?

After we finish eating, Jane asks for assistance in the kitchen and I agree to help her clean the plates. Pie remains at the table, looking at her hands. As I stand by the sink, carefully drying the cutlery, Jane turns to me.

‘Trouble in paradise?’ she says.

‘Hm?’

‘You two. Something seems a bit… off. Are you fighting?’

I frown, looking over at Pie. ‘No. I think we’re just a bit tired from the move and everything. This has been a busy week; you know?’

‘Well.’ Jane raises her eyebrows at me significantly. ‘If you ever need a change of scenery, I’m right here.’

‘Kim.’ I jump, spinning on my heel to face the door. Pie is standing there; her fists are clenched by her sides. ‘Can we go? I’m not feeling very well.’

‘Oh, yeah, of course. Hang on, I’ll just finish this –’ quickly I dry the last fork and set it down on the counter. ‘Thank you for lunch.’

‘My pleasure,’ says Jane. She’s smiling almost smugly, and she kisses my cheek goodbye instead of hugging me. ‘Like I said, feel free to come by anytime.’

‘Thank you!’

For the second time that week I follow Pie out of Jane’s house, aware of the hot anger rolling off her shoulders.

‘Pie,’ I say, catching up to her outside our front door, ‘what’s the matter?’

‘I don’t like Jane,’ she says tightly. Her hands are stiffly working the key in the lock, finally the door opens and she storms inside.

‘Why not? She’s been so welcoming. Sure, she’s a bit clingy, but –’

‘She keeps hitting on you!’ Pie hisses, twisting around. ‘And I’m your wife! It’s so… embarrassing!’

'Well you’re not really my wife,’ I say before I can stop myself.

'Oh, so that makes it ok for you to flirt back with her then?’ Pie spits, arms folded. 'Maybe after this is over you two will get together, huh? You could at least try to keep our 'love’ believable.’

'What am I doing?’ Pie’s anger is burning in her veins; I can feel her eyes fizzle right through me. I’ve never seen Pie this angry, not even after I kissed her. Now she’s pacing up and down in our kitchen, her neck taught, jaw clenched.

'You’re clearly reciprocating her feelings! And I don’t care how you really feel about her - but when we’re supposed to be married, I expect –’

'I don’t like Jane.’

Pie snorts. 'Please.’

'I don’t!’ I stare at her in disbelief. 'I don’t like Jane. And I would never act in a way that would jeopardize our mission! How can you think I would?’

'Stop flirting with her then!’

'I’m not flirting! I think she’s sweet. I like her as a friend, and I’m treating her as such.’

Pie turns, ready to leave the room, but before I can stop myself I reach out and wrap my fingers gently around her wrist. ‘Pie, I’m sorry that I made you angry. Forget the mission for a second – I promise I would never do anything to hurt you. But I also promise I wasn’t flirting with Jane. How I treat her… that’s just how I am. I try my best to be kind. I don’t like to cause people pain.’ I bite my lip. ‘Obviously I messed that up.’

Pie looks over her shoulder at me. Her eyebrows are furrowed, but she doesn’t look as angry anymore. ‘You… would never hurt me.’

‘Never.’

‘But why would this hurt me?’

‘What?’

‘Like you said, we’re not really married. I was just – I was just mad at you because I thought you were messing up the mission. I wasn’t hurt.’ She shakes me off and leaves the kitchen. I stare after her, motionless. What just happened?

Later Pie comes down for dinner and avoids looking me in the eyes. The conversation is stilted, strangely formal until Pie puts down her glass loudly and says,

‘I think we should do it tomorrow.’

‘Do the – you mean go to Mike’s house?’

‘Yep. He left today, his brother arrives on Sunday, there’s no point waiting any longer. And don’t worry.’ She looks up at me suddenly. ‘As soon as we get the bugs and other equipment in his house, things will start to get more interesting I’m sure.’

‘Huh?’

‘Well, after all your other assignments this must be very boring for you. Like you said the other day, you’ve never done anything like this.’

I gape at her. This assignment is a lot of things, but never in a million years would I have said boring was one of them.