No, her mum had given Hope responsibility for relationships, a decision that had made no sense at the time but now seemed obvious. This was Hope’s moment. But could she talk to Hope about Daniel? She didn’t want to cause any problems between them. It wouldn’t be fair. Then again, Daniel had said that Hope knew the whole story, and it wasn’t as if he had ever been going out with Hope and her mum at the same time.
Romany picked up her phone and messaged her. The reply came almost instantly.
Yes. Meet for a walk on the walls? 6.30 Monk Bar?
Romany texted straight back agreeing to the arrangement.
It was lunchtime, so she had hours to kill until then. Tiger was in the bathroom repotting bedding plants for a window box. The flat had no outside space but he had fashioned a way of securing the boxes to the windowsills and was now using the bath to keep the compost under control whilst he planted red geraniums between some tiny blue flowers that Romany didn’t know the name of. He knelt on the floor, bent over the bath as he worked.
‘They look pretty,’ she said as she stood in the doorway and watched him.
‘Thanks,’ he said without turning round. ‘When I was in Aix-en-Provence picking lavender one year, I loved how all the houses had window boxes with geraniums in them. I know it’s not quite the same here, but I thought they might look nice.’
‘They’re lovely,’ she said. ‘A treat for the neighbours though. We won’t see much of them from in here.’
‘No,’ Tiger agreed. ‘Maybe one day we could think about moving to somewhere with a little garden. I could grow some herbs, maybe a bit of salad.’
He didn’t look at her as he spoke. This was the first time either of them had mentioned what might happen after she finished school. The whole focus of her mum’s letter had been to keep her safe whilst she completed her A levels. She had done that now, and before too long she would be nineteen and hopefully going to Durham to study. What might happen after that hadn’t been on her radar, but she had always known that Tiger would leave. It never occurred to her that he might be thinking about new places for them to live in together.
‘Won’t you want to get back on with your travelling?’ she asked. ‘I thought you had a plan. Guatemala, wasn’t it?’
‘I missed that one,’ he said.
‘But there’ll be others, though. Surely,’ Romany said.
Tiger shrugged. ‘Travelling isn’t the be all and end all,’ he said. ‘Sometimes it’s nice to stay put for a bit. Put down some roots.’
He still wasn’t looking at her, as if he didn’t want to see her reaction. She wasn’t at all sure how to respond. She had just assumed that he would leave her. Wasn’t that what Laura going to Newcastle was all about, a safety net for her so that she wouldn’t be entirely alone? Tiger would pick up his travels where he had left off and she would live in the flat on her own, with Maggie and Leon, and possibly now Daniel and Hope keeping an eye on her, ready to step in and help in case of disaster.
‘What are you saying, Tiger?’ she asked him.
‘Nothing, really,’ he said, full of bluff. ‘Nothing.’
But he was. Romany could see it written all over his body language.
‘Stop doing that a minute,’ she said. ‘Talk to me.’
Slowly he got to his feet, stretching and rubbing at the small of his back. He turned to face her. He looked anxious, nervous even. Romany didn’t recognise it and wasn’t sure she liked it. This wasn’t who Tiger was. He was the joker in her pack, light-hearted and never taking anything too seriously, least of all himself. He stuffed his dirty hands into his jeans pockets and looked at his feet.
‘Are you saying that you’d rather stay here than go back on the road?’ she asked him.
‘Well,’ he began. ‘It’s kind of taken me by surprise, how much I’ve loved being here. It’s cool, making a home. I started trying to make stuff nice for you, but then I really got into it.’
‘You’re really good at it,’ said Romany. ‘I mean, just look at this place. It’s never looked so good. Mum would be amazed!’
Tiger gave a little laugh, more a huff than anything. ‘Yeah, she wasn’t that big on that kind of stuff, your mum. And I got to thinking that maybe I’ve had enough of not being based anywhere. Don’t get me wrong. I still want to be out there. There’s so much to see. But perhaps I’m ready to do it in smaller bites, more like a holiday than a way of life. God, listen to me. I sound so bloody middle-aged.’