Daniel was a totally different kettle of fish to private Hope, though. He seemed to wear his feelings on his sleeve where everyone could see them. From their conversation that morning there seemed to be no edge to him. He just said what he thought. It was refreshing. Romany was so used to people trying to hide what they felt from her, in case she might not be able to cope. Daniel just seemed to be natural and happy in his own skin. She liked it.
Time ticked on and Romany started to get a bit twitchy about the pile of revision that was waiting for her at home. She hadn’t expected to be gone for the whole day. Daniel seemed to be the same. He kept looking at his watch and shuffling from foot to foot, but Hope was showing no sign of being finished. She was deep in conversation with someone on her phone whilst things wound up around her.
‘I’m going to head back to York,’ said Daniel. ‘I like to support Hope wherever I can, but I’ve been gone long enough. I really need to get back to my kitchen. I can give you a lift if you like,’ he added to Romany.
Romany didn’t know what to do. The offer of a lift home was very welcome, but she didn’t want Hope to think she was being rude or ungrateful.
Daniel seemed to read her mind. ‘Don’t worry about Hope,’ he said. ‘We can’t interrupt her now, but I’ll text her to tell her that I’ve taken you back. She’ll be fine with it. In fact, she’ll barely notice we’ve gone.’
He waved over at Hope, blew her a kiss and then pointed at Romany and flashed his thumb in the direction of the car. Hope nodded, smiled at Romany and then turned her back on them both to continue her phone conversation.
‘There you go,’ said Daniel. ‘Sorted.’
Daniel’s car was a black Audi. Smart, functional, dull. It wasn’t that tidy inside, however, with empty coffee cups and the packaging of a couple of pre-packed sandwiches rolling around on the back seat.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Eating on the run. Occupational hazard. You’d think, working with food all day . . .’
He looked at her regretfully, but Romany just shrugged. She wasn’t going to lose her shiz over a bit of rubbish.
As they drove back, he quizzed her in a little more detail about her plans for the next year, what she wanted to do when she graduated, and Romany was happy to tell him all. He seemed impressed, and it made her feel proud, as it often did, that she had got this all together despite what had happened to her mum.
They reached the turn-off for the house and Romany was about to give directions when he flicked on the indicators and turned anyway.
‘You know where I live?’ she asked.
He hesitated for a moment. ‘Yes. Hope was going to get me to pick you up this morning but then the plans changed, and we ended up swapping over.’
He found a parking space not far from her house and slid the car neatly into it. Romany went to open the door and was about to say thank you when he spoke, his voice urgent as if he really needed to get the words out.
‘Listen, Romany,’ he said, his hand rubbing his chin. ‘There’s something that I should probably tell you.’
‘Oh yes?’ replied Romany, her hand resting on the door handle. ‘What’s that then?’
For the first time that morning he looked awkward, his easy confidence of earlier gone.
‘It’s just that, I knew your mum, back when . . . Well. I knew her.’
52
Romany’s hand fell away from the door handle. She was all ears. Meeting someone new who had known her mum, particularly in the days before she had been around, was a rare treat.
‘Did you?’ she asked, curious. ‘How come?’
‘You know those trees I mentioned,’ he said. ‘Well, me and your mum, we were in the same trees.’
Romany eyes grew wide. ‘Really! That’s so cool! Mum always said it was one of her favourite times, being on that protest.’
Daniel nodded, his smile fond and distant. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It had its moments. It was tough, especially when it got cold. But we had a camaraderie thing going on. We were all in it together, with this one common purpose, to save the woods. We were so sure we’d win, that the government would see the sense in what we were saying. We were na?ve, I guess, but we were bloody good at climbing trees.’
Romany bit her lip. ‘Can I ask you a question?’ she said.
‘Of course.’
‘What was Mum like back then?’
Romany loved talking about her mum. She hardly ever got the chance, because everyone assumed that she would want the complete opposite, and most people avoided the subject as if it might explode if they touched it. And here was someone who had known her before she’d even been born. Of course, she’d heard things from back then – Maggie and Tiger never shut up about the old days when they got together – but she knew all their stories as well as if she had been there herself. Daniel was offering a peep into a totally new area of her mum’s life. It was too tantalising to miss.