Eyes wide and watchful, Effy shakes her head shortly after Kate's question, arms crossing tightly over her chest as she presses the small of her back against the counter. It'd be almost impossible to miss the amount of care that Kate's put into this; with each passing day, Effy's opened her eyes a fraction more to everything that transpires around her, and it seems these days that Kate has more on her mind, the silence shared between them in the evening tense until broken with the attempts to string idle thoughts together.

Baking, to anyone else, may hardly take a thought at all, but in this, both of them are aiming for an escape.

Staring back down into her bowl, Effy's neck cranes as she tilts her head to the side, a finger dipping down to drag through the mix.

Does your mum bake?