‘But I want to go,’ objected Romany. ‘I’ve missed enough already. And the one thing Mum really wanted was for me to do well in my A levels. I’ll be back at the flat later if anyone needs me.’
‘I’ll see you there, then, roomy,’ replied Tiger, and held his hand up for a high five. Romany ignored it.
‘For God’s sake, Tiger,’ muttered Maggie. ‘Are you sure you’re okay, Romey? You know we’re here for you, don’t you?’ She gave Tiger a withering glance. ‘You just need to ask us.’
Romany nodded. ‘I’m fine, Auntie Maggie,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you later.’
It felt incongruous that Romany still called her ‘auntie’。 Maggie wasn’t an aunt, was no relation at all, and using the old-fashioned label had never seemed to fit with Angie’s relaxed attitude to life. And yet she had insisted on it, as if by making Romany call her ‘auntie’ it would give her daughter something she lacked – an extended family. Maggie, herself an only child, had no children of her own, but Romany was like the niece she would never have.
They found a pub and went inside. It was more of a bar than a pub, with lots of light and space designed for standing rather than sitting, but it suited their purposes.
‘What’s everyone having?’ asked Leon as they settled at one of the few tables. They glanced at one another before placing an order, each seeking permission from the others.
‘I think I might need a brandy,’ said Maggie, and as she did so she felt Tiger relax at her side.
‘Me too,’ he said quickly. ‘Bit of a shock, all that.’
There was a pause. Maggie wasn’t going to be the first to offer to go to the bar and consequently pay for the round. That was the thing with people you had known for most of your life. They always came up true to form. Tiger never had a bean to his name. How he had made it through the last thirty years or so she had no idea. And here he was again, sitting on his hands. She counted off the seconds in her head. One, two, three . . .
‘I’ll go,’ said Leon, just as she had known he would.
‘No, I’ll get this first one,’ she replied. It wasn’t fair for Leon to get caught up in the mind games she played with Tiger. ‘What would you like, Leon? Hope?’
‘I’ll just have half a lager shandy,’ said Leon. ‘I need to be getting back to work.’ He checked his watch as he spoke.
‘Mineral water,’ said Hope, and Maggie felt the small knot of resentment in her stomach tighten a little more. She needed to get over that now that Hope was going to be around for the foreseeable future, but would it hurt the woman to say ‘please’？
Maggie bought the round, distributed the glasses and then resettled herself at the table. They all took a sip of their drinks, no one wanting to be the first to pass comment. Tiger took a second swig and then downed the rest of his brandy in one.
Maggie blew out her lips. ‘Well,’ she said, sitting back in her chair, ‘I didn’t see that coming, did you? God bless Angie but, bloody hell, she certainly knew how to put cats amongst pigeons.’
‘She did indeed,’ replied Leon, nodding slowly. ‘And I’m not very clear on what she wants us to do, on a day-to-day basis, I mean. I’m supposed to help Romany with her reading and going to the pictures and so forth, but how do I actually go about that? Do I send her books, or a reading list maybe? It seems a bit prescriptive. She’s a teenage girl. I’m not sure we’ll have much crossover in our tastes. Or perhaps I should make sure she’s read certain books, like as part of her general education? I wish Angie had given us a few more clues.’
‘Well, that was Angie all over,’ replied Maggie. ‘Vague. Remember that time she took us all on a magical mystery tour and it turned out she had no idea where we were going either?’
A fond smile rippled around the table.
‘And her cooking!’ said Tiger. ‘Some of the things we ended up eating just because that was what she had in. Do you remember when she put bananas in the pasta sauce because we didn’t have any veg?’
He ran a hand through his sun-bleached hair. It was starting to turn grey, Maggie noticed, although the strands were well disguised by the blond. It was thinning on top, too. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to look less bronzed beach bum and more ageing hippy. He still had that magical something, though, she thought. She batted the inconvenient thought away.
They sat for a moment, each lost in their own memories. Hope, perching on the front of her chair and ready to leap up at any second, kept looking up at the clock above the bar. Okay, Maggie thought, she couldn’t join in with their reminiscing, not having been part of their group, but did she have to make her lack of interest so very obvious? Maggie could feel her resentment growing stronger. Soon it would have little legs and everything. Why had Angie got Hope involved anyway? Couldn’t she just have stuck to her old friends when allocating the tasks? It would have made life so much simpler. Now, as well as trying to work out how to make things work for Romany, they were going to have to get a measure of Hope on top. It was an added layer of complication that they didn’t need.