The Flatshare(104)

On the inside of the wardrobe door, the note is folded over and stuck with Sellotape. On the outside, it reads:

Are you wearing something Tiffy-ish yet?

I mean, I am, but it’s a work outfit so there’s more of a nod to normality than usual (i.e. I’ve tried to make sure at least two items are not direct opposites on a colour wheel). I riffle through the wardrobe looking for something suitably ‘adventurous’, whatever that means.

I pause on the blue and white dress I bought a couple of years back. The one Leon calls my Famous Five dress. It’s a little impractical for a cold day, but with my thick grey tights and the yellow mac from Help the Aged . . .

Once dressed, I unstick the note from the wardrobe door and read the message inside.

Hello again. Bet you look beautiful.

You need to collect a few more things before you set off adventuring, if you don’t mind. The first is in the spot where we first met. (Don’t worry. It’s waterproof.)

I grin and head off to the bathroom, moving more quickly now. What exactly is Leon up to here? Where am I supposed to be going? Now I’ve got my adventuring dress on, the end-of-day work slump has lifted – probably Leon knew I’d feel better with something colourful on – and a fizzing giddy feeling is growing in my stomach.

There’s an envelope hanging from the showerhead, carefully and very thoroughly wrapped in clingfilm. On the outside of it is a Post-it note.

Don’t read me yet, please.

The next thing you need is in the spot where we first kissed. (Well, not exact spot as sofa has changed. But please overlook this for the sake of the romantic gesture.)

It’s another envelope, tucked between the sofa cushions. This one reads open me, so I do as I’m told. Inside there is a train ticket from London to Brighton. I frown, completely flummoxed. Why Brighton? We’ve not been since before we were together, back when we were looking for Johnny White.

The note behind the ticket reads:

The last thing you need is with Bobby for safekeeping. He’s expecting you.

Bobby is the man we once knew as Strange Man in Flat 5. He’s a firm friend now, and has thankfully realised you cannot make cider from a banana and moved on to more conventional apple cider. It is very tasty and invariably gives me an extremely bad hangover.

I take the stairs two at a time and knock on his door, shifting impatiently from one foot to the other.

He answers in his favourite tracksuit bottoms (I sewed the hole up for him last year. It was getting indecent. I patched it up with a few inches of pink gingham I had lying about, though, so he definitely doesn’t look less strange).

‘Tiffany!’ he says, then shuffles off immediately, leaving me in the doorway. I crane my neck. Eventually he re-emerges holding a small cardboard box with a Post-it note stuck to it. ‘There you are!’ he says, and beams. ‘Off you go!’

‘Thanks?’ I say, examining the box.

Once you get to Brighton, head to the beach by the pier. You’ll know the spot when you see it.

*

It’s the most excruciating train journey I’ve ever taken. I’m itching with curiosity. I can hardly sit still. By the time I get to Brighton it’s dark, but it’s easy to find my way to the seafront; I walk so fast towards the pier that I’m almost jogging, which is something I only do in extreme circumstances, so I really must be excited.

I see what Leon means as soon as I get there. I couldn’t miss the spot.

There’s an armchair on the pebbles, thirty yards or so from the sea. It’s covered in multi-coloured blankets and strewn around it amongst the rocks there are dozens of tealights.

I cover my mouth. My heart’s thumping triple-speed. As I make my way over, stumbling on the pebbles, I look around for Leon, but there’s no sign of him – the whole beach is deserted.

The note on the chair is weighed down with a large shell.

Sit, wrap up warm, and open the envelope when you’re ready. Then the box.

I rip off the clingfilm and tear the envelope open as soon as I’m sitting down. To my surprise it’s in Gerty’s handwriting.

Dear Tiffy,

Leon has enlisted me and Mo to help with this madcap scheme because he says you value our opinions. I suspect it is actually because he is a little afraid and doesn’t want to do this on his own. I won’t hold that against him, though. A bit of humility is good in a man.

Tiffany, we have never seen you as happy as you are now. That came from you – you built that happiness for yourself. But there is no shame in saying that Leon helped.

We love him, Tiffy. He is good for you in the way that only a very good man could be.

It’s your decision, of course, but he wanted you to know: he has our blessing.

Mo and Gerty x

P.S. He asked me to say that he didn’t ask your father’s permission, on account of that being ‘a bit archaic and patriarchal’, but he feels ‘fairly confident Brian is on board’.

I laugh shakily, wiping the tears from my cheeks. My dad adores Leon. He’s been calling him ‘son’ in embarrassing social situations for at least a year.

My hands tremble as I reach for the cardboard box. The Sellotape takes an agonisingly long time to work loose, but when I manage to get the lid off I start crying in earnest.

There’s a ring inside, nestled in a bundle of rainbow-coloured tissue paper. It’s beautiful: vintage, a little wonky, with an oval amber stone in its centre.