Impossible to Forget(87)

‘Me?’ he laughed. ‘I can barely hold a pen.’

She thought he was joking – but she wasn’t entirely sure.

‘No, I’ve not sent it yet,’ she replied. ‘School said I couldn’t put just Durham down. I need a Plan B apparently, so I’ve had to do a bit of research on other places. It took a bit of time.’

He nodded. ‘Makes sense,’ he said. ‘Although I’m sure you won’t need one – a Plan B, I mean. And Durham is still your top choice?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ she replied.

‘Fancy a trip up there?’ he asked. ‘So you can get a feel for the place before you commit? We could get a train, if you like. Or we could hitch . . . ?’

‘We’ll get a train,’ said Romany firmly. ‘I’ll dig into the money that Mum left for travel.’



They went the following weekend. Romany was a little apprehensive. Even though they had been living together for a month or so, they didn’t see each other much. A whole day was a long time to spend together with no chance of escape. Still, she really should visit Durham before she finally sent her form off, in case she absolutely hated the place, and she wasn’t that keen to make the trip on her own.

At the station, she bought them a steaming cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin each.

‘Your mum would be turning in her grave,’ Tiger teased her.

Romany had noticed that unlike everyone else, Tiger didn’t avoid talking about her mum or flinch each time they said something that they thought might be insensitive. He just carried on as if her death was just another thing that had happened. To start with, she had found his bluntness inappropriate and had resented that he seemed to make no allowances for her feelings, but now it was refreshing.

‘She would. Caffeine AND sugar at once. She didn’t mind though, not really. Yes, we ate vegan at home and there was never sugar in the house, but if I came home with a packet of Haribos or had an egg sandwich at lunchtime she never made a fuss.’

‘Why would you want an egg sandwich?’ asked Tiger, pretending to push his fingers down his throat at the thought.

‘You know what I mean. Mum had strong views about stuff, but they were her views. I was always free to have my own.’

Tiger nodded. ‘Yeah, she was good like that, your mum. And how’s this guardian thing working out for you? No complaints about yours truly, of course . . .’ He huffed on his fingernails and polished them on his fleece.

‘Well, now that I think I’ve got my head round what she was trying to do, it’s not so bad,’ she said. ‘I am a bit young to be living on my own, I suppose, and there wasn’t anyone else to take me in. Maggie’s been great with this UCAS stuff and I’m sure she’ll be able to help with other things. And Leon’s sweet. I’ve bullied him into playing at this open mic thing in a couple of weeks. He didn’t look best pleased, but he can always back out if he wants.’

‘Is he playing his sax?’ asked Tiger.

Romany nodded and Tiger whistled through his teeth.

‘You’re in for a treat then,’ he said. ‘I might even come with you.’

‘Is he good?’ asked Romany.

‘Just you wait,’ replied Tiger, knowingly. ‘And what about that Hope woman? Have you heard from her?’

Romany shook her head. ‘I’m not sure why Mum chose her,’ she said. ‘Maggie doesn’t know either. She said that she’d only met her once before. You don’t know her, do you?’

‘No,’ Tiger said. ‘Seemed like an odd choice to me too, but I’m sure your mum knew what she was doing. She never did stuff by accident.’

Usually it annoyed Romany when people tried to tell her what her mum had been like, but somehow when Tiger did it she didn’t mind. It was probably because whatever he said about her was generally spot on.

The train pulled into Durham and they got out, jostling along the platform with the other travellers. It was a cold grey day with rain clouds hanging threateningly overhead, but it didn’t matter to them. They were on a mission. Tiger had planned a route for them through the city which he said would take in all the main elements, together with the university itself, plus a few corners to give her a feel for the ‘real’ city.

‘Do you know all the places you’ve visited as well as you do this one?’ Romany asked him as he marched confidently up North Bailey with her in tow.

‘Pretty much,’ he replied. ‘I mean, there are one or two places where I wasn’t exactly compos mentis, if you know what I mean . . .’ He grinned at her. ‘But I remember most of them.’

‘I can barely find my way around York,’ confessed Romany.

‘I find that if something is important to you, it has a way of staying in your memory,’ he said. ‘I love travelling, seeing new places, meeting new people, so when I do it, it would be pretty stupid of me to just forget everything I’d seen as soon as I left.’

There was a pause in the conversation as they negotiated a group of tourists.

‘So is it really bad,’ Romany asked, ‘being stuck with me?’ She hadn’t really thought about that before. She had been so busy resenting what had happened to her that she hadn’t looked at the situation from anyone else’s point of view.