Hope had mentioned that she had brought a flask of tea and that Romany was welcome to share, so, feeling chilly, she retrieved it from one of the many bags and was just pouring some into the plastic lid when she heard a voice behind her.
‘You don’t want to be drinking that muck,’ it said. ‘Tea from a plastic cup! Yuk!’
Romany turned and saw Hope’s boyfriend, the chef guy.
‘I can offer you a latte if you’d prefer,’ he said. ‘I love Hope dearly but she’s crap at outside catering.’
He grinned, the skin around his eyes crinkling naturally as if it was totally used to smiling, but Romany could still remember how he had stared at her in the restaurant on Christmas Day and so was wary. He didn’t seem weird today though, just smiley, but still, she didn’t want to encourage him.
She raised the plastic teacup. ‘I’m good with this, thanks,’ she said.
‘How’s the shoot going?’ he asked. ‘There’s no point me asking Hope. She won’t speak to me when she’s working.’
‘Okay, I think, but the poor models must be freezing!’
Daniel nodded. ‘Yeah. All in a day’s work for them. You wouldn’t catch me standing up to my knees in cold water though.’
‘You prefer your hot kitchen, then?’ Romany asked.
‘I do these days,’ he said. ‘Although I’ve had my share of outdoor hardship in my time. I lived in a tree for six months once,’ he added, pulling a face that anticipated her scepticism.
‘Really?’ said Romany, turning to look at him properly. ‘My mum lived in a tree once too. She used to tell me how they moved from platform to platform without ever coming down, so they didn’t get arrested. Sounded totally mad. And freezing.’
‘Yeah, it was.’
His face had closed down and Romany wondered whether he’d been embellishing the truth, assuming that she would be impressed by his tale and not realising that she would have a tree story of her own. She felt a bit guilty for having stolen his thunder.
‘So, how long have you had the restaurant?’ she asked, to make amends. ‘I think it’s really cool, by the way. I’ve been in a couple more times since Christmas.’
His face lit up again. ‘I’ve been in York for around fifteen years,’ he said. ‘I worked for other people for a while. Then I did event catering. That was hard work. And then I bought the restaurant with a friend, a couple of years ago. It’s been a bit hairy at times, but things are going pretty well now. And how about you? Are you doing A levels? Hope said something about uni.’
Romany explained where she was and what she hoped to do next and he listened attentively. As they talked, they wandered closer to the shoot to watch what was going on. The photographer now had the models lying down in the breakers at the edge of the water. Romany had no idea how they kept smiling as the icy water lapped at their naked skin. A couple of them were looking quite blue. Daniel stuck at her side, and she was grateful because even though there wasn’t much conversation, it made it look like she was there with a purpose rather than just being a hanger-on. Every so often he would give Hope a wave or a thumbs-up sign, and she would either ignore him or give him a half-smile in return, her lips pressed tightly together as if she didn’t have time for the full smile.
By lunchtime it seemed to be all over. The models were back in their clothes and drinking steaming cups of hot chocolate, which Daniel distributed in small espresso-sized cardboard cups. Hope was peering at what they’d got on a screen set up a little way away from the water and chatting through the shots with the photographer.
‘They look pleased,’ said Romany, nodding towards Hope who was smiling properly for the first time that morning. ‘They must have got what they wanted.’
Daniel agreed. ‘Looks that way. Hope usually gets what she wants,’ he added, and winked at Romany.
She liked him, she thought. She liked his humour and his positivity. But mainly she liked how much he seemed to love Hope. It glowed around him. She could see no indication that Hope felt the same way, although she was so closed it would be hard to tell, but she assumed that she did. Romany liked what their relationship appeared to be: two people, independent and yet connected, each supporting the other whilst at the same time getting on with their own stuff. Maybe that was why her mum had given Hope the task of instructing her on relationships. She hoped so, because if ever she found herself in a relationship, she would like it to look a lot like this one.