‘No,’ said Cameron. ‘What am I missing?’ He glued his eyes on Ros.

She felt like she was being interrogated and realised that if she ever was, she would cave a lot quicker than she’d ever imagined she would. ‘My mother.’

Cameron looked to Barry for an explanation. ‘Amanda, Ros’s mum, is staying at mine for a bit.’

‘And she was there when you went over for lunch?’ asked Cameron.

‘Yep. First time I’ve seen her in five years.’

Cameron was at her side. ‘That must have been a shock.’

‘Total ambush,’ said Ros.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Barry from the sofa. ‘I don’t suppose there was any easy way for you two to meet after all this time.’

‘I should have come,’ said Cameron.

‘I did assume you’d be there to give Ros some support,’ said Barry.

‘If I’d known of course I would have been there.’

‘You’ve been a regular for the last few weeks. I just assumed,’ said Barry. ‘Did you have a good time with your friend?’ he asked.

‘Er yeah. We had a nice day, thanks, Barry.’ Cameron looked furtively at Ros. This was awkward.

‘We all had a takeaway together,’ said Ros, holding up a tray as if presenting evidence.

Barry nodded. ‘Your mum is worried that she’s upset you,’ he said.

‘Thanks, Dad. But I doubt that very much.’

‘Ros?’ Cameron looked embarrassed.

‘Actually it’s okay,’ said Barry, twisting his lips. ‘Amanda can be . . .’ he wobbled his head as if trying to conjure up the rest of the sentence ‘. . . a bit of a trial.’

‘Thank you!’ said Ros with feeling; perhaps finally her dad was on the same page.

‘Tea?’ asked Cameron, putting down a bowl of water for Gazza, which he immediately started lapping up before dribbling most of it off the whiskers on his chin and all over the rug.

‘Please, lad,’ said Barry, putting his palms on his knees and looking around the apartment while Cameron and Ros had a hushed conversation in the kitchen.

‘You should have said something,’ said Cameron. ‘I knew there was something up. The whole time G—’ Ros willed him not to say her name with her eyes. ‘They were here, I knew there was something wrong.’

She couldn’t really explain that the problems she’d been wrestling with while Gina was there had nothing to do with her mother. ‘There’s nothing you can do.’

‘I can be here for you and listen to how you feel about it,’ he said.

Ros tipped her head.

‘Okay, I can listen to you rant about her then. All I’m saying is, if you need me, I’m here,’ he added, resting his hand on her shoulder. The unexpected contact was confusing. He was being friendly; she needed to get her head around that. All the things she’d started to think were possibly signals of something more developing between them were just a nice person showing that they cared.

‘I know that’s not yours,’ said Barry, pointing at Cyril when Ros and Cameron came back into the living area. And then scanning the throw on the back of the sofa and the cactus on the windowsill: ‘Did you two have something you wanted to tell me?’

***

Darla switched on the telly, moved herself up and down the sofa and into various positions until she could see the screen and then decided that she couldn’t concentrate on the property programme anyway. She switched it off. What her parents had said was filling up her brain so much that there wasn’t even any room for Fred and Gloria from Bolton who were never going to find a place with three bedrooms and a pool, walking distance to the beach for the ridiculously small budget they had. A caravan in Slough would probably have been a stretch. She swallowed hard; right now she couldn’t even afford a caravan in Slough either.

Darla had been so focused on clearing the debt that she hadn’t been able to think beyond that. If she repaid all the money she would be able to return home but then what? Was the plan to pick up where she’d left off? She’d assumed she would move back in with her parents for a while but now she wasn’t so sure. They clearly weren’t expecting her to, because now in their eyes she was this strong independent woman who went on multiple adventures and took on the world. Not a cleaner, bar worker and house sitter who spent her free time cleaning things with a toothbrush or watching daytime programmes on a borrowed telly. She wasn’t the person they thought she was. What Darla needed to work out was how she was going to bridge that gap. But first she needed to feed the animals and make herself some dinner. She walked into the kitchen just in time to see a furry grey bum jump off the windowsill. ‘Winston!’

She dashed outside and continued to call the cat’s name but there was no sign of him, just an empty bowl where the tuna had been.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The silence where either Ros or Cameron were meant to respond to her father’s question had been going on far too long. ‘Erm . . .’ said Ros at last. A blind panic had taken hold inside her head. She had no idea what to say. She glanced at Cameron expecting to see how she felt reflected in his features, but he was his usual smiling chilled-out self.

‘Shall I take this one?’ he asked. Ros could think of a million reasons why that might be a bad idea but at that moment she had no better suggestion so she nodded. ‘Barry, you’re no fool so I’ll not lie to you,’ began Cameron, and Ros had to swallow down a lump that had formed in her throat. ‘I have moved in.’ Barry looked at Ros. His expression was unreadable. ‘But only because I got kicked out of my student digs and it seemed like the most logical place to stay. It’s only until I get my next house arranged, which should be July. However, we thought it would be a great opportunity to see how we got on. Didn’t we?’ he said, putting his arm around Ros and giving her a reassuring squeeze. She had to admit it was very close to the truth.

At last she took a breath and could find enough words to make a sentence. ‘It’s like a test bed to see if we can live under the same roof, temporarily.’

‘Sorry we didn’t mention it but we didn’t want to make a big thing of it because it’s not permanent,’ said Cameron.

‘I was going to let you know at dinner today but with everything, I forgot. And by everything, I mean Mother.’

‘Yeah, I guessed that bit,’ said Barry. He pursed his lips and Ros held her breath. He looked like he was mulling things over and that made her uncomfortable. ‘Loving someone and living with them can be two quite distinctly different things. How’s it going so far?’

‘Really good. Cyril and I feel right at home,’ said Cameron, nodding at the cardboard cyborg.

‘He’s a very good cook. Cameron, not Cyril,’ said Ros.

Barry smiled. ‘I figured that was who you meant.’

‘We’ve not had a row yet,’ said Cameron.

‘That’s better than me and Amanda,’ said Barry with a wince.

‘Why is she staying with you?’ asked Ros.

‘I’ve got the space, and hotels around here cost the earth so—’

‘But why is she here at all?’ asked Ros, hearing the tension in her voice.

‘She wants to help and I don’t want to be a burden to you.’

‘You’re not,’ said Ros. ‘I hope I’ve never made you feel that way.’

‘No, but I know you’re busy and you two have a life and I don’t want to get in the way of that. And on that note . . .’ He stood up and Gazza trotted over to have a sniff of Cyril but thankfully Barry pulled him away before he had a chance to think about cocking his leg. ‘I’d best be getting back.’

They said their goodbyes and both Cameron and Ros were relieved when the door finally closed behind Barry.